I i / Th THE NEW FOREST: ITS BY JOHN R. WISE, With 63 Illustrations, Drawn "by Walter Crane, Engraved by VT. J. Linton, And TVo "Maps. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL. M.DCCC.LXIIL CONTENTS. PREFACE . . . . . . . vii I. Introductory ...... 1 II. Its Scenery ....... 7 III. Its Early History . . . . . 30 IV. Its Later History . . ... . .39 V. Calshot Castle and the Old South-Eastern Sea-Coast . 49 VI. Beaulieu Abbey . . . . .60 VII. The South- Western Part. Brockenhurst, Boldre, Sway, Hinchelsea, and Burley . . . . .74 VIII. The Central Part. Lyndhurst .... 85 IX. Minestead and Rufus's Stone . . . .91 X. The Northern Part. Stoney Cross, Bramble Hill, Fritham, Bentley, Eyeworth, Studley, and Sloden . . 109 XT. The Valley of the Avon. Ford ingbridge, Charford, Brea- more, Ibbesley, Ellingham, and Ringwood . .116 XII. The Valley of the Avon (continued) . Tyrrel's Ford, Sopley, and Winkton . . . . . .125 XIII. Christchurch ... 129 Contents. CHAPTER PAi,E XIV. The Old South- Western Seaboard. Somerford, Chewton Glen, Hurst Castle, and Lymington . . . 145 XV. The Gipsy and the West-Saxon . . . 158 XVI. The Folk-Lore and Provincialisms . . . .172 XVII. The Barrows ...... 196 N XVIII. The Roman and Romano-British Potteries . . . 214 XIX. The Parish Registers and Churchwardens' Books . 226 XX. The Geology ....... 234 XXI. The Botany ...... 250 XXII. The Ornithology . . . . . .258 APPENDICES. I. Glossary of Provincialisms . . . . .279 II. List of the Flowering Plants .... 289 III. List of the Birds . . . . . .307 IV. List of the Lepidoptera . . . . . 319 Postscript ....... 328 INDEX . . 329 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The New Forest from Bramble Hill (Sunrise), Frontispiece. Old Oak in Boldrewood, Title-page. PAOE View in Bushey Bratley ...... 1 The Entrance from Barrow's Moor to Mark Ash ... 6 The Stream in the Queen's Bower Wood .... 7 The Charcoal Burner's Path . . . . . 19 The Cattle Ford ....... 20 View in Gibb's Hill Wood ...... 38 The Millaford Brook ....... 39 The Woodcutter's Track ...... 48 Calshot Castle ........ 49 Norman Doorway at Fawley Church .... 59 Arches of the Chapter House . . . . . .60 Pulpit of the Refectory ...... 68 Old Barn or " Spicarium" of Beaulieu Abbey . . .70 Chapel at St. Leonard's Grange ..... 70 Canopied Niche in St. Leonard's Chapel . . . .73 View in Frame Wood ...... 74 View in the Queen's Bower Wood . . . . .84 View in the Great Huntley Woods .... 85 The Woodman's Path ....... 90 Oaks in Boldrewooil . . . . . . 91 Rufus's Stone . . . . . . . .96 View from Castle Malwood ..... 108 View in Studley Wood . . . . . .109 View in Puckpits Wood . . . . . .112 Yews and Whitebeams in Sloden . . . . .115 The Avon from Castle Hill . . . . . 116 The Avon at Ibbesley . . . . . . .124 Tyrrel's Ford ....... 125 The Avon at AVinkton . . . . . . ..128 The Priory Church, Christchurch ..... 129 (v) >f Illustration*. PAGE The Norman House, Christchurch . 133 The North Porch and Doorway of the Priory Church 144 Chewton Glen ... .145 Hurst Castle . 157 View in Mark Ash Wood . . - .158 The King's Gairn Brook . . . . . 171 Andenvood Corner . . . . .172 Bushey Bratley (another view) . 195 The Urns in Bratley Barrow ... . 196 Keltic Urn, Neck of Roman Wine- Vessel, and Flint Knives . 206 Barrows on Beaulieu Plain ...... 213 Wine-Flask, Drinking-Cups, and Bowls .... 214 Necks of Oil-Flasks . . . . . . .218 Necks of Wine- Vessels and Oil-Flask . . . .218 Patterns from Fragments ...... 223 Patterns from Fragments . . . . . . 223 Oil-Flask, Drinking-Cups, Bowl, and Jar .... 225 Boldre Church ....... 226 Norman Font in Brockenhurst Church .... 233 The Barton Cliffs ....... 234 Fossils from the Shepherd's Gutter Beds .... 244 Fossils from the Brook Beds ..... 249 Barrows Moor Wood . . . . . . .250 The King's Gairn Brook (another view) .... 257 The Heronry at Vinney Ridge ..... 258 Nests of the Honey and Common Buzzard . . 266 View in Buckhill Wood . . . . . .276 The Staple Cross ....... 288 Gladiolus Illyricus ....... 306 The Kildeer Plover . . . . . .318 The Cicada . 328 Map of the Old South-Western Sea-Coa-' . to face page 149 Plan of Sloden Hole . . . . . . 216 Section of Hordle Cliff . 238 Section of Beckton Cliff . . . 241 Map of the New Forest . . . . 276 (vi) PREFACE. UNDER the title of the New Forest I have thought it best to include the whole district lying between the Southampton "Water and the Avon, which, in the beginning of Edward I.'s reign, formed its boundaries. To have restricted myself to its present limits would have deprived the reader of all the scenery along the coast, and that contrast which a Forest requires to bring out all its beauties. The maps are drawn from those of the Ordnance Survey, reduced to the scale of half an inch to the mile, with the additions of the names of the woods taken from the Government Map of the Forest, and my own notes. The illustrations have been made upon the principle that they shall represent the scene as it looked at the time it was taken. Nothing has since been added, nothing left out. The views appear as they were on the day they were drawn. Two exceptions occur. The ugly modern windows of Calshot Castle, and the clock-face on the tower of the Priory Church of Christ- church, have been omitted. Further, the views have been chosen rather to show the less-known beauties of the Forest than the more-known scenes. For this reason the avenue between Brockenhurst and Lynd- hurst the village of Minestead, nestling half amongst the Forest oaks and half in its own orchards the view from Stoney Cross, stretching over wood and vale to the Wiltshire downs, Preface. have been omitted. Every one who conies to the Forest must see these, and every one with the least love for Nature must feel their heauty. In their places are given the quiet scenes in the heart of the great woods, where few people have the leisure, and some not the strength to go quiet brooks flowing down deep valleys, and woodland paths trod only by the cattle and the Forest workmen. For the same reason, sunrise, and not sunset, has been chosen for the frontispiece. To the kind help of friends I am indebted for much special aid and information to the deputy surveyor, L. H. Cumber- batch, Esq., for permission to open various barrows and banks, for the use of the Government maps, as also for the Forest statistics to the Rev. H. M. Wilkinson, and T. B. Rake, Esq., for great assistance in the botany and ornithology of the district; as also to Mr. Baker, of Brockenhurst, for the list of the Forest Lepidoptera. London, November, 1862. (viii) TEE NEW FOKEST: and il ' Game of hondes he loned y non, and of wylde best, And hys forest and hys wodes, and mest |* ny we forest." Robert of GloHtetter"* Chronicle (concerning Wflliam the Conqueror) Ed : Hearne, vol. ii . p. 375. THE NEW FOREST. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. ^^^J^^s^V^gpfcl i*^" VJi View in Bushey Bratley. ^'.^ No person, I suppose, would now give any attention to, much less approve of, Lord Bnrleigh's advice to his son "Not to pass B i The New Forest : /'/ H'txtory -n> ///. to use their superfluous energies than in learning their own country by walking over its best scenes. I will only ask any one to make the experiment between walking and driving over the same ground ; and see how much he will learn by the one, how much lose by the other method. In the one case, he simply hurries or stops at the discretion of some ignorant driver, who regards him of less importance than his horses ; in the other, he can pause to sketch many a scene before invisible, can at his leisure search each heath or quarry for flowers or fossils, can turn aside across the field- paths to any village church, or wander through any wood which may invite him to its solitude, and, above all, know the pleasure of being tired, and the sweetness of rest in the noontide shade. Tho Enlr^nce from Barrow's Moor to Mark Ash The General Beauty of the Woods. CHAPTER II ITS SCENERY. The Stream in the Q As I said in the last chapter, one of the ma.n objects of this hook is to dwell upon the beauty of the Forest scenery. I chose the New Forest as a subject, because, although in some points it may not be more beautiful than many other parts of The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. England and I am glad to think so, it gives, more than any other place, a far greater range of subject, in sea, and moor, and valley ; because too, the traveller can here go where he pleases, without any of those lets and hindrances which take away so much pleasure ; and, lastty, because here can best be seen Nature's crown of glory her woods. And, first, for a few words of general bearing upon this point. I do not think we ever estimate the woods highly enough, ever know their real worth, until we find some favourite retreat levelled to the ground, and then feel the void and irre- parable blankness which is left. Consider, too, the use which Nature makes of her woods, either softening the horrors of the precipice, or adorning spaces which else would be utterly without interest, or adding beauty to beauty. Consider, further, how she beguiles us when we are in them, leading us forward, each little rise appearing a hill, because we cannot see its full extent ; how, too, the paths close behind us, shutting us out with their silent doorways from all noise and turmoil, whilst the soft green light fills every dim recess, and deepens each pillared aisle, the floor paved with the golden mosaic of the sunlight. For all these things is it that the woods have been, since the beginning of the world, the haunt of the flowers, the home of the birds, and the temple of man. The haunt of the flowers, I say, for in the early spring, before the grass is yet green in the meadows, here they all flock white wood-anemones, sweet primroses, sweeter violets, and hyacinths encircling each stem with their blue wreaths. The home of the birds ; for when the leaves at last have come, each tree is filled with song, and the underwood with the first faint chirping of the nestlings learning their earliest notes. As a temple for man, have they not been so since the world began ? Taught by their tender beauty, and 8 Tlie Loveliness of Tree-forms. subdued by their solemn gloom, the imaginative Greek well consecrated each grove and wood to some Divinity. The early Christians fled to " the armour of the house of the Forest," to escape to peace and quietness. Here the old Gothic builders first learnt how to rear their vaulted arches, and to wreathe their pillars with stone arabesques of leaves and flowers, in faint imitation of a beauty they might feel, but never reach.* Consider, too, the loveliness of all tree-forms, from the birch and weeping- willow, which never know the slightest formality, even when in winter barest of leaves, to the oak with its sinewy boughs, strained and tortured as they are in this very Forest, as nowhere else in England, by the Channel winds. f Consider, * It is worth noticing how, according to their natures, our English poets have dwelt upon the meaning of the woods, from Spenser, with his allegories, to the ballad-singer, who saw them only as a preserve for deer. Shakspeare touches upon them with both that joyful gladness, peculiar to him, and the deep melancholiness, which they also inspire. Shelley and Keats, though in very different ways, both revel in the woods. To Words- worth they are " like a dream Or map of the whole world : thought?, link by link, Enter through ears and eyesight, with such gleam Of all things that at last in fear I shrink." Of course, under the names of woods, and any lessons from them, I speak only of such lowland woods as are known chiefly in England ; not dense forests shutting out light and air, without flowers or song of birds, whose effect on national poetry and character is quite the reverse to that of the groves and woodlands of our own England. See what Mr. Ruskin has so well said on the subject. Modern Painters, vol., v., part vi , ch. ix., 15, pp. 89, 90; and, also in the same volume, part vii., chap, iv., 2, 3, pp. 137-39 ; and compare vol. iii., part iv., ch. xiv., 33, pp. 217-19. f In the lower part of the Forest, near the Channel, the effect is quite painful, all the trees being strained away from the sea like Tennyson's thorn. It is the usnea barbata which covers them, especially the oaks, with its hoary fringe, and gives such a character to the whole Forest. C 9 The Xeic Forest : it* History ' \>"' / . Xt'tr Fori'Ht : j/.s Hixtori/ and //* Abroad lie was feared by the bad, whilst at home such order prevailed throughout England, that a man might travel in safety " with his bosom full of gold " from one end to the other.* What I do here protest against is the common practice of implicitly believing every tradition, of repeating every idle story which has been foisted into the text either by credulity or rancorous hatred of, in fact, mistaking party feeling for history. The Chroniclers had every reason to malign William. His very position was enough. He had pressed with a hoavy haud on the Old-English nobles, stripped them too often of their civil power, and their religious honours ; and failing to learn, had, like a second Attila, tried to uproot their language. The truth is, we are so swayed by our feelings that the most dispassionate writer is involuntarily biassed. We in fact pervert truth without knowing we do so. Language, by its very nature, betrays us. No historian, with the least vividness of style, can copy from another without exaggeration. The misplacement of a single word, the insertion of a single epithet, gives a different colour and tone. And, in this very matter of the New Forest, we need only take the various accounts, as they have come down, to find in them the evidences of their own untruth. f * 77(e Chronicle. Ed. Thorpe. Vol. i. p. 354. Tliis, of course, must not be too literally taken. It is one of those stock phrases which so often recur in literature, and may be found, under rather different forms, applied to other princes. | Voltaire was the first to throw any doubt on the generally received account (E.isai sur fen Mceurx et T Esprit dcs Nations, torn. iii. ch. xlii. p. 169. Pniithf'nii Litteraire. Paiis, 1836). He has in England been fol- lowed by Warner (Topographical Remark* on the South- Western Parts of HiiiiipJiirp, vol. i. pp. 164-197), and Lewis, in his Historical Enquiries concerning the New Forest, pp. 4'2-~i~>. 22 The Account of Gulielmus Gemeticensis, I do not here enter into the question of William's right to make the Forest about this there can be no doubt but simply into the methods which he employed in its formation.* The earliest Chronicler of the event, Gulielmus Gemeticensis, who has been so often quoted in evidence of William's cruelty, both because he was a Norman, and chaplain to the King, really proves nothing. In the first place, the monk of Jumieges did not write this account, but some successor, so that the argument drawn from the writer's position falls to the ground. f In the second place, his successor's words are " Many, however, say (ferant autem mult'i) that the deaths of Rufus and his brother were a judgment from heaven, because their father had destroyed many villages and churches in enlarging (amplificandam) the New Forest."| The writer offers no comment of his own, and simply passes over the matter, as not worth even refutation. His narrative, however, if it tells at all, tells against the common theory, as he states that William only extended the limits of a former chase. * Concerning the King's prerogative to make a forest wherever he pleased, and the ancient legal maxim that all beasts of the chase were exclusively his and his alone, see Manwood A Treatise of the Lawes of the Forest, ch. ii. ff. 25-33, and ch. iii. sect. i. f. 33, 1615. We must remember, too, that, before the afforestation, as \ve learn from Domesday, William not only owned as his demesne, inherited from Edward the Confessor, a great deal of land in the district at Ashley, Bashley, llubborn, Wootton, Pilley, &c., besides nearly the whole of the Hundred of Boldre, but kept some as at Eling, Breamore, and Ringwood in his own hands. f Bouquet. Rccueil des Hisloriens des Gaules et de la France, torn, xi., pref'., No. xii. p. 14 ; and torn, xii., pref., No. xlix. pp. 40-48. Some account of him may be found in torn. x. p. 184, foot-note a, and in the preface of the san.e volume, No. xv. p. 28. See also preface to torn, viii., No. xxxi., p. 24, as also p. 254, foot-note a. J De Ducibus Normannix, book vii. c. ix. ; in Camden's Anglica Scripta, p. 674. 23 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. The account of Florence of "Worcester is, on the whole, equally unsatisfactory. His mention of the New Forest, like that, by the way, of most of the Chroniclers, does not occur in its proper place at the date it was made when the wrong, we should have thought, must have been most felt but is suggested by the death of Rufus, when popular superstition had come into play, and time had lent all the force of exaggeration to what must always have been an unpopular event. Florence,* however, speaks in general terms of men driven from their homes, of fields laid waste, and houses and churches destroyed ; words, which as we shall see, carry their own contradiction. Vitalis, f too, not only declares that the district was thickly inhabited, but that it even regularly supplied the markets of Winchester, and that William laid in ruins no less than sixty parishes. Walter Mapes, f who flourished about the middle of the twelfth century, adds further that thirty-six mother churches were destroyed, but falls into the error of making Rufus the author of the Forest, Avhich of course materially affects his evidence. Knyghton, however, who lived in the reign of Richard II., * Chronicon ex Chronicis. Ed. Thorpe. Vol. ii. p. 45. Published by the English Historical Society. t Historia Ecclesiastica, pars, iii., lib. x., in the Patrologice Cursus Completes. Ed. J. P. Migne. Tom. clxxxviii. p. 749 c. Paris, 1855. J De Nugis Curialium Distinctiones Quinque, distinc. v. cap. vi. p. 222. Published by the Camden Society. De Eventibus Anglice, lib. ii. cap. vii., in Twysden's Historic Anglicance Scriptores Decem, p. 2373. I am almost ashamed to quote Knyghton, but it is as well to give the most unfavourable account. Spotswood, in his History of the Church of Scotland (book ii. p. 30, fourth edition, 1577), repeats the same blunder as Walter Mapes and Knyghton, adding that the New Forest was at Winchester, and that Rufus destroyed thirty churches. 24 Vitalis, Walter Mapes, and Knyyliton. is doubtful whether the number of churches destroyed was twenty-two or fifty-two, an amount of difference so large that we might also reasonably suspect his narrative, whilst he also commits the mistake of attributing the formation of the Forest to Rufus. Now, the first thing which strikes us is that as the writers are more distant in point of time, and therefore less capable of knowing, they singularly enough become more precise and specific. What Florence of Worcester speaks of in merely general terms, Vitalis, and Walter Mapes, and Knyghton, give in minute details down to the very number of the parishes and churches.* As far as mere written testimony goes, we have nothing to set against their evidence, except Domesday, and the negative proof of The Chronicle . Not one word does The Chronicler, who, be it remembered, personally knew the Conquerorf who * For the sake of brevity, let me add that William of Maliuesbury (Gesta Rerum Anglorum, vol. ii. p. 455, published by the English Historical Society, 1840), Henry of Huntingdon (Historiarum, lib. vi., in Savile's Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores, p. 371), Simon of Durham (De Gestis Regum Anglorum,) in the Histories Anglicance Scriptores Decent, p. 225), copying word for word from Florence, Roger Hoveden (Annalium Pars Prior, Wil- lielmus Junior, in the Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores, p. 468), Roger of Wendover (Flores Historiarum, vol. ii. pp. 25, 26, published by the English Historical Society), Walter Hemingburgh (De Gestis Regum Anglice, vol. i. p. 33, published by the English Historical Society), and John Ro.'-s (Historia Regum Anglice, pp. 112, 113. Ed. Hearne. Oxford, 1716), repeat, according to their different degrees of accuracy, the general story ol the Conqueror destroying villages and exterminating the inhabitants. t The Chronicle. Ed. Thorpe, as before quoted. Nor does the writer, when another opportunity presents itself at Rufus's death, mention the matter, but passes it over in significant silence. The same volume, p. 364. E 25 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. has related each minute event of his reign, exposed each short- coming, and branded each crime, say of the cruelty of the affo- restation. Evidence like this, coming from such an authority, is in the highest degree important. The silence is most suggestive. It is impossible to believe, that so faithful an historian, had it been committed, should never have hinted at the devastation of so much property, and the double crime of cruelty and profanity in destroying alike the inhabitants and their churches. But the briefest analysis of Domesday, and a comparison of its contents with those of the survey made in Edward the Confessor's reign, will more clearly show the nature and extent of the afforestation than any of the Chroniclers. From it we find that about two-thirds of the district, including some thirty manors, was entirely afforested. But it by no means carries out the account that the villages were destroyed and the inhabitants banished, or, according to others, murdered. For in some cases, as at Eling, it is noted that the houses are still standing and the inmates living in the King's Forest ; and in others, as at Batramsley, Pilley, Wootton, and Oxley, express mention is made that only the woods are annexed, and that the meadows and pastures are not afforested, but remain in the hands of their former "VVest-Saxon holders.* Again, too, we find that some of the manors, as at Hordle and Bashley, though considerably lessened, kept up their value. Others, as at Efford, actually doubled their former assessments. Still more remark- able, some again, as at Brockenhurst, Sway, and Eling, though reduced in size, increased one-third and two-thirds in value. * See Domesday (the photo-zincographed fac-siniile of the part relating to Hampshire; published at the Ordnance Survey Office, 1861), p. xxix. b, under Bertramelei, Pistelslai, Odetune, and Oxelei. 26 Analysis of Domesday. One explanation can alone be given to such facts that only the waste lands were enclosed, and the cultivated spared. The village of Totton, though close to the Forest, was not touched, although all the neighbouring hamlets were in various degrees afforested, simply because it consisted of only pasture and plough-land, whose value had increased no less than one- fourth. The hamlets of Barton literally, Bere-tun, the corn village and Chewton, where to this day is the best land in the south-west of Hampshire, were also spared ; though we find all the neighbouring villages and manors, Milton, Beckley, Bashley, Fernhill, Whitefields, Arnwood, all more or less enclosed ; the reason being, as was before said, that the Conqueror took only the waste lands and the woods. In the woods which were afforested people were allowed to live ;* though, probably, they voluntarily left them, as labour could not there be so well obtained as in the linafforested parts. f In all other respects there seems to have been no disarrange- ment. Both on the outskirts and in the heart of the Forest, the villains and borderers still worked as before, carrying on their former occupations 4 The mills at Bashley, and Milford, and Burgate, all in the Forest, went on the same. The fisheries at Holdenhurst and Dibden were undisturbed. The salterns at Eling and Hordle still continued at work, showing that the people still, as before, sowed and reaped their corn, and pas- tured and killed their cattle. * See in Domesday, as before, p. xxvii.b, the entry under Langelei "Aluric Petit tenet unam virgatam in Foresta." See, too, p. iii. b, under Edlinges. t See in Domesday, under Thuinam, Holeest, Slacham, Rinwede, p.iv.a; and Herdel, p. xxviii. b. | See in Domesday, out of many instances, Esselei and Suei, p. xxix. b ; Bailocheslei, p. xiv. b ; Wolnetune and Bedeski, p. xxviii. a ; Hentune, p. xxviii. b ; and Linhest, p. iv. a. E 2 27 The Xcic Forest : its History and if.s Scenery. Again, in other ways, Domesday still more clearly contra- dicts the Chroniclers, as to the inhabitants being driven out of their homes. Canterton was held by Chenna of Edward, and still in Domesday, in part, remains in his possession. Ulviet, the huntsman, who had rented land at Ripley under Eilward, still rents the same. His son, Cola, also a huntsman, holds land at Langley, which his father had held of Edward ; whilst his other son, Alwiu, holds land at Marchwood, which, also, his father had held. Saulf, a West- Saxon thane, who had held land at Durley of Edward, now holds it at Batramsley, and his wife at Hubborn.* Ulgar, a West-Saxon, holds the fourth of a hyde at Milford, just as he had held it of Edward ; with this difference, that it was now assessed at three-fourths of a rood, on account of the loss sustained by the woods being taken into the Forest. The sons of Godric Malf, another West- Saxon thane, hold the same lands which their father had held of Edward, at Ashley, Bisterue, Crow, and Minstead, the last property being rated at half its proper value because the woods were afforested. The Vu-st- Saxon Aluric rents property at Oxley, EfFord, and Brocken- hurst, which his father and uncle rented under Edward, and not only receives lands at Milford in exchange for some taken into the Forest, but actually buys estates at Whitefields from other We?t-Saxons.t * It is possible that whilst the survey was being taken Saulf died. If this be FO, we find an instance of feeling in allowing his widow to still lent the lands at Hubborn, which could little have been expected. The name seems to have been misspelt in various entries. See Domesday, p. xxix. b, under Sanhest and Melleford. f Aluric is probably the physician of that name mentioned in Domesday, p. xxix. a, as holding land in the hundred of Egheiete. Xot to take up further space, let me here only notice some of the Old-English names of 28 The Evidence of the District. Such facts must be stronger than any mere history compiled by writers who were not only not near the spot, but the majority of whom lived a long time after the events they venture so minutely to describe. But we have not yet exhausted the valuable evidence of Domesday. The land in the Forest district is rented at much less than in other parts of Hampshire, showing that it was therefore poorer, and not only the land, but the mills. Further and this is of great importance, as so thoroughly overthrowing the common account we find in that portion of the survey which comes under the title, " In Nova Foresta et circa earn," only two churches mentioned, one at Milford, and another at Brockenhurst, in the very heart of the Forest. Both stand to this hour, and prove plainly by their Norman work that William allowed them to remain. Such is the evidence which The Chronicle and the short examination of Domesday yield. The country itself, how- ever, still more plainly proves the bias of the Chroniclers. The slightest acquaintance with geology will show that the Forest was never fertile, as it must have been to have main- tained the population which filled so many churches.* Nearly persons in Domesday holding lands in places which had been more or less afforested, such as Godric (probably Godric Malf) at Wootton, Willac in the hundred of Egheiete, Uluric at Godshill, in the actual Forest, and Wislac at Oxley. See Domesday under the words Odetune, Godes-manes- camp, and Oxelei, p. xxix. b. See, also, under Totintone, p. xxvii. a, where Agernund and Alric hold lands which the former, and the latter's father, had held of Edward. * Passing over the later and more highly-coloured accounts, we will content ourselves with Florence of Worcester, as more trustworthy, whose words are " Antiquis enim temporibus, Edwardi scilicet Regis, et aliorum Angliae Regum predecessorum ejus, ha3c regio incolis Dei et ecclesiis 29 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. the whole of it is covered with sand, or capped with a thick bed of drift, with a surface-soil only a few inches deep, capable of naturally bearing little, except in a few places, besides heath and furze. On a geological map we can pretty accurately trace the limits of the Forest by the formation. Of course, in so large a space, there will be some spots, and some valleys, where the streams have left a richer glebe and a deeper tilth.* But the Chroniclers, by their very exaggeration, have de- feated their own purpose. There is in their narration an inconsistency, which, as we dwell upon it, becomes more appa- rent. We would simply ask, where are the ruins of any of the thirty or fifty churches, and the towns of the people who nitebat uberrime." (Thorpe's edition, as before quoted.) Were this, even in a limited degree, true, the Forest would present the strange anomaly of possessing more churches then than it does now, with a great increase of population. The Domesday census, we may add, makes the inhabitants ot that portion which is called " In Nova Foresta et circa earn," a little over two hundred. See Ellis' s Introduction to Domesday, vol. ii. p. 450. * In support of these statements, I may quote from the Prize Essay on the Farming of Hampshire, published in the Journal of the Royal Agri- cultural Society of England (vol. xxii., part ii., No. 48, 1861), and which was certainly not written with any view to historical evidence, but simply from an agricultural point. At pp. 242, 243, the author says : " The out- lying New Forest block consists of more recent and unprofitable deposits. This tract appears to the ordinary observer, at first sight, to be a mixed mass of clays, marls, sands, and gravels. The apparent confusion arises from the variety of the strata, from the confined space in which they are deposited, and from the manner in which, on the numerous hills and knolls, they overlie one another, or are concealed by drift gravel." And again, at pp. 250, 251, he continues : "Of the Burley Walk, the part to the west of Burley Beacon, and round it, is nothing but sand or clay, growing rushes, with here and there some 'bed furze.' .... The .Upper Bagshots, about Burley Beacon, round by Rhinefield and Denney Lodges, and so on towards Fawley, are hungry sands devoid of staple : " and finally sums up by saying, "half of the 63,000 acres are not worth 1*. 6d. an acre," p. 330. 30 The Evidence of the Churches. filled them ? Why, too, did not the Chroniclers mention them specifically? Why, further, if William pulled down all the churches, are the only two, at Brockenhurst and Milford, re- corded in Domesday * still standing with their contemporary workmanship ? Why, too, is Fawley church, with its Norman doorway, and pillars, and arches, formerly, as we know from another portion of Domesday, in the Forest, remaining, if all were destroyed ? And why, last of all, if the inhabitants were exterminated, was a church built at Boldre, in the very wildest part of the Forest, immediately after the afforestation, and another at Hordle ?f Had there been any buildings destroyed, all ruins of them would not have been quite effaced, even in the course of eight centuries. The country has been undisturbed. Nature has not here, as in so many places, helped man in his work of destruc- tion. They cannot, we know, have been built on, or ploughed over, or silted with sand, or choked with mud, or washed away by water. The slightest artificial bank, though ever so old, can be here instantly detected. The Keltic and West-Saxon barrows still remain. The sites of the dwellings of the Britons are still plainly visible. The Roman potteries are untouched, and their urns, though lying but a few inches under the ground, un- broken. We can only veiy fairly conclude that, had there been houses, or villages, or churches destroyed, all traces of them would not be gone, nor entirely lost in the preserving record of local names. * In that portion under " In Nova Foresta et circa earn." t Warner, vol. ii. p. 33, says Hordle Church was standing when Domes- day was made. This is a mistake. It was, however, built soon after, as we know from some grants of Baldwin de Redvers. 31 The Xcic Forest : its History and its Scenery. It has, I am aware, been urged that since the Old-English churches were chiefly built of wood, we are not likely to find any ruins. This may be so. But by no process of reasoning can the absence of a thing prove its former presence. Nor need we pay much attention to the argument drawn from such names as Castle Malwood, The Castle near Burley, Castle Hill on the banks of the Avon, Lucas Castle, and Brooniy and Thompson Castles in Ashley Walk. If these names prove any- thing, it is that there were a vast number of castles in the Forest, and very few churches. But Castle Malwood was standing long after the afforestation ; whilst the Castle at Burley, and Castle Hill, and the others, were merely earthen fortifications and entrenchments, made by the Kelts and West- Saxons. Nor must we be led away by the few Forest names ending in ton, the Old-English tun, which, after all, means more often only a few scattered homesteads than even a village, still less a town or city, in the modern sense of the word.