In all our rambles we never came upon a castle or palace; in fact, so far as I remember, no one ever spoke of such structures.

They seem to have no place there.

Nor is it hard to understand this singular divergence from the ways of a world whose habits and standards are continually reversed in the Forest.

In castle and palace, the wealth and splendour of life--everything that gives it grace and beauty to the eye--are treasured within massive walls and protected from the common gaze and touch.

Every great park, with its reaches of inviting sward and its groups of noble trees, seems to say to those who pass along the highway: "We are too rare for your using." Every stately palace, with its wonderful paintings and hangings, its sculpture and furnishings, locks its massive gates against the great world without, as if that which it guards were too precious for common eyes.