THE THISTLE DO^VN. 13- 



THE THISTLE DOWN 



A LONG ten miles at last from all tlie bustle of tlie Line^ 

 let us stay for a moment on the brow of this next hill, ta 

 enjoy in quiet the g'lorious view that breaks before us. 

 Ridged in on one of the highest ranges of England^ what 

 an undulat:ing sweep of soft green sward now meets the 

 eye ! There may be some further boundary^ but it is all 

 illimitable in the horizon, and the sweet springy down-land 

 flows on in an ocean of unbroken plain. Little care would 

 the husbandman seem to have hereabouts, although in 

 that hollow to the left you note the comfortable well-to-- 

 do homestead of Thistley Grove. Yet farther away to 

 the right, buried in the clump of trees from which it takes 

 its title, is Elm Down — the high home of the gaze-hound 

 — famous for the Ladies Sylvia, Aurora, and Diana, who 

 manage their prancing palfreys so gracefully, and talk so 

 learnedh^ to the admiring crowd of'' turn," " wrench," and 

 '' go-by." Let j^our glance rest again under that narrow 

 belt of firs just rising from another dip of the wavy open, 

 and tell us what you see there. Nothing but some sheep ? 

 Then the lambs can scarcely keep themselves warm this 

 nipping March morning ; for, look again, and there are 

 some half-dozen of them off, as hard as they can go ! A 

 capital pace it is, too, for now that orderly methodical line 

 is lost. And the lambs, as they draw towards us, while — 

 somewhat scared — we stand aside to make way for them, 

 gradually develop into a string of long-striding, carefully- 



