"Oft o'er thy lovely daughters, hapless Pierce! Crash the shock'd masts, the staggering wreck rebounds; DARWIN'S BOTANIC GARDEN. A walk on the shore, in this neighbourhood, is very pleasing. The high irregular cliffs to the eastward, rising like a massy wall, shut out in that direction every inland scene. In front, a spacious sweep of sea opens, as far as the eye can reach; where, at intervals, the distant vessel, crowding its canvass, gives animation to the picture while the solemn swell of the sea, and the sound which it produces on a pebbly shore, add those characteristics of the sublime, which are so frequently introduced by the great poet of antiquity, in the very picturesque and appropriate epithets by which he describes his favourite subject of allusion, the ocean. This shore not unfrequently furnishes a haunt for the smuggler, who, in the night, lands his pernicious* cargo under the cliff, and conveys it, with fraudulent caution, over the neighbouring heath, the unfrequented tracks of * The benevolent and useful Mr. Jonas Hanway, having delivered an animated philippic against gin, under the appellation of liquid fire, exclaims: "I would really propose, that it should be sold only in quart bottles, sealed up with the king's seal, with a very high duty, and none sold without being mixed with a strong emetic."-Eight Days' Journey. which are so favourable to the concealment of his unlawful traffic. Near the entrance of Christchurch haven is a cottage, situated on the verge of the sea, belonging to George Henry Rose, esq.;* and at a short distance from it is another marine cottage, on a smaller scale. "On St. Catharine's hill, nearly a mile and a half from Christchurch, and a mile west of the river Avon, is an exploratory camp, fifty-five yards square, doubly trenched on every side, except the south, with three entrances. About twenty yards from the east end of the north side, a small rampart runs south, which at length unites with the south front. The east side seems to have been continued sixty yards north, till it is crossed by another line. Six small mounts are scattered round this and not far from the foot of the hill are two large barrows, one of which was found to contain some human bones. About three hundred yards north of the camp; * A few years ago, this gentleman introduced the Hainault sithe into his neighbourhood, by providing a mower from Hainault, from whom the labourers learn its use with the utmost facility and dispatch. It is adapted to corn of all sorts, beans, tares, and peas. It is from sixteen to twenty-three inches long in the handle, varying in length with the height of the mower, who has the advantage of using it without stooping. The blade is about two feet long, and two and three quarter inches wide at the centre. It is used with a crook upon a staff, nearly five feet long, carried by the middle in the left hand, for the purpose of mowing the corn in the direction required. The advantages of this sithe are, that the straw is all saved, being cut close to the ground; and it is particularly advantageous in lodged corn, since, cutting externally near the root, no weight comes on the arms of the mower, which constitutes the great labour and disadvantage of reaping laid corn. By means of the crook, all the corn, so usually scattered, is laid neatly together; and the grips are so large, that the work of the binder is forwarded as much as that of the mower.-Monthly Mag. Sept. 1813, p. 183. last-mentioned line, is an elliptical earth-work, thirty-five yards by twenty-five."* Should the traveller prefer returning to Lymington by a different road from that before described, there is a road through New Forest. In returning this way, the scene opens with cultivation. We ascend a hill, whence there is an extensive retrospect of Christchurch and its neighbourhood. We next cross a rough common; in front, on the left, appears HINTON HOUSE. A little further, on the left also, is HINTON CHAPEL, a small modern brick building. Proceeding, we again enter cultivated scenes, and trees are plentiful in the hedge-rows. On the right is EAST HINTON. There is a summer-house in the grounds, which a stranger may mistake for the tower of a church. Beyond this, on the left, is a gate which opens into a private road leading to NORTH HINTON. Next appears an enclosure of fine young timber, called ROUGESWOOD;† at the end of which, a gate opens on a rugged and unprofitable tract, which is the entrance of New Forest in this quarter. The vallies are scantily * Grose, in Archæologia, vol. v. 239. Gough's Camden, vol. i. p. 127. + A gentleman who planted largely in this neighbourhood found it a great advantage to give his seedling plants a year's training in a rich piece of nursery-ground. In this situation the young plants put forth a large bunch of fibrous roots, which enabled them afterwards, in their exposed situation, to collect a sufficiency of nourishment from the loose mould in the holes on the heath in which they were planted, to ensure their striking through it, and afterwards growing with vigour.-Vancouver's View of the Agriculture of Hants, p. 305. furnished with trees, and the hills are all barren. At length we reach WILVERLY ENCLOSURE, which, till lately, exhibited a most striking and disgraceful specimen of the neglected state of New Forest. Five hundred acres of good land, well situated for the growth of timber, and enclosed, at a great expense, for the express purpose of cultivating it, for years lay desolate and void of timber, because it was the interest of the groom-keepers to encourage the breed of rabbits, for their own emolument. Since the last act of parliament relating to the forest, the paling has been repaired, and the enclosure put into its present state. At the corner of this enclosure, the traveller may either ride straight forward to Lyndhurst, or may return to Lymington by the road on the right. If he takes the road to Lyndhurst, he will be gratified with forest scenery; much of the way lying through beautiful woods, abounding with stately beeches. On the right we have several views of RHINEFIELD LODGE; and, just before entering Lyndhurst, we pass Cuffnells. The distance is scarcely six miles. If the turn to Lymington be taken, at rather more than a mile, on the right, we observe a cross road, which leads to WILVERLY LODge. The lodge is situated high, and commands beautiful views of the forest lawns and vallies around it, set off also by the distant appearance of the isle of Wight. A mile and a half further, we pass over BLACKAMSLEY HILL, whence is an extensive view of the forest. In little more than two miles after this, we fall into the road from Lyndhurst to Lymington, before described, (p. 36.) CHAPTER HI. From Lymington, through Beaulieu, to Hythe; with The Quitting Lymington by crossing the causey over the river, we soon see, on the right, WALHAMPTON. gardens command extensive and pleasing views of the isle of Wight and the water. Through Walhampton, a road conducts to PILEWELL HOUSE, situated on the coast. The flat, extensive, and quiet lawn forms an agreeable contrast to the busy scene of navigation which the channel presents, stretching from the Needles to Spithead. Adjoining Pilewell is BADDESLEY CHAPEL, a small building, belonging to the estate; but remarkable only for its occupying the site of an ancient preceptory of |
