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Many of my younger, and some of my mature years, were passed on the borders of Windsor Forest. I was early given to long walks and rural explorations, and there was scarcely а spot of the Park or the Forest, with which I was not intimately acquainted. There were two very different scenes, to which was especially attached: Virginia Water, and а dell near Winkfield plain.
The bank of Virginia Water, on which the public enter from the Wheatsheaf Inn, is bordered, between the cascade to the left and the iron gates to the right, by groves of trees, which, with the exception of а few old ones near the water, have grown up within my memory. They were planted by George the Third, and the en-tire space was called the King' s Plantation. Perhaps they were тоге beautiful in an earlier age than they are now: or I mау so think and feel, through the general preference of the past to the present, which seems inseparable from old age. In my first acquaintance with the place, and for some years subsequently, sitting in the large upper room of the Inn, I could look on the cascade and the expanse of the lake, which have long been masked by trees.
Virginia Water was always open to the public, through the Wheatsheaf Inn, except during the Regency and Reign of George the Fourth, who not only shut up the grounds, but enclosed them, where they were open to а road, with-higher fences than even the outside passengers of stage-coaches could look over, that he might be invisible in his punt, while fishing on the lake. William the Fourth lowered the fences, and re-opened the old access.
While George the Third was king, Virginia Water was а very quiet place. I have been there day after day, without seeing another visitor. Now it has many visitors. It is а source of great enjoyment to many, though по longer suitable to the musings of а solitary walker.


1. During his youth, the writer
А lived at the Wheatsheaf Inn.
В dreamed of being an explorer.
С visited almost every part of Windsor Forest on foot.
D had по close acquaintances.

2. The trees of the King' s Plantation
А now obscure the view of the lake.
В are exceptionally old.
С grow only near the cascade.
D are protected by iron gates.

3. The author believes
А Virginia Water was more beautiful in the past.
В he is too old to enjoy the scene any more.
С he has forgotten how many trees there used to be.
D older people may generally think of the past as better than the present.

4. George the Fourth
А closed down the Wheatsheaf Inn.
В was very keen on fishing.
С was very concerned about his privacy.
D wore а punt as а disguise.

5. The author
А believes that too many people visit Virginia Water.
В prefers George the Fourth to William the Fourth.
С dislikes stage-coach passengers.
D enjoys walking and thinking on his own.