HOLLYWATER CLUMP 



and no house, and perhaps no human form. It was, 

 moreover, positively disagreeable to be stared at across 

 the ocean of pines by a big, brand-new, red-brick 

 mansion, standing conspicuous, unashamed, affronting 

 nature, on some wide heath or lonely hillside. 



A second hill, not far from the first, was preferable 

 when I wished for a wide horizon, or to drink the wind 

 and the music of the wind. Bound and dome-like, it 

 stood alone ; and although not so high as its neighbour, 

 it was more conspicuous, and seen from a distance 

 appeared to be vastly higher. The reason of this was 

 that it was crowned with a grove of Scotch firs with 

 boles that rose straight and smooth and mast-like to 

 a height of about eighty feet ; thus, seen from afar, the 

 hill looked about a hundred feet higher than it actually 

 was, the tree-tops themselves forming a thick, round 

 dome, conspicuous above the surrounding forest, and 

 Woliner's most prominent feature. I have often said 

 of Hampshire very many persons have said the same 

 that it lacks one thing sublimity, or, let us say, 

 grandeur. I have been over all its high, open down 

 country, and upon all its highest hills, which, although 

 rising to a thousand feet above the sea at one point, yet 

 do not impress one so much as the South Downs ; and 

 I have been in all its forest lands, which have wildness 

 and a thousand beauties, and one asks for nothing 

 better. But the Hollywater Clump in Wolmer Forest 

 as soon as I come in sight of it wakes hi me another 

 sense and feeling; and I have found in conversation 



