FOOTNOTES

Further, from the Charta de Forestâ of Henry III. (Manwood, ff. 6-11), we find that persons had houses and farms, and even woods, in the very centre of the King’s forests; and the charter provides that they may there, on their own lands, build mills on the forest streams, sink wells, and dig marl-pits, referring, most probably, in the last case, to the New Forest, where marl has been used, from time immemorial, to manure the land; and, further, that in their own woods, even though in the forest, they might keep hawks, and go hawking. (See f. 7, sects. xii., xiii.)

It shows, too, that there was a population who gained their livelihood, as to this day, by huckstering, buying and selling small quantities of timber, making brushes, and dealing in bark and coal, which last article evidently points to the Forest of Dean. (F. 7, sect. xiv.)

We must not imagine that the Charta de Forestâ of Henry III. was entirely a series of new privileges. They were, with some notable exceptions, simply those rights which had been received from the earliest times in compensation for some of the hardships of the Forest Laws, and which had been wrested away, probably by Richard or John, but which had never been granted to those who dwelt outside the Forest. (On this point see especially “Ordinatio Foreste,” 33rd Edward I., Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. p. 144. And again, “Ordinatio Foreste,” 34th Edward I., sect. vi., same volume, p. 149, where the rights of pasturage are re-allowed to those who have lost it by the recent perambulation made in the twenty-ninth year of the King’s reign.)

I think we may, therefore, gain from these clauses, especially when taken in conjunction with those of the Charta de Forestâ of Canute, a tolerably correct picture of an ancient forest—that it consisted not merely of large timber and thick underwood, a cover for deer, but of extensive plains,—still here preserved in the various leys—grazed over by cattle, with here and there cultivated spots, and homesteads inhabited by a poor, but industrious, population.

The “geolwe lind” was sung of in many a battle-piece. Again, as Kemble notices (The Saxons in England, vol. i., Appendix A, p. 480), we read in the Cod. Dip., No. 1317, of a marked linden-tree. (See, also, same volume, book i., chap. ii., p. 53, foot-note.) Then, too, we have the Old-English word lindecole, the tree being noted for making good charcoal, as both it and the dog-wood are to this day. Any “Anglo-Saxon” dictionary will correct this notion, and names of places, similarly compounded, are common throughout England.

To a total want of eloquence he joined the most inveterate habit of stammering, so that, when angry, he could barely speak. His physical appearance, too, well harmonized with his moral and mental deformities. His description reads rather like that of a fiend than of a man. Possessing enormous strength, he was small, thick-set, and ill-shaped, having a large stomach. His face was redder than his hair, and his eyes of two different colours. His vices were, in fact, branded on his face. (Malmesbury, Ed. Hardy, tom. ii., lib. iv., sect. 321, p. 504, whom I have literally translated.)

Let us look, too, at the events of his reign. Crime after crime crowds upon us. His first act was to imprison those whom his father had set free. He loaded the Forest Laws with fresh horrors. Impartial in his cruelty, he plundered both castle and monastery (The Chronicle. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 364). He burnt out the eyes of the inhabitants of Canterbury, who had taken the part of the monks of St Augustin’s. At the very mention of his approach the people fled (Eadmer: Hist. Nov., lib. iv. p. 94). Unable himself to be everywhere, his favourites, Robert d’Ouilly harried the middle, and Odineau d’Omfreville the north of England; whilst his Minister, Ralph Flambard, committed such excesses that the people prayed for death as their only deliverance (Annal. Eccles. Winton., in Wharton’s Anglia Sacra, tom. i. p. 295).

As The Chronicle impressively says, “In his days all right fell, and all wrong in the sight of God and of the world rose.” Norman and English, friend and foe, priest and layman, were united by one common bond of hatred against the tyrant. It could only be expected that as his life was, so his death would be; that he would be betrayed by his companions, and in his utmost need deserted by his friends.

Besides Gaimar and Alanus, Nicander Nucius also hints at treachery (Second Book of Travels, published by the Camden Society, pp. 34, 35), but his account is too vague to be of any service. We should, however, constantly bear in mind, with Lappenberg, that the best authority, The Chronicle, simply relates that the King was shot at the chase by one of his friends, without any allusion to an accident. Not one word or fact else is given, except the appearance of a pool of blood in Berkshire (at Finchhamstead, according to William of Malmesbury), which we know, from other sources, was supposed to foretell some calamity, and which phenomenon science now resolves into merely some species of alga, probably either Palmella cruenta or Hæmatococcus sanguineus. Eadmer, with some others, in his Historia Novorum, lib. ii. (Migne: Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, tom. clix. p. 422 B) mentions a report, prevalent at the time, that the King accidentally stumbled on an arrow. Then follows, in the very next book (Migne, as before, p. 423 B), a singular passage, to be found also in his Life of Anselm, book ii. ch. vi. (Migne, as before, tom. clviii. p. 108 D), where, on the news of the Red King’s death, Anselm bursts into tears, and, with sobs, cries, “Quod si hoc efficere posset, multo magis eligeret se ipsum corpore, quam illud, sicut erat, mortuum esse.” Whether this wish sprang from the effects of some pangs of conscience as to William’s death, or from an honourable feeling of natural emotion under the circumstances, as suggested by Sharon Turner, it is hard to determine. From John of Salisbury (Vita Anselmi, pars ii., cap. xi., in Wharton’s Anglia Sacra, tom. ii. p. 169), it would seem that Anselm thought that he was the direct cause, through God, of his death. Wace, quoted by Sharon Turner (vol. iv. p. 169), says that a woman prophesied to Henry his speedy accession to the throne; but I am not inclined to put any faith in this story, especially as Wace’s account is in poetry, where a prophetical speech might after the event be given dramatically true, without being so historically. The same criticism must be applied to the still more detailed account of Gaimar, who vaguely accuses Tiril of conspiracy. No one, however, was likely to declare, for so many reasons, that the King was murdered. We must not expect such a statement, or even look for it in the Chroniclers; we must seek for it in the contradictions, and absurdities, and prophecies which have gathered round the event.

