THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE



LETTERS to THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ.


Letter I
To Thomas Pennant, Esquire

The parish of Selborne lies in the extreme eastern corner of the
county of Hampshire, bordering on the county of Sussex, and not
far from the county of Surrey; is about fifty miles south-west of
London, in latitude 51, and near midway between the towns of
Alton and Peters field. Being very large and extensive, it abuts on
twelve parishes, two of which are in Sussex, viz., Trotton and
Rogate. If you begin from the south and proceed westward, the
adjacent parishes are Emshot, Newton Valence, Faringdon,
Harteley Mauduit, Great Ward le ham, Kingsley, Hedleigh,
Bramshot, Trotton, Rogate, Lysse, and Greatham. The soils of this
district are almost as various and diversified as the views and
aspects. The high part to the south-west consists of a vast hill of
chalk, rising three hundred feet above the village; and is divided
into a sheep down, the high wood, and a long hanging wood called
the Hanger. The covert of this eminence is altogether beech, the
most lovely of all forest trees, whether we consider its smooth rind
or bark, its glossy foliage, or graceful pendulous boughs. The