THE HOLT. 29 



warrior ; and, among the rest, a very complicated 

 clock, lately in possession of Mr. Elmer, the cele- 

 brated game painter at Farnham, in the county of 

 Surrey. 



Though these two forests are only parted by a 

 narrow range of enclosures, yet no two soils can 

 be more different ; for the Holt consists of a strong 

 loam, of a miry nature, carrying a good turf, and 

 abounding with oaks that grow to be large timber, 

 while Wolmer is nothing but a hungry, sandy, 

 barren waste. 



The former, being all in the parish of Binsted, 

 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, 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 are never seen within the 

 limits of Wolmer : nor were the red- deer of Wol- 

 mer ever known to haunt the thickets or glades of 

 the Holt. 



At present the deer of the Holt are much thin- 

 ned and reduced by the night-hunters, who per- 

 petually harass them, in spite of the efforts of nu- 

 merous 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 imprisonment 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 



