THE 



NATURAL HISTORY 



OF 



SELBORNE. 



LETTER I. 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



A HE parish of Selborne lies in the extreme eastern corner of 

 the county of Hampshire, bordering on the county of Sussex, 

 and not far from the county of Surrey ; is about fifty miles 

 south-west of London, in latitude 51, and near midway 

 between the towns of Alton and Petersfield. Being very 

 large and extensive, it abuts on twelve parishes, two of which 

 are in Sussex, viz. Trotton and Rogate. If you begin from 

 the south, and proceed westward, the adjacent parishes are 

 Emshot, Newton, Valence, Faringdon, Harteley, Mauduit, 

 Great Ward-le-ham, Kingsley, Hedleigh, Bramshot, Trotton, 

 Rogate, Lysse, and Greatham. The soils of this district are 

 almost as various and diversified as the views and aspects. 

 The high part to the south-west consists of a vast hill of 

 chalk, rising three hundred feet above the village ; and is 

 divided into a sheep down, the high wood, and a long hanging 

 wood called the Hanger. The covert of this eminence is 

 altogether beech, the most lovely of all forest trees, whether 

 we consider its smooth rind, or bark, its glossy foliage, or 

 graceful pendulous boughs.* The down, or sheep-walk, is a 



* While the beech is admitted to be one of the most beautiful trees 

 of the forest, it must yield in grandeur, dignity? and picturesque beauty, 

 to the oak, which, in these respects, stands pre-eminent in the British 

 sylva : like the lion amongst animals, it is the unquestionable king of the 

 forest. Beauty of a sublime kind, united with strength, is characteristic 

 of the oak ED. 



