■ with attain o ïyellow or ruß colour, which feem, to be nearly as lading
as the blue; and every now and then balls of a. friable fub-
ftance, like ruft of iron, called ruß balls.
In Wolmer Foreß I fee but one fort of ffone, called by the wort-
men fand, or foreß-ßone. This is generally of the colour of rufty
iron, and might probably be worked as iron ore; is very hard and
heavy, and of a firm, compadt texture, and compofed of a final!
roundilh cryftalline grit, cemented together by a brown,, terrene,
ferruginous matter; will not cut without difficulty, nor eafily ffirike
fire with fteel. Being often found in broad flat pieces, it makes
good pavement for paths about houfes, never becoming flippery
in froft or rain; is excellent for dry walls, and is fometimes ufed
in buildings. In many parts of that wafte it lies fcattered on the
furface of the ground; but is dug on Weaver’s Down, a vaft hill
on the eaftern verge of that foreft, where the pits are lhallow, and
the ftratum thin. This .ftone is imperilhable.
From a notion of rendering their work the more elegant, and
giving it a finifh, mafons chip this ftone into fmall fragments- about
the fize o f the head of a large nail; and then ftick the pieces into
the wet mortar along the joints of their freeftone walls: this em-
bellilhment carries an odd appearance, and has occafioned ftrangers,
fometimes to alk us pleafantly, “ whether we fattened our walls
“ together with tenpenny nails.’'
L E T T E R
L E T T E R V.
: TO THE SAME. M
A mong the Angularities of this place the two rocky hollow lanes,
the one to Alton, and the other to the foreft, deferve our attention.
Thefe roads, running through the malm lands, are, by the traffick
•of ages, and the fretting of water, worn down through the firft
,fbratum of our freeftone, and partly through thefecond-; fo that
they look more like water-courfes than roads; and ate bedded with
naked rag for furlongs together. In many places they are reduced
fixteen or eighteen feet beneath the level of the fields; and after
floods, and in frofts, exhibit very grotefqUe and wild appearances,
from the tangled roots that are twilled among the ftrata, and from
the torrents rulhing down their broken fides; and efpecially when
thofe calcades are frozen into icicles, hanging in all the fanciful
Ihapes of froft-work. Thefe rugged gloomy fcences affright the
ladies when they peep down into them from the paths above, and
make timid hoffemen Ihudder while they ride along them; but delight
the naturalift with their Various botany, and particularly with
their curious filices with which they abound.
The manor of Selborne, Was it flriflly looked after, with all
It’s kindly afpedfs, and all it’s Hoping coverts, would fvvarm with
game; even noW hares, partridges, and phealants abound; and in
old days woodcocks were as plentiful. There are few quails, be-
caufe they more affedf open fields than enclofurea; after harveft
fome few land-rails are feen.
The parilh of Selborne, by taking in fo much of the foreft, is
a vaft diftridh Thofe who tread the bounds are employed part of
C 2 three