* * Mr. Thorpe notices, in his edition of The Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 94, foot- note, its early use, in a document of Eadger's, A.D. 964, in the sense of a town; but in the first place it certainly meant only an inclosed spot. There appears to have been at some time, in the south part of the Forest, a church near Wootton, the Odetune of Domesday, where its memory is still pre- served in the name of Church Lytton given to a small plot of ground. Rose, in his notes to the Red King, suggests that Church Moor and Church Place indicate other places of worship. Church Moor is a very unlikely situation, being a large and deep morass-, and could well, from its situation, have been nothing else, and, in all probability, takes its name, in quite modern tunes, from some person. But Church Place at Sloden, like Church Green in Eyeworth Wood, is certainly merely the embankments near which the Romano-British population employed in the Roman potteries, once lived, and which ignorance and superstition have turned into sacred ground. The word Lytton, at Wootton, however, makes the former position certain, 32 The Evidence of Local Names. If, however, we look at the district from another point of view, we shall find further evidence against the Chroniclers. It was a part of the Natan Leaga * a name still preserved in the various Netleys, Nateleys, and Nutleys, which remain the Ytene of the British, that is, the furzy district, a title eminently characteristic of the soil.f Again, too, the villages and manors, such as Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Ashurst, and half a dozen more hursts, point to the woody nature of the place. Such names, also, as Roydon, the rough ground ; Bramshaw, the bramble wood ; Denny, the furzy ground ; Wootton, the Ode- tune of Domesday ; Stockeyford and Stockleigh, the woody place ; Ashley, the ash ground ; besides Staneswood, Arnwood > and Testwood, all more or less afforested in Domesday, clearly show its character. but by no means necessitates that the church was standing at the afforesta- tion. Thus we know that in Leland's time a chapel was in existence at Fritham (Itinerary, ed. Hearne, vol. vi. f. 100, p. 88), which has since his day disappeared. It would, of course, be absurd to argue that all ruins which have been, or yet may be found, were caused by the Conqueror. Rose's Red King was privately printed, and I know the book only through Ellis's Introduction to Domesday (vol. i. p. 108), and a notice of it in the Edinburgh Review (Jan., 1809, vol. xiii. pp. 425, 426); but it is amusing to see certain recent writers trying to prove William's devastion because the remains of brick have been discovered. This certainly shows that long since the Conqueror's time the people have endeavoured, with very ill- success, to live on the barren soil of the Forest. I may, perhaps, add that Mr. Akerman, the well-known archaeologist, when, a few years since, exploring the Roman potteries in the Forest (for which see chapter xvii.), in vain tried there, or in other parts, to find any traces of old buildings. (Archceologia, vol. xxxv. p. 97.) * See Dr. Guest's Early English Settlements in South Britain ; Proceed- ings of the Archaeological Institute, Salisbury volume, p. 57. f "Nova Foresta, quse lingua Anglorum Ytene nuncupatur," however, says Florence of Worcester (vol. ii. pp. 44, 45, ed. Thorpe) ; but the Keltic origin of the word is better. F -33 Tin' New Forest: its Ilixtarii ami it* After all, the best evidence is not from such arguments, but in the simple fact that the New Forest remains still the New Forest. Had the land been in any way profit- able, modern skill, and capital, and enterprise, would have certainly been attracted. But its charms lie not, and never did, in the richness of its soil, but in its deep woods and wild moors.* Our view of the matter, then, is that William, like all Normans, loving the chase loving, too, the red deer, as the Old-English- Chronicler, with a sneer, remarks, as if he w;is their own father converted what was before a half- wooded tract, a great part of which was his own as demesne, and the whole as prerogative, into a Royal Forest, giving it the name of the New Forest, in contradistinction to its former title of Yteue. To have laid waste a highly-cultivated district for the purposes of the chase, as the Chroniclers wish us to believe, would have defeated his chief object, as there would have been no shelter then, nor for many years to come, for the deer : and is contradicted, as we have seen, both by Domesday, by the very nature of the soil, and the names of the places. The real truth is, that the stories, which fill our histories, of William devasting the country, burning the houses, mur- dering the people, have arisen from a totally wrong conception of an ancient forest. Until this confusion of an old forest with our modern ideas is removed, we can have no clear notions * The names of the fields in the various farms adjoining the Forest Furzy Close, Htathy Close, Cold Croft, Starvesall, Hungry Hill, Rough Pastures, &c. &c. are not without meaning. The common Forest proverb of " lark's-lees," applied to the soil, pretty clearly, too, shows its quality. 84 Social Life in the Old Forests. on the subject. Without at all leaning on the etymology which has been before given,* we must remember that an ancient forest did not simply mean a space thickly covered with trees, but also wild open ground, and lawns and glades.f The word hurst, which, as we have seen, is so common a termination throughout the district, means a wood which produces fodder for cattle, answering to the Old High-German spreidach.$ The old forests possessed, if not a large, some scattered population. For them a special code of laws was made, or rather gradually developed itself. Canute himself appointed various officers Primarii, our Verderers ; Lespegend, our Eegarders ; and Tinemen, our Keepers. The offences of hunting, wounding, or killing a deer, striking a verderer or regarder, cutting vert, are all minutely specified in his Forest Law, and punished, according to rank and other circumstances, with different degrees of severity. The Court of Swanimote was, in a sense, counterpart to the Courts of Folkemote and Portemote in towns. A forest was, in fact, a kingdom within a kingdom, with certain, well-defined laws, suited to its requirements, and differing from the common law of the land. The inhabitants had regular occupations, * See chapter ii. p. 10, footnote. There are a number of derivations given for the word, but none are satisfactory. f Manwood dtfims a forest -i a certaine territorie of woody grounds and fruitful pastures." A Treatise of the Lan-es of the Forest, London, 1619. Chap. i. f. 18. J See Mr. Davies's paper on the Eaces of Lancashire, Transactions of the Philological Society, 18oo, p. 258. In Domesday, as before, under Cla- tinges, p. xviii. a, we find, " Silva inutilis," that is, a wood, I should suppose, which has no beech, oak, ash, nor holly, but only yews or tliorns. Again under Borgate, p. iv. b, we find, " 1'astura qua) reddebat xl. porcos est in forest a Kegis." The woods, as before mentioned, at pp. 11, 12, foot-note, are always, in Domesday, rated by the number of swine they maintain. See Mamvood, as before, ff. !-.">. K 2 -r. The Xt'ic Forrxt .- its History and its enjoyed, too, rights of pasturing cattle, feeding swine, and cutting timber.* All this, as we have seen, went on as before, not so much, but still the same, in the New Forest. Manors, too, with the exception of being subject to Forest Law, remained * In the Charta de Forests of Canute (Manwood, f. 3, sect. -27) mention is made in the forests of horses, cows, and wild goats which are all protected ; and from sect. 28 it is plain that, under certain limitations, people might cut fuel. These, with other privileges, such as killing game on their own lands (see sect. xxx. f. 4) for, by theory, all game was the King's were compensations given to the forester for being subject to Forest Law. Further, from the Chart i de Foresta of Henry III. (M-mwood, 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 nvlls on the forest streams, sink wells, and dig marl-pits, referring, most probably, in the last case, to the Xew 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 Foresta of Henry m. was entirely a series of new privileges. They were, with some notable excep- tions, simply those rights which had been received from the earliest times in compensation for some of the hardships of the Forest Laws, and which bad 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 Foresta of Canute, a tole- rably correct picture of an ancient forest that it consisted not merely of The Chroniclers refuted by Themselves. in the heart of it unmolested. According to the Chroniclers themselves, some rustics living on the spot convey, with a horse and cart, the bleeding body of Rufus to Winchester. According to them* also the King, previous to his death, feasted, with his retinue of servants, and huntsmen, and priests, and guests, at Castle Malwood, implying some means in the neighbourhood to furnish, if not the luxuries, the necessities of life. In Domesday we find, too, a keeper of the king's house holding the mill at Efford ; also implying, at least, in a very different part of the Forest, a neighbourhood which could not have been quite desti- tute and deserted. f At a later period, when the Forest Laws had reached their climax of oppression, persons in the Forest, as we learn from Blount and the Testa de Nevill, hold their lands at Brockenhurst and Eyeworth,| by finding provisions for the king and fodder for his horse. But more than all, Domesday, corroborated as it is by the physical peculiarities of the country, by the evidence, too, of local names, by the Norman doorways, and pillars and arches at Fawley, and Brockenhurst and Milford, proves most distinctly and most distinctly because so circumstantially that the district was neither devastated, nor the houses burnt, nor the churches destroyed, nor the people murdered. Some wrong, though, was doubtless committed : some hard- ships undergone. Lands, however useless, cannot be afforested 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 indus- trious, population. * See chapter ix. f See Domesday, as before, p. xxix. b., under Einforde. J See chapters vii. and x. 37 The New Forest : its Histori/ and it* ,SVr/r;/. without the feelings of the neighbourhood being outraged. And the story, gathering strength in proportion as the Conqueror and his son William the Red were hated by the conquered, at last assumed the tragical form which the Chroniclers havo handed down to us, and modern historians repeated. William's cruelty, however, lay not certainly in afforesting the district : it consisted rather in the systematic way in which he strove to reduce the English into abject slavery ; in the fresh tortures with which he loaded the Danish Forest Laws ; and in making it far better to kill a man than a deer. For these exactions was it that his family paid the penalty of their lives ; and the retribution befel them there, where the super- stitious West- Saxon would, above all others, have marked out as the spot fitted for their deaths. The True History of a Forest. CHAPTER IV, ITS LATER HISTORY. ".:iliaf'ord E. Wcod. WE need not dwell so long upon this as the former portion of the History, for in many cases it is nothing but a bare recital of perambulations and Acts of Parliament. The true history of 39 The Xcw Forest : Its History and its Scenery. a forest is rather an account of its trees and its flowers and birds, than an historical narrative. Yet even here there are some important facts connected with the nation's life, and illus- trating the character of its kings. We meet with no perambulation of the New Forest until the eighth year of Edward I. the second ever made of an English forest and, by comparing it with Domesday, we may see how, since the Conqueror's time, the Forest had gradually - taken the natural limits of the country the Avon and the Southampton Water bounding it on the east and west, and the sea on the south, and the chalk of Wiltshire on the north.* The next perambulation in the twenty-ninth year of the same realm is more noticeable,! as it disafforests so much. It is the same perambulation which we find made in the twenty-second * The following translation is made from the original in the Record Office. Southt Plita Foreste, A viii. E. I. mi " The metes and boundaries of the Xew Forest from the first time it was afforested. First, from Hude- burwe to Folkewell ; thence to the Redechowe ; thence to the Bredewelle ; thence to Brodenok ; thence to the Chertihowe ; thence to the Brygge ; thence to Burnford ; thence to Kademannesforde ; thence to Selney Water ; thence to Orebrugge ; thence to the Wade as the water runs ; thence to the Eldeburwe ; thence to Meche ; thence to Redebrugge as the bank of the Terste runs ; thence to Kalkesore as the sea runs ; thence to the Hurst, along the sea-shore ; thence to Christ Church Bridge as the sea flows ; thence as the Avene extends, as far as the bridge of Forthingebrugge ; thence as the Avene flows to Moletone; thence as the Ayene flows to Xorthchardeford and Sechemle ; and so in length by a ditch, which stretches to Herdeberwe." It is this old natural boundary which, as stated in the pieface, we have adopted for the limits of the book. A copy of the original may be found in the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xliy., appendix, p. 574, 1789. f This may also be found, with the perambulation made in the twenty- second year of Charles II., in the Journal of the House of Commons, vol. xliv., appendix, pp. 574, 575, 1789. It is also given in Lewis's Histo- rical Enquiries upon the New Forest, appendix ii. pp. 174-177. 40 The Second Perambulation. year of Charles II., and nominally the same which is followed to this clay. To understand the cause of the difference in these perambu- lations, we must, in fact, thoroughly understand the great move- ments which had heen going on during the previous years, and the increasing power of the nobles and the people. From Henry III. had been wrung the Charta de Foresta, the terms of which had been settled before John's death. Still, little, or scarcely anything, was put into practical effect. In 1297, however, the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk not only refused to accompany Edward I. to Flanders, but, upon their suspension from their offices, issued a proclamation, complaining that the two Charters of the liberties of the people were not observed. On the 10th of October, a Parliament was assembled, and his son passed the " Confirmatio Cartarum," to which Edward, now at Ghent, assented. Still the two earls, from various causes, were not satisfied ; and in 1298 demanded that the perambu- lations of the different Forests should be made. In consequence, during the summer of the next year, the King issued writs to the sheriffs, promising that the commissioners should meet about Michaelmas at Northampton.* This was done : and the perambulation of the New Forest was carried out in strict accordance with the provisions of the Charta de Foresta, for the jurors who were employed expressly state that the bounds which they have determined were those * This is not the place to say more on this most important chapter of English history. See, however, on the subject, The Grca f Charter: and the Charter of the Forest, by Blackstone, Introduction, pp. Ix.-lxxii. 17.39. For the oppressions which still existed under the shelter of the Forest Laws, see the preamble to the "Ordinatio Foreste," 34th Edward I., Statutes of the Realm, vol. i. p. 147. G 41 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. of the Forest before the reign of Henry II. ; and that all those places mentioned in the perambulation of 1279 and now omitted, were afforested by his successors, though they cannot say to what extent or by whom.* Most probably it had been reserved for John to show here, as in other cases, to what absolute madness selfishness will cany a man. After this, nothing, with one exception, of any general importance occurs.f Having in his prosperity incurred all the odium of attempting to revive the hated Forest Laws, in his adversity Charles I. granted as security the New Forest, and Sherwood, and other Crown lands to his creditors.^ He had * " Quid et quantum temporibus cujuslibet regis nullo modo eis constare potest." The conclusion of the perambulation. Some little difficulty attends these perambulations. From Domesday, it is certain that the Conqueror afforested land on the west of the Avon at Holdenhurst, Breamore, and Ilarbridge. And amongst the MSS. of Lincoln's Inn Library we find a copy of a charter of William of Scotland, dated, curiously enough, " Hindhop Burnemuth, in mea Nova Forest a, 10 Kal. Junii, 1171." (See Hunter's '' Three Catalogues" &c., p. 278, No. 78, 1838.) It would seem, from what Edward's commissioners say, that these afforestations, which had taken place since Henry II.'s time, were all made inside the actual boundaries of the Forest. It has been generally supposed that the perambulation in the eighth year of Edward I. was the first ever made of an English forest. This is not the case ; for in the Record Office, in the Plita Foreste de Com. Southt. LHI tio R. H. III., No. III., may be found the perambulation of a forest in the north of Hampshire. f For a good account of all details connected with the history of the New Forest, see the Sub-Report by the Secretary of the Royal New and Waltham Forest Commission, Reports from Commissioners (11), vol. xxx. pp. 267-309, 1850 ; and also the Fifth Report of the Land Revenue Com- missioners in 1789, published July 24th of that year, to be found also in the Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xliv. pp. 552-571. \ See "The humble petition of Richard Spencer, Esq., Sir Gervas Clifton, Knight and Baronet, and others, to enter upon the New Forest and Sherwood Forest," &c. &c. Record Office, Domestic Series, Charles II., No. 8. f. 26, July 21st, IGfiO. 4-2 Under the Stuarts. still learnt no lesson from the Ship-money, and would have pawned England itself, rather than yield to that obstinacy, which was but the other side of his weakness of character. With the decline of hawking and hunting, the Forest Laws fell into decay, and the Forests themselves were less regarded, and their boundaries less strictly observed. Under the Stuarts, we find the first traces of that system, which at last resulted in the almost entire devastation of the New Forest. James I. granted no less than twenty assart lands agri ex-sariti there having been previously only three ; * and gave the privilege of windfalls to various persons ; f whilst officers actually applied to him for trees in lieu of pay for their troops :| and Charles II. bestowed the young woods of Brockenhurst to the maids of honour of his court. * MSS. prepared by Mr. Record-Keeper Fearnside, quoted in the Secre- tary's Sub-Report of the Royal New and Walt ham Forest Commission, Reports from Commissioners (11), vol. xxx. p. 342. | See Grant Book at the Record Office, 3613, vol. 141, p. 127 "4th October, a Grant to Richard Kilborne, alias Hunt, and Thomas Tilsby (of) the benefitt of all Morefallswithinthe New Forest, for the terme of one and twenty years." J See "The humble petition of Captayne Walter Neale" for "two thousand decayed trees out of the New Forest, in consideracion" of 460Z.> which he had advanced to his company engaged in Count Mansfeldt's expedition. Record Office. Domestic Series, No. 184, Feb., 1625, f. 62. See warrant from Charles II. to tlie Lord Treasurer Southampton, that "Winefred Wells may take and receive for her own use" King's Coppice at Fawley, and New Coppice and Iron's Hill Coppice at Brocken- hurst. Record Office. Domestic Series, No. 96, April 1st, 1664, f. 16. Three years before this there had been a petition from a Frances Wells " to bestowe upon her and her children for twenty-one yeares the Moorefall trees in three walks in the New Forest, .... and seven or eight acres of ground, and ten or twelve timber trees, to build a habitation." The petition was referred to Southampton, who wrote on the margin, " I conceive this G 2 43 Tin' Xfir l-'i '/']/< X, /r r<>n'st : it* ffistnrii 4. Fhrrurt'. Kd. Th<>rpi> Vol. i. pp. :l 4 Calshot, the Ccrdices-ora of the " Chronicle." ora, and on the same day defeated the natives. No site has given rise to so much discussion as this Cerdices-ora. Mr. Thorpe in one place says it is not known, whilst in another, by an evident oversight, he fixes upon Charford.* Dr. Guest places it at the mouth of the river Itchen,f whilst Mr. Pearson and others have identified it with Yarmouth.^ Now, I think there can he little doubt, looking both at the etymology of the name and the situation, that Calshot is the true place. The land here runs out into the sea with no less than ten fathoms of water close to it, so that large vessels can to this day lie along- side the Castle. It is the first part, too, of the mainland which can be reached, and on its lee side offers a safe anchorage. Besides, about four miles off stand some barrows, which, though we may not be able to identify them as covering those slain in the first battle which the West-Saxons fought, offer some presumption in favour of that theory. In the very word Calshot, and its intermediate forms of Caushot, Caldshore, and * Compare his edition of The Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 13, with note 1 at p. 4, vol. i., of Florence. f Early English Settlements in Great Britain The Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute, the* Salisbury volume, pp. 56-60. It is, of course, not without much consideration that I presume to differ from Dr. Guest ; but surely the passages quoted from Bede refer to nearly 200 years after the arrival of Cerdic and his nephews, Stuf and Wihtgar, when their descendants would have been sure to have crossed over, finding the east side far richer than the cold, barren district where the New Forest after- wards stood. J The Early and Middle Ages of England, p. 56, foot-note. I may, perhaps, add, that Camden also placed it at Yarmouth ; Carte, at Charmouth, in Dorsetshire ; and Milner, at Ilengistbury Head. Gibson, with some others, in his edition of The Chronicle (under nominum locorum explicatio, pp. 19, 20), alone seems to have fixed on this spot. Lappenburg, however, says that the site is no longer known. England under the Anglo-Saxon Kinff.i. Ed. Thorpe, p. 107. 53 The New Forest : its History and its Scene n/. Cauldshore,* we may, without difficulty, recognize a corruption of the original Cerdices-ora of the Chronicle and Florence. The word is formed like the names of various places close by, such as Needsore (the under-shore) and Stansore Point.f But going farther back, we come much nearer to its original form in the old Forest perambulation made in the eighth year of Edward I., where it is spelt Kalkesore. | As then, Charford, on the north-east borders of the New Forest, is the represen- tative of Cerdices-ford, where Cerdic's last victory was gained over Ambrosius ; so here, I think, at the south-west, near Kal- kesore, now Calshot, was his first achieved. From this point the scenery completely changes. Instead of lanes and cultivated fields, the shingly beach of the Solent, covered in places to the water's edge with woods, sweeps away to * In a letter of Southampton's to Cromwell, 17th September, 1539 {State Papers, vol. i. p. 617), it is called Calsherdes ; whilst in another letter of his, also to Cromwell (Ellis's Letters, second series, vol. ii. p. 87), he writes Calshorispoynte. Leland, in his Itinerary (Ed. Hearne, second edition, vol. iii., p. 94, f. 78), speaks of both " Cauldshore " and " Caldshore Castelle;" and again (p. 93, f. 77), calls it Cawshot, as it is also spelt in Baptista Boazio's Map of the Isle of Wight, 1591; whilst in the State papers of Elizabeth we find Calshord. (Record Office. Domestic Series, Xo. 43, f. 52. Aug. 27th, 1567.) I give these examples to show the number of variations through which the name has passed. No form is too grotesque for a corruption to assume. How names become cor- rupted, let me give an example in the word Hagthorneslad (from the Old-English "haga)>orn," a hawthorn), as it is written in the perambula- tion of the Forest in the twenty-ninth year of Edward I, which in Charles II.'s time is spelt Haythorneslade, thus losing its whole signifi- cance, although to this day the word " hag " is used in the Forest for a " haw," or " berry." f The simple termination " ore " " ora," and not " oar," as spelt in the Ordnance Map, may be found within a stone's throw of Calshot, in Ore Creek. J, See previously, chapter iv. p. 40, foot-note. 54 The View near Eaf/le-Hurst. the west. Passing on to Eagle-hurst, and noticing the truth of the termination even to this day, let us sit down on the shore. Here is a view which should be remembered. In one sense the world cannot show its equal. Far away to the east stretches the low Hampshire coast, ended by the harbour of Portsmouth and its bare forest of masts. To the south, towards Spithead, rides the long line of battle-ships ; and round the harbours of the two Cowes sail fleets of yachts, showing how much still of the old Scandinavian blood runs in our veins of the spirit which finds pleasure in adventure and delight in danger. Steamers, with their black pennants of smoke, hurry down the narrow strait, carrying the news or the merchandise of the world ; whilst all is overshadowed by supreme natural beauty, the hills of the Isle of Wight standing boldly up, crested with their soft green downs, and their dark purple shadows resting fold over fold on the valley sides. Still continuing along the shore we reach Leap, a small fishing village, where boats ply across from its hard to the Island. Its name is derived from the Old-English leap, a weel, or basket for catching fish. Here, it is said, but I know not on what authority save that worst tradition, that the Dauphin, afterwards Louis VIII. of France, embarked after the defeat of his army at Lincoln, and his fleet off Dover. Certain it is that he had adherents to his cause in the neighbourhood, especially in William de Vernon, whose arms were formerly blazoned with his own in the east window of the north aisle of the Forest Church of Boldre.* * At the date of the Dauphin's leaving England, William de Vernon was dead, which makes his embarkation at Leap less probable. Neither Roger of Wendover (vol. iv. p. 32. Ed. Coxe), nor Walter Hemingburgh (vol. i. p. 259. Ed. Hamilton), nor Ralph Coggeshale (Chronicon Angli- 55 \>'ir Forest : its History j]v Ss "\KTIV icard yap rag a/iTrwra? avafypcuvonivov rov fitra^v TOTTOV raig a^ia^aiQ tiQ ra.vrr\v KopZovai a^i\rj TOV Kanirtpov. iSiov e TI ffvfif3aivti TTtpi TCLQ irXrjrriov vr) England by the Romans. K 2 07 Tin' Xi'/r Fun-xt : /Vs lliatin-if xml /'/x its lack of orientation.* In 1746 it was repaired, and its original roof lowered, and its fine triplet at the south end spoilt by a buttress, and one of the lancets lighting the wall-passage on the west side also blocked up. Its walls, however, are now covered with common spleenwort, and wall-lettuce, and pellitory, whilst the narrow-leaved rue the " herb o' grace o' Sundays " -with which the old churchyards used to be sown, shows its pale bine blossoms amongst the gravestones. Inside it is still more in- teresting. Here still stands the lovely stone pulpit, its panels rich with flower- tracery, approached by a wall- passage and open arcade springing from double rows of black Purbeck marble pil- lars. This was the old rostrum of the monks, where one of the brethren read to the rest at their meals ; so that, as St. Augustine says, their mouths should not only taste, but their ears also drink in the Word of God. Here, in this very village church, the old Cistercian monks obeyed Pulpit of the F. the injunction which the * In Brit. Mus., llarl. MS. 89:?, f. 406, is an extract from a most interesting letter \vritttn in 1C48, describing the state of the refectory, which seems, with the exception of the alterations made in 1746, to have been much the same as at present. 68 St. IjConftrtV* (iraiir/c. Bishop of Hippo gives to the canons of his own order, " When we enter, let us bare our heads, and going to our seats bend before the cross. Let us not behave idly, lest we give offence to any one. Let not our eyes wander, lest we give occasion for bickering, or quarrelling, or laughing ; but fulfil- ling the saying of the blessed Hugh of Lincoln, ' let us keep our eyes upon the table, our ears with the reader, and our hearts with God.'"* In the churchyard, plainly traceable by the ruined founda- tions, and mounds, and depressions, are the sites of the lavatory and kitchens, whilst in the fields beyond lie the fish-ponds. Everywhere, in fact, are seen the traces of the monks. Their walks still remain by the side of the Exe, overgrown with oaks, bright in the spring with blue and crimson lungwort, and sweet with violets, such as grew when Anne Beauchamp sought refuge here that dismal Easter day. Not only do the Abbey grounds, f but the whole district, show the size of the monastery. Going out of Beaulieu, upon the road to Bucklershard, we come upon the ox-farm of the monks, still called Bouvery, and still famous for its grazing laud. A little farther, about the centre of their various farm- steads, at St. Leonard's, better known now as the Abbey Walls, stands part of the large barn, or spicarmm, of the monastery, such as still remains in other parts of England at Cerne Abbey, and Abbotsbury, and Sherborne, and Battle Abbey 4 A modern * Quoted from Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, by Warner, vol. i. p. 249. f It is pleasant to have to add that the present noble owner, the Duke of Buccleuch, has shown not only good taste and judgment in the restora- tion of the dormitory and the excavation of the church, but a wise liberality in throwing the grounds open to the public. J In Parker's Glossary of ArMtccbtre is given a list of some of these old barns. Vol. i. pp. 240, 241. 69 Tin- AV/r /'';vx/ ; it.it Ilixtori/ tint] its barn now stands within it, partly formed by its walls, but its original size is well shown by the lofty eastern gable, locally called the Pinnacle, which, covered with ivy, overhangs the road. Close to the old farm-house, built from its ruins, stands a small roofless Decorated Chapel. The west window, and the arch of The Chapel of St Leonard the west doorway, still remain, and at the same end still project the corbels which supported the gallery. In the east wall are canopied niches, under which stood figures ; and on the south The Chapel at -Park Grrt/. spreads the gloorn of a yew, which, from the Conqueror's day. to this hour, has darkened the graves of generations.* But the charm of Brockeuhurst, as of all the Forest villages, consists in the Forest itself. To the north runs the small Forest stream, blossomed over in the summer with water-lilies. On the left lies Black Knoll, with its waste of heath and gorse, running up to the young plantations of New Park. On the right, Balmor Lawn, with its short, sweet turf, where herds of cattle are pasturing, stretches away to Holland's Wood, with old thorns scattered here and there, in the spring lighting up the Forest with their white may. Just now though, it is the southern part of the Forest wo must see. So going back again for a little way upon the Beaulieu Road, and leaving it just above the foot-bridge for Wliitley Lodge, let the reader go on to Lady Cross. Suddenly he will come out upon the northern edge of Beaulieu Heath, and see again the Island Hills. To the people in the Forest, the Island is their weather-glass. If its hills look dark blue and purple, then the weather will be fine ; but if they can see the houses and the chalk quarries on the hill sides, the rain is sure to come. Keeping straight on, with Lady Cross Lodge to our left, we enter Frame Wood, with its turf and its bridle roads winding * The following measurements may have some interest, and can be compared with those of the oaks and beeches in the Forest, given in ch'ip. ii. p. 16, foot-note : Circumference of the oak. twenty-two feet eight inches. Yew, seventeen feet. An enormous yew, completely hollow, how- ever, stands in Breamore churchyard, meauting twenty-three feet four inches. There are certainly no yews in the Forest so large as these ; an'l their evidence would further show that at all events the Conqueror did not destroy the churchyards. As here, too, there remains some Norman work in the doorway of Breamore church. Bold re Church. under the Forest boughs. Down in the bottom runs the railroad bending away to the north. On the other side, the thick woods of Denny rise ; and the clump of solitary beeches on the top of the knoll shows the last remains of Wood Fidley, so well known as having given rise to the Forest proverb of " Wood Fidley rain," that is, rain which lasts all the day. Here you can wander on for miles, as far as the manor of Bishop's Ditch, belonging to Winchester College, which the Forest peasant will tell you was a grant of land as much as the Bishop of Winchester could in a day crawl round on his hands and knees. As to losing yourself, never mind. The real plan to enjoy the Forest is to wander on, careless whether you lose yourself or not. In fact, I believe the real method is to try and lose yourself, finding your greatest pleasure in the unexpected scenes of beauty into which you are led. There are plenty of other Forest rambles round Brockenhurst which must not be forgotten. Just at the western edge of Beaulieu Heath, about three miles off, stands Boldre Church, with its solitary churchyard surrounded by trees. On one side, it looks out upon the bare Forest ; and on the other, down into the cultivated valley. Most suggestful, most peaceful is this twofold prospect, telling us alike both of work and com- panionship, as, too, of solitude, all of them, in religion, so needful for man. Its tower stands boldly out, almost away from the church, just between the nave and the chancel, serving formerly, like Brockenhurst steeple, as a landmark to the Forest ; whilst the long outline of the nave is broken only by the south porch, and its three dormer windows. Close to the north side, under the shadow of a maple, lies one of the truest lovers of Nature Gilpin, the author of the Scenery of the New Forest, with a quaint, simple inscription on his gravestone 79 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. written by himself. In the church are tablets both to him and Bromfield, the botanist, a man like him in many ways, but who, dying abroad, was not allowed to rest beside him in this quiet graveyard. Here, too, Southey married his second wife, Caroline Bowles. The south aisle is the oldest part, with its three Norman arches rising from square piers, whilst the north aisle is divided from the nave by a row of Early-English arches springing from plain black Purbeck marble shafts. In the east window of this aisle were once painted the arms of the Dauphin of France -the fleurs de lis blazoned, as they were formerly, over the whole field, telling us the story of Lewis having been invited to England and crowned king by John's barons, and whose traditional flight at Leap has been mentioned. Down below, in the valley of the Brockenhurst "Water, lies Boldre, the Bovre of Domesday, with its meadows and corn- fields. It is worth while to pause for a moment, and notice the corruption of Boldre into Bovre by the Norman clerks. The word is from the Keltic, and signifies the full stream (" y Byldwr "), and has nothing to do with oxen. We must, too, bear in mind that the various Oxenfords and Oxfords are themselves corruptions, and really come not from oxen at all, but Usk, literally meaning the stream-ford or stream-road, and are in no way connected with the various Old-English Rodfords to be found in different parts of the kingdom. This corruption of language we see daily going on in our own Colonies, but it is well to pause and remember that the same process has taken place in our own country. Passing over the bridge, and up the village, and under the railway arch, we once more reach the Forest at Shirley Holms, coming out on Shirley and Sway Commons. Here again, as on 80 Hincltelsea. Beaulieu Heath, there is not a single tree, nothing but one vast stretch of heather, which late in the summer covers the ground with its crimson and amethyst. There is only one fault to be found with it, that when its glory is past it leaves so great a blank behind : its grey withered flowers and its grey scanty foliage forming such a contrast with its previous bright- ness and cheerfulness. But these two commons will at all times be interesting to the archseologist and historian. On the north-east side lies the Boydon, that is, the rough ground, a word which we find in other parts of the Forest ; and not far from it is Lichmore or Latchmore Pond the place of corpses which is confirmed by the various adjoining barrows.