NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 33 



to be large timber ; while Wolmer is nothing but a hungry, 

 sandy, barren waste. 



The former being all in the parish of Btnsted, is about 

 two miles in extent from north to south, and near as much 

 from east to west ; and contains within it many woodlands 

 and lawns, and the great lodge where the grantees reside, 

 and a smaller lodge called Goose-green ; and is abutted 

 on by the parishes of Kingsley, Frinsham, 1 Farnham, and 

 Bentley ; all of which have right of common. 



One thing is remarkable, that though The Holt has been 

 of old well stocked with fallow-deer, unrestrained by any 

 pales or fences more than a common hedge, yet they were 

 never seen within the limits of Wolmer ; nor were the red 

 deer of Wolmer ever known to haunt the thickets or glades 

 of The Holt. 



At present the deer of The Holt are much thinned and 

 reduced by the night hunters, who perpetually harass 

 them in spite of the efforts of numerous keepers, and the 

 severe penalties that have been put in force against them 

 as often as they have been detected, and rendered liable to 

 the lash of the law. Neither fines nor imprisonments can 

 deter them ; so impossible is it to extinguish the spirit of 

 sporting which seems to be inherent in human nature. 



General Howe turned out some German wild boars and 

 sows in his forests, to- the great terror of the neighbour- 

 hood, and, at one time, a wild bull or buffalo ; but the 

 country rose upon them and destroyed them. 



A very large fall of timber, consisting of about one 

 thousand oaks, has been cut this spring (viz., 1784) in The 

 Holt forest ; one-fifth of which, it is said, belongs to the 

 grantee, Lord Stawell. He lays claim also to the lop and 

 top ; but the poor of the parishes of Btnsted and Frinsham? 

 Bentley and Kingsley, assert that it belongs to them, and 

 assembling in a riotous manner, have actually taken it all 

 away. One man, who keeps a team, has carried home for 

 his share forty stacks of wood. Forty-five of these people 

 his lordship has served with actions. These trees, which 



1 Frensham. [R. B. S.] 



E 



