AN AUTUMN DA Y AT SEL BORNli 
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oak in perhaps a lesser degree — of retaining its dead leaves 
through the winter is singular. I have studied this matter for 
some years and should be pleased at some other time to give 
my views upon it. Gilpin, a celebrated writer and lover of 
trees, speaks very disparagingly of the beech, and does not 
give it at all its proper rank, either as a picturesque tree or for 
its utility. Although Gilpin was contemporary with White 
and vicar of Boldre, in the New Forest, for many years, in the 
same county as Selborne, they do not seem to have known each 
other. Gilpin died in 1804, aged eighty, and was buried in 
Boldre churchyard. His grave is marked by a much more 
pretentious monument than White’s, and is overhung by a fine 
old specimen of the English maple. 
A little more than half-way down the village a footpath to 
the right leads to the bottom of the Zigzag walk, by which it 
is easy to reach the top of the Hanger and the sheepdown. At 
the time of my visit this remarkable walk was being carefully 
remade, without altering materially its old form. Originally it 
was probably cut out of the natural soil, not bad in dry weather, 
but when damp or wet the surface of marly chalk was very 
slippery and treacherous, and I am sure many have shown the 
nature of the soil on their hands and knees on leaving it. The 
work was being done in a very substantial and workmanlike way, 
and when the dwarf scrubby underwood grows up here and 
there again, and the trees close in a little, with the newness 
worn off, it will be a great and lasting improvement. To those 
who do not know the construction of this extraordinary way of 
getting up a steep hill with the least amount of exertion, I may 
say it is a series of gradually ascending short diagonal paths, 
each five to six yards long, first to the left, then to the right. 
This is repeated until an elevation of 300 feet is reached with 
ease and comfort. A good water-channel has been made on 
each side — a most important point in its construction. The 
gravel was being carted and tipped at the top of these channels, 
and the descent being so steep, it was easily shovelled down 
them until it reached the end of each little walk in its turn, 
when it could easily be put on, a novel, but evidently the 
easiest, way to do the work. 
About twenty yards from the Zigzag, parallel with it, and not 
perhaps generally noticed, is a hollow narrow shoot, or disused 
path, clear of tree-stems and thick with dead leaves. I should 
not have observed it, had not a boy been highly amusing himself 
tobogganing down on tw r o boards belonging to the works on the 
Zigzag. The boards always reached the bottom with great 
velocity, but the boy was sometimes flung off on the way. I 
walked up this disused track in a straight line with the greatest 
difficulty, and should not care to repeat the experiment. I found 
it, roughly speaking, about 150 yards. I then stepped the Zigzag 
walk, which was a little over 450, making it rather more than 
three times the actual distance. I think this old shoot must be 