* After this point, there is nothing to attract the traveller, unless he is a botanist, to the south. Wootton, and Wilverley, and Setthorns, and Holmsley, are all young plantations, whilst at Wootton the Forest now entirely ceases, though once stretch- ing five miles farther, as far as the sea. So let him make his way to Longslade, or Hinchelsea Bottom, as it is indifferently called, where about the middle of June blossoms the lesser bladderwort (Utricularia minor), and about the same time, or rather later, the floating bur-reed (Sparganeum natans). Above, rises Hinchelsea Knoll, with its old hollies and beeches ; and still farther to the north the high lands round Lyndhurst and Stony Cross crowned with woods. Westward, the heather stretches over plain and hill till it reaches Burley. Making right through Hinchelsea, and then skirting the north side of Wilverley plantations, we shall come to the valley of Holmsley, so beloved by Scott, and which put him * For some account of these harrows, see chapter xvii. M 81 The New Forest: /Vx I[i*t<>rii ninl its Scenery. in mind of his native moors, without seeing which once a year, he so pathetically said, he felt as if he should die. Its wild beauty, however, is in a great measure spoilt by the railroad, and the large tress which grew in Scott's time have all been felled. Burley itself, which now lies just before us, is one of the most primitive of Forest hamlets, the village suddenly losing itself amongst the holms and hollies, and then reforming itself again in some open space. So thoroughly a Forest village, it is proverbially said to be dependent upon the yearly crop of acorns and mast, or " akerrnast," as they are collectively called. To the south-west stands Burley Beacon, where some entrenchments are still visible, and the fields lying round it are still called " Greater " and " Lesser Castle Fields," and "Barrows," and " Coffins," showing that the whole district has once been one vast battle-field. Close to the village are the Burley quarries, where the so-called Burley rock, a mere conglomerate of gravel, the " ferrels," or " verrels," of North Hampshire, is dug, and formerly used for the foundations of the old Forest churches, as at Brockenhurst, and Minestead, and Sopley, in the Vale of the Avon. The great woods round Burley have all been cut, except a few beech- woods, but here and there " merry orchards " mingle themselves with the holms and hollies, wandering, half-wild, amongst the Forest.* Turning away from the village, and going north-east, before us rise great woods Old Burley, with its yews and oaks, where the raven used to build ; Vinney Ridge, with its heronry * The word is from the French merise. At Wood Green, in the northern part of the Forest, a "merry fair" of these half- wild cherries is held once a week during the season, probably similar to that of which Gower sung. 82 Mark Ash, Knyghtwood, and the Queen's Bower. at one extremity, and the Eagle Tree at the other; whilst behind us are the young Burley plantations. Here, near the Lodge, scattered in some fields, stand the remains of the " Twelve Apostles," once enormous oaks, reduced both in number and size, with " Boughs moss'd with age, And high tops bald with dry antiquity." And now, if the reader does not mind the swamps and if he really wishes to know the Forest, to see its best scenes, it is useless to mind them let him make his way across to Mark Ash, the finest beechwood in the Forest, which even on a summer's day is dark at noon. Thence the wood-cutter's track will take him by Barrow's Moor and Knyghtwood, where grows the well-known oak. Here a different scene opens out with broad spaces of heath and fern, where the gladiolus shows its red blossoms among the green leaves of the brake ; whilst on the hill, distinguished by its poplars, stands Rhinefield, with its nursery, and, below, the two woods of Birchen Hat, where the common buzzard yearly breeds. Keeping along the main road, which is just before us, nearly as far as the New Forest Gate, we will turn in at Liney Hill Wood, going through those of Brinken, and the Queen's Mead, and the Queen's Bower, following the course of the stream. Very beautiful is this walk, with its paths which stray down to the water's edge, where the cattle come to drink ; the stream pausing round some oak roots, which pleach the banks, linger- ing in the darkness of the shade, and at last going away with reluctance. Few things, of their sort, can equal these lowland Forest streams, the water tinged with the iron of the district, flashing M 2 83 The New Forest : its History and its Sceneri/. into amber in the sunlight, and deepening into rich browns in the shade, making the pebbles hazel as it ripples over them. All the way along grow oaks and beeches, each guarded with its green fence of kueeholm, and furred with moss, which the setting sun paints with bands of light. And so, in turn, passing Burley and Ehinefield Fords, and Cammel Green, and the Buckpen, where the deer used to be fed in winter, the path suddenly comes out by a lonely grass-field, known as the Queen's Mead, and immediately after enters the Queen's Bower Wood. At the farther end, a bridge crosses the brook by the side of one of the many Boldrefords in the Forest; and in the distance, across Black Knoll, shine the white houses of Brockenlmrst. View in the Queen's Bower Wood. Road from Brockeiikurst to Lyndhurst. CHAPTER VIII. THE CENTRAL PART LYNDHURST. The Great Huntiey "Woods. As we leave Brockenhurst we find ourselves more and more in the Forest. The road to Lyndhurst is one long avenue of trees beeches with their smooth trunks, oaks growing in groups, with here and there long lawns stretching far away 85 \i'/r /Im-.s' : it* /lixtory and itx into distant woods. Most beautiful is this road in the spring. Stand on the top of Clay Hill, about the beginning or end of May, and you shall see wood after wood, masses of colour, the birches hung with the softest green, and the oak boughs break- ing into amber and olive, made doubly bright by the dark gloom of firs, the blackthorn giving place to the sweeter may, and the marigold on the stream to the brighter lily. On our left lies New Park, now turned into a farm, where in 1670 Charles II. kept a herd of red deer, brought from France, but previously used as a pound for stray cattle. Passing on by a roadside inn with the strange sign of the " Crown and Stirrup," referring to a pseudo-relic of Rufus's, preserved at the King's House, but which is nothing more than a stirrup-iron of the sixteenth century, we reach Lyndhurst the lime wood,* the capital of the Forest, the Linhest of Domesday. William the Conqueror himself held the place, which was once dependent on the royal manor of Amesbury. Here, after * An objection, that the lime-tree was not known so early in England, has been taken to this derivation. This is certainly a mistake. In that fine song of the Battle of Brunanburh, we find " Bordweal clufair Heowan heajjolinde* Ilamora lafan." (The Chronicle. Ed. Thorpe. Vol. i. p. 200.) 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. 86 The Church. the afforestation, Herbert the Forester held one yardland, and only two borderers lived, the rest of the land, which was only two hydes, being thrown into the Forest.* Here, also, as at Brockenhurst, was another of those strange tenures; for, in the time of Edward I., William-le-Moyne held probably these same two hydes of land, which had been disafforested, by the sergeantiy of keeping the door of the King's larder.f In the village stands the King's House, built in Charles IL's time, and adjoining it is the Hall where the Courts of Attach- ment, or Woodmote, the last remnant of the terrible old Forest Laws, are regularly held by the verderers, to try all cases of stealing fern and timber. Close by is the new, half-finished, church, standing in the old churchyard made famous by Mr. Kingsley's ballad. It is not fair at present to pass a final judgment. When the tower is added, and time shall have touched the walls with a soberer tone, its two great defects will have disappeared, though nothing can remedy the heavy and poverty-stricken window of the north transept with its flattened mullions, and a wretched chimney near the choir utterly spoiling the effect of the beautiful chancel windows. * The entry in Domesday (facsimile of the part relating to Hampshire, photo-zincographed at the Ordnance Survey, 1861, p. iv. a) is as follows: "In Bovere Hundredo. Ipe Rex tenet Linhest. Jacuit in Ambresberie c'e firma Regis. Tune, se defendebat pro ij hidis. Modo, Herbertus forestarius ex his ij hidis imam virgatam (tenet), et pro tanto geldat ; alias sunt in foresta. Ibi modo nicliil, nisi ij bordarii. Valet x solidos. Tempore Regis Edwardi valuit vi. libras." It is worth noticing that Lyndhurst is here put by itself, and not with Brockenhurst and Minestead, and other neighbour- ing places under " In Xova Foresta et circa earn ; " a clear proof, which might be gathered from other entries, that the survey was not completed. f Blount's Fragmenta Antiquitatis. Ed. Beckwith, p. 183. 1815. Here the place is called Lindeshull. 87 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. Inside the red brick pillars of the arches of the aisles are clustered with black slate shafts, and banded with scroll-work of white Caen stone, the capitals carved with lilies, and primroses, and violets.* And above hangs a Perpendicular timbered roof, resting on the corbel heads of the martyrs and reformers of the Church of Melancthon and Cranmer, and Luther and Latimer, and the carved emblems of the Evangelists at the four corners. In the choir and chancel the wall-colouring is more harmo- nious than in the nave, where there is a certain coldness and hardness, whilst the shafts are here wrought of rich Cornish marble. Over the communion-table stands Mr. Leighton's fresco, a small piece of it now only completed an angel standing with outstretched hands, keeping back those virgins who have come too late to the bridegroom's feast, the despair and anguish of their faces further typified by the rent wall, and the melancholy dreariness of the owl.f * Let me especially call attention to the exquisite carving of some thorns and convolvuluses in the chancel. It is a sad pity that this part of the church should be disfigured by glaring theatrical candlesticks and coarse gaudy Birmingham candelabra. f I have only seen but the slightest portion of this fresco, so that it is impossible to properly judge of even the merits of this part. Xo criticism is true which does not consider a work of Art as a whole. At present, the angel with outstretched hands, full of nervous power and feeling, seems to me very admirable, though the position and meaning of the cloaked and clinging figure below is, at the first glance, difficult to make out ; but this will doubtless, as the picture proceeds, become clear. The richness, how- ever, of the colouring can even now be seen imder the enormous disadvan- tage of being placed beneath the strong white glare of light which pours in from the east window. Further, Mr. Leighton must be praised for his boldness in breaking through the old conventionalities of Art, and giving us here the owl a? a symbol of sloth, and the wretchedness it produces. 88 The Country round Lyndliurst. That there are defects in the church its greatest admirers would admit the poorness of the roof, the harshness produced by the introduction of so much white, as also the bad colour of the bricks, and a heaviness which hangs over the clerestory windows of the nave. But, on the whole, it stands as a proof of the great advance during the last ten years of Art, as a cheering sign, too, that, amidst all the failures of Government, some taste and zeal are to be found amongst private persons. There is nothing else of interest in the village. Once here busy scenes must have taken place, when the King came to hunt with his retinue of nobles ; when down the street poured the train of bow-bearers, and foresters, and keepers, clad in doublets of Lincoln green, holding the dogs in leash. Then the woods rang with the notes of the bugle, and the twang of the bow-string sounded as the bolt, or the good English yard-shaft, brought down the quarry. Here, too, in the Civil War, were quartered grim Puritan soldiers, and prayers took the place of feasts.* Now, all is quiet. Nothing is to be seen but the Forest inviting us into its green glades. The people of Lyndhurst ought, I always think, to be the happiest and most contented in England, for they possess a wider park and nobler trees than even Royalty. You cannot leave the place in any direction without going through the Forest. To the east lie the great woods of Denny and Ashurst ; and to the north rise Outwalk and Emery Down, looking across the vale to Minestead, and below them Kitt's Hill, and the woods stretching away towards Alum Green. On the extreme west Mark Ash, and Gibb's Hill, and Boldrewood, rise towering one after the other ; whilst to the south stretch Gretnam and the * Herbert's Memoirs of Charles /., p. 9J. N Tin' \>'ir ///r/'.s7 : bnry. as before quoted, p. 509. Vitalis, however, in Migne, as before, p. 751, says there were some others. + William of Malmesbury says nothing about the tree, from which nearly all modern historians represent the arrow as glancing. Yitalis, as before, p. 751, expressly states that it rebounded from the back of a beast of chase (fera), apparently, by the mention of bristles (sete), a wild-boar. Matthew Paris (Ed. Wats., torn. i. p. 54) first mentions the tree, but his narrative is doubtful. 94 The Death of William II. fell without a word or groan, vainly trying to pull out the arrow, which broke short in his hand. Thus perished William the Red. Tiril leapt on his horse. Henry galloped to Winchester, and the other nobles to their houses. One exception was there. William de Breteuil, fol- lowing hard upon Henry to Winchester, honourably declared the rights of the absent Robert, to whom both Henry and himself had sworn fealty. William's body was brought on a cart to the cathedral, the blood from his wound reddening the road.* There the next morning f he was buried, uulamented, unknelled, and unaneled.J i _ * Malmesbury, as before, p. 509. The additions that it was a charcoal- cart, as also the owner's name, are merely traditional. f The Chronicle. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 364. | Vitalis, as before, p. 752. Neither William of Malmesbury nor Vitalis, who go into details, mention the spot where the King was killed. The Chronicle and Florence of Worcester most briefly relate the accident, though Florence adds that William fell where his father had destroyed a chapel. (Ed. Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 45). Henry of Huntingdon (Historiarum, lib. vii., in Saville's Scriptures Rerum Anglicarum, p. 378) says but little more, dwelling only on the King's wickedness and the supernatural appearance of blood. Matthew Paris brings a bishop on the scene, as explaining another dream of the King's, and gives the King's speech of u trahe arcum, diabole " to Tiril, which has a certain mad humour about it, as also the incident of the tree, and the apparition of a goat {Hist. Major Angl. Ed. Wats., pp. 53, 54), which are not to be found in Roger of Wendover (Flores Hist. Ed. Coxe, torn, ii., pp. 157-59), and therefore open to the strongest sus- picion. Matthew of Westminster (Flores. Hist. Ed. 1601, p. 235) follows, in most of his details, William of Malmesbury. Simon of Durham (De Gestis Regum Anglorum, in Tvvysden's Histories Anglicance Scriptores Decem, p. 225), as, too, AValter de Ilemingburgh (Ed. Hamilton, vol. i. p. 33), and Roger Hoveden (Annalium Pars Prior, in .Saville's Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores, pp. 467, 468), copy Florence of \Vorcester. So, too, in various ways, with all the later writers, who had access to no new sources of information. Peter Elois, however, in his continuation of Ingulph (Gales's Rernm Anglicm-inn Scriptores, torn. i. pp. 110, 111 ; Oxford, 1684) is more 95 The Xeir Forest: its History and it* .SYv nf. Wight was once joined to Hampshire ; but it is never particular in its dates, and is ever in too much hurry to compare facts. Tradition, as often as not, kills the murderer as the murdered ; and makes the man who built the place to have been born there. Tradition is, in fact, the history of the vulgar, and the stumbling- block of the half-learned. "We will look at the broader bearings of the case. The first thing which strikes us is the fact that two other very near rela- tives of the Eed King, his brother and his nephew, also lost their lives by so-called accidents in the New Forest. If we are to believe the Chroniclers, his brother Richard met his death whilst hunting there, according to one narrative, by a pestilential blast surely, at the least, a very unsatisfactory account ;* though, by another version, from the effects of a blow against a tree.f His nephew Eichard was either wounded by an arrow through the neck, or caught by the boughs of a tree and strangled a still more improbable death : whilst, according to Florence of Worcester, he was killed by the arrow of one of his own knights. We will only here pause to notice not only the * " Tabidi aeris nebula'' are tlie words of William of Malmsbury. (Gesta Begum Aiiirlonmt. Kd. Hard}', torn, ii., lib. iii., ^cct. -J7.J, pp. 4.54, 4.55.) f Gul. Gemeticenxin de Ducilus Xormannoum, lib. vii., cap. ix. To be found in Camden's Anglica Scripta, p. 674. J This seems to be the meaning of a not very clear passage in William of Malmesbury. Same edition as before, p. 4-55. Vitalis, however, Histuria Ecclesiastica, pars 3, lib. x., cap. xi. (in Jfigne, Patrologite Cnrsiis Com- pletes, torn, clxxxviii. pp. 748, 749), says he was shot by a knight, who expiated the deed by retiring to a monastery, and speaks in high terms both of him and his brother William, who fell in one of the Crusadts. Ed. Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 4-j. Lewis, in his Topographical Remarks on Ute New Forest, pp. 57-O2, is hopekssly wrong with regard to Richard, the son of Robert, a grandson of the Conqueror, whom he calls Henry, and 98 Tin' Character of William II. extreme improbability, but the contradictory statements in both cases, which will not, of course, increase the value of the same evidence concerning Rufus.* And now we will examine the version of his death. History- is at all times subjective enough, but becomes far more so when confounds at p. 62 with his uncle; and makes both William of Malmesbury and Baker (see his Chronicle, p. 37, Ed. 1730) say quite the reverse of what they write. * As I am not writing a History of England during this period, my space will not permit me to enter into those details which, when viewed collectively, carry so much weight in an argument ; but at all events, it will be well for some of my readers to bear in mind the character of William If., who in a recent work has lately been elevated into a hero. Without any of his fathers ability or power of statesmanship, he inherited all bis vices, which he so improved that they became rather his own. From having no occupation for his mind, he sunk more and more into licentiousness and lust. (" Omni se immunditia deturpabat," is the strong expression of John of Salisbury. Life of Annelm, part ii. ch. vii. In "Wharton's Anglia Sacra, torn. ii. p. 163. See, also, Suger, VitaLud. Grossi Regis, cap. i. In Bouquet, Recueil des Historiens lies Gaules et de la France, torn. xii. p. 12. D. E.) Being lustful, he naturally became cruel ; not as his father was, on, at leas-t, the plea of necessity, but that he might enjoy a cultivated pleasure in gloat- ing over the sufferings of others. From being cruel, too, he became, in its worst sense, an infidel ; not from any pious scruple or deep conviction, but simply that he might indulge his passions. (See that fearful story cf the trial of forty Englishmen told in Eadmer : Hist. Nov., lib. ii., p. 48, Ed. 1633, which illustrates in a twofold manner both his malty and his atheism.) To a total want of eloquence he joined the most inveterate habit of stammering, so that, when angry, he could baivly 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-sloped, having a large stomach. His face was redder than his hair, and his 3 es of two different colours. His vices were, in fact, branded on his face. (Malmesbury, Kd. Hardy, torn, ii., lib. iv., sect. 321, p. 504, whom I have literally translated) [Let -2 'J9 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. written by unfriendly Chroniclers, who have good reasons for suppressing the truth. The story reads at the very first glance too much like a romance. In the first place, we have no less than three dreams, which are always effects rather than causes after-thoughts rather than prophecies, well fitted to suit the superstition of the times, and to deceive the crowd. Then, too, we find the old device of the armourer craving the King to take six brand-new arrows, by one of which at the hand of his friend he is fated to fall on the very spot which his father had laid waste, and where he is said to have destroyed a church. It may of course be urged that all this is in accordance with what we know of the eternal power of the moral laws, that the sins of the fathers are ever visited upon the sons to the third and fourth generations, and that time ever completes the full circle of retribution. But the flaw is, that this special judgment L^t us look, too, at the events of his reign. Crime after crime crowds upon us. Mis first act was to imprison those whom his father had set free. Jle loaded the Forest Laws with fresh horrors. Impartial in his cruelty, he plundered both ca-tle 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 t!ie 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 (Annul. Eccles. Winton., in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, torn. 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 l.is life was, so his death would be ; that he would he betrayed by his companions, and in hi.> utmost need deserted by his friends. 100 The Circumstances attending Jiis Death. is too special. "Divine vengeance" and "judgment of God," the Chroniclers cry out one after another, and this is thought sufficient to account for three so-called accidental deaths. The moral laws, however, never fall so directly as they are here represented. Their influence is more oblique. The lightning of justice does not immediately follow each peal of suffering. Leaving, however, the Chroniclers' views to themselves, let us look further at some of the facts which peep out in the narrative. Why, in the first place, we naturally ask, if the King was shot by accident, did his friends and attendants desert him ? Why was he brought home in a cart, drawn by a wretched jade, the blood, not even staunched, flowing from the wound, clotting the dust on the road? Why, too, the indecent haste of his funeral ? Why, afterwards, was no inquiry as to his death made ? Why, too, was Tiril's conduct not investigated ? These questions are difficult to answer, except upon one supposition. Let us note, also, that they are all ecclesiastics, to whom the revelations of the King's speedy end had been made known, and that their special favourite, Henry, succeeded to the throne in spite of his elder brother's right. It is, certainly, too, something more than singular that when the banished Anselm should visit Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, that the Abbot should tell him that dur- ing the past night he had seen William summoned before God and sentenced to damnation, and that the King's death im- mediately followed : that further, on the next day, when he went to Lyons, his chaplain should be twice told by a youth of the death of William before it took place.* More than singular, * Eadmer: Vita Ansel mi, Ed. Paris, 1721, p. 23. John of Salisbury: Vita Ansdmi, cap. xi. ; in Whartou's Anglia Sacra, torn. ii. p. 169. William of 101 7V/'' Xi'ir Fnri'xt : /'* J/i story ami it* Sc< >< r/i. too, are those words of Fulchered, spoken so openly and so dar- ingly, " The bow of God's vengeance is bent against the wicked ; and the arrow swift to wound is already drawn out of the quiver." * Either all these persons were prophets, or accessories to the murder, or for there is one more solution the Chroniclers invented this portion of the story. If we admit this last supposi- tion, we cannot receive the other parts of the narrative without the greatest suspicion. AVe have almost a sufficient warrant to read them in an exactly opposite sense to what they were intended to bear. Let us remember, also, that Flambard, Rufus's prime minister, who was universally hated by the clergy, and who had lately banished Godric, of Christchurch, into Xorniandy, was instantly stripped of his possessions by Henry, and Godric reinstated, and the banished Anselrn recalled ; and, lastly, and most important of all, that Tiril, who had just arrived from Normandy, was a friend of Anselm's,f and, further, that Alanus de Insulis, better known as le Docteur Universel, who lived not long after the event, actually says that in his opinion it was caused by treachery.]: Surely all these facts and coinci- Malme.-bury : Ed. Hardy, vol. ii.. b. iv., sect. 332. p. 507. ; and Roger of Wendover, Ed. Coxe, vol. ii. pp. 159. 160. * Vitalis : Histuriu Ecdes>a$tica. pars. 3. lib. x. ; in Migne. Patrologue Cursiis Completes, torn, clxxxviii., pp. 750 D, 751 A. See previou^y, p. 94, foot-note. f Eadmer: Vita Aitselnri, Ed. Paris, 1721, p. 6. J Baxter, in his Preface to his Gloxsarium Antiqnitatum Britannicarum, Ed. 1719, p. 12, entirely misquotes Ahinus de Insulis (see Prophetica Anglicana 3Ierlini Atubrusti cum sej/to/i lilris expieatatiotOOH Alaiii de Lixiilia. Frankfort, 1603. Lib. ii. pp. 68. 69), and completely misunder- stands the passage. Alanus. however (p. 69). seems to have no doubt that the King fell by treachery, ;.piculo invidia 1 ," a< was foretold by Merlin. Tlie Er\(l<')i<-e of Alt mix. deuces point but one way. All tend to show, as plainly as possible, that Rufus fell by no chance, but by a conspiracy of his prelates, who held the crozier in one, and the battle-axe though he gives no other reason; and which by itself, resting on nothing further, would carry no weight. His account, though, of the general dett-station of the Red King immediately before his death, as also the conversation of Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, with Ansehn (p. 68), is very sug- gestive, especially by the way in which it is introduced. Alanus must have possessed far too shrewd an intellect to have believed in Merlin; though it might have suited his purpose to have appeared to have so done, as a veil and a blin;3, so that he might better say what his high position and authority would not in any other form have well permitted, but which still give to many points, as here, enormous significance and weight. The first person besides Alanus who seems to hint at treachery is Nicander Nucius {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 cruerita or Hamatococcus sanguineus. Eadmer, with some others, in his Historia Novorum, lib. ii. (IMigne : Patrologicc Cursus Completus, torn. 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, torn, 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, torn. ii. p. 169), it would seem that Anselm thought that he was the direct cause, through God, of his death. 103 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. in the other hand.* The cause of their hatred is at once supplied by his refusing to pay St. Peter's pence denying the Pope's supremacy banishing Anselm promoting Flambard holding all the bishoprics and other offices which fell vacant f by his cruelties to their different orders at Canterbury and Crowland, and throughout England, whose enmity died not with his death, but made them believe that the tower of Winchester Cathedral fell because they allowed him to be buried in its nave. Heading, in the Chroniclers, the life of the Red King seems like rather reading a series of plots against it, not by the English, who were too thoroughly cowed to make the slightest 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 dramati- cally true, without being so historically. Gaimar (3fS. Sib. Keg. 13, A 21, also quoted by Turner), a rhymer, nearly cotemporary, sings, " that the other archers said that the shaft came from Walter Tiril's bow." Xo 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. * Let no one be startled at the fact of ecclesiastics being assassins. We have on record during this very reign the deliberate confessions ol monks to murder their own abbots, deeming they were doing God a service. We must further keep steadily in mind that prelates then united in their own persons both sacred and military offices. How much Henry was under the influence of the monasteries his marriage and his various appointments show. Their power was enormous. In fact, I believe that the Conqueror owed his success as much to them as Rufus his death, and Henry his crown. f At the time of his death he held in his hand the archbishopric of Canterbury, the bishoprics of Winchester and Salisbury, besides eleven abbacies, all let out to rent. The Chronicle, Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 364. 104 Conspiracies against the King. resistance, but by his own prelates and barons.* His uncle (Mo, Bishop of Bayeux, headed the first rebellion against him, as soon as he usurped the throne. William, Bishop of Durham, his own Minister, conspired against him. Bishop Gosfrith, with his nephew Robert, Earl of Northumberland, rebelled in the west. Roger Montgomery rose on the Welsh Marches. Roger Bigod in the eastern, and Hugo de Grentemesnil in the midland counties hoisted the flag of revolt. f Such was England at the beginning of his reign. In 1096, his own godfather, William de Aldrey, justly or unjustly, was accused of treason, and died on the gallows.! William, Count of Eu, kinsman to the King, suffered a worse fate for the same crime. His steward, William, also a kinsman of the King's, was hung on a rood. Eudes, Count of Champagne, forfeited his lands. Others not only shared the same fate, but were deprived of their eyesight. His northern barons, headed by Robert de Mowbray, goaded to desperation by the Forest Laws, rose in revolt. Roger de Yvery, son of the Conqueror's favourite, led the midland barons, and was obliged to fly, and all his vast estates, close to the New Forest, forfeited. Normandy, from whence Tiril had just come, swarmed with outlawed enemies, both churchmen and laymen. It was the nest where all the plots could be safely hatched. Knowing all this, knowing, too, that the conspiracies became more frequent as his tyranny increased, we can scarcely avoid coming to but one conclusion as to his death. It might suit the policy of the times to throw the guilt * The Chronicle, Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 356. f William of Malmesbury, Ed. Hardy, torn, ii., lib. iv., sect. 306, p. 488. I The same, torn, ii., lib. iv., sect. 319, p. 502. The Chronicle, Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 362. P 105 Tin- \<-/r /-',,/vxf .- ;/x ll'tstnt'ti and its Scen>'r;i. on Tiril, but Tiril certainly did not shoot the arrow. We have his own most solemn declaration to various people, and especially, not once but often, to Suger, the well-known Abbot of St. Denis, when he had nothing to gain or lose, that he had on the day of the King's death not only not entered that part of the Forest, but had not even seen him on that day.* Tiril, however, was certainly implicated in the plot. His N haste to leave the country arose, probably, not so much from a wish to escape as to convey the news of the success to Normandy : and popular tradition mistaking the cause, with its usual inaccuracy, fixed on the wrong person as the assassin. In after years, however, from some scruple of conscience, he expiated his share in the murder by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. AVho shot the fatal arrow we know not, and, perhaps, shall never know. We must not expect to get truth in history, only, at the best, some faint glimmering. All is here confusion and darkness. John of Salisbury, who lived about the middle of the twelfth century, says it was as little known who killed the King as who slew Julian the Apostate. f The very spot where he fell is doubtful. One thing, however, seems certain, that he was slain, not, as the Chroniclers say, because his father made the New Forest, but through his own cruelties and excesses, by which he outraged both friend and foe. * Suger : Vila Lud. Groxsi Regis, cap. i. (to be found, as before, in Bouquet, torn. xii. p. 12 E.) See, also, John of Salisbury: Vita Anselmi ; Migne : Patrologice Cursus Completus, torn, cxcix.. cap. xii., p. 1031 B.; or, as before, in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, torn. ii. p. 170. f Quoted by Sharon Turner : History of England, vol. iv. p. Ki7. as before. Migne: torn, cxcix., cap. xii. p. 1031 B. 106 I Direct Proof of the Murder wanting. It is not single passages which alone leave this impression, but still more the cumulative force of the evidence. The fact that all were gainers by his death, and the general abhorrence of the tyrant, are in themselves strong reasons. Not one, but all parties were bound together against him by the strongest of covenants hatred. The marked and bitter prophecies, which would not have been uttered were not their fulfilment ensured, the suspicious silence on all important points, the pretended dreams and omens, the abandonment of the body, the want of any inquiry into the cause of death, the connection between the Church party and Anselm with Henry I., and Anselm's connection again with Tiril, all serve to show the depth and darkness of the plot. His life throws the best light on his death. Bead by it, by the extortions and atrocities which he committed, by the universal hatred in which he was held, the conclusion is inevit- able. Years of violence were the prelude to a violent end. The many failures in open revolt seem only to have taught the lesson of greater caution. And treachery at last succeeded, where plain courage had so often failed. Direct proof of the murder cannot be had, and must not be expected. Every one was interested in keeping that a secret by which all alike profited. To have declared it, would have covered the Crown with disgrace, and stained the hands of the Church. Their own absurdities and contradictions form the best refutation of the common accounts. In details they are irre- concilable with each other. According to one, the King was alone with Tiril ; to another, with all his attendants. One narrative declares that the arrow glanced from a boar, a second from a stag, a third from a tree. Even if we accept them, then P 2 107 7V//' Xt'tc Fnn-xt : its History and it* Scenery. either the power of prophecy lasted much longer than is com- monly supposed, or, as we have said, the monks were accessories to the murder ; we have no other choice. The last of these solutions is fatal to the common belief; and very few persons would, 1 suppose, venture upon the first. Nevertheless, the monk of Gloucester's dream was not yet to be fulfilled. The hour was not yet at band for England's deliverance. As the Parliamentary party said in Charles the First's time " Things must become worse before they can mend." England bud, therefore, to undergo a tyranny for more than a century longer till the evil became its own cure. Good was at length accom- plished. Out of all the woe and wretchedness came the Dill of Piirhts and the Cliarta de Forest a. View from Castle LlaVwcod lo$ Stoney -Cross. CHAPTER X, THE NORTHERN PART. STONEY-CROSS, BRAMBLE HILL, FRITHAM, BKNTLEY, EYEWORTH, SLODEN. View in Studley W od IF any one wishes to know the beauty of the Forest in autumn, let him see the view from the high ridge at Stoney-Cross. Here the air which Mows off the Wiltshire Downs is finer and 10!) V /'..rest: its History and its Seen keener than anywhere else. Here, on all sides, stretch woods and moors. Here, in the latter end of August, the three heathers, one after another, cover every plain and holt with their crimson glory, mixed with the flashes of the dwarf furze. And a little later the first beech begins to change from yellow to russet-red, and the amber and gold of spring return with the first frost to the oaks, till the great woods of Prior's Acre ;r.ul Daneshill burn with colour ; every gleam of sunshine, and every passing shadow, touching them with fresher and stranger beauty.