1:30 THE NEW FOREST 



for some little time ; how, or in what way, or under 

 what circumstances, my heart received that impression, it 

 matters not now to relate — let it suffice to say that it was 

 commenced in melancholy, and so terminated ; but having 

 entertained an idea, I was determined to carry it out, 

 with indefatigable perseverance, to its natural result. 



This caused me many a long, but always pleasant, 

 though solitary ride, along the glades of the New Forest, 

 a locality full of the most picturesque landscapes, and rife 

 with historical events. Here I beheld the smoke curlino; 

 from the thatched roof of the woodman's cottajxc, with its 

 garden and nicely trimmed fence, and a solitary cow 

 contentedly ruminating on the luxuriant lawn before it ; 

 while at irregular distances stood in tlieir perfection some 

 of the best specimens of the majestic oak : — there to the 

 right of the lone public, called Stony Cross, were the 

 remains of the tree from which glanced the arrow that 

 lay the second William dead ; — while I was admiring 

 one or recallini>- the other, came boundino; bv, a herd of 

 the most graceful animals in the creation, all tending 

 to give additional zest to the pleasing romance that 

 was ujDpermost in my mind. 



Well mounted, I passed on, I remember, 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 o;reat extent of black uncultivated land which met 



