SELBORNE. 
iii 
country to a wood or copse on a steep slope, is the only portion of 
Selborne Hill that is seen, except the terminating slope eastwards, 
the upper part of which, the Hanger approaches but does not 
altogether reach, and on the intermediate part there appears a few 
scattered trees, which tell more distinctly against the sky than 
one would expect from their distance. The treeless portion of 
the surface is variegated with low brush- wood, and scattered grass, 
and cattle runs, and winding paths ; but when seen from the road 
these are indistinct, and merely take off the tameness which a 
uniform surface would give to it. 
The more distant hill is Nore Hill, and its character contrasts 
well with that of Selborne Hill. Like that, it is wooded, but the 
wood is of a different character. Selborne Hanger is one unbroken 
mass of the most luxuriant foliage, in which, at a distance, no 
division of parts or distinction of tree from tree can be observed. 
The trees on Nore Hill, on the other hand, are clumpy, broken 
into distinct masses even where thickest, and melting away into 
scattered individual trees or bushes of smaller dimensions. On 
a sunny evening the light must tell beautifully on those hills, 
from the position in which they stand. Selborne Hill must then be 
m that indescribable shade of purplish green which is shown by 
the shadow upon very rich places; the eastern part and the 
same side of the clumps upon Nore Hill must partake of the 
gray ; and then the sun beating brightly upon the naked part 
of Nore Hill westward, streaming in through the openings be- 
tween, and touching a point here and a point there with mellowed 
light, till the whole fades away into the subdued tint of the 
eastern part, must present a chiar^ oscuro at which an artist who 
can feel the natural grouping of lights in a landscape would be 
perfectly delighted. Such is the first, or, as we may call it, the 
'* Pisgah'^ view that the pilgrim thitherward obtains of Selborne. 
After this foretaste of the anticipated beauties of Selborne, 
slight though it be, one whose principal object is the further ex- 
ploring of it can have little inducement to linger long at Alton ; 
yet Alton is a very pretty place, pleasantly situated on a hill 
sloping southward, clean, snug, and comfortable, with a fine 
little stream in the bottom of the valley, and pleasant grounds on 
the opposite bank. Indeed there is a grouping about the general 
scenery in this part of the country which, whatever may be its 
more individual character, prevents it from monotony. The fields 
are open, and the woods are clustered and placed in the situations 