* To the east, about two miles along the Southampton Road, lies the village of Cadenham, famous for its oak, which, like the Glastonbury thorn, buds on Christmas Eve. The popular tradition in the neighbourhood runs, that, as the weather is harder, it shows more leaves, and, refusing the present chronology, only buds on Old Christmas night. As in most things, there is some little truth in the story. Doubtless, in the mild winters which visit Hampshire, the tree shows a few buds, as at that time I have seen others do in various parts of the Forest. Of course, they are all nipped by the very first frost, which, however, seldom happens on the warm south- west coast till the new year. Down in the valley to the left of Rufus's Stone rise the woods of the Long Beeches, and Prior's Acre, and Danes- hill or Dean's Hell, where the word Hell (from hdan, to cover) means nothing more than the dark place, like the Hell- becks in Yorkshire.! Beaten paths and walks stretch into * The best way to know this part of the Forest, is to go to Stoney- Cross itself, and stay at the inn, once a well-known house in the old posting days, and lately fitted up for visitors. f The word, however, is going out of use, and is more generally now Miftcned into hill. We meet with it in the perambulation of the Forest no View from Bramble Hill. the woods in every direction. Perhaps one of the prettiest is over Coalmeer Brook, and then through the thick beeches of Coalineer Wood, where the honey buzzard builds, till we come to the King's Gairn stream, where the Bracklesham Clays, teeming with fossils, may, by digging, be reached.* Brook Common now opens before us. At its farther end stands Brook Wood, with its fine hollies and durmast oaks (quercus sessiliflora) . Passing the High Beeches to our left, we reach Shepherd's Gutter, a small stream, where the Brackles- ham beds again crop out with their blue and slate-coloured clays. Going on through more woods, and then by clumps of old hollies and yews, we come to Bramble Hill. Perhaps, just above the Lodge, on the top of the hill, we gain the most exten- sive view of the Forest. Before us spreads one vast sea of woods, broken in the front by Malwood Ridge, and Brochis Hill, and then rolling its flood of green over Minestead Valley, and rising again wave-like, at Whitley, till lost among the moors, whilst the Isle of Wight hills seam the blue sky with their dark outlines. The village of Bramshaw, just a little way beyond, stands partly in both Hampshire and Wiltshire, and forms the Forest boundary. From its woods in former times the shingles for roofing Salisbury Cathedral were cut. Its church, although prettily situated, is scarcely worth seeing. Only an Early-Eng- lish window at the east end, and an arch on the south side, remain of the old building, now defaced by every variety of modern ugliness. In the churchyard stands a fine yew ; and made in the twenty-second year of Charles II. " The same hedge reaches Barnfarn from the right hand, right by Helclose, as far as to a certain corner called Hell Corner." * For the geology of this part of the Forest see chapter xx. Ill The X> T .- /Ax 77/xtor// nn<1 its Scenery. a buttress on the north side is completely covered with the lovely common spleenwort. Coming back, however, to Stoney-Cross, we will now go westward. Stoney-Cross itself consists of but a few tumble- down cottages, inhabited principally by the Forest workmen. Just beyond the last of them let us stop for a moment. To the south stretch more woods Stonehard, with its views across the valley, to the oaks of Wick and the plain of Acres Down, looking over Rhinefield and the valley of the Osmanby Ford, beyond Wootton, to the Needle Bocks, mass upon mass of woods. To the right of it lies Puekp'.ts, where the b;i <: breeds, and the raven used to build, and where still on a summer morning the honey-buzzard comes flying up from 112 Woods round Stoncy- Cross. Mark Ash, and, circling for hours round the trees, will again fly back to its favourite haunt. All these woods there are for rambles, flushed in the spring with wood-anemones and wood-sorrel, set in the green moss and the greener heather of the bilberry. Nowhere, too, in the Forest, than in these woods, have I seen more lovely sunsets. Through some deep-cut oriel of the trees have I watched the sun begin to sink, each moment burning brighter, and then suddenly its great brand of fire would fall, reddening each tree trunk, and crimson billows of clouds come rolling east- r ward. Instead of following the Bingwood Eoad, beautiful as that is in many parts, especially at Woody Bratley, with its old thorn trees, we will turn off to the right. To the west now rises Ocknell "Wood, and its clump of firs, a well-known land- mark, and beyond that lies the new Slufter Inclosure, and Bratley Plain, with its great graveyard of barrows. In front of us stretches the East Fritham Plain, with its three barrows, locally called " butts," the central known as Keachmore. At the second mound we will go into North Bentley Wood, following the wood-cutter's track. Very wild and unfrequented is this. Here a stray deer will bound across the road ; and sometimes a small herd of as many as six or seven are browsing on the ivy clinging to some tree just felled, startled at the slightest sound, and trooping off down the glades. The grey hen rises up at our feet from the heather ; and, as we enter the wood, the woodpecker shrieks out his shrill laugh, whilst a buzzard is heavily sailing over the trees. The road winds on through the valley amongst oaks flecked with silver flakes of moss, broken here and there by open glades and green spaces of fern. At last, we reach Queen's North Lawn, Q us The Ncir Forexi : its History and its Scenery. which leads us on the right to Fritham, standing on the hill top. In the valley below lies Eyeworth Lodge, with the powder mills lately built ; the Ivare of Domesday, and still so called by the peasantry, afterwards Yvez, where Koger Beteston, in the reign of Henry III., held some land by the service of finding litter for the King's bed and hay for his horse whenever he came here to hunt.* Fritham is thoroughly in the Forest ; and few spots can equal it in interest. It may be the very place where Rufus fell : f but whether or no, close round it lie the barrows of the Kelt, and the potteries of the Roman, covering acres of ground, at Island's Thorn and Crockle, and Sloden and Black Bar, with the banks which mark the sites of the workmen's houses.^ Close round it, too, encircling it on all sides, rise the woods of Studley, with their great beeches, and Eyeworth, famous for its well. Going along the West Fritham Plain we come to Sloden, with its thick wood of yews, standing, massive and black, in all their depth of foliage, mixed, in loveliest contrast, with clumps of whitebeams. Below runs the brook, flowing under Amber- wood, and winding among dark groups of hollies, lost at last in the deep gorge, shut in by the hills of Goreley and Charlford. The best way to reach Fordingbridge is either to go by * Testa de Nevill, p. 237 b. 130. See, also, p. 235 b. (118). As in other parts of England, throughout the Forest, as we have seen at Lynd- hurst and Brockenhurst, were similar tenures. Some held their lands, as the heirs of Cobbe, at Eling, by finding 50; and others, again, as Richard de Baudet, at Redbridge, 100 arrows. Testa dp. Nevill, as in the first reftrence; and p. 238 a. (132.) f See previous chapter, p. 96, foot-note. J For some account of the contents of these barrows and potteries, s-.-e chapters xvii. and xviii. 114 View from Goreley Hill. Ashley Lodge, and so through Pitt's Wood, and between the high, bare, half mountainous hills of Chilly and Blissford, coming out upon the turnpike-road near Blissford Gate ; or to follow the side of the Amberwood stream towards some scattered houses, called Ogdens. Here we leave the Forest, and its moors and woods, and, mounting Goreley Hill, see below us the church of Fording- bridge, and the Avon winding among its meadows. To the south Hengistbury Head lifts itself up in the distant horizon ; and beyond it again, but more to the west, stretches the blue line of the Portland Hills. To the north swell the rounded forms of the Wiltshire downs, and the spire of Salisbury starts out from the midst, and behind it towers the crag of Old Sarum. Yews and Wbitebeams in Sloden Q * 115 Tin- \i-ic Forest: its History and its CHAPTEE XI. THE VALLEY OF THE AVOX. FORDINGBRIDGE, CHAR- FORD, BREAMORE, IBBESLEY, ELLINGHAM, RJXG- WOOD, SOPLEY. The Valley of the Avon i'rom Castle Hill. THE Valley of the Avon should certainly be seen, both because large parts of its manors and villages once stood in the Forest, as also for the contrast which it now affords to the neighbouring Forest scenery. Nothing can be so different to the moors we have just left as the Valley. Though close to them, you might imagine you were suddenly transported into one of 116 Fordingbfidge. the Midland Counties, and were walking by the side of the Warwickshire, instead of the Wiltshire Avon. In the place of wild heathery commons and furzy holts, deep lanes wind along by comfortable homesteads, thatched with Dorsetshire reed. Instead, too, of dark oak and beech woods, thick hedges are white in the spring with the scattered spray of the blackthorn, and orchards glow with their crimson wreaths of flowers. Fordingbridge, formerly nothing else but Forde, now known to all fishermen for its pike and trout, in former days held the high-road into the Forest. On the bridge the lord of the manor, during the fence months, was obliged to mount guard, and stop all suspected persons, who could only on the north-west leave the Forest this way.* In Domesday it possessed a church and two mills, rented at 14s. 2c?. Though all its beech and oak woods, worth, on account of the pannage for swine, 20s. a year, were afforested, only three virgates of land were taken. Yet, notwithstanding this loss, it still paid the same rental as in Edward the Con- fessor's reign. The old hospital, dedicated to St. John, was dissolved by Henry VI., and its revenues annexed to St. Cross, near Winchester.! The church stands on the extreme south-west * Lewis : Topographical Remarks on the New Forest, p. 80, foot-note. I have not, however, been able to find his authority. A tradition of the sort lingers in the neighbourhood. Blount (Fragmenta Antiquitatis, Ed. Beckwith, p. 115. 1815) says that Richard Carevile held here six librates a year of land in capite of Edward I., by finding a sergeant-at-arms for forty days ever} year in the King's army. See, also, the Testa de Nevill, p. 231 (101), No. 3. f Dugdale : Monasticon Anglicanum, Ed. 1830, vol. vi., part, ii., p. 761. Leland, however (/#., vol. Hi., f. 72, p. 88, Ed. Hearne), says it was given to King's College, Cambridge. 117 The New Forest: its History and its Scenery. side of the town, with its avenue of liines, and its yews, now spoilt by being clipt. The windows of the nave are Early Decorated, whilst those of the clerestory are Perpendicular. Against the north pillar of the south chancel arch is fixed a late brass. The upper part of the east window is spoilt by its ugly Tudor headings, and the lower portion by the Commandment tables. The high-pitched open Perpendicular roof of the north chancel, however, possesses some real interest, both on account of its height and its richness of detail, the tie-beams faced with mouldings, and the spaces above ornamented with tracery, and the braces below also carved, and the purlins enriched with bosses, whilst carved projecting figures bear up the whole. Before, however, the traveller leaves Fordingbridge he should go to Sandyballs and Castle Hill, where are still the remains of a camp, and traces of habitations, probably used in turn by Kelts, Romans, and West- Saxons, and where, perhaps, Ambrosius entrenched himself before the battle of Charford. From here is one of the best views of the Valley. Behind us stands Godshill inclosure, and the Forest with its dark moors and woods. Below winds the Avon, with its orchards nestling on the hill side, stretching its silver coil of waters along the green meadows, the sunlight gleaming on each bend and turn. Looking up the stream, the village of Wood Green, and the woods of Hale, and the two Charfords, one by one appear. Charford is especially noticeable, formerly Cerdeford, without doubt the Cerdices-ford of The Chronicle and of Florence. Here it was for the last time that the gallant Ambrosius Aurelianus, Prince Natan-Leod, father of the great Arthur of Mediaeval legends, after his many defeats, rallied the forlorn hope of the Romanized Kelts. Here, too, he fell on the greensward by the side of the Avon, with five thousand of his men, and was buried 118 Charford and Breamore. at Amesbury, which still preserves his name. Of the battle we know nothing know only this, that the Keltic power in Wessex was broken, and that from henceforth the land from Winchester to Charford was called Natan-lea.* Close to Charford lies Breamore,f the last of the Forest manors to the north-west mentioned in Domesday with the ruins of its fine Elizabethan hall, burnt down only a few years since, and its church standing in a graveyard full of old yews and laurels. The church has been most shamefully disfigured stuccoed outside, and whitewashed within. Still it is worth seeing. A Norman doorway, another proof that the Conqueror * The Chronicle, Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 26. Florence of Worcester, Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 4. f This is the Brumore of Domesday (same edition as before, p. iv.a), and then belonged to the manor of Rockbourne, and was held by the Con- queror, as it had also been by Edward the Confessor. Two hydes and a half, and a wood capable of supporting fifty swine, were taken into the Forest. From the mention of a priest (presbyter^), who received twenty shillings from some land in the Isle of Wight, there would seem to have been a church, in all probability situated, as the old yew would show, in the present churchyard, and of which the Norman doorway may be the last remains. 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. 119 The Neiv Forest : its History and its Scenery. did not destroy every church in the district, stands inside the south porch. A piscina, and brackets for images, still remain in the chancel. Returning to Fordingbridge we pass through Burgate, formerly belonging to Beaulieu Abbey, where the dogs of the Lord of the Manor, like those of the Abbot of the Monastery, were allowed to go " unlawed." The base of the old village cross still remains, but the head was, not long ago, broken to pieces to mend the roads. Our way from Fordingbridge lies by the side of the Avon, with the new chapel of Hyde or Hungerford standing on the top of the Forest range of hills. The road soon brings us to Ibbesley, the prettiest of villages in the Valley, with its cottages by the road-side, and their gardens of roses and poppies and sweet peas, and their porches thatched with honeysuckle. Three great elms overhang the river, spanned by the single arch of its bridge ; whilst the stream pours sparkling and foaming over the weir into the water-meadows, and in the distance the tower of Harbridge rises out from its trees. The sketch which is given at the end of this chapter is taken lower down in the fields, and shows another view not so well known. But the whole river is here full of beauty, winding, scarce knowing where, among the flat meadows, one stream flowing one way, and one another, and then all suddenly uniting, coming up with their joined force against the steep banks, dark in the shade of the trees ; and, being repulsed, flowing away again into the meadows, white with flocks of swans, and fenced in by green hedges of rushes and yellow flags. Going on we reach the avenue of elms which brings us to the Ellingham cross roads. Turning up the lane to the left we presently come to Moyles Court, just on the boundary of the 120 Alice Lisle. Forest, looking out upon the woods of Newlyns and Chartley. Here lived Alice Lisle, and here are shown the hiding-places where, after the battle of Sedgemoor, she concealed Hicks and Nelthorpe. The house is sadly out of repair; the oak floors, and part of the fine old staircase, and the wainscoting of many of the rooms have been taken away ; the old tapestry is destroyed and the iron gates rusted and broken. Still the private chapel remains, with its panelling and carved string-course of heads, and its "Ecce Homo" over the place where the altar once stood.* The story of Alice Lisle needs no telling. She was found guilty of high treason not by the jury, but by the judge, the infamous Jeffreys, and was condemned, for an act of Christian kindness, to worse than a felon's death. In Ellinghani churchyard, close to the south porch, stands a plain brick tomb under which she, and her daughter Anne Kartell, lie, with the simple words, " Alicia Lisle dyed the second of September, 1685 ;" and round the tomb, weaving its ever green chaplet, grows the little rue-leaved spleenwort. But a nobler monument has been raised to her in our Houses of Parliament. In the Commons' corridor she stands, bent with age, resting on her staff, with a gentle placidness shining in her face, unmoved by any fears for the future, but caring only to do what her heart feels to be right ; whilst on the opposite wall, painted by the same hand, lives another of those Englishwomen of whom we may be proud, Jane Lane, who, in her loyalty, would as willingly have sacrificed herself for one of the most ungrateful of princes, as Alice Lisle for the poor Puritans. * In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1828, vol. 98, part, ii., p. 17, is a sketch of the house, taken fifty years ago, which, with the exception of some parts now pulled down, much resembles its pre-ent condition. R 121 \cic /'o/v.sV : its History and its And about eight miles away, across tlie Avon, in Dorsetshire, between two fields on Woodlands Farm, runs an old-fashioned double hedge, the central ditch choked up with hazel, and holly, and the common brake. About midway down, half in the ditch and half in the hedge, stands a pollarded ash, now bored into holes by the woodpeckers. This is Monmouth's Ash, and close to it, in the ditch, the duke, the miserable cause of so much misery, was seized, hid among the fern and brambles.* To the ecclesiologist the little church of Ellingham (Adeling's hamlet) is full of interest. Within stands the old covered carved pew of Moyles Court, and a monument to one of its former owners. The plain rood-screen, with the stand for the hour-glass, and the marks of the pulpit still remain, formerly, as we can still see, painted blue like the chancel. On the south wall traces of the staircase to the rood-loft, as well as the entrance from the outside, are also still visible. In the chancel the Early-English windows have been sadly mutilated. Over the communion-table hangs a picture of the Day of Judgment, plundered from some church in Port St. Mary, in the Bay of Cadiz, whose bad execution is only exceeded by its indecent materialism. In the south chancel wall is a double piscina. On the walls above the rood-screen, the twenty-first verse of the twenty-fourth chapter of Proverbs, and the twenty - * Monmouth, like a second Warbeck, was in all probability on his way throiigh tbe Forest to Lymington, where Dore, the mayor, had raised for him a troop of men, and would assist him to embark. At Axminster, in Dorsetshire, there is a local MS. record, " Ecclesiastica, or the Book of Remembrance," made by some member of the Axminster Independent Chapel, of the sufferings of Monmouth's followers, which appears to have been unknown to Macaulay. \-2-2 liingwood Church. fourth verse of the third chapter of Galatiaus, according to the version of the Geneva Bible, are roughly painted.* As in all the other churches of the district, the church- wardens have here from time to time shown their natural attachment to ugliness. The Early-English triplet at the east end has been blocked up, the gravestones in the chancel defaced, and a brick porch patched on at the south side. The road now winds on by low water-meadows, pastured by herds of cattle, past Blashford Green, till we reach Ringwood, the Binwede of Domesday.^ Here, at the Grammar School, was Stillingfleet educated. Here Monmouth wrote his three craven letters to James, the Queen Dowager, and the Lord Treasurer, imploring them to save that life which it was a disgrace to own. The old church has been pulled down, and a new one, modelled in every particular after it, has been built on its site. A church ought doubtless to tell its own date by its style. Yet it is far better that we should copy a moderately good speci- * There was formerly a cell here, subordinate to the Abbey of Saint Saviour le Vicomte in Normandy, to which it was given by William de Solariis, A.D. 1163, but dissolved by Henry VI., and its revenues annexed to Eton. Tanner's Notitia Monastica, Hants., jSTo. xii. See, also, Dug- dale's Monusticon Anglicanum, Ed. 1830, vol. vi., part, ii., p. 1046. f Same edition as before, p. iv. a. The entry is remarkably interesting Out of its ten hydes, four were taken into the Forest. In the six which were left, there dwelt fifty-six villein*, twenty-one boidereis, six serfs, and one freeman. There were here 105 acres of meadow, a mill which paid 22*., and a church with half a hyde of land. On the four hydes which were taken into the Forest, fourteen villeins, and six borderers, who had seven ploughlands, used to dwell. How very much the woodland preponderated over the arable we may tell by the additional entry, that the woods maintained 189 hogs, whilst a mill in that part was only assessed at SOd., which facts may help us to form some opinion of the kind of soil that was in general afforested. The meadows, as usual, Avere not touched. U -2 123 Tht Purest : its History and its Scenery. men than increase the number of modern abortions. At all events, this is faithfully restored, though utterly spoilt by the heavy galleries which flank it on every side. The Early-English chancel, with its recessed arcade, springing from polished shafts of black Purbeck marble, well shows the beauty of the original design ; whilst, on the chancel floor, lies a fine brass of the fifteenth century to John Prophete, which, however, has been most shamefully defaced. The body is robed in a cope broidered with figures of saints St. Michael, and the Virgin and Child, St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Catharine and St. Faith, St. George and " Sancta Wefreda." The head, with the hood thrown back, rests on a cushion, whilst the cope is clasped with a morse, enriched with an effigy of the Saviour, crowned with a halo of light. 124 Road from Ring wood. CHAPTER XII. THE VALLEY OF THE AVON CONTINUED. TYRREL'S FORD, SOPLEY, AND WINKTON. Tyrrei's Ford. AFTER we leave Bingwood the road for a mile or two is less attractive in its scenery. Still, here, as in every part of England, there is something to be seen and learnt. The Avon flows close by, famous for a peculiar eel, locally called the " sniggle" (ancjuilla mediorostris) , which differs from its common congener (acutirostris) in its slender form and elongated under-jaw, 125 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. and its habits of roving and feeding by day.* The river has, also, like some of the Norwegian streams, the peculiarity of forming ground ice. For the botanist, along the hedge banks, the blue and slate-coloured soapwort is growing throughout the summer and autumn, with purple cat-mint and wild clary. In the waste places the thorn-apple shows its white blossoms ; whilst red stacks of fern and black turf ricks stand by every cottage door to remind us how close we are to the Forest. After we pass Bisterne,f the road becomes more interesting. To our right rises the range of St. Catherine's Hills, that is, the fortified height, where remain the four mounds of the watch- towers and the traces of the camp. Presently we come to Avou- Tyrrel and the blacksmith's forge, built on the spot where Tiril's horse is said to have been shod, and which pays a yearly fine of three pounds and ten shillings to Government. The actual Ford itself is some little way from the road. Round it stretch meadows, with strong coarse grass and sedgy weeds, branches of the Avon winding here and there, fringed by willows, the main stream flowing out broad and strong, with islands of osiers and rushes, where still breed wild duck and teal, the whole backed by the gloom of St. Catherine's Hills crested by their darker pines. The old road, used now only by the turf-cutters, crossing the former mill-brook, follows the bed of one of the many streams, till, reaching the river at its widest * See Yarrell's History of British Fishes, vol. ii. pp. 399-401. t The ordnance map here falls into an error, placing Sandford a mile too far to the south ; whilst it omits the neighbouring village of Beckley, the Beceslei of Domesday, and " The Great Horse," a clump of firs, so called from its shape, a well-known landmark in the Forest, and to the ships at sea, as also '-Darrat," or "Den-it" Lane. For the barrows in the latter place, see chapter xvii. 126 Sopley Church. part, it bends across, gaining a lane on the opposite side, which leads away past Ramsdown into Dorsetshire, and along which tradition says the knight rode to Poole. The next village we reach is Sopley, that is the soc leag, land with the liberty of holding a court of socmen ; just as the neighbouring village is called Boghamton (boclandj, the village of the charter-land, or, as we should now say, freehold. Its interesting little church, Early-English and Perpendicular, is dedicated to St. Michael, and built, in memory of the saint's burial-place, on a mound. The Avon flows below, and the old manor-house, now a mere cottage, stands in an adjoining meadow. On the deep north porch rests the archangel, on a corbel head. The fine old oak roof of the nave was covered up some sixty or seventy years ago by a plastered ceiling ; but the corbel figures, playing the double pipe and viol, are still standing. In the north aisle are the heads of Edward III. and his queen. Two brackets for images project from the window in the north transept, whose jambs, now whitewashed over, were once painted with frescoes of the mystical vine, in green and red. Here, in the north wall, too, is an aumbrie, whilst the broken stone stairs to the rood-loft still remain. In the north transept a hagioscope looks into the chancel, where, on the floor, lie two Early Decorated figures, formerly placed in tombs under the rood-loft, and said originally to have been brought from the ruined church of Ripley. In the east window burns the fiery beacon of the Comptons. Here, too, the whole of the church has been most impar- tially, and, I may add, successfully defaced. Everywhere has a snowstorm of whitewash fallen. I know not why we in these days should think that God delights in ugliness. Our fore- fathers at least thought not so. It would be well if for a 127 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. moment we would consider how He adorns his own house, leads the green arabesque of ivy over its walls, and brightens the roof with the silver rays of mosses, and crowns each buttress with the aureole of the lichen. Leaving Sopley, we come to Winkton, the Weringetone of Domesday, where stood two mills, which were rented, as we have seen was often the case, by a payment of eels. The views here are full of quiet beauty ; the river winding along between its green walls of rushes, set with white and purple comfrey and yellow loosestrife, flowing into the darkness of the trees, and then again coming out by meadows, across which rises the Priory Church of Christchurch, standing out clear and sharp against the dark mass of Hengistbury Head. The I 128 The Interest in our Towns. CHAPTER XIII. CHRIST CHURCH. The Priory Church from the Castle Keep. I HAVE determined to give a chapter to Christchurch, not because it contains more than many another town, but because it is a fair representative of the generality of small English boroughs. There is not a town in England, dating from even the Middle Ages, which is not full of interest peculiarly its own, and which does not possess memorials of the past which no other place can show. It has been proposed, by a no mean authority, to teach history by paintings and cartoons. But history is already S 129 The New Forest: its History and its Scenery. painted for us on our city walls, and written for us upon our gates and crumbling castles. Our towns are in themselves the best texts upon history. For what we have seen with our eyes, and touched with our hands, leaves a more vivid and more lasting impression than the closest study of libraries of histories. Further, the picture of a mediaeval town, as given in its own archives, with its own legislation, its peculiar manufacture, or import, forms, to some extent, the true social picture of the times. Its history reflects and not faintly the history of the day. Christchurch was never a town of sufficient importance to show all this in its municipal records. Yet, too, we shall see that they in another way are, like the town itself, full of interest. From a modern point of view there is nothing to be seen beyond three or four straggling streets and its manufactory of fusee watch-chains the only one in England. All its interest and associations He with the past. The country round it, too, is equally bound up with that same past. To the north rises St. Catherine's Hill, which we saw from the valley of the Avon, with its oval and square camps, and rampart and double vallum, crested with the mounds of its Roman watch-towers. The river Stour winds along between rows of barrows. Heugist- bury Head is still fortified by its vast earthworks, and entrenched by deep ditches from the Avon to the sea.* Here the Britons saw the first swarm of fugitive Belgae land and spread themselves along the rich valleys of Dorsetshire.! Here, centuries after- * In Archeeologia, vol. v. pp. 337-40, is a description, illustrated with a plan of these entrenchments, together with the adjoining barrows, most of which have been opened, but the accounts are very scanty and unsatisfactory. t See Dr. Guest on the " Belgic Ditches," vol. viii. of the Archeeological Journal, p. 145. 130 Before and after the Norman Conquest. wards, the West- Saxons watched the raven - standard of the Danes scouring down the Channel, and knew their course along the coast, at night, by the blaze of burning villages, and, in the day, by the black trail of smoke.* But to return to the town. Its Old-English names, Tweonea and Twinham-burn, were given to it from its situation between the rivers Avon and Stour. They were afterwards corrupted into the Norman Thuinam; which was lost in the name of its Priory, which overshadowed the town with its magnificence. Here, in 901, came J^thelwald the Jiltheling, son of ^Ethered, in his rebellion against his cousin Edward the Elder, and seized the place. From Christchurch he fell back upon Wimborne, which he fortified, exclaiming he would do one of two things, " Either there live, or there He." That same night he fled to Northumberland.! From Domesday we find that in Edward the Confessor's time the manor belonged to the Crown, and that thirty-one tenements paid a yearly tax of 16tZ. and a mill 5s., whilst another, belonging to the Church, was worth but 30d. Its woods, only, were enclosed in the Forest. The manor remained in the hands of the Crown till Henry I. bestowed it on his friend and kinsman Richard de Redvers, Earl of Devon, the ruins of whose castle still overlook the Avon. Here his son Baldwin de Redvers in vain fortified himself * Gibson, in his edition of The Chronicle in the " norainum locorum explicatio," p. 50, seems to think that Yttingaford, where peace was made between the Danes and Edward, was somewhere in the New Forest, deriving the word from Ytene, the old name of the district. Mr. Thorpe, however, in his translation of The Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 77, suggests that it may be Kitchen. f The Chronicle, Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 178. Florence of Worcester, Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. pp. 117, 118. S 2 131 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. against S:hen. Here, too, lived his grandson William de Vernou, who helped to bear the canopy at Richard's second coronation at Winchester. Afterwards, the manor passed into the hands of Isabella de Portions, who, on her death-bed, sold it, with all her possessions, to Edward L, who well knew the value of such a stronghold. Though Edward II. bestowed the estate on Sir William Montacute, yet the castle still remained in the hands of the Crown. It was standing, though no longer a fortification, in the Commonwealth period. Nothing, however, now remains but the mere shell of the keep, whose walls are in places four yards thick.