The Valley of the Avon, as was mentioned in chapter v., p. 51, foot-note, appears from its nature to have been, with the exception of the east coast, the most flourishing district of any in the neighbourhood of the Forest. It is worth, however, noticing that many of its mills were rented not only by a money value, but by the additional payment of so many eels. Thus at Charford (Cerdeford) the mill is rented at 15s. and 1,250 eels, and at Burgate (Borgate) the mill paid 10s. and 1,000 eels, whilst at Ibbesley (Tibeslei) the rental was only 10s. and 700 eels (Domesday, as before, pp. xix. a, iv. b, xviii. a). The latter place had two hydes, and Burgate its woods and pasture, which maintained forty hogs, taken into the Forest; but Charford with its ninety-one acres of meadow-land, seems not to have been afforested, which, taken with other instances, shows that the best land was, as a rule, spared.

At the same time a load of clay, either for making mortar or for the actual material of the walls, the “cob,” or “pug” of the provincial dialect, was 5d., a price at which it had stood with some slight variations for many years.

To conclude, the smallest things are noted. Thus a thousand “peats,” perhaps brought from the Forest, cost, in 1562, 15d., whilst a load of “fursen,” still the local plural of furse, perhaps also from the same place, was 8d. Nothing in these accounts escapes notice. In 1586 a “coking stole,” the well-known cathedra stercoris, the Old-English “scealfing-stol,” is charged 10d.; whilst a collar, or, as it is elsewhere in the same book called, “an iron choker for vagabonds,” cost 14d.

“1643. Quartering 20 soldiers one daie and night, going westward for the Parliam^t service xvi.s. ij.d.

1646. For bringinge the toune cheste from Hurst Castell ij.s.

1646. Watche when the allarme was out of Wareham iiij.s.

1646. For the sending a messenger to the Lord Hopton, when he lay att Winton with his army, with the toune’s consent xiiij.s.

1648. For keeping a horse for the Lord General’s man iij.s. x.d.

1650. Paid to Sir Thomas Fairfax his souldiers going for the isle of Wight with their general’s passe xij.s.”

Such entries to an historian of the period would be invaluable, as showing not only the state of the country but of the town, when the town-chest had to be sent four miles for safety; and proving, too, that here (notice the fourth entry), as elsewhere, there were two nearly equally balanced factions—one for the King, the other for the Commonwealth. I may add that a little book has been privately printed, of extracts from the Lymington Corporation books, from which the foregoing have been taken. It would be a very good plan if those who have the leisure would render some such similar service in other boroughs.

made famous by Burns’ additions and improvements; but which, from various expressions, seems to have been, first of all, a West-Country song, sung at different wakes and fairs, part of the unwritten poetry of the nation.

Beyond this, in Dibden Bottom, rises a large mound, from twenty to thirty feet high, apparently of a sepulchral character, known as Barney Barns Hill. Proceeding, close to Butt’s Ash End Lane, and near the Roman, or rather British, road to Leap (see chap v., p. 56), stand two barrows, the northernmost one hundred and the southernmost eighty yards in circumference. Farther away, in Holbury Purlieu, are three more, each with a circle of about seventy yards. To the west of these, in the Forest, as shown in the illustration at page 213, rise four more, the three farthest forming a triangle. Beyond these, again, about three-quarters of a mile distant, near Stoneyford Pond, lie four others, respectively ninety, one hundred, and seventy yards in circumference. To the north rise three more, known as the Nodes, the westernmost about one hundred yards in circumference; the other two, which are ovaler and form twin barrows, being one hundred and fifty and one hundred yards. Two more stand on the side of the Beaulieu road to Fawley. All these, with others on Lymington Common and near Ashurst Lodge, and on the East Fritham Plain, still remain to be explored. For the barrows opened by the Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, on Langley Heath, see farther on, page 211.

These three urns, with all the other fragments of cinerary vessels found in the Forest, I have placed in the British Museum, where they have been restored. The artist has represented them exactly as they appeared on the second day of digging. The fractures in the central urn were caused by an unlucky blow from a pick-axe. The measurements are as follows:—

The north-eastern urn—Circumference at top 3 ft.

