A CONTRAST. 233 



romance that was uppermost in my 

 mind. 



Well mounted I passed on, I remem- 

 ber, through the small but clean and 

 pleasant town of Ringwood; and, pursuing 

 my journey westward, entered upon those 

 dreary, and seemingly interminable heaths 

 that connect the two counties, till I 

 arrived at an old decayed town in 

 Dorsetshire. 



In my first journey I was quite a 

 stranger to the country for the last 

 twenty miles, and as I mused over the 

 great extent of black uncultivated land 

 which met my eye on every side, pro- 

 ducing nothing but stunted fern, that 

 a few half-starved sheep were browsing 

 on, I could but contrast it with the 

 sunny downs of Hampshire, and the 

 wood-crowned hills of Surrey ; the for- 

 mer affording pasture to innumerable 

 flocks of that valuable animal, the latter 

 testifying to the good effects arising from 