* Below it stands what was, perhaps, the house of Baldwin de Redvers, also in ruins, and roofless, but still a capital speci- men of what is so rarely seen, the true domestic architecture of the twelfth century. Like all the other remaining houses of this period, it is a simple oblong, seventy-one feet by twenty-four broad, and only two stories high, placed for defence on a branch of the Avon, which serves as a moat. On the south-east it is flanked by a small attached tower, now in ruins, under which * Grose, in his Antiquities (val. ii., under Christchurch Castle), gives the following curious extract from a survey, dated Oct. 1656, concerning the duties of Sir Henry Wallop, the governor : " Mem. : the constable of the castle or his deputy, upon the apprehension of any felon within the liberty of West Stowesing, to receive the said felon, and convey him to the justice, and to the said jail, at his own proper costs and charges ; otherwise the tything-man to bring the said felon, and chain him to the castle-gate, and there to leave him. Cattle impounded in the castle, having hay and water, for twenty hours, to pay fourpence per foot." The fee of the Constable in the reign of Elizabeth was SI. 0*. 9rf. Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. i., book ii., part. 5, p. 71. In the Chamberlain's Books of Christchurch we are constantly meeting with some such entry as, " 1564, ffor the castel rent for ij yeres xiij*. vrf." ' 1593, ffor the chiefe rent to the castel vis. x\d. 13-2 The Norman House. the stream flows. The ground floor was divided iu half by a wall, whilst the outer walls, thicker on the east and south sides, where more exposed to attacks than on the north and west, are pierced with deeply-splayed loopholes looking out on the stream. On this side was the hall, where lord, and guest, and serf, alike ate and drank, and slept on the floor. The other western half was divided into chambers and cellars, the kitchen probably standing in the courtyard. The Norman House. Above, approached by two stone staircases from within, and not, as in most cases, from without, was the principal dwelling- room, the solar, lighted on each side by thre'e double lights, carved on their outer arches with zig-zag and billet mouldings, and on the south by a circular, and on the north by a fine double window, once richly ornamented, but now nearly destroyed. The fire-place, the only one in the house, is set nearly in the centre of the east wall ; and above it still stands, in the place of the old smoke-vent, the beautiful round chimney, one of the earliest in England, like the fire-place, hid in ivy. There seems, however, as in the case of the still older 133 The Neiv Forest : its History and its Scenery. Norman house at Southampton, to have been no wall-passage connecting the building, as we might have expected, with the castle ; but like it, its entrances, of which there were three, one opening out upon the stream, were on the ground floor.* Coming down to later times, the great Lord Clarendon here possessed large property, and one of his favourite schemes was to make the Avon navigable to Salisbury. For this purpose it was surveyed by Yarranton, the hydrographer, who not only reported favourably of the idea, but proposed to make the harbour an anchorage for men-of-war, bringing forward the great natural advantages of Hengistbury Head, as also the facilities of pro- curing iron in the district, and wood from the New Forest. | All, however, fell to the ground with Clarendon's exile, and the harbour is now silted up with sand and choked with weeds. Nothing else is there to be mentioned, except the visit by Edward VI. to the town, from whence he wrote a letter to his friend Barnaby Fitz-Patrick, far superior to most royal letters. The lazar-house, which stood in the Bargates, has long since been destroyed. The old market-place has been lately taken down ; but in the main street, not far from the castle keep, remains, lately restored, one of those timbered houses so common in the midland counties and the Weald of Kent, * Descriptions of it will be found in Hudson Turner's Domestic Archi- tecture of England, vol. i. pp. 38, 39. ' Parker's Glossary of Architecture, vol. i. p. 167. Grose's Antiquities, vol. ii. Hampshire; in whose time it appears to have been cased with dressed stones. In the Chamberlain's Books of the Borough, under the date of the sixth year of Edward VI., 1553, we meet with repairs "for the house next the castle," which entry probably refers to some buildings belonging to the house, which, according to Grose, stretched away in a north-westerly direction to the castle.) t England's Improvements by Sea and Land. By Andrew Yarranton. Ed. 1677, pp. 67. 70. 134 The Chamberlain' s Books. with their dormer windows and richly-carved bressumers and barge-boards, but rarer in the West of England.* The glory, however, of the town, the Priory Church, still stands. Before describing it let us give some account of its history. Its earliest * As we have said, the muniment chest of the Christchurch Corporation, like that of all similar towns, is full of interest. It contains absolutions from Archbishops to all those who assist hi the good work of making bridges; letters from absolute patrons directing their clients which way to vote ; bonds from others that they will not require any payment from the burgesses, or put the borough to any expense; old privileges of catching eels and lampreys with "Iyer," and "hurdells de virgis," by all of which the past is brought before us. So, too, the Chamberlain's Books are most interesting. From them we can learn, year by year, the prices of wheat and cattle, the fluctuation of wages, the average condition of the day, and both the minutest outward events as also the innermost life of the town. The true social history of England is written for us in our Chamber- lain's Books. They have unfortunately never been made use of as they deserve. Thus let me give a few general quotations from those of Christ- church. In 1578 lime was Qd. a bushel, from which price it fell within two years to 2J. Stone for building we find about Is. a ton. Wages then averaged, for a skilled mechanic, from 7d. to 1*. a day, and for a labourer, 4d. ; whilst night-watchmen, in 1597, were only paid 2d. Timber, con- trary to what we should have expected, was comparatively dear. Thus in 1588 we find 9d. paid for two posts, and 20d. for a plank and two posts, whilst a few years afterwards a shilling is paid for making a new gate. Of course in all these calculations we must bear in mind that money was then three times its present value. Turning to other matters, we learn that in 1595, "a pottle of claret wine and sugar" cost 2*., whilst a quart of sack is only 12rf. In 1582, a quart of " whyte wine" is 5d., and twenty years before this a barrel and a half of beer cost 4d. Again, in 1562, the fourth year of Elizabeth, large salmon, whose weights are not specified, appear to have averaged 7d. a piece. A load of straw for thatching came to 2s. Qd., and in some cases 3s., which in 1550 had been as low as 8d., and never above 20d. Drawing it, or passing it through a machine, cost 4d. ; whilst a thatcher received 1*. 4d. for his labour of putting it on the roof. 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 135 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. buildings were founded by some of the secular canons of the order of St. Augustine, probably on a spot used for worship by the Romans.* Mention of it is made in Domesday as existing in Edward the Confessor's reign, and as possessing five hydes and one yardland in Thuinam, as also its tithes, and the third of those of Holdenhurst.f The present building, however, dates only from the time of Flambard, who rebuilt the church, pulling down the earlier building with its nine cells, | and introducing the regular instead of the secular canons. Not till Henry I.'s reign was the change completed, Baldwin de Redvers bringing in the former, and placing them under the first prior, Reginald. With this change new privileges and grants were made. Riches flowed in on every side. Not only were the Redvers 5rf., 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, I5d., whilst a load of "fmvn," 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 " sccaljing-stol^ is charged lOd. ; whilst a collar, or, as it is elsewhere in the same book called, " an iron choker for vagabonds," cost I4d. * In Archaologia, vol. iv. pp. 117, 118, is a letter from Brander, the geologist and antiquary, describing a quantity of spurs and bones of herons, bitterns and cocks, found on a part of the monastic buildings, showing that the site had been previously occupied. f Iloldenhurst had ten hydes and a half taken into the Forest (Domes- day, as before, iv. a). It then possessed a small church, and, as we find one mentioned in the charter of Richard de Redvers in Henry I.'s reign, we may fairly conclude that this, too, was not destroyed by the Conqueror. I Cartularium Monasterii de Christclnirclt Ticinham. Brit. Mus., Cott. MSS., Tib. D. vi., parsii., f. 194 a. This chartulary was much injured in the fire of 1731, but has been restored by Sir F. Madden. Quoted in Dugdale's Monasticon Aii^licmnun, vol. vi. p. 303, Ed. 1830. 136 The Dissolution of the Priory. benefactors, but the Courtenays, and Wests, and Salisburys, into whose hands the manor of Christchurch came.* Like most other ecclesiastical buildings, we hear but little of it till its dissolution. From its state we may be able to judge of the general condition of the monasteries, and how imperative was the change. Lelandf tells us that the Priory possessed but one volume a small work on the Old-English laws. Their own accounts show us that the rules of St. Augustine had long been forgotten. Drunkenness had taken the place of fasting ; and instead of giving they now owed.J Tradition, too, adds that the brethren were known in the town as the "Priory Lubbers." To this had the Austin Canons sank. So it was throughout England. Abbot and poorest brother were alike steeped in sensuality, and be- nighted in ignorance. Of the last prior, John Draper, we catch some faint glimpse in a letter from Eobert Southwell and four other commissioners to Cromwell, dated from Christchurch, the 2nd of December. He appears to have been a man who trimmed his course with * For further information, especially on the fortunes of the Da Redvers family, and minor details, which I hardly think would interest the general reader, see Brayley's and Ferrey's work on the Priory of Christchurch, London, 1834, pp. 6. 11. 22 : and "Warner's South-west Parts of Hampshire, vol. ii. pp. 55-65, which, notwithstanding some errors, is a most painstaking history. f Collectanea de Rebus Britannids, Ed. Hearne, vol. iv. p. 149. J The possessions of the house were large, and brought in above 600/. a year. Yet we find that the brethren were in debt in every direction. At Poole, Salisbury, and Christchurch, they owed 41/. 19s. 6d. for mere neces- saries. There was due 24. 2s. 8d. to the Recorder of Southampton for wine ; and a bill of Si. 13s. 2d. to a merchant of Poole, for " wine, fish, and here." Certificate of Monasteries, No. 494, p. 48. Record Office. Quoted by Brayley and Ferrey, Appendix No. vi., pp. 9, 10. T n; The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. the breath of authority, utterly selfish, utterly despicable. Not one word does he appear to have raised on behalf of his priory. Not one sigh did he utter for the old, nor one aspiration after the new religion. Thus the commissioners write : " Our humble dewties observyd unto y* gudde Lordeschippe. It may lyke the same to be advertised that we have taken the surrender of the late priorye of Christ Churche twynhm, wher we founde the prior a very honest, conformable pson, And the howse well furnysshede w* Jewellys and plate, whereof som be mete for the King* majestie is use as A litill chalys of golde, a gudly lardge crosse doble gylt, w 1 the foote garnyshyd w l stone and perle, two gudly basuns doble gylt having the Kings annys well inamyld, a gudly great pyxe for the sacramet doble gylt, And ther be also other things of sylv, right honest and of gudde valewe as well for the churche use as for the table resyvyd, and kept to the Kings use." * Before the Dissolution came, whilst matters still trembled in the balance whilst still there was hope that Protection would, for a little time longer, be given to hypo- crisy, and Authority to sloth, he pleaded with Henry. f Now, when all hope was lost, when the end had arrived, the commissioners compliment him as the " very honest, conformable person." Had he previously been in earnest they must have written very differently. By his conformity he purchased his peace. And so, after giving up his priory, he was allowed to depart with a pension, to finish his life as he pleased, at the Prior's Lodgings at Sumerford Grange. There he died ; and was buried in front of what had been his own choir ; and his chantry still remains in the south choir aisle. Of the conventual buildings, which stood * Brit. Mus., Bibl. Cott., Cleopatra, E. iv.. f. 324 b. T " Petition of John Draper." Amongst the Miscellaneous MSS. of the Treasury of the Exchequer, Record Office. 138 The Norman Work on the Outside. on the south side of the church, nothing remains except the fragments of the outer wall and the entrance lodge, built by Draper, with his initials still carved on the window label. A modern house stands on the site of the Refectory ; and in digging its foundations, some tombs of the fourth century were found.* Other traces remain only in the names of the places, as Paradise Walk, by the side of the mill stream, and the Convent meadows, where, in an adjoining field, are the sites of the fishponds of the brethren. The church stands at the south-west of the town, on a rising ground between the two rivers, its tower alike a seamark to the ships and a landmark to the Valley. But the first 'thing which strikes the visitor is not so much the tower, as the deep, massive north porch, standing right out from the main build- ing, reaching to its roof, with its high-recessed arch, and its rich doorways dimly seen, set between clusters of black Pur- beck marble pillars, and ornamented above with a quatrefoiled niche. Standing here, and looking along the north aisle, the eye rests on the Norman work of the transept, the low round arches inter- lacing one another, their spandrels rich with billet and fishscale mouldings ; whilst beyond rises the Norman turret, banded with its three string-courses, and enriched with its arcades, the space between them netted over with coils of twisted cables. This is true Norman work, such as you can see scarcely any- where else in England. And imagine what the church once was a massive lantern-tower springing up from the midst, the crown of all this beauty. Beyond all this lovely Romanesque work, rises the north Archeeologia, vol. v. pp. '224-29. T 2 139 The New Forest : its Y//.s/or// and its Scene ri/. choir aisle, with its quatrefoiled parapet, whilst above gleam the traceried windows of the choir, with their flying buttresses ; and beyond them again stands the Lady Chapel, surmounted by St. Michael's loft, ugly and vile. Entering, and standing at the extreme south-west end, wo shall see the massive Norman piers rise in long lines, lightened by their columns, and relieved by their capitals, the spaces above each arch moulded with the tooth ornament. Above springs the triforium with its double arches, some of their pillars wreathed with foliage, the central shafts chequered in places with network, and woven over with tracery. Above that again runs the clerestory, now spoilt, whilst an open oak roof, hid by a ceiling, but once rich with bosses and carved work, encloses all. To go into details. The porch and north aisle are Early- English, whilst a Norman arcade runs the whole length of the south aisle. The tower, and choir, and Lady Chapel, are Per- pendicular, and the nave, as far as the clerestory windows, Norman. Passing through the rich but mutilated rood-screen, which, however, sadly blocks up the way, we reach the choir, with its four traceried windows on either side, and clustered columns, from which springs its groined roof with bosses of foliage and pendants bright with gold, whilst the capitals of the shafts and the quatrefoils of the archivolts are rich with colour. The stalls are carved with grotesque heads and figures, like those in the Collegiate Church of the Holy Trinity, at Stratford-upon-Avon. Before us now stands the lovely reredos, illustrating the words of Isaiah, " There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Jesse sleeps at the bottom, his hand supporting his head, whilst David, with his fingers on his harp-strings, and Solomon, sit on each side, 140 The liercdos and Salisbury Chapel. the vine spreading upwards, bearing its leaf and full fruit in Mary, to whose Son the Wise Men are offering their presents. Such is the screen, and had the execution been equal to the design, it would have been the finest in England. The carving seems, however, never to have been finished, and certainly in parts only to have been roughly cut by some inferior hand, and never to have received the last touches of the master-artist. Even now, in its present condition, it stands before those of Winchester and St. Alban's, inferior only to that of St. Mary's Overie.* Passing on we come to the Lady Chapel, with its traceried roof. Under the east window are the remnants of another rich screen. The high altar, too, with its slab of Purbeck marble cut with five crosses, remains, whilst two recessed altar tombs to Sir Thomas West and his mother stand in the north and south walls. But what we should especially see, both for its beauty and its interest, is the Chantry Chapel, built for her last resting- place by Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, mother of Cardinal Pole. It stands in the north choir aisle, its roof rich with arabesque tracery and carved bosses, telling a curious story in our English history. Attainted of treason the Countess was confined two years in the Tower before she suffered. When the day of execution came, she walked out on the fatal Tower Green ; and still firm still to the last resolute refused to lay her head * I know nothing equal to this last screen in the delicacy of its carving, seen in bracket, and canopy, and the flights of angels ; in the deep feeling especially manifest in the central bracket, with the Saviour's head crowned with thorns, but surrounded with fruit and flowers, typical of His sufferings and the world's benefits ; and in the grave humour, not out of place, as allegorical of the world's pursuits, which peeps forth in the figures over the two doorways. 141 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. on the block. " So should traitors do," she cried, " but I am none ; " and the headsman was obliged to butcher her as best he could.* In the same letter before quoted from the Commissioners for the Suppression of Monasteries, dated from Christchurch, occurs this passage : " In thys churche we founde a chaple and monu- met curiosly made of cane [Caen] stone pparyd by the late mother of Raynolde pole for herre buriall, wiche we have causyd to be defacyd, and all the armys and badgis clerly to be delete." t To this day the vengeance of Henry's commissioners is visible, her arms being broken, and the bosses defaced, though her motto, " Spes mea in Deo est" can still be read. At the end of this aisle, under the east window, lie the alabaster effigies of Sir John Chydioke and his wife. The knight, who fell in the wars of York and Lancaster, wears his coat of mail, his head resting on his helmet, and his hands clasped together in prayer. At the western end, adjoining the north transept, stand two oratories w r ith groined roofs, enriched with foliated bosses, whilst the capitals, from which the arches spring, are carved with heads.J * Lord Herbert's Life and Reyne of King Henry VIII., Ed. 1649, p. 468. See, however, Froude's History of England, vol. iv. p. 119, foot-note. f The year, as was generally the case, is not given to this letter, but simply December 2nd. From internal evidence, however, it was certainly written in 1539; for we know that the Priory was surrendered Nov. 28th of that year. Why, then, two years before her death, the commissioners should speak of the " late mother of Raynolde pole " I know not. J Below the north transept, part, perhaps, of Edward the Confessor's church, is a vault, which, when opened, was stacked with bones, like the carnary crypts at Grantham, in Lincolnshire, and of the beautiful church at Rothwell, in Northamptonshire the " skull houses," to which we so often find reference in the old churchwardens' books. 142 The former Beauty of the Church. In the south choir aisle stand more monuments, amongst them the mortuary chapel of Eobert Harys, with his rebus sculptured on a shield ; and the chapel of Draper, the last prior, noticeable for its rich canopied niche over the doorway.* And now that the reader has seen each part, let him go back to the west end, and sweep out of sight the whole thicket of pews, and break down the rood-screen blocking up the view, and looking through and beyond it, past the long line of Norman bays, with their sculptured tables, and past the chancel, imagine the stone reredos, as it once was, shining with gold and colour, all its niches filled with statues, and the windows above blazing with crimson and purple, through which the sunlight poured, staining the carved stalls and misereres, and then he will have some faint idea of the former glory of the church, f Most interesting is it, too, from another point of view. * In the south choir aisle the broken sculptures represent the Epiphany, Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin. Little can be said in praise of any of the modern monuments. The best are Flaxman's " Viscountess Fitzharris and her three Children," and Weekes's " Death of Shelley." Some of the others should never have been permitted to be erected, especially those which disfigure the Salisbury chapel. The new stained window at the west end adds very much to the beauty of the church. f For further details the student of architecture should consult Mr. Brayley and Mr. Ferrey's work, before referred to, of which a new edition is much needed, as also Mr. Ferrey's paper in the Gentleman's Magazine for Dec., 1861, p. 607, on the naves of Christchurch and Durham Cathedral, both built by Flambard, and a paper on the rood screen in the Archaeological Journal, vol. v. p. 142 ; and also a paper read at Winchester, September, 1845, before the Archaeological Institute, on Christ- church Priory Church, by Mr. Beresford Hope, and published in the Proceedings of the Society, 1846. An excellent little handbook, by the Secretary of the Christchurch Archseological Association, may be obtained in the town. 143 The New Forest :. its History and its Scenery. Since the Austin canons were more especially concerned with man's struggle in daily life, their churches assumed a parochial character. Hence we here have the spacious nave, so different to that of the old Nunnery Church of Ptomsey, the west tower and doorway absent at Ronisey and the lovely north porch looking out to the town. The whole building, I am sorry to add, is sadly out of repair. Restoration has been going on for some time past ; but here, as in all similar cases, money is sadly needed. Surely men might give something, if from no higher motive than of keeping up a memorial of the piety of a past age. We inveigh against Cromwell and the Puritans against the sacrilege of horses stabled in the choir, and the stalls turned into mangers; against the sword which struck down the sculptured images, and the fire which consumed the carved woodwork. But the harm which the Puritans wrought is little compared to ours, in allowing the loveliness of our churches to rot by our negli- gence, and their sacredness to perish by our apathy. The North Poroh and Doorway 144 Thfi Old South-Western Sea-Coast. CHAPTER XIV, THE OLD SOUTH-WESTERN SEA-COAST SOMERFORD, CHEWTON GLEN, MELFORD, HUHST CASTLE, LY- MINGTON. LITTLE lias been seen of the sea, except fWmi C;ilsl ol to Leap. Though, too, the son-coast hriv., as there., is i.o The Nen- Forest : it* H'ltturii ami its Scenery. longer in the Forest, yet if we miss this walk we shall !>-, some of the most beautiful scenery in the district. As we leave Christchurch by the Lynrington Road, Mudeford lies on the right, and Burton, with its Staple Cross, on the left. Few things are more touching than these old grey relics of the past, standing solitary in our cross-roads, the dial united with the Cross, to show both how short was man's life, and where lay his only salvation. But we now profane them, and turn them, as here, into direction posts, or break them up, as at Burgate, to mend the road. Both villages will some day be more sought after than at present, for at Burton lived Southey, with his friend Charles Lloyd, and sang the praises of the valley in better verse than usual. At Mudeford, Stewart Rose, the author of The !!<<} King, built Gundimore, where, in 1807, Scott stayed, writing Marmion, and riding over the Forest exploring the barrows. In the same village Coleridge lodged during the winter of 1816.* * Scott used to admire the R<(1 King; but I suspect, judging from quotations, his praise was rather the result of friendhip than of unbiassed criticism. The following lines, from Rose's MS. poem of " Gundimore " (quoted in Lockhart's Life of Scott, p. 145, foot-note), are interesting from their subject, and at the conclus : on, though the idea is borrowed, are really fine : Ht Here Walter Scott has wooed the Northern Muse, Here he with me has joyed to walk or cruize ; And hence has pricked through Ytene's holt, where we Have called to mind how under greenwood tree, Pierced by the partner of his ' woodland craft,' King llufiis fell by Tiril's random shaft. Hence have we ranged by Keltic camps and barrows. Or climbed the expectant bark, to thread the Xarrows 14G Cheicton Glen. A little way along the main road lies Somerford, once one of the Granges of Christchurch Priory. Its barns and stables are partly built from the prior's lodgings, whose site may here and there be faintly traced ; and the chapel, which in Grose's time was still standing, with the initials of the last prior, John Draper, cut on the window labels.* The best plan, however, is not to go along the road, but the shore as far as Chewton Glen, and there climb up the cliff. The sands are white and hard, strewed with fragments of iron-stone, and large septaria, from which cement is made, and for which, farther on, a fleet of sloops is dredging a little way from the shore. In the far distance gleam the white and black and orange - coloured bands of sand and clay scoring the Barton cliffs. f The glen, or " bunny," as it is locally called, runs right down into the sea ; the high tide rushing up it, and driving back its Forest stream. Down to the very edge it is fringed with low oak copses, covered in the spring, as far as high-tide mark, Of Hurst, bound westward to the gloomy bower Where Charles was prisoned in yon island tower. * sic * * * Here, witched from summer sea and softer reign, Foscolo courted Muse of milder strain. On these ribbed sands was Coleridge pleased to pace Whilst ebbing seas have hummed a rolling base To his rapt talk." * Antiquities, vol. ii., where there is a sketch of the Grange as it was in 1777. f For the geology of High Cliff, Barton, and Hordle Cliifs, see chapter xx. There are not many fossils in either the grey sand or the green clay before you reach the "bunny." Plenty, however, may be found in the top part of the bed immediately above, known as the " High Cliff Beds," and which rise from the shore about a quarter of a mile to the east of the stream. U 2 147 The AV/r 7<'o/rx/ .- //x Jlixtori/ tnil<1 it* Scon ri/. crimson of the sky floating on the waves as they break along the shore. Still following the path along the top of the cliff, we pass the grave-yard, where stood the old cruciform church of Hordle once in the middle of the village, but now only a hundred yards from the sea. Nothing of it remains except some blocks of Grey Wethers, used for its foundation, and too large to be removed. Very interesting are these stones, brought up from the shore, where, now and then, one or two may be seen at low tide, tumbled from the drift above the same stones as those at Stonehenge, left on the top of the chalk. Gone, too, are its mill and its six salterns, mentioned in Domesday, and the village itself removed inland. The sailors, however, dredging for cement-stone or for fish, sometimes draw up great logs of wood, locally known as " mootes," which may perhaps tell of the salterns, or the time when the Forest stretched to the sea. The salterns of the Normans and the Old-English have suffered very different fates. In Normandy the sea no longer reaches to their sites,* whilst here it has long since rolled over them. Beyond this again is Mineway, reminding us, by its name, of the time when the iron-stone was collected on the shore and taken to the Sowley furnaces to be smelted. f Farther on, down in the valley made by the stream, which turns the village mill, mentioned in Domesday, lies Milford. The church spire rises * See Lappenbtrg's England under the Anglo-Norman Kings. Ed. Thorpe, p. 89. f Yarranton, in that strange but clever work, England's Improvement by Land and Sea (Ed. 1677, pp. 43-63), dwells at length on the quantity of iron-stone along the coast, and the advantage of the New Forest for making charcoal to smelt the metal. He proposed to build two forges and two furnaces for casting guns, near Ringwood, where the ore was to be brought up the Avon. 150 Hurst Beach and Castle. up prettily amongst its trees, and the church itself is a good example of our village churches, built in thres or four different styles. The tower is Early-English, surmounted by a string- course of Norman heads. In the north side stands a curious inserted doorway, with trefoil heading, whilst two Norman arches remain in the nave joined by Early-English, springing from black Purbeck marble shafts. To the south stretches the long Hurst beach, formed, in much the same way as the more famous Chesil Bank, of the rolled pebbles brought up from the Barton Cliffs by the strong tides aided with the westerly gales, making a breakwater to the whole of the Solent. Now and then close to it appear the floating islands, known as the Shingles, sometimes rising for only a few hours above the sea, and at others remaining long enough to become green with bladderwort and samphire. Across to the Isle of Wight, at the narrowest point, it is only a mile ; and so fast does the Solent tide,* when once the ebb is felt, pour itself along the narrow gorge, that it fills up Christ- church Bay, higher than at the flood, thus making, in fact, a double high-water. At the extreme end stands Hurst Castle, built by Henry VIII., from the ruins of Beaulieu Abbey. Whatever opinion we may have of Henry's private character, there can be but one as to his foresight and energy in defending the country. Much for this may be forgiven. Hall wrote in no exaggerated strain when he said : " The King's highness never * " That narrow sea, which we the Solent term, Where those rough ireful tides, as in her straights they meet, With boisterous shocks and roars each other rudely greet ; Which fiercely when they charge, and sadly when they make retreat, Upon the bulwark forts of Hurst and Calshot beat, Then to Southampton run. Polyolbion, book ii. 151 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. ceases to study and take pains both for the advancement of the commonwealth of this his realm of England, and for the defence of the same Wherefore, his Majesty in his own personne took very laborious and painful journeys towards the sea-coasts. Also, he sent dyvers of his nobles and coun- sellors to view and search all the portes and dangers in the coastes, .... and in all soche doubtful places his Highness caused dyvers and many bulwarks and fortifications to be made."