” ” bottom 1 ” 6 in.

” Total height 1 ” 4½ ”

The central urn—The same.

The south-western urn—Circumference at top 2 ” 9 ”

” ” bottom 1 ” 4½ ”

” Total height 1 ” 1¼ ”

Eling 1537

Christchurch 1586

Milford 1594

Boldre 1596

Ellingham 1596

Bramshaw (loose leaves) 1598

Fordingbridge 1642

Beaulieu 1654

Ibbesley 1654

Milton 1654

Lymington 1662

Dibden 1665

Fawley 1673

Breamore 1675

Sopley 1678

Minestead 1682

Ringwood 1692

Brockenhurst 1693

Pleurotoma exorta. Sol.

Terebellum fusiforme. Lam.

Murex minax. Sol.

Murex asper. Sol.

Murex bispinosus. Sow.

Typhis pungens. Sol.

Voluta ambigua. Sol.

Voluta costata. Sol.

Voluta luctatrix. Sol.

Dentalium striatum. Sow.

Scalaria reticulata. Sow.

Scalaria semicostata. Sow.

Littorina sulcata. Pilk.

Solarium plicatum. Lam.

Hipponyx squamiformis. Lam.

Fusus porrectus. Sol.

Fusus errans. Sol.

Fusus longævus. Lam.

Bulla constricta. Sow.

Bulla elliptica. Desh.

I scarcely need, I hope, refer the reader either to Mr. Edwards’ Monograph on the Eocene Mollusca, 1849, 1852, 1854, 1856, or to Mr. Searles Wood’s Monograph on the same subject, both in course of publication by the Palæontographical Society. There is an excellent table of the Barton shells, by Mr. Prestwich, in the Geological Journal, vol. xiii. pp. 118-126.

No persons, however, I should suppose, would think of examining any of these beds without first consulting Mr. Fisher’s most valuable paper on the Bracklesham Beds in the Proceedings of the Geological Society, May, 1862. And I should further most strongly advise them, if they wish to become practically acquainted with the beds, to procure the assistance of Mr. Keeping, of Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight.

I may here also mention that a well is at the present moment being sunk at Emery Down, and which, as I learn from Mr. Keeping, gives the following interesting measurements:—(1) Beds of marl, containing Voluta geminata, discovered forty years ago, at Cutwalk Hill, by Sir Charles Lyell, and now re-discovered, and a small Marginella, seven feet. (2) Bed of bluish sandy clay, which becomes, when weathered, excessively brown. This bed, very rich in fossils, which are in a good state of preservation, is equivalent to what is now called the Middle Marine Bed, at Hordle and Brockenhurst, sixteen to nineteen feet. (3) Hordle Freshwater Beds, containing two species of Potanomya, and comminuted shells, fifteen feet. (4) Upper Bagshot Sands, measuring, as far as the workmen have gone, twenty feet, and below which lies the water at the top of the clay. The important point to be noticed is the extreme thinning out of the Hordle Freshwater Beds, which, from the depth of two hundred and fifty feet at Barton, have here shrunk to fifteen. Mr. Prestwich has suggested that these beds, as they advance in a north-easterly direction, become more marine, which seems here to be confirmed.

Honey-buzzard’s nest, taken June 16th, in a low fork of an oak-tree in Anses Wood, contained two fresh-laid eggs:—

First egg (apothecaries’ weight) 1oz. 3dr. 1sc. 5gr.

Second egg (very slightly dinted) 1oz. 2dr. 2sc. 10gr.

Honey-buzzard’s nest, taken June 24th, in Ravensnest Wood, near Brook, in the higher branches of a tall beech, overhanging the road. This nest had been deserted, and the two eggs were very much addled and hard set:—

First egg 1oz. 4dr. 0sc. 10gr.

Second egg 1oz. 3dr. 2sc. 10gr.

Hobby’s nest, placed in a nest which, in 1861, had been occupied by a honey-buzzard, was taken in Prior’s Acre, June 21st, and contained three fresh-laid eggs, now in Mr. Rake’s cabinet:—

First egg 6dr. 0sc. 0gr.

Second egg 5dr. 2sc. 10gr.

Third egg (very slightly dinted) 5dr. 2sc. 0gr.

Hobby’s nest, taken in South Bentley Wood, July 12, contained two eggs hard sat upon and addled:—

First egg 5dr. 2sc. 15gr.

Second egg (cracked) 5dr. 0sc. 14gr.

With these weights may be compared the following:—Egg, supposed to be that of a merlin, taken with two others which were broken, June 17th, 1862, near Alum Green, in the hole of a beech, rather sat upon, weighed 4dr. 1sc. 10gr. Two fresh-laid eggs of kestrels, taken at the same time, weighed 4d. 2sc. 15gr. Other eggs of kestrels, however, have weighed considerably more; and two others, also laid about the same time, came to 5dr. 5 gr.

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