The Park' 105 



but so thin as scarcely to cover the chalk. This side 

 jutted out from the general line of the hills, and 

 formed a bold bluff, whose white precipitous cliff was 

 a landmark for many miles. In climbing the coombe, 

 it was sometimes necessary to grasp the bunches of 

 grass ; for it would have been impossible to recover 

 from a slip till, bruised and shaken, you rolled to the 

 bottom, and perhaps into the little streamlet flowing 

 through the hollow. 



The summit was of small extent, but the view 

 beautiful. A low fence of withy had long since 

 decayed, nothing but a few rotten stakes remaining 

 at the very verge of the precipice. Steep as it was, 

 there were some ledges that the rabbits frequented, 

 making their homes in mid-air. Further along, the 

 slope, a little less perpendicular, was covered with 

 nut-tree bushes, where you could scramble down by 

 holding to the boughs. There was a tradition of a 

 foxhunter, in the excitement of the chase, forcing his 

 horse to descend through these bushes and actually 

 reaching the level meadows below in safety. 



Impossible as it seemed, yet when the hounds were 

 in full cry beneath it was easy to understand that in 

 the eagerness of the moment a horseman at the top 

 might feel tempted to join the stirring scene at any 

 risk : for the fox frequently ran just below, making 