* And of them, Hurst Castle, like Calshot, which we have seen, was one, and still stands, additionally fortified by guns, and guarded by the far better defences of lighthouses, and beacons, and telegraph stations, f Here it was, on the 1st December, 1642, Charles I. was brought, after holding his mock court at Newport, by Colonel Cobbit, who had seized him in the name of the army. Here, too, he still showed all the foolish childishness which Laud had taught him, putting faith in the omen of his candle burning * Hall's Union of the Families of Lancaster and York, xxxi. year of King Henry VIII., ff. 234, -.'35; London, 1548. f From Peck (Desiderata Curiosa, vol. i., b. ii., part iv., p. 66) we find that in Elizabeth's reign the captain received Is. 8d. a day ; the officer under . him, Is. ; and the master-gunner and porter, and eleven gunners and ten soldiers, 6d. each, which in Grose's time had been increased to Is. (Grose's Antiquities, vol. ii., where a sketch is given of the castle). Hur^t, on account of its strength, was to have been betrayed, i the Dudley conspiracy, to the French, by Uvedale, Captain of the Isle of Wight. (Uvedale's Confession, Domestic MSS., vol. vii., quoted in Froude's History of England, vol. vi. p. 438.) Ludlow mentions the great importance of Hurst being secured to the Commonwealth, as both commanding the Isle of Wight and stopping communication with the mainland (Memoirs, p. 323). Hammond, in a letter from Carisbrook Castle, June 25th, 1648, says it is "of very great importance to the island. It is a place of as great strength as any I know in England" (Peck's Desidrntfd O//-/' Mark Ash. MANY people have a vague notion that the gipsies constitute the most important element of the population of the New Forest, whereas, of course, they are mere cvphers. An amusing enough 158 The Stanleys, Lees, and Burtons. French author, in a work upon England, has devoted a special chapter to the New Forest, and there paid more attention to the gipsies than any one else, and entirely forgets the West-Saxon, whose impress is indelibly marked, not only in the language, but in the names of every town, village, and field. As, however, every one takes a romantic interest in these nomads, we must not entirely pass over them. Here and there still linger a few in whose veins run Indian blood, against whom Henry VIII. made bad laws, and Skelton worse rhymes. The principal tribes round Lyndhurst are the Stanleys, the Lees, and Burtons ; and near Fordingbridge, the Snells. They live chiefly in the various droves and rides of the Forest, driven from place to place by the policeman, for to this complexion have things come. One of their favourite halting-places is amongst the low woods near Wootton, where a dozen or more brown tents are always fluttering in the wind, and as the night comes on the camp-fires redden the dark fir-stems. The kingly title formerly held by the Stanleys is now in the possession of the Lees. They all still, to a certain extent, keep up their old dignity, and must by no means be confounded with the strolling outcasts and itinerant beggars who also dwell in the Forest. Their marriages, too, are still observed with strictness, and any man or woman who marries out of the caste, as recently in the case of one of the Lees, who wedded a blacksmith, is instantly disowned. The proverb, too, of honour among thieves is also still kept, and formal meetings are every now and then convened to expel any member who is guilty of cheating his kinsman. Since the deer have been destroyed in the Forest, life is not to them what it was. They are now content to live upon^a stray fowl, or hedgehog, or squirrel, baked whole in a coat of clay, 159 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. and to gain a livelihood by weaving the heather into mats, and brooms, and beehives. They are, however, mere wanderers, and have nothing to do with the soil. It is with the West-Saxons that we are most concerned. And in the New Forest he will be found just such another man as his forefather in the days of William the Eed, putting the same faith in visions and omens which made the King exclaim, on the morning of his death, upon the news of the monk of Gloucester's dream, " Do you take me for an Englishman ? " believing firmly in groaning ash-trees, and oaks which bud on Christmas-eve, and witches who can turn them- selves into hares, deeming that the marl which he digs is still red with the blood of his ancient foes the Danes. * Here, as we have seen in Hampshire, at Calshot, on the borders of the Forest, Cerdic landed. Here he defeated the Britons, and established the kingdom of the West-Saxons. Here the West -Saxon Alfred rallied his countrymen and crowned defeat with victory. Here, too, stood the capital of Wr>sex, Winchester, in whose cathedral He the old W Saxon kings. Here, then, if anywhere, we should expect to find West-Saxon characteristics and a West-Saxon population. As is well known, after the battle of Hastings, the West- Saxons, with one or two exceptions, succumbed willingly enough * I may seem to exaggerate both here and in the next chapter. I wish that I did. For similar cases in the neighbouring counties of Dorset and Sussex let the reader turn to the words "hag-rod," "maiden-tree," and " viary-rings," in Mr. Barnes's Glossary of the Dorset Dialect; and vol ii. pp. 266, 269, 270, 278, of Mr. Warter's Seaboard and the Down. I hesitate not to say that superstition in some sort or another is universal throughout England. It assumes different forms : in the higher classes, just at present. of spirit-rapping and table-turning, more gross than even those of the lower; and I am afraid really seems constitutional in our English nature. 160 The West-Saxon Element. to the Conqueror, who lived amongst them ; whilst the North- men across the Humber bid him defiance. Every one must to this day notice the extreme deference, almost amounting to a painful obsequiousness, of the lower classes in the southern, compared with their independent manner in the northern, parts of England. We find, too, mingled, however, with characteristics from other sources, the West- Saxon element not only in the appearance of the long-limbed Forest peasantry, with their narrow head and shoulders, and loose, shambling gait, but also in their slowness of perception. They betray, too, to this hour that worst Teutonic trait of fatalism, observable in all their epitaphs, and in their daily expression, " It was not to be," applied to anything which does not take place. Notwith- standing, too, their apparent servil'.ty, an amount of cunning- ness and craft peeps out, which in a different age compelled the Conqueror to make special laws against assassination.* Much must be set against these drawbacks. Enslaved to an extent which no modern historian has dared to reveal, and can only be fully conceived by the dreadful story of The Chronicle, treated as beasts rather than even slaves, the West- Saxons * Of the extreme difficulty of classification of race in the New Forest I am well aware. I have, however, taken such typical families as Purkis, Pcckham. Watton, &c., whose names are to be met in every part of the Forest, as my guide. Often, too, certain Fortst villages, as Burley and Mine-stead, though far apart, have a strong connection with each other, and a family relationship may be traced in all the cottages. A good paper was read, touching upon the elements of the New Forest population, by ]\lr. D. Mackintosh, before the Ethnological Society, April 3rd, 18G1. Of the Jute element, which we might have expected from Bede's account of the large Jute settlement in the Isle of Wight, I fiud few tracc-s. Sti>l there are probably more than is generally supposed. See, however, on this point, what Latham says in his Ethnology of the British Isles, pp. 238, 239. Y 1C1 The Neic Forest : it* History and its Scenery. showed, under the Normans, a spirit of obedience and an adapt- ability to changed circumstances which are above praise. Let us give the West- Saxon labourer credit for it both then and to this day, that though the most ill-paid and ill-fed in England, he bears his heavy yoke of poverty without a murmur. Turning to another side of his character, we find him loving the same old sports as in the days of Alfred. He still follows the hounds on foot, and when there were deer in the Forest, naturally killed them. Wrestling and cudgel-playing have been continued till the last few years close to the northern boundaries of the Forest. The old Hock-tide games were till a late period kept up in the northern parts, and "Hock-tide money" was not so very long ago paid as an acknowledgment for certain Forest privileges. Heartiness and roughness still go hand in hand with him as with his forefathers. But a heaviness of intellect is always visible, and, as with all his race, a sadness oppresses his mirth. His dress to this day, too, bespeaks his nation- ality. He still wears what is locally called the " smicket," and sometimes the " surplice," the Old-English smoc, called also the tunece. It is still, too, as formerly, tied round the waist with a leathern band. His legs are still cased, as we see the Old-English in their drawings, with gaiters, known as " vamplets," or " strogs," equivalent to the " cockers " of the Midland Counties, which do not reach quite so high as the former, and " mokins," which are merely made of coarse sacking. And now let us see how far he has made his presence felt on the district and in the language. But we must beware of overstraining our theory. Xo portion of our history is, in its details, so difficult as the English Conquest. None, to any statement which may be made, requires so many qualifications. The first faint flow of the Teutonic immigration was felt long 162 The Keltic Element in the Provincialisms. prior to Caesar's invasion centuries before the main wave burst over the country. We must, too, carefully bear in mind that in Wessex, more than in any other part, the conquerors and con- quered were blended together.* They mixed, however, every- where far more than is commonly allowed. Our language bears testimony to the general fact. The many Keltic household words in daily use are the best evidence. Here in the New Forest I may mention that the form "plock" is used instead of the common block (bloc), and that we have, as, perhaps, throughout the West of England, " hob," in the sense of potato-hob a place where potatoes are covered over, instead of "hog" (hu-g), noticed by Mr. Davies in his list of Keltic words in Lancashire. Further, we find the terms "more" (maur), for a root, "mulloch," for dirt, and "bower' stone," for a boundary-stone. f Here, too, as in other places, the Britons have left the traces of their rule on the broader natural features of the country on the rivers, as the Exe (y [9] wy s 9> the current), and Avon (Afon, the river), and Avon Water, near Setthorns, and Boldre (y Byldwr, the full stream), and Stour ([Gf\wy8-dwr 9 the deep water), and in the district itself, in the now almost forgotten name of Ytene. We find their influence, too, perhaps, in such local names of villages * See Dr. Guest's paper on "The Early- Knglish Settlements in South Britain," Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute, Salisbury volume, 1851, p. 30. f This, of course, is not the place to go into s~o difficult a subject. I need not refer the reader to Mr. Davies's paper in the Philological Society's Transactions, 1855, p. 210, and M. de Haan Hettema's Commentary upon it, 1856, p. 196. On the great value of provincialisms, see what Muller has said in The Science of Language, pp. 49-59. In Appendix L, I have given a list of some of those of the New Forest, which have never before been noticed in any of the published glossaiies. Y 2 163 The New Forest : iU History and its Scenery. and fields as Penerley, Denny, Fritham, Cocketts, Cammel Green, and Flasket's Lane. As might be expected, the traces of the Danes are very much less ; and I hardly like even to venture on the conjecture that the various " Nashes " along the coast are corruptions of n Science of Language, pp. 345-351 ; and compare Wedge- wood, Dictionary of English Etymology, introduction, pp. 5-17. B B 2 187 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. rustics. To " heft " (from hebban, with the inflexions, hefcst, " hef 3," still used), signifies to lift, with the implied meaning of weighing. So, " to heft the bee-pots," is to lift them in order to feel how much honey they contain. The substantive " heft " is used for weight, as, " the heft of the branches." Again, also, the good Old-English word " loute " (lutan), to bend, bow, and so to touch the hat, to be heard everyday in the Forest, though nearly forgotten elsewhere in England, may be found in Longfellow's Children of the Lord's Supper : " as oft as they named the Redeemer, Lowly louted the boys, and lowly the maidens all courtesied." In fact, one-half of the words which are considered Ameri- canisms are good Old-English words, which we have been foolish enough to discard. Let us now take another class of words, which will help to explain difficult or corrupt passages in our poets. There is, for instance, the word "bugle" (buculus), meaning an ox (used, as Mr. "Wedgwood * notices, in Deut. xiv. in the Bible, 1551), which is forgotten even by the peasantry, and only to be seen, as at Lymington and elsewhere, on a few inn-signs, with a picture sometimes of a cow, by way of explanation. I have more than once thought, when Rosalind, in As You Like it (Act iii., sc. 5), speaks of Phoebe's " bugle eyeballs," she means not merely her sparkling eyes, as the notes say, but rather her large, expressive eyes, in the sense in which Homer calls Minerva To give one more illustration of the value of provincialisms * Dictionary of English Etymology, p. 260. Manwood uses " bugalles" as a translation of buculi. A Treatise of the Laires of the Forest, 1. iii., .sect, xxvii., 1615. 188 Words used by Shakspeare now Provincialisms. in such cases, let us take the word " bumble," which not only in the New Forest means, in its onomatopoetic sense, to buzz, hum, or boom, as in the common proverb, " to bumble like a bee in a tar-tub," and as Chaucer says, in The Wife of Bath's Tale " A bytoure bumbleth in the myre," but is also used of people stumbling or halting. Probably, in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Act iii., sc. 3), in the passage which has been of such difficulty to the commentators, where Mrs. Ford says to the servants, who are carrying Falstafie in the buck-basket "Look, how you drumble," which has no meaning at all, we should, instead, read this word. It, at all events, not only conveys good sense, but is the exact kind of word which the passage seems to expect. Again, the compound thiller-horse, from the Old-English " fill," a beam or shaft, and so, literally, the shaft-horse, which we find in Shakspeare under the form of " thill-horse " (Merchant of Venice, Act ii., sc. 2), is here commonly used. Then there are other forms among provincialisms which give such an insight into the formation of language, and show the common mind of the human race. Thus, take the word " three- cunning,"* to be heard every day in the Forest, where three has the signification of intensity, just as the Greek rpiq in compo- sition in the compounds TplapaKap, rpiaaQXioq, and other forms. So, too, the missel-thrush is called the " bull-thrush," with the meaning of size attached to the word, as it is more commonly to our own " horse," and the Greek iWoc, and the Old-English href en, raven, in composition. * Cunning, I need scarcely add, is here used in its original sense of knowing, from the Old-English cunnan, as we find in Psalm cxxxvii. v. 5. 189 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. As might be expected, from what we have seen of the popu- lation of the Forest, the Romance element in its provincialisms is very small. Some few words, such as " merry," for a cherry ; " fogey," for passionate ; " futy," for foolish ; " rue," for a hedge ; " glutch," to stifle a sob have crept in, besides such Forest terms as verderer, regarder, agister, agistment, &c., but the majority are Teutonic. Old-English inflexions, too, still remain. Such plurals as placen, housen, peasen, gripen, fuzzen, ashen, hosen, as we find the word in Daniel, ch. iii. v. 21 ; such perfects as crope, from creep ; lod, from lead ; fotch, from fetch ; and such phrases as " thissum " (" fissum "), and " thic " for that, are daily to be heard. Let us, for instance, take the adjective vinney, evidently from the Old-English finie, signifying, in the first place, mouldy ; and since mould is generally blue or purplish, it had gradually attached to it the signification of colour. Thus we find the mouldy cheese not only named "vinney," but a roan heifer called a "vinney heifer." The most singular part, how- ever, as exemplifying the changes of words, remains to be told. Since cheese, from its colour, was called "vinney," the word was applied to some particular cheese, which was mouldier and bluer than others, and the adjective was thus changed into a substantive. And we now have " vinney," and the tautology, "blue vinney," as the names of a particular kind of cheese as distinguished from the other local cheeses, known as " ommary " and " rammel."* So also with the word "charm," or rather "churm," signi- fying, in the first place, noise or disturbance, from the Old- English cyrm. "We meet it every day in the common Forest * See ch. xvi. p. 178. roo Words used by Milton now ProvmdaUsma. proverb, " Like a swarm of bees all in a churm," whilst the fowlers on the coast talk also of the wild ducks " being in a churm," when they are in confusion, flapping their wings before they settle or rise. We find it, too, in the old Wilt- shire song of the " Owl's Mishap," to be sometimes heard on the northern borders of the Forest : " At last a hunted zo ver away, That the zun kum peping auver the hills, And the burds wakin up they did un espy, And wur arl in a churm az un whetted their bills." The word was doubtless in the first place an onomatopoieia, denoting the humming, buzzing sound of wings. Since, how- ever, it was particularly connected with birds, it seems to have been used in the sense of music and song by our Elizabethan poets, and by Milton. Thus : " Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet With charm of earliest birds." (Paradise Lost, Book iv. 642.) And again : " Morn when she ascends With charm of earliest birds." (Paradise Lost, Book iv. 651.) Here, however, in the New Forest, we find the original significa- tion of the word preserved. Let us further notice one or two more words, which are used by Milton and his contemporaries, and even much later, but which are now found in the Forest, and doubtless elsewhere, as mere provincialisms. Thus, though we do not meet his " tale," in the sense of number, as in L 'Allegro, " And every shepherd tells his tale, Under the hawthorn in the dale ; " 191 The Xeic Forest : its History and its Scenery. that is, number of sheep : we find its allied word " toll," to count. " I toll ten cows," is no very uncommon expression. Then, too, we have the word " tole," used, as I believe it still is in America, of enticing animals, and thus metaphorically applied to other matters. So, in this last sense, Milton speaks of the title of a book, " Hung out like a toling sign-post to call passengers."* Again, too, the bat is here called " rere -mouse " (from the Old-English hrere-mus, literally the raw-mouse), with its varieties rennie-mouse and reiny-mouse,t whilst the adjective " rere " is sometimes used, as in Wiltshire, for raw. On the other hand, the word fliddermouse, or, as in the eastern division of Sussex, flindermouse (from the High-German fleder- maus), does not, to my knowledge, occur. In the Midland counties it is often known as " leathern wings " (compare ledermus) ; and thus, Shakspeare, with his large vocabulary, using up every phrase and metaphor which he ever met, makes Titania say of her fairies : " Some war with rear- mice for their leathern wings." (Midsummer Fight's Dream, Act ii., sc. 3.) To take a few words common, not only to the New Forest, but to various parts of the West of England, we shall see how strong is the Old-English element here in the common speech. The housewife still baits (betan, literally to repair, and so, when * Apology for Smectymnus, quoted by Richardson. The word is even ued by Locke. f Miss Gurney, in her Glossary of Norfolk Words, gives ' ranny " as a shrew-mouse. Transactions of the Philological Society, 1855, p. 35. The change of e into a is worth noticing, as illustrative of what was said in the previous chapter, p. 167, of the pronunciation of the West-Saxon. 192 Words in the Bible now Provincialisms. joined with fyr, to light) the fire, and on cold days makes it blissy (connected with blysa, a torch). The crow-boy in the spring sets up a gally-bagger (gcelan, in its last meaning to terrify), instead of the " maukin " of the north, to frighten away the birds from the seed ; and the shepherd still tends his chilver-lamb (cilferlamb) in the barton (here tun, literally the barley enclosure). The labourer still sits under the lew (hleow, or " hleow^S," shelter, warmth) of the hedge, which he has been ethering ("e'Ser," a hedge); and drives the stout (stut, a gadfly) away from his horses ; and feels himself lear (Icernes, emptiness), before he eats his nammit (non-mete), or his dew-bit (deaw-bite). If we will only open our Bible we shall there find many an old word which could be better explained by the Forest peasants than any one else. Here the ploughman still talks of his "dredge," or rather "drudge," that is, oats mixed with barley, just as we find the word used in the marginal reading of Job xxiv. v. 6. Here, too, as in Amos (chap, iv., v. 9), and other places, the caterpillar is called the " palmer-worm." Here, also, as in other parts of England, the word "lease," from the Old- English lesan, is far commoner than glean, and is used just as we find it in Wycliffe's Bible, Lev. xix., 10 : " In thi vyneyeerd the reysonus and comes fallynge down thou shalt not gedere, but to pore men and pilgrimes to ben lesid thou shalt leeve." The goatsucker is known, as we have seen, not only as the "jar-bird," but as the "night-hawk," as in Leviticus (chap, xi., v. 16) and Deuteronomy (chap, xiv., v. 15) ; and also the " night-crow," as we find it called in Barker's Bible (1616) in the same passages. So also the word " mote," in the well-known passage in St. Matthew (chap, viii., v. 3), is not here obsolete. The peasant in the Forest speaks of the "motes," that is, the stumps and roots of trees, in opposition to the C C ia The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. smaller " mores," applied also to the fibres of ferns and furze, whilst the sailor on the coast calls the former "mootes," when he dredges them up in the Channel.* With this I must stop. I will only add that the study of the West-Saxon dialect in the counties of Hants, Wilts, and Dorset, is all-important. As we go westward we shall find it less pure, and more mixed with Keltic. As is well known, the Britons lived with the Old-English in perfect harmony in Exeter. Their traces remain there to this day. In these three counties, there- fore, are the most perfect specimens of the West-Saxon dialect to be found. Mr. Thorpe has noticed in the Old-English text of rosins, which is now generally ascribed to Alfred, the change of a into o and o into a, and also the same peculiarity in Alfred's Boethius.^ This we have already, in the last chapter, seen to be purely West-Saxon. I have no doubt whatever that at even the present day it is not too late to find other points of similarity, and make still clearer the West- Saxon origin of the Corpus Christi manuscript of the Chronicle,^ and how far even Alfred and St. Swithin contributed to its pages. These are difficult questions ; but I feel sure that much additional light * The word "more" was in good use less than a century ago; whilst the term " morefall," as we have seen in chapter iv. p. 43, foot-note, was very common in the time of the Stuarts. Mr. Barnes, in his Glossary of the Dorset Dialect, pp. 363, 391, gives us "mote," and "stramote," as "a stalk of grass," which serve still better to explain St. Matthew. f Thorpe's Preface to the EngLsh translation of Pauli's Life of Alfred the Great, p. vi. I Thorpe's Preface to The Chronicle, vol. i., p. viii., foot-note 1. See, however, Lappenberg's History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings; translated by Thorpe, Literary Introduction, p. xxxix. ; and the Preface to Monumenta Historicn Britannica, p. 75, where, as Mr. Thorpe notices, the examples quoted, in favour of the Mercian origin of the manuscript, are certainly, in several instances, wrong. 194 Mixture of Elements in our Language. can even yet be obtained. Sound criticism would show as much difference between our local dialects, whether even Anglian, or South, or West-Saxon, as between the Doric and Attic of Greece. I have dealt only with the broader features of the Old-English tongue, as it is still spoken in the Forest. Enough, however, I trust, has been shown of the value of pro- vincialisms, even when collected over so limited a space. Every- where in England we shall find Teutonic words, which are not so much the mould into which all other forms have been cast, as the living germ of our language. Mixed and imbedded with these, as we have also seen, we shall meet Keltic and Romance, by both of which our language has been so influenced and modified. Let us not be ashamed to collect them ; for by them we may explain not only obscure passages in our old authors, but doubtful points in our very history. Bushey Bratley- (Another ViewV !!>"> 77/r Xt'ir Forest : >/.s ///.s/'-r// a mi j/.s ,S><-/r//. CHAPTER XVII. T TI E BAR R O W S The Uir.s in Bratley Bai. IT is much to be regretted that Sir Walter Scott has left no account of his excavations of various barrows in the Forest. However little we may be able to determine by the evidence, or however conjectural the inferences which we may draw, there 196 Barrows on the East Side. will, at least, be this value to this chapter, that it will put on record facts which otherwise could not be known. The barrows lie scattered all over the Forest, and are known to the Foresters by the name of " butts," some of the largest being distinguished by local appellations. As in other parts of England, and as in France, superstition connects them with the fairies ; and so we find on Beaulieu Plain two mounds known as the Pixey's Cave and Laurence's Barrow. My own excavations have been entirely confined to the Keltic barrows in the northern part of the Forest.* But we will * I may as well add that a little way from where the Bound Oak for- merly stood, near Dibden, and between it and Sandy Hill, lies a small mound, , A thirty yards in circumference, and three feet high in the centre, surrounded by an irregular moat, from whichjthe earth had been taken. This I opened in 1862, driving a broad trench from the east to the centre, and another from the south to the centre, which, as also the west side, we entirely excavated ; digging below the natural soil to the depth of four feet. Nothing, however, was found, though I have no doubt charcoal was somewhere present. 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 circum- ference. 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. 197 The Xeie Forest : e only the embankments within which dwelt a British population. Still there is some probability about the conjecture. A little farther down the Brockenhurst stream are Ambrose Hole and Ampress Farm, both names unmistakeably referring to Anibrosius, or Natan-Leod, the Roman general who led the * South- Western Part* of Hampshire, vol. i. pp. 69-79. t Warner probably meant an overhanging brim, such as is common to most of the early Keltic cinerary urns, or, perhaps, one like that of the left-hand urn in the illustration at p. 196, which is more contracted than the others. He unfortunately gives us no dimensions. 198 Barrows on Sivay Common and Bratley Plain. Britons against their invaders. Nearer Lymington, too, stands Buckland Rings,* a Roman camp, with its south and north sides still nearly perfect, to which, perhaps, Natan-Leod fell back from Calshot. All this, however, must be accepted as mere conjecture. A more critical examination of these barrows is still wanting. Close to them, however, lies Latchmoor or Lichmoor Pond, the moor of corpses, a name which we meet again a little to the westward in Latchmoor Water, which flows by Ashley Common. The words are noticeable, and in connection with Darrat's (Dane-rout) stream, which is also not far distant, may point to a very different invasion.f And now we Avill pass to the barrows which I have opened. The first are situated on Bratley Plain, as the name shows, a wide heath, marked only by a few hollies and the undulations of the scattered mounds. The largest barrow lies close to the sixth * This camp was probably, since coins of Claudius have been found, occupied by Vespasian, when he conquered the Isle of Wight. A bronze celt was found here some eighty years ago, and came into the possession of Warner. Others have been discovered, in great quantities, in various parts of the Forest, two of which are engraved in Archteologia, vol. v., plate viii., figs. 9 and 10. Brander, too, the well-known antiquary, found others at Hinton, on the west border of the Forest (Arcfieeologia, vol. v. p. 115). Mr. Drayson has also picked up two flint knives at Eyeworth, which are figured, showing both the under and upper surfaces, at p. 206. f As in Derbyshire all barrows are marked by the terminal low hlcnv, a grave, so in the Forest they seem particularized by a reference to the Old-English lie. Thus, near the Beaulieu barrows we find Lytton Copse and Common, and at the west end of the Forest, not far from Amber- wood, meet another Latchmoor. I may notice that just outside the Forest, in Darrat's Lane a word which often occurs we find a place, near some mounds, called " Brands," equivalent to the " Brund " of Derbyshire, and having reference to the burning funeral pyre. (See Bateman's Ten Years' Diggings, Appendix, p. 290.) 199 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. milestone on the Ringwood Road. In a straight line to the north, at the distance of a quarter of a mile apart, rise three others, whilst round it on the east side lie a quantity of small circles, so low as hardly to be discernible when the heather is in bloom. An irregularly shaped oval, it rose in the centre.. to a height of nearly six feet above the ground, measuring sixteen yards in breadth, and twenty-two in length, with a circum- ference of from sixty to sixty-five. On the south side was a depression from whence the gravel had been obtained. We first cut a trench two yards broad, so as to take the centre, and at about two feet and a half from the surface came upon traces of charcoal, which increased till we reached the floor. A few round stones, probably, as they bore some slight artificial marks, used for slinging, and the flake of, perhaps, a flint knife, were the only things found, and were all placed on the south side. We now cut the mound from east to west, and on the east side, resting on the floor, we discovered the remains of a Keltic urn. The parts were, however, in a most fragile state, and in some instances had resolved themselves into mere clay, and we could only obtain two small fragments, sufficient to show the coarseness and extreme early age of the ware. Xo charcoal nor osseous matter could be detected adhering to the sides, which, as we shall see, is generally the case. Round it, as was stated, lie a quantity of small grave-circles, varying from twenty-five to ten yards in circumference, and scarcely better defined than fairy-rings. Two of these I opened, and they corresponded with the mounds on Sway Common examined by Warner, in having a grave about three feet deep, in which we found only charcoal. This was, however, the only point of resemblance, as they had no mound, and contained no urn. One fact is worth noticing, that they were dug in a 200 Contents of one of the Bratley Barrows. remarkably hard gravelly soil, so hard that the labourers made very slow progress even with their pick-axes. I did not excavate any more, as they were all evidently of the same character. The choice of such a soil, especially with the instru- ments they possessed, may, perhaps, show the importance which the Britons attached to the rite of burial. About a quarter of a mile, or rather less, from this great graveyard lay a solitary mound, two feet and a half in height, having a circumference of twenty-seven feet, a very common measurement, but without any trench. Upon digging into it on the east side we quickly came, about four inches from the surface, upon a patch of charcoal and burnt earth. Proceeding farther, we reached two well-defined layers of charcoal, the uppermost two feet from the top of the barrow. A band of red burnt earth, measuring five inches, separated these two beds, in both of which in places appeared white spots and patches of limy matter, the remains of calcined bones. In the centre, as shown in the drawing, we found a Keltic urn. Imbedded in a fine white burnt clay, which had hardened, placed with its mouth uppermost, and ornamented with a rough cable-moulding, and two small ears, it stood on the level of the natural soil, rising to within sixteen inches of the top of the mound. Digging on both sides, we discovered two more urns im- bedded in the same hard white sandy clay, so hard that it had to be scraped away with knives. Like the first, they were made by hand, and when exposed quite shone with a bright vermilion, which quickly changed to a dull grey. The paste, however, was a light yellow, mixed with coarse gritty sand. And the three were placed, as shown by the compass, exactly due north-east and south-west. A plain moulding ran round the south-west urn, which was D D 201 The Xnc Forest : its History mid its Scenery. considerably smaller and not so well baked as the other two, and had very much fallen to pieces from natural decay. This was placed eight inches lower than the central urn. .The northernmost was the same size as the central, though differing from it in the contraction of the rim, and when dis- covered was perfectly whole, but was unfortunately fractured by being separated from a large furze root, which had completely twined round the upper part. It, too, was placed on a lower level, by four inches, than the central urn. The two extreme urns were exactly five feet apart, and the interiors of them all were blackened by the carbon from the charcoal, burnt earth, and bones, which they contained. Looking at their rude forms and large size, their straight sides, their wide mouths, the thickness, and the rough gritty texture of the paste,* the absence of nearly all ornamentation, and, with the exception, perhaps, of a slinging stone, of all weapons, we shall not be wrong in dating them as long anterior 4 * I certainly think that these urns were fired, though imperfectly. As Mr. Bateman remarks, sun-baked specimens soon return to their original clay. See Appendix to Ten Years' Diggings, p. 280. 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 4J The central urn The same. The south-western urn Circumference at top . . 2 ,, 9 bottom . 1 4J Total height. . . . 1 1| 202 Contents of the Urns. to the Roman invasion how long a more minute criticism and a greater accumulation of facts than is now possessed, can alone determine. There are, however, one or two points peculiarly noticeable about this barrow first, the enormous quantity of burnt earth, suggesting that the funeral pyre was actually lit on the spot, which certainly was not the case in most of the other barrows, where the charcoal is only sprinkled here and there, or appears in the form of a small circular patch on the floor. Secondly, the two bands of charcoal, so full of osseous matter, would certainly go far to prove, what has been surmised by Bateman and others, that the slaves or prisoners were immolated at the decease of their master or conqueror. Again, too, the different sizes and positions of the urns may, perhaps, indicate either degrees of relationship or rank of the persons buried. And this theory is somewhat corroborated by the contents. The central urn was examined on the spot, and, like all the others, with the exception of a round stone slightly indented, contained burnt earth, limy matter, and at the bottom the larger bones, which were less calcined, but which, owing to the want of proper means, we could not preserve. The other two were opened at the British Museum. At the bottom of the north-easternmost were also placed bones in a similar condition, amongst which Professor Owen recog- nized the femur and radius of an adult. The smallest urn also showed bones placed in the same manner at the bottom, but in this case smaller, and amongst them Professor Owen deter- mined processus dentatus, and the body of the third cervical vertebra, and was of opinion that they were those of a person of small stature, or, perhaps, of a female. This is what might have been expected. And the fact of their being put in tie n D 2 203 Tin- AV/r /-'o/r.sV : ifx ///.story and its Scenery. smallest vessel, which, as we have noticed, was placed below the level of the others, certainly indicates a distinction made in the mode of burial of persons of either different ages or sexes. The fact, too, that all the larger bones were placed by them- selves at the bottom is worth noticing, and shows that they must have been carefully collected and separated from the burnt earth and charcoal of the pyre. About another quarter of a mile off rise two more barrows, measuring exactly the same in circumference as the last, though not nearly so high, being raised only sixteen inches above the ground. Upon opening the southernmost, we soon came, on the east side, upon traces of charcoal, which increased to a bed of an inch and a half in thickness as we reached the centre. Here we found an urn of coarse pottery exactly similar in texture to those in the previous barrow. It was, however, in such a bad state of preservation, and so soft, from the wetness of the ground, that the furze-roots had grown through the sides, and it crumbled to bits on being touched. Some few pieces, however, near the bottom, we were able to preserve. Its shape, however, was well shown by the form which its contents had taken. It seems to have been, though much smaller, exactly of the same rude, straight-sided, and wide-mouthed pattern as the other urns, measuring seven inches in height, and in circumference, near the top, two feet two inches, and at the bottom, one foot four inches. The cast was composed entirely of burnt stones, and black earth, and osseous matter, reduced to lime, in which the furze-roots had imbedded themselves. The fellow barrow, which was only about fifty yards distant, and whose measurements were exactly the same, contained also charcoal, though not in such large quantities, and fragments 204 Contents of Barrow near Ocknell Pond. of an urn placed not in the centre, but near the extreme western edge. The remains here were in a still worse state of decom- position, and we could obtain no measurements, but only one or two pieces of ware, which, in their general coarseness and grittiness of texture, corresponded with the others, and not only showed their Keltic manufacture, but their extreme early date.* This last mound, I may add, was composed of gravel, whilst the other was made simply of mould : and two depres- sions on the heath showed where the material had been obtained. About two miles to the north-east, close to Ocknell Pond, lies a single barrow of much the same size as these two, though a great deal higher, being raised in the centre to three feet and a half. We began the excavation on the east side, pro- ceeding to the centre, but found nothing except some charcoal, and peculiarly-shaped rolled flints, placed on the level of the ground. We then made another trench from the north side, and close to some charcoal, about a foot and a half below the raised surface, came upon the neck of a Koman wine vessel (ampulla). Although we opened the whole of the east side, we could not find the remaining portion. The barrow bore no traces of having been previously explored, nor did the soil appear to have been moved. The fracture was certainly not recent, and it is very possible that some disappointed treasure-seekers in the * I am inclined to think that here, as in the similar instance on Fritham Plain, the urns were put in the mound entire, and not, as is sometimes the case, in fragments. The pieces had no appearance of being burnt after the fractures had taken place, which were here simply the result of decay. See on this point Bateman's Ten Years' Diggings, pp. 191, 192, where Mr. Keller's letter to Sir Henry Ellis on the subject is given. 205 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. Middle Ages had forestalled us, and time had obliterated all their marks in opening the mound. From the position of the vessel at the top of the barrow, there had evidently been a second interment. The remains, however, are in accordance with what we might have expected. The barrow is situated not far from the Komano -British Neck cf Roman "Wine Vessel, Keltic Urn, and Flint Knives. potteries of Sloden, and close to it run great banks, known as the Bow-ditch, marking, in all probability, the settlements of a Romano-British population.* * Instances have been known where the top of a Roman cinerary urn has been taken off, and replaced ; but, from the narrowness of the neck, I hardly think this vessel was used for such a purpose. I give with it also a late British urn found, some twenty years ago, in a barrow outside the present Forest boundary, in a field known as Hilly Accombs, near Darrat's Lane, which has been previously mentioned. It measures 6 inches in height, and has a circumference of 1 foot 9 inches round the top, and 1 foot at the base. With it was discovered another, but I have been unable to learn in whose possession it now is, or what has become of the Roman glass unguent bottle found in Denney Walk (see the Antiquities of the Priory of Christ- church, by B. Ferrey and E. TV. Brayley, p. 2, foot-note). The two flint 206 Barrows on the West Fritham Plain. On Fritham Plain, not far from Gorely Bushes, lies another vast graveyard. The grave-circles are very similar in size to those round the large barrow on Bratley Plain, though a good deal higher, with, here and there, some oval mounds ranged side by side, as in a modern churchyard. In the autumn of 1862, I opened five of these, with the same result of finding charcoal in all, though placed in different parts, but in all instances resting on the natural ground, and giving evidence of only one interment. As in other cases, the grave-heaps were often alternately composed of mould and gravel. No traces of urns or celts were found, but in one or two a quantity of small circular stones, with indistinct marks of borings, which could hardly have accidentally collected. About a quarter of a mile off, on the road to Whiteshoot,* lies, however, a square mound, measuring nine yards each way, and averaging a foot and a half in height. On opening it on the north side, we came upon the fragments of an urn, so much decayed, however, that we could only tell that they were, probably, Keltic. On the west side, another trench, which had been made, showed the presence of charcoal, which kept increasing till we reached the centre, where we found what appeared to be the remains of three separate urns, placed in a triangle at about a yard apart. These also were in the knives were discovered by Mr. Drayson, near Eyeworth Wood, and some- what resemble the chipping found in the largest barrow at Bratley, and were, perhaps, cotemporary. The celts found by "Warner and Brander, with others in the possession of Gough, mentioned at p. 199, foot-note, were bronze. Mr. Keeping also discovered a stone celt in the drift, but this belonged to a far earlier period. See chap. xix. * There are two large heathy tracts known as Fritham Plain ; the one to the east, where stand several large trenched barrows, which still remain to be opened ; and the West Plain, where these excavations took place. 207 TJie Xeic Forest : its History and its Scenery. same decayed state, and crumbled to pieces as we endeavoured to separate them from the soil. With some difficulty we managed to preserve a few fragments which were identical with those which had been previously discovered in the other barrows at Bratley. They contained, like most of the other vessels, burnt stones and white osseous matter reduced to lime. There seems, however, to have been some difference in their texture with that of the fragments found on the north side, which were less gritty and coarse, and which bore no traces of charcoal or lime.* "We will now leave Fritham, and cross Sloden and Amber- wood Plantation. Not far from Amberwood Corner, and above Pitt's Enclosure, stand two barrows. The largest was opened thirty years ago by a labouring man, who, to use his own language, " constantly dreamt that he should there find a crock of gold." His opening was rewarded by discovering only some charcoal. In 1851, the Kev. J. Pemberton Bartlett also explored it with still less success. It is, however, a remarkable barrow, and differs in character from any of the preceding, being com- posed in the interior of large sub-angular flints, and cased on the outside with a rampart of earth. Beyond it lies another, very different in style, being made only of earth. This was also opened by Mr. Bartlett, who found some pieces of charcoal, and small fragments of a very coarsely-made urn. * An attempt to examine this barrow had been previously made, but the explorers had opened a little to the south-west of the spot where the pottery lay. It is just possible that the large square in Sloden may be of the same character. I cut a small opening at the western end, but it is impossible, on account of the trees, to make any satisfactory excavation. Whatever might have been its original purpose, it was certainly never the site of a church, as is commonly supposed. See ch. iii., p 32, foot-note. 208 The Barrows on Buffs Plain. About a mile away on Butt's Plain rise five more barrows, and beyond them again two more. Of the first five, two Avere explored by Mr. Bartlett, who was unsuccessful, and two by myself. The two which I opened lie on the right of the track leading from Amberwood to the Fordingbridge road. The northernmost was considerably the largest, having a circumference of fifty yards, and was composed simply of gravel and earth. In :t we found only a circle of charcoal placed nearly in the centre on the level of the ground. The other was more remarkable. It measured only thirty yards in circumference, but was composed in the centre of raised earth, above which were piled large rolled flints, making a stratum of from two to three feet in depth on the sides, but gradually becoming thinner as it reached the centre, which was barely covered. It thus totally differed from that near Amber- wood, where the earth flanked the stones instead of being the nucleus round which they were placed. In it we found a circle of charcoal ingrained with limy matter, a few remains of much calcined bones, and a fine stone hammer bored with two holes slantwise, to give a greater purchase to the handle. Besides these, I opened a solitary barrow situated between Handycross Pond and Pinnock Wood, close to Akercombe Bottom. It measured twenty-seven yards in circumference, and three feet in height. After digging into it near the centre', we found in the white sand, of which the mound was chiefly composed, a good deal of charcoal on and below the level of the ground, but failed to discover any traces of an urn, although we went down to a considerable depth. Further, a solitary oval mound stood on the south side of South Bentley, half way between it and Anses Wood. It E E 209 The Xfic Fr>t : its Hi.-it,,ni uml its > measured two feet and a half in height, twelve yards in length. and seven in breadth. This also I opened, but failed to find even any remains of charcoal, and, from the easy-moving nature of the soil, am inclined to suspect that it was modern, and raised for some other purpose than that of burial. On the east side was a depression filled with water, from whence the soil was taken. The most remarkable barrow, if it can be so called, in this part of the Forest, is at Black Bar, at the extreme west end of Lin wood, measuring nearly four hundred yards in circum- ference, and rising to the height of forty feet or more. I evidently in part factitious, for upon sinking a pit ten feet deep we reached charcoal mixed with Roman potter}-, but not of a sepulchral character. In its general appearance the mound is not unlike the famous Barney Barn's Hill, in Dibden Bottom, and close to it rises another, known as the Fir Pound, not much inferior in size. I made other openings on the top and sides, but discovered nothing further. To excavate it thoroughly would require an enormous time, and would in all probability nut repay the labour. It looks, however, by the depressions on the summit, as if it had once been the site of Keltic dwellings. And this is in some measure corroborated by a small mound close to it, where, as if apparently left or thrown away, we found placed in a hole a small quantity of extremely coarse pottery the coarsest and thickest which I have ever seen. Again, too, in a field close by, known as Blackheath Meadow, we everywhere met traces of Romano-British ware, very similar in shape and texture to that in Sloden, described in the next chapter. The whole district just round here is most interesting. mo T1i<> />/*'.*/: if* History frame some theory from these results. I, however, here prefer to allow the simple facts to remain. As we have seen, the barrows in this part of the Forest, like all others of the same period, contained nothing, with the exception of the single stone- liammer, and the slinging pebbles, and the flake of flint, but nearly plain urns, full of only burnt earth, charcoal, and human bones. Xo iron, bronze, nor bone-work of any sort, was found, which would still further go to prove their extreme early age. Curiously enough, too, no teeth, bones, nor horn-cores of animals were discovered, as so often are in Keltic barrows.* Like all others, too, of an early date, there seem to have been several burials in the same grave, though this, as on Fritham Plain, is very far from being always the case. Some little regularity evidently prevailed with the different septs. Some, as at Bratley, placed the charred remains in a grave from two to three feet in depth ; others, as at Butt's Plain, on the mere ground. On the other hand, a good deal of caprice seems to have been exercised as to the materials with which each barrow was formed, and the way and the shape in which it was built, as also the arrangement of the charcoal. Further, perhaps, the different grades of life and relation- ship were marked by the presence and position of the urns. has been already done, and too many barrows have been already rifled, without any record being made of their contents. Xearly all that we know of Kelt or Old-English we learn from their deaths. Their history i< buiied in their graves. * In Mr. Birch's Ancient Pottery, vol. ii. pp. 382, 383, will be found a list of the notices of the various di-coveries of Keltic urns, scattered through the different Archaeological Journals and Collections, which will save the student much time and labour. A most valuable paper on the subject, by Kemble, was published in the Arclueolngical Journal vol xii. number 48, p 309. 212 (General Summary of Facts. Whether this be so or no, it is certain that the mounds here which contained mortuary vessels were, as a rule, more elevated, and in nearly all instances placed hy themselves. The fact, too, of the cube-shaped mound with its remains of four urns should be kept in mind. Little more can with certainty be said. The flint knives which have been picked up in the Forest, the stone hammer in the grave, the clumsy form and make of the urns, the places, too, of burial in the wide furzy Ytene, in after-times the Bratleys, and Buiieys, and Oakleys, of the West- Saxons all show a people whose living was gained rather by hunting than agriculture or commerce. '.Barrows on Beaulieu Plain. 21:5 Tin' fa - CHAPTEK XVIIT. THE ROMAN AND ROMANO-BRITISH POTTERIKS. '. -'. FROM time to time the labourer, in draining or planting in the Forest, digs down upon pieces of earthenware, whilst in the turfy spots the mole throws up the black fragments in her mound of earth. The names, too, of Crockle Crock Kiln and Panshard Hill, have from time immemorial marked the site of at least two potteries. Yet even these had escaped all notice until Mr. Bartlett, in 1853, gave an account of his excavations, and showed the large scale on which the Romans carried on 214 The Potteries at Andencood and Oaldcij. tbeir works, and the beauty of their commonest forms and shapes.* Since then both Mr. Bartlett aiid myself have at different times opened various other sites, and some short notice of their contents may, perhaps, not be without interest. Fifty years ago, when digging the holes for the gate-posts at the south-west corner of Anderwood Enclosure, the workmen discovered some perfect urns and vases. These have, of course, long since been lost. But as the place was so far distant from the potteries at Crockle, I determined to re-open it. The site, however, had been much disturbed. Enough though could be seen to show that there had once been a small kiln, round which were scattered for three or four yards, in a black mould of about a foot and a half in depth, the rims, and handles, and bottoms of vessels of Romano-British ware. The specimens were entirely confined to the commonest forms, all ornamentation being absent, and the ware itself of a very coarse kind, the paste being grey and gritty. About a mile and a half off, in Oakley Enclosure, close to the Bound Beech, I was, however, more fortunate. Here the kiln was perfect. It was circular, and measured six yards in circum- ference, its shape being well-defined by small hand-formed masses of red brick-earth. The floor, about two feet below the natural surface of the ground, was paved with a layer of sand-stones, some of them cut into a circular shape, so as to fit the kiln, the upper surfaces being tooled, whilst the under remained in their original state. As at Anderwood, the ware was broken into small fragments, and was scattered round the kiln for five or six yards. The specimens were here, too, of ArcJtceologift, vol. xxxv. pp. 91-93. 215 Tin 1 Xi'ir Forest : its History t, give some general idea of the beauty of the ware, and can be compared with those given by Mr. Akerman in Archceologia, vol. xxxv. p. 96, and by Mr. Franks in the Archceological Journal, vol. x. p. 8. The commonest shape for a drinking-vessel is the right-hand figure at page 225, known in the Forest, from the depressions made by the workman's thumb, as a "thumb pot." Sometimes it is met with considerably ornamented, and varies in height from three to ten inches. The principal part of the pottery is slate-coloured and grey, and faint yellow, but some of a fine red bronze and morone, caused by the over- heating of the ovens. The patterns are thrown up by some white pigment, though a great many are left untouched by anything but the Avorkman's tool. When chipped, the ware, by being so well burnt, is quite siliceous. The so-called crockery of the southern part of the Forest is nothing else but the plates of turtles imbedded in the Freshwater marls. I find I was misinformed with regard to the recent discovery of a Roman glass manu- factory at Buckholt, mentioned in chapter v., page 51, footnote. Some most interesting glass-works, however, the earliest known in England, dating from the fourteenth century, occur at Buckholt in Wiltshire, nine miles from Salisbury, and were explored by the Rev. E. Kell, F.S.A. See Journal of the Archceological Association, 1861, vol. xvii. pp. 55-70. F F 2 219 The AV/f Forest : its History and its Scenery. The Island Thorn potteries had been so thoroughly opened by Mr. Bartlett, that I there made but little further explorations, and must refer my readers to his account,* only here adding that the ware scarcely differed, except in shape and patterns, from that at Crockle. About a mile westward stands Pitt's Enclosure, where in three different places rise low mounds, two of which, since the publication of his account, have been opened by Mr. Bartlett, but from which he only obtained fragments. The third, which I explored in 1862, was remarkable for the number of kilns placed close together, separated from each other only by mounds of the natural soil. In all, there were five, ranged in a semicircle, and paved with irregular masses of sandstone. They appear to have been used at the time at which they were left for firing different soils of ware. Close to the westernmost kiln, we found only the necks of various unguent bottles, whilst the easternmost oven seems to have been employed in baking only a coarse red panchion, on which a cover (operculum), with a slight knob for a handle, fitted. Of these last we discovered an enormous quantity, apparently flung away into a deep hole. Near the central kilns we found one or two new shapes and patterns, but they were, I am sorry to say, very much broken, the ware not being equal in strength or fineness to that at Crockle. The most interesting discovery, however, were two distinct heaps of white and fawn-coloured clay and red earth, placed ready for mixing, and a third of the two worked together, fit for the immediate use of the potter. Near to these works streteh, on a smaller scale, the same * ArchcEologia. vol. xxxv. jip. 95, 96. Potteries at Ashley Rails and Black Heath. embankments which mark the Sloden potteries. One is particu- larly noticeable, measuring twenty-two feet in width, and run- ning in the shape of the letter Z. In the central portion I cut two trenches, but could discover nothing but a circle of charcoal, looking as if it was the remains of a workman's fire, placed on the level of the natural soil. Another trench I opened at the extreme end, as also various pits near the embankment, but failed to find anything further. At Ashley Rails, also, close by, stand two more mounds, which cover the remains of more ware. These I only very par- tially opened, for the black mould was very shallow, and the specimens the same which I had found in Pitt's Wood. Besides these, there are, as mentioned in the last chapter, extensive works at Black Heath Meadow at the west-end of Lin- wood, but they are entirely, like those in Sloden, Oakley, and Anderwood, confined to the manufacture of coarse Rornano- British pottery. This last ware seems to differ very little in character or form. The same shapes of jars (copied from the Roman lagcnae) were found by Mr. Kell near Barnes Chine in the Isle of Wight,* though at Black Heath, as in the other places in the Forest, handles, through which cords were probably intended to pass, with flat dishes, and saucer-like vessels (shaped similar to patera), all, however, in fragments, occurred.f * See Journal of the Archaeological Association, vol. xii. pp. 141-145, where some figures of the jars are given. f In Eye worth Wood I have found pieces of Roman wine and oil flasks, but they were left here by the former inhabitants, and not made on the spot. The place known as Church Green is evidently the site of a habita- tion. In the autumn of 1862 I made several excavations; but there was some difficulty attending the work, as the ground had been previously explored by the late Mr. Lewis, the author of the Historical Inquiries on the State of the New Forest. The evidence, however, of the Roman pottery 221 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. Such is a brief account of the potteries in the Forest. Their extent was, with two exceptions, restricted to one district, where the Lower Bagshot Sands, with their clays, crop out, and to the very same bed which the potters at Alderholt, on the other side of the Avon, still at this hour work. The two exceptions at Oakley and Anderwood are situated just at the junction of the Upper Bagshot Sands and the Barton Clays, which did not suit so well, and where the potteries are very much smaller, and the ware coarser and grittier. The date of the Crockle potteries may be roughly guessed by the coins, found there by Mr. Bartlett, of Victorinus.* These were much worn, and, as Mr. Akerman suggests, might be lost about the end of the third century ; but the potteries were probably worked till or even after the Eomans abandoned the island. There is nothing to indicate any sudden removal, but, on the contrary, everything shows that the works were by degrees stopped, and the population gradually withdrew. None of the vessels are quite perfect, but are what are technically known as " wasters." The most complete have some slight flaw, and are evidently the refuse, which the potter did not think fit for the market. The size of the works need excite no surprise, when we Avas sufficient to show its occupation during the Roman period, and to dispel the illusion that it was ever the site of a church. On the north-east side of the wood are the remains of a fine Roman camp, the agger and rallum being in one place nearly complete. * I may add that Mr. Drayson also possesses coins of Victorinus, and Claudius Gothicus, found in various parts of the Forest, the last in one of the " thumb-pots," with 1700 others, perhaps, indicating the period when the Crockle and Island Thorn Potteries were in their most flourishing condition. 222 The Patterns and Shapes of the Ware. remember how much earthenware was used in daily life by the Romans for their floors, and drinking-cups, and oil and wine flasks, and unguent vessels, and cinerary urns, and boxes for Patteins from Fragments. money. The beauty, however, of the forms, even if it does not approach that of the Upchurch and Castor pottery, should be noticed. The flowing lines, the scroll-work patterns, the narrow necks of the wine-flasks and unguent vessels, all show how well Patterns from Fragments. the true artist understands that it is the real perfection of Art to make beauty ever the handmaid of use. Another thing, too, is worthy of notice, that the artist was evidently unfettered by any given pattern or rule. Whatever device or form was at the moment uppermost in his mind, that he carried out, his hand following the bent of his fancy. Hence the endless variety of patterns and forms. No two vessels are exactly alike. In modern manufactures, however, the smooth 223 The New Forest: vV.s Hixtori/ and its Scencri/. uniformity of ugliness most admirably keeps down any symptoms of the prodigal luxuriance of beauty.* We must, however, carefully beware of founding any theory, from the existent of these potteries, that the Forest must there- fore have been cultivated in the days of the Conqueror. The reason why the R3mans chose the Forest is obvious, -not from its fertility, but bacause it supplied the wood to fire the kilns ; the same cause which, centuries after, made Yarrauton select Ringwood for his smelting-furnaces. We must, too, bear in mind that after the Romans abandoned the island the natives soon went back to their primitive state of semi-barbarism ; and further, that the interval between the Roman occupa- tion and the Norman Conquest was nearly as great as that between ourselves and the Conqueror a period long enough for the Kelts, and West-Saxons, and Danes to have swept away in their feuds all traces of civilization. But what we should see in them is that beauty of form, which in simple outline has seldom been excelled, proclaiming a people who should in their descendants be the future masters of Art, as then they were of warfare. The history of a nation may be plainer read by its manu- factures than by its laws or constitution. Its true aesthetic life, too, should be determined not so much by its list * In Archaologia, vol. xxxv. p. 99, Mr. Akerman has given a series of patterns, which show the variety of designs used according to the fancy of each workman. The pattern on the right-hand side of our second illustration at p. 223 is used as a border in the toga ol the later Roman empire. The height of the wine vessel at p. 214 is seven inches and a half; of the oil-flask at p. 225, five inches; of the largest drinking cup, five inches; and the smallest, three inches and three-quarters; the jar, two inches. 224 The Presence of the Romans. of poets or painters, as by the beauty of the articles in daily use. And so still at Alderholt, not many miles off, the same beds of clay are worked, and jars, and flasks, and dishes made, but with a difference which may, perhaps, enable us to understand our inferiority in Art to the former rulers of our island. What further we should see in the whole district, is the way in which the Romans stamped their iron rule upon every land which they conquered. Everywhere in the Forest remain their traces. Urns, made at these potteries, full of their coins, have been dug up at Anderwood and Canterton. Iron nails at Caden- ham, millstones at Studley Head, bricks at Bentley, iron slag at Sloden, with the long range of embankments stretching from wood to wood, and the camps at Buckland Rings and Eyeworth, show that they well knew both how to conquer in war and to rule in peace. ,:isk, Drinking-Cups, Bowl, and J.u. G G The New Forest: its Histori/ and its Scenery. CHAPTKI! XIX. PARISH REGISTERS AXD CHURCHWARDENS' BOOKS. As the monasteries of former days preserved the general records of the times, so, in a minor degree, do our churches preserve the special history of our villages. In the social life of the past our Church Books are the counterpart of our Corporation Books, performing quite as much for their own parishes as the latter for their boroughs; not only giving, in the register, a yearly census of the population, Lut by the Churchwardens' Accounts the social and religious life of each period. 226 The Late Date of the Registers. Added to this also the clergyman, having nowhere else to chronicle them, has often entered in his register the pass- ing events of the day ; so that this further possesses, at times, a wider historical interest than could have been expected, giving us often glimpses of the views of men, who, however unsympa- thetic with the changes and forlunes of the hour, still carry, from their office and position, some not inconsiderable weight. All these books are far too seldom consulted. The few notes we shall make are by no means given as examples of what may be elsewhere found, but must be looked upon only as extracts from the books of a district, where we naturally could expect little of any general interest. The New Forest has never been, since registers became the law of the land, the scene of any of the great events of English history never the theatre of the Civil Wars, as the Midland Counties, where entries of victories and defeats, and battles and sieges, are mixed with the burials and births. Various causes, too, especially the scanty and scattered population, have contributed to the late date at which nearly all the Forest registers commence.* Still, at Eling, there occurs * The following dates prior to 1700 of the Parish Registers in the Forest district are taken from the Parish Register Abstract: Accounts and Papers: 1833, vol. xxviii (No. 13), p. 398 : 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 G G 2 The Neir Forest : its History and it* the second earliest parish register in Hampshire, beginning one year before Cromwell's Act has been passed ; showing, as was before noticed, that this part of the Forest was always the richest, and, consequently, the most civilized.* In this register we find the following most interesting entry : " 1654. Thomas Burges, the sonne of William Burges and Elizabeth Eussel, the daughter of Elizabeth, the now wife of Stephen Newland, were asked three Sabbath dayes, in the Parish Church of Eling: sc : Apriel 16th, Ap r 23rd, Ap r 30th, and were rnarr : by Richard L d Cram well, May xxii d ." I need scarcely add that it was under the Protector that an Act of Parliament was passed in 1653, enabling any persons, after the due proclamation of the banns in the church or chapel, or in the market-place, on three market days, to be married by a simple affirmation before a magistrate ; thus in a remarkable way nearly anticipating modern legislature. f The Protector's son, at the date of this entry, was probably living at Hursley, about ten miles away to the north. Going across to the other side of the Forest, we shall, at Ellingham, find, in the Churchwardens' Books, an entry in a different way quite as interesting. The leaf is, I am sorry to say, very much torn, and, towards the lower part, half of it is wanting. I give, however, the extract as it stands, indicating the missing passages by the breaks : * See chapter v., p. 51, foot-note. f Part of the Act is quoted in Burn's History of Pariah Registers, second edition, pp. 2G and 27, and where, at pp. 159, 160, 161, are given several examples of this kind of marriage amongst them, that of Oliver Cromwell's daughter Frances, in 1657, from the Register of St. Martin's-in- the Fields. 228 Licence for Eating Meat. " Martii 13. Anno dom. 1634. A special license, granted by the moste reverende fi'ather in God, William Lord Arch- bishop of Canterbury his Grace, under his Grace's hand and scale, used in the like grants, dated the nyneteenth day of ffebruarie, Anno dom. 1634, and second yeare of his Grace's translation. And confirmed by the Letters patents of our Sovraigne Lord Charles the King's rna. tie that now is .... Under the Greate Seale of England ffor S r White Beconsaw of this parish and county of Soutnton .... (and) Dame Edith hys wife ffor the tyme of their naturell (lives) .... to eate flesh on the daies phibited by the Lawe .... (upon condition of their giving to the) poore of the pish . . . . Thirteene shillings . . . ." Whether or no the knyght and his lady were to give the sum yearly, as seems most probable, it is impossible, from the torn condition of the leaf, to say. Their daughter was the noble Alice Lisle. The licence, of course, refers to the prohi- bition against eating meat on Fridays and Saturdays, and other specified times, first made by Elizabeth for the encouragement of the English fisheries, which had even in her reign begun to decay.* And now that we are on the subject of Church- * Burn, in his History of Parish Registers, second edition, pp. 171, 172, 173, gives several similar instances of such licences. These most valu- able books at Ellingham are, notwithstanding the incumbent's care, in a shocking state of preservation. I trust some transcript of them may be made before they quite fall to pieces. Ellingham also possesses another book containing the names of the owners of the different pews in the church in 1672, invaluable to any local historian. In the beginning of this book are inserted a number of law-forms of agreements, wills, and indentures, pro- bably for the use of the clergyman, who was, perhaps, consulted by his parishioners in worldly as also spiritual matters. In the Register there is, unfortunately, no mention of the death of Alice Lisle, as the burials are torn out from 1664 to 1695. 229 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. wardens' Books, let me give some brief extracts from those of Ellingliam : " 1556. Itm for waxe ..... ixd. Itm for a gyrdle ..... iij'/. Itm for waxe and for makynge of y e pas- chall and fontetapers . . . xv<7. First payed for a rod (rood) . . . xijs. Itm payed for the paschall and fonte- tapers ijs. viijV." " 1558. First payed for the pascall and fonte- tapers ...... xxij^L Itm payed for frankeincense . . id." Such notices well prove how quick and strong was the reaction from Protestantism to Catholicism when favoured by the State. Again, to still further show the variety of entries, let me make some extracts from the Fordingbridge Church- wardens' Books : " 1636. I tin for a fox-head . . . . 1 s I tm for one badgers head . . .010 I tm for one fox-head . . . .010" Among miscellaneous notices, as giving the average wages of the day, and the prices of various articles, let me add also the following from the same accounts : "1609. I tm laide out for a pint of muskadine . vii d " " 1616. I 1 for viij dayes' worke for three men . xxiij 8 I* for a new beel-Eope .... iij 8 iiij d I* for a daye's worke for three men . iij 8 iij d I* for a booke of artykeels . . . iij 8 230 Contents of Churchwardens' Books. I' for mates (mats) about the Com- munyon tabelle .... xiij d I' payde the Person for keeping the Stocke iij s iiij d " These accounts, too, like all others, are full of items for the repairs of the bells and bell-ropes, confirming what may be found in the narratives of old French and Italian travellers concerning our English passion for bell-ringing. The following looks very much like cause and effect : " 1636. Itfn to the Ringers one y e Kinges daye. ij s vj d It in for one belroape . . . . i s iv d " The " King's day " was that on which the King ascended the throne. Again, to show the mixed and varied contents of the Churchwardens' Books, we will once more go back to those of Ellingham. Under the date of 1556 we find: " It in for a baudericke of the great bell . . xij d Itm for a lanterne ..... viij d It in for nailes and sope .... iij d ' Under the head of " Layinges out in the secunde yere,'' meaning 1557, we meet : " Itm for a pot of claye . . "j d Itm payed for ij bokes . . . . x 8 Itm payed for smoke sylver . ij s xi d ' And, again, under the " Layinges out in the thyrdde yere," we find : " Itm payed for storynge of the tythynge harnesse ...... xviij Itin for white lether . . . iij Itm for lyme and vj creste tyles . . xxi d 231 The New Forest: its History and it* Sn'in>ri/. Itm for surplus for the clerke (clergyman) . iij 8 Itm for smoke silvar ..... xvij d ' All these entries, to the church historian, and no less to the general student, cannot be without peculiar interest. The smoke silver, which so frequently occurs, is either the money paid for certain privileges of cutting fuel, which, as we have seen, was formerly the case in the Forest, or an assessment on the houses according to the number of hearths, but more probably the former.* The general reader will scarcely care for more, but I trust elsewhere to give further extracts from these most interesting books. Turning back to the Registers, let me add from the Ibbesley Parish Register Book, as so few people have seen a specimen, an entry of an affidavit of burial in a woollen shroud, in com- pliance with the Act passed in 1679, for the encouragement of the woollen manufacture in England. f It thus runs, placed opposite to the entry of the person's burial, and written in the same handwriting: "Jan. 9 th , 16, I rec d a certificate from Mr. Roger Clavell, Justice of y e peace at Brokenhurst, that Thomas King and Anthony King, sons of Anthony King, deceased, did make oath before him, the sayd Roger Clavell, that the aforesayd Antony King was buried according to the late Act of Parliament." * See Notes and Queries. First Series, vol. ii., pp. 344, 345. In the Churchwardens' Books of Fordingbriclge we find "1609. For sraoke- niony, for makynge and deliveringe of the bills xvj'V which would confirm the first explanation given in the text. f 30 Car. II., cap. iii. See Journals of the House of Commons, vol. viii., p. 650 ; ix., p. 440. In Burn's History of Parish Registers, second edition, p. 117, may be found a much more complicated affidavit than those given in the text. 2.32 Certificates of Burials in And again, opposite to the entries of their deaths, we find " November 11 th . Certified by John Torbuck, Yicar of Elling- ham, y* Edward Baily and Nicholas Baily, of Ibsely, were buried in woollen only." Pope's lines on Mrs. Oldfield need hardly here be quoted. To conclude, of the parish books in the district let me only say that at Fordmgbridge may be found an inventory of all the church furniture for 1554; at Christchurch, notes of a Papist buried by women, for no one else would place her in the grave ; and entries of lay marriages ; at Ibbesley, lists of collections "towards the redemption of the poor slaves out of Turkey," " for the poor French Protestants," " for the redemption of captives," and " for the distressed Protestants beyond the sea," all testifying to the social and moral condition of the people, without which it is impossible to give the history of any district or any country. The .Norman Font in Brockenhurst Church. II II 2:;.? Tin \<'/r : it* pta KOI TO. ^tvSpa ooStv /n tOtXti tSao-/eav' and this arose from the state, or rather absence, of all Natural Science at Athens. Had that been different he would have spoken otherwise. The world is another place to the man who knows, and to the man who is ignorant of Natural History. To the one the earth is full of a thousand significations, to the other meaningless. First of all, then, for a few words on the geology of the Forest ; for upon this everything depends not only the scenery, but its Flora and Fauna, the growth of its trees and the course of its streams. Throughout it is composed of the Middle-Eocene, the Osborne and Headon Beds capping the central portion, with their fluvio-mariiie formation. The Upper Bagshot develops itself below them, and is succeeded by the Barton Clays, so well exposed on the coast, and finally by the Bracklesham Beds, which crop out in the valley of Cantertou, trending in a south-easterly direction to Dibdeii. Here, then, where the New Forest stands, in the Eocene period, rolled an inland sea, whose waves lashed the Wilt- shire chalk hills on the north, moulding, with every stroke of their breakers, its chalk flints into pebbles, dashing them against its cliffs, as the waves do at this very hour those very same pebbles along the Hurst beach. Its south-western boundary- line between Ballard Head and the Needles was rent asunder by volcanic action, and the chalk-flints flung up vertically mark to this day the violence of the disruption. II H 2 235 The Ncir Forest : its Histori/ a ml its Sc<'/icri/. Long after this the Isle of Wight was altogether separated by the Solent from the mainland, but still ages before the historic period. The various traditions, as to the former depth of the channel, how Sir Bevis, of Southampton, waded across it, how, too, the carts brought the Binstead stone for building Beaulieu Abbey over the dry bed at low water, have been previously given. The passage, too, in Diodorus Siculus has been already examined,* and there can be no doubt, notwithstanding his also making it, like the traditions, a peninsula at low water, that his Ictis is the Isle of Wight and not St. Michael's Mount. The mere local evidence of the mass of tin, the British road more like a deep trench than a road still plainly traceable across the Forest, the names along it corresponding with that of its continuation in the Island, would alone, most assuredly, show that this was the place whence the first traders, and, in after- times, the Romans, exported their tin. We must, however, remember that the channel of the Solent was caused by de- pression rather than by excavation; and that at this moment an alteration in the levels, as noticed by Mr. Austen, f is going on eastward of Hurst Castle. The drift, which spreads over the whole of the New Forest, is not very interesting. No elephants' tusks, or elks' horns, so far as I know, have ever been discovered. A few species of Terclra- tula and Pecten, some flint knives, and the os inominatum, of probably Bos longifrons, mentioned farther on, are the only * See chap, v., pp. 57, 58. It is just possible that by his "ra'e i';;(Toue," Diodorus may mean the Shingle Islands, which we have described in chapter xiv. p. 151, and whose sudden appearance and disappearance would lead to the most extravagant reports. f " On the Newer Deposits of the Sussex Coast:" Geological Journal, vol. xiii. pp. 64, 65. 236 The Middle-Eocene at Hordle and Barton. things at present found. Still, in one way, it is most inte- resting, as completely disproving the Chroniclers' accounts that, before its afforestation by the Conqueror, the district of the Forest was so fertile. The fact is a sheer impossibility. No wheat could ever be grown on this great bed of chalk-gravel, which is varied only by patches of sand. But nowhere, perhaps, in the world can we see the strati- fication of the upper portion of the Middle-Eocene better than at Hordle and Barton, as the sea serves to keep the different strata exposed. The beds dip easterly with a fall of about one in a hundred, though, at the extreme west, at High Cliff, it is much less, and here and there in some few places they lie almost horizontally.* At Hordle they seem to have been deposited in a river of a very uniform depth. There is but one single fault in the whole series, just under Mead End, where all the beds have alike suffered. Here and there, however, they are deposited with an undulating line ; and here and there, too, a rippled surface occurs, caused by the action of small waves. The river appears to have varied very much in the amount and force of its stream, as some of the beds, where the shells are less frequent, have been deposited very rapidly, whilst others, where the organic remains are more abundant, have been laid on very slowly and in very still water, f It will be impossible to examine all the beds. One or two, however, may be mentioned. And since the beds rise at the east we will begin from Milford. First of all, at Mineway, there * In the coast-map at p. 148, the principal beds are marked, so that, 1 trust, there will be no difficulty in finding them. f For the direction of the river from east to west, see a paper " On the Discovery of an Alligator and several Xew Mammalia in Hordwell Cliff," by Searles Wood, F.G.S. : London Geological Journal, No. 1., pp. 6, 7. 237 The Neic Forest : its History and its S< runs a remarkable band of fine sand, the " Middle Marine Bed,'-' discovered some twenty-five years ago, by Mr. Edwards, and subsequently successfully worked by Mr. Higgins. It is seldom, however, exposed for more than a few yards; but that is sufiicient to show, that after the elevation of the beds beneath they once more subsided, and the sea came over them again, and after that they were once again elevated. Just below Hordle House rises the " Crocodile Bed," run- ning out of the cliff about three hundred yards from Beckton Bunny. The lowest part of it teems with fish-scales, teeth, crocodile plates, ophidian vertebrae, seed vessels, and other vegetable matter, very often mixed in a coprolitic bed, just beneath a band of tough clay, the specimens being more frequent to the east than the west. The accompanying section (I.) will, perhaps, not only serve to show the situation of the bed, but also those above and below. My measurements will be found to differ slightly from Sir Charles Lyell's* and Dr. Wright's :f but this is owing to their having been taken in different places. Immediately under the "Leaf Bed," which, as seen in the opposite section, rises from the shore to the west of Hordle House, comes the lowest bed of the Lower Freshwater Serit->. formed of blue sandy clay sixteen feet in thickness, from whence Mr. Falconer obtained so many of his mammalian remains.* * " The Freshwater Strata of Hordvrell Cliff, Beacon Cliff, and Barton Cliff:" Transaction* of the Geological Society, second series, vol. ii., p. 287. f " Stratigraphical Account of the Section of Hordwell, Beckton, and Barton Cliffs :" The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, June, 1851. In making these measurements I was very greatly assisted by the Rev. W. Fox, who was most untiring to ensure accuracy. J See the Geological Journal, vol. iv.. p. 17 : as also, Professor Owen's Monograph, on " The Fossil Reptilia of the London Clay," published by the Palaeontographical Society, 1850, p. 48. 238 Section of Hordle Cliff. SECTION I. of Hordle Cliff, a little to the west of Hordle House. The beds here incline at an angle of .5. The present sea-shore. Ferruginous flint gravel interstratified with sand 18 feet. Light blue marl in the upper part running into sand 12 feet. Ligneous hed 12 inches. Bluish marl running into shades of light grey, caused by the comminuted shelly matter 15 feet, Ligneous bed 9 inches. Green marl 3 feet 6 inches. Limestone 4 inches. Lignite 1 inch. Green marl 5 feet 4 inches. Grey sand portion of Dr. Wright's Crocodile Bed 4 feet. Fossil bed 9 to 13 inches. [ Bands of tough brown clay, not continuous. l> ) c Coprolite bed appearing here and there, and always full of organic remains. Sand bed, uncertain 1 foot 8 inches. Light blue marl 4 feet 6 inches. Grey sand 2 feet 5 inches. Leaf bed, which here rises from the beach 18 inches. 239 The Netc Forest : its History and its Scenery. It is a bed, however, which is seldom open, and can be worked only at particular tides. It may easily be recognized as lying between the Leaf Bed and the well-marked Lignite Bed, which shows the first traces of salt-water, and where, in the lower portion, Xerltina concava may be abundantly found. This last bed may be well seen at Beckton Bunny (SECTION II.). The lignite, however, though it will give a good deal of heat, will not blaze. Locally it is sometimes used for making black paint. SECTION II. of Beckton Cliff immediately to the west of the Bunny. Flint gravel scarcely more than 3 or 4 feet, with an uncertain band of white sand. Lignite 3 inches. Brown clay 3 inches. Lignite 3 inches. Marl and sand 2 feet 2 inches. Ligneous bed, containing shells much broken 8 inches. Grey sand 2 feet 4 inches. (Grange-coloured sand, with very few fossils at this point, though plenty eastward 15 feet 9 inches. Olive bed. Fossils abundant 27 feet 3 inches. The present sea-shore. Passing on to Becktou Bunny we reach the first true bed of the Lower Marine Formation, which rises a little eastward of that ravine. I have distinguished it as the Olive Bed, from the 240 The, Olive and Chama Beds. abundance of specimens of Oliva Branderi, forming the equivalent to number eighteen in Dr. Wright's arrangement, and which, when worked, emits a strong smell of sulphur. Immediately under the Olive Bed, as seen in the opposite section (IL)> taken immediately on the west side of the Bunny, rises grey sand, seventeen feet and a half in thickness, possess- ing only a few casts of shells. The next bed, however, composed also of grey sand, rising about three hundred yards farther on, is, perhaps, the richest in the whole of this Marine series, and its shells the best preserved. It may at once be recognized by the profusion of Chama squamosa, from which it has been called the Chama Bed. Specimens of Area Branderi and Solen gmc'dis may be found here as perfect as on the day they were deposited. A little farther on, nearly under the Gangway, rises the Barton clay, encrusted with Crassatella sulcata,* And here, * Some of the most characteristic shells in this bed may perhaps be mentioned : Pleurotoma exorta. Sol. Scalaria reticulata. Sw. Terebellum fusiforme. Lam. Scalaria semicostata. Sow. Murex minax. Sol. Littorina sulcata. Pilk. Murex asper. Sol. Solarium plicatum. Lam. Murex bispinosus. Sow. Hipponyx squamiformis. Latft. Typhis pungens. Sol. Fusus porrectus. Sol. Voluta ambigua. Sol. Fusus errans. Sol. Voluta costata. Sol. Fusus longajvus. Lam. Voluta luctatrix. Sol. Bulla constricta. Soiv. Dentalium striatum. Sow. Bulla elliptica. Desk. I scarcely need, I hope, refer the reader either to Mr. Edwards' Mono- graph on the fycene Mollusca, 1849, 1852, 1854, 1856, or to Mr. Searles Wood's Monograph on the same subject, both in course of publication by tke Palaeontographical Society. There is an excellent table of the Barton shells, by Mr. Prestwich, in the GeologicalJournal, vol. xiii. pp. 118-126. I I 241 Tin- \ : it* History //// jV.< Si-men/. on looking at the cliff, we may notice how all the beds, as they rise westward, gradually lose their clayey character, and run into sand, which will account for this part of the cliff foundering so fast. The water percolates through the sand down to the Barton Beds, and the loose mass above is thus launched into the sea. Below the Barton Coastguard Station rises another bed of green clay, containing sharks' teeth and the bones of fish. About a mile farther on, the High Cliff Beds emerge rich with Cassis ambigua and Cassidaria nodosa. And below them, seen in the channel of the stream flowing through Chewton Bunny, rises a bed of bright metallic-looking, green clay, the XummuUna Presticichiana Bed of Mr. Fisher, containing sharks' teeth and some few shells. Beyond, a little to the west of High Cliff Castle, occurs the well-marked Pebble Bed, the commence- ment of the Bracklesham Series, containing rolled chalk flints, and casts of shells. Next follow grey sands full of fossil wood and vegetable matter, marked by a course of oxydized ironstone-septaria. Then succeeds another Pebble Bed, and lastly appear the grey Bracklesham Sands.* We have thus gone through the principal beds, both of the Freshwater and Marine Series, as far as they are exposed in this section along the sea-coast. The fluvio-marine beds stretch away eastward as far as Beaulieu and Hythe, but their clays here con- tain very few shells. On the other hand, the Bracklesham Beds, trend away northward towards Stoney- Cross, appearing in the valley, and cropping out again on the other side of the Southampton Water. * For the High Cliff Beds, see Mr. Fisher's paper on the Bracklesham Sands of the Isle of Wight Basin, in the Proceedings of the Geological Society May, 1862, pp. 86-91, whose divisions are here followed. 24-2 The Hunting Bridge Beds. Some few words must be said about them. The highest beds, known as the Hunting Bridge Beds, occur in Copse St. Leonards, not far from the Fritham Road.* In a descend- ing order, separated by thirty or forty feet of unfossiliferous clays, come the Shepherd's Gutter Beds, to be found about half-a-mile lower down the King's Gairn Brook; and below them, again, separated by forty or fifty feet of unfossiliferous clays, and situated somewhat more than a mile lower down the same stream, rise the Brook Beds. Still farther down, too, from some shells very lately discovered at Cadenham, it is sup- posed that the Ceritkium Bed of Stubbington and Bracklesham Bay will be found, but this is not yet ascertained. The Hunting Bridge Beds I have never examined, but subjoin their measurements, as also their most typical shells,f * All these beds are shown in the large map by the word " Fossils," there not being space enough to particularize each bed. f These beds were discovered by Mr. Fisher in 1861, and for the following measurements I am indebted to Mr. Keeping. We find, about one hundred yards in a south-eastward direction from the point where the footpath from Brook to Fritham crosses the stream, (1) the Coral Bed, the equivalent of that at Stubbington, full of crushed Dentalia and Serpula, six inches. (2) Sandy light blue clay, with very few fossils, seven feet. (3) Verdigris-green and slate-coloured clay, characterized near the top by a new species of Dentalium, SerpulorMs Morchii (?), and Spondylus ~ rarispina. The other typical shells are Valuta Maga, several species of Area and Corbula gallica, five feet. It is in this bed that large roots of trees and ferns are found. 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 further mention that a well is at the present moment being sunk at Emery Down, and which, as I learn from Mr. Keeping, gives the I I L' 24.-; The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. and must here content myself to give a general description of the Shepherd's Gutter and Brook Beds. The former, the equivalent to the Xiimnuilina Bed at Stubbington, Bracklesham, Shells from the Shepherd's Gutter Beds and White-Cliff Bay, is so called from a small stream at the foot of Bramble Hill Wood, about a mile due north of the King's Gairn Brook. The measurements are as follow : (1) Gravel from one to five feet ; (2) light-coloured clay, with following interesting measurements: (1) Beds of marl, containing Valuta geminata, discovered forty years ago, at Catwalk Hill, by Sir Charles Lyell, and now re-discovered, and a small Jfurfrinella, 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, con- taining 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. 244 The Shepherd's Gutter Beds. a few fossils sparingly distributed/ five to six feet ; (3) Turri- tella carinifera bed, one foot and a half; (4) fossil bed, charac- terized by Conns deperditas, and the abundance of Pecten corncus within a few inches of the bottom, one foot and a half. It is worth noticing that these, like all the Bracklesham beds, roll. In a pit which Mr. Keeping and myself dug we found there had been a regular displacement of the gravel, and that the beds rose at an angle of thirty degrees, whilst the fossil bed was three feet lower on one side than the other of the pit. In another, after cutting through a foot of gravel, in which we found the os inominatum, of probably Bos longifrons* and a bed of sandy clay about two feet in thickness, we came upon a deposit of gravel about four inches thick, lying in the depressions of the stiff brown clay which succeeded, and in which still remained roots and vegetable matter. Thus we can plainly see that, after the clay had been deposited, vegetable, and perhaps animal, life .flourished. . Then came the gravel, carrying all before it, and in its turn, too, was nearly swept away, and only left here and there in a few scattered patches. Perhaps, nothing is so startling as this insecurity of life. As was the Past so will be the Future, guided, though, always by that Law, which at every step still rises, moving in no circle, but out of ruin bringing order, and from Death, Life. The Brook Beds I can best describe for the general reader by an account of a pit which Mr. Keeping and myself made. It was sunk about 20 feet from the King's Gairn Brook, and measured about 6 yards long by 4 broad. We first cut through * I say probably, for Professor Owen, who examined the specimen, states that it is of a bovine animal of the size of Bos longifrons, but does not yield characters for an exact specific identification. I may here add that the celt mentioned at p. 207, foot-note, is hardly satisfactory. 245 Tin 1 X<')r Forest : its History and its Scenery. a loamy sand, measuring 3 feet, and then came upon 19 inches of gravel, where at the base stretched the half fossilized trunk of an oak, and a thick drift of leaves mixed with black peaty matter, the remains of some primaeval forest. Three feet of light-coloured clay, unfossiliferous, succeeded ; and then came the Corbula Bed, with its myriads of Corbula pisum, massed together, nearly all pierced by their enemies, the Murices. Stiff light - coloured clay, measuring 18 inches, followed, revealing some of the shells, which were to be found so plentiful in the next stratum. Here, at the Pleurotoma attenuata Bed, our harvest commenced, and since Mr. Keeping has worked these beds, no spot has ever yielded such rich results. Every stroke of the pick showed the pearl and opal-shaded colours of the nautilus, and the rich chestnut glaze of the Pecten corneus, whilst at the bottom lay the great thick-shelled Carditce pliui'i- costce. Inside one of these were enclosed two most lovely specimens of Calyptraa .trochiformis. Mr. Keeping here, too, found a young specimen of Natica cepacea (?), and I had the good fortune to turn up the largest Pleurotoma attenuata ever yet discovered, measuring 4 inches in length, and 3 inches in circumference round the thickest whorl. We were now down no less than 8 feet. And at this stage the water from the brook, which had been threatening, began to burst in upon us from the north side. We, however, with intervals of bailing, still pushed on till we reached the next bed of pale clay, measuring from 7 to 8 inches, containing Cassidarice highly pyritised, and sharks' teeth, amongst which Mr. Keeping discovered an enormous spine, measuring at least 10 inches in length, but we were unable to take it out perfect. The water had all this time been gaining upon us, in spite of our continuous efforts to bail it with buckets. We, however, 246 The Brook Beds. succeeded in making the Valuta horrida bed, which seemed, at this spot, literally teeming with shells. Each spitful, too, showed specimens of fruit, earhones, fish-palates, drift-wood, and those nodular concretions which had gathered round some berry or coral.* At this point, the water, which was now pouring through the side in a complete stream, and a rumbling noise, showed danger was imminent. Hastily picking up our tools and fossils we retreated. In a moment a mass of clay began to move, and two or three tons, completely burying our bed, fell where we had stood. Founder after founder kept succeeding, driving the water up to higher levels. We procured assistance, but precious time was lost. Night began to fall, and we were obliged to leave unworked one of the richest spots which, in these beds, may, perhaps, ever be met. As it was, we found no less than sixty-one species, including in all 230 good cabinet specimens, which, considering the small size of the pit, and our limited time, and the great disadvantages under which we worked, well showed the richness of these beds. * I had intended to have accompanied this description with a group of some of the best fossils from this pit, including the fruit, fish-spines, and palates, and the large Pleurotoma atlenuata. It was, in fact, commenced by the artist. But the specimens were obliged to be so greatly reduced, that the drawing gave no complete idea of their form and beauty, and would only have confused the reader. I have, therefore, contented myself with figuring at p. 249, in its matrix of clay, the rare Natica cepacea (?), which has passed into Mr. Edwards' fine collection, and who has kindly allowed me the use of it, with the characteristic Cassidaria nodosa, and a lovely Calyptrcsa trochiformis, found, as mentioned, inside a Cardita. At p. 244, the specimens given from the Shepherd's Gutter Beds are Cerithiiun trilinum (Edw. MS."), Valuta uniplicata, and, in the centre, a shell, showing oblique folds on the columella, which Mr. Edwards thinks may be identical with Fusils iucertus of Dcshayes. The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. Merely, however, collecting fossils for collecting's sake is useless. The aim of geology is to enable us to understand how this world was made how form followed form, how type after type took life and then passed away, and the higher organization ever succeeded the lower. The Middle-Eocene ought to be to us particularly interesting, separating us, on the one hand, from those monsters which had filled the previous Age, and, on the other, presenting the first appearances of those higher mammals which should serve the future wants of man. The pterodactyle no longer darkened the air. The iguanodon now slept in its grave of chalk. A new earth, covered with new types and new forms, had appeared. It is a strange sight which the Hordle Cliffs unveil. Here, beneath a sun fiercer than in our tropics, the crocodile basked in its reed beds. Here the alligator crimsoned the stream, as he struck his jaws into his victim ; whilst the slow tryonyx paddled through the waves, and laid its eggs on the sand, where its plates are now bedded. The very rushes, which grew on the river banks, lie caked together, with the teeth of the rats which harboured in them. The pine-cones still, too, lie there, their surfaces scarcely more abraded than when they dropped from the tree into the tepid waters. Along the muddy river shore browsed the paloplothere, whilst his mate crashed through the jungle of club-mosses. Groves of palms stood inland, or fringed the banks, swarming with land- snakes. Birds waded in the shallows. But no human voice sounded : nothing was to be heard but the scream- ing of the river-fowl, and the deep bellow of the tapir-shaped palaeothere, and the wolf-like bark of the hyasnodon. This description is no mere fancy, but taken from the remains actually discovered in the Hordle Cliffs. I have had no need to borrow from the fossils of the Headon and Bin stead 248 Europe, and America formerly joined. Beds, or the caves of Montmartre. On these cliffs, too, is scored the history of the past. Here lie the little Nuculoe, still crimson and pink as when they first settled down through the water into their bed of sand ; and teeth of dichodons still bright with enamel. The struggle of life raged as fiercely then as now. And the pierced skull of the palaeothere still tells where it received its death-wound from its foe the crocodile. But other things do they reveal. They plainly show, a^ was, I believe, first suggested by Mr. Searles Wood, that in the Middle-Eocene period Europe and America were connected. The pachyderms of Hordle are allied to the tapirs of the New World. The same alligators still swim in the warm rivers of Florida : and the same type of sauroid fish, whose scales spangle the Freshwater Beds, is now only found in the West. Shells from the Brook K K \f/r I' V*/r.s7 : //.s Jlixtori/ and il* CHAPTER XXL THE BOTANY. THE FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS. Barrow 'a Moor Wood. CLOSELY connected with the geology of the Forest are its ilowers. And though mere geology could not tell us the whole 250 Effects of tJtc Soil. Flora of a district, yet we might always be able, by its help and that of the latitude, to give the typical plants. Close to the chalk, the Forest possesses none of the chalk flowers. No bee- orchis or its congeners, although so common on all the neigh- bouring Wiltshire downs, bloom. No travellers'-joy trails amongst its thickets, although every hedge in Dorsetshire, just across the Avon, is clothed in the autumn with its white fleece of seeds. No yellow bird's-nest (Monotropa Hy-popltys) shades itself under its beeches, though growing only a few miles distant on the chalk. Still, here there are some contradictions. The chalk-loving yew appears to be indigenous. Several plants which we might reasonably expect, as herb-Paris, the bird-nest orchis (Neottia Nidus-avis), and the common mezereon (Duplm* Mezereum), are wanting. Owing to the want of stiff clay, no hornbeams grow in its woods, except, perhaps, a few in one or two cold " bottoms." No Solomon's seal or lilies of the valley whiten its dells. No meadow- geranium waves its blue flowers on the banks of the Avon.* On the other hand, the plants too truly tell the character of the soil. In the spring the little tormentil shows its bright blossoms, and the petty-whin grows side by side with the furze, and the sweet mock-myrtle throws its shadow over the streams. In the summer and autumn the blue sheep's-bit scabious and the golden-rod bloom, with the three heathers--. In the bogs the round-leaved sundew is pearled with wet, and * In one place only in the Forest, on some \\aste ground at Alum (jreen, have I seen this plant. K K -2 *> l Tin' Xi'/r I''f crows and magpies, and even, as in one case, to my kuo\\ edge, in that of the honey-buzzard. The bird, however, is becoming scarce. For several years I have known a pair or two build in Buckhill Wood, of which a ; ;etch is given at the end of this chapter, but last year none came. It lays generally about the beginning of June, though I have received its eggs as late as July 12th. Yarrell says tb their number is three or four; but, with Mr. Hoy,* I ha lever known the bird lay more than three, and very often onl> two. The goshawk (Falco palumbariw) and the rough-legged buzzard (Falco lag opus) are very rarely seen ; but, I fear, the kite, although so plentiful in Gilpiu's time, has nearly deserted this, like all other districts. Once, and once only, has it been * Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds, by W. C, Ilewitson, vol. i. p. 27. 261 Tin- Xc/r Fnirst : //.s ffiatnrif mitl //x .SVr//m/. seen by Mr. Farren. The honey-buzzard, however (Falco apivorus), comes regularly over from Germany about the end of May, attracted, in some measure, perhaps, by its favourite food, the larvae of wasps and bees, but chiefly by the wide range of the woods. At Mark Ash and Puckpits I have frequently, for an hour together, watched a couple, sailing with their wings outspread, allowing the wind f on a boisterous day, to catch them, till it almost veered them over; just circling round the tops of the beeches, sometimes even " tumbling," like a pigeon, and answering each other with their sharp, short cry, prolonged every now and then into a melancholy wail. Its favourite breeding stations are amongst the tall beech-woods round Lynd- hurst, in Mark Ash, and Gibbs Hill, Puckpits, Coalmeer, Prior's Acre, and the oaks of Bentley and Sloden. The nest is always placed in the old one of a crow, or even the common buzzard, whose young by that time have flown, and sometimes made on the top of a squirrel's " cage," the birds contenting themselves with only re-shaping it, and lining the inside with fresh green leaves. The fact of a squirrel's " cage " being used will account for the nest being sometimes found so low, and on a compara- tively small tree. No rule can therefore be laid down as to its position. I have known the bird build in very different situa- tions. Mr. Rake found its nest in Sloden, on the forked bough of a low oak, not thirty feet from the ground. In 1860 a pair built, not very much higher, in the overhanging branch of a beech in Puckpits ; and, in the same year, another pair reared their young on the top of a fir in Holmy Ridge Hill. And in 1861 and 1862, I knew of two nests, not fifty yards apart, in Mark Ash, each placed nearly at the top of the very tallest beeches in the wood, at least seventy or eighty feet from the ground. As so little appears to be known about its breeding 262 The ]] reeding Habitx of the Honey -Buzzard. habits, I may as well add a few more words. It seldom arrives till the beginning of June, when the leaves are thick on the trees, and immediately commences its nest, for which purpose it seems only to come, as it immediately departs when the young birds can fly. Pairs have been known, however, not to lay till the end of July ; and, I am assured by one of the Forest keepers, not sometimes till even the beginning of August ; but these are, doubtless, cases where the birds have been robbed of their first eggs. It differs from the common buzzard in not flying away when disturbed during incubation, but merely skimming round the top of the tree in small circles, uttering its short, shrill cry, sometimes both male and female perching on the branch of a neighbouring tree, and remaining undisturbed by shouts or cries, whilst the nest is being reached. At these times a kind of stupidity seizes the bird. It has, to my know- ledge, on several occasions, remained in the nest till a boy has touched its feathers, and returned as soon as he left. As a further illustration, I may add, that in one of the nests before mentioned, in Mark Ash (June 7th, 1862), was only one egg, which was taken. The birds, however, did not forsake, and another, which was also taken, was laid on the third day. Even then the birds did not desert, but after the interval of two more days laid a third egg, about one-half smaller than usual, and in shape somewhat resembling a peregrine's. On another occasion, June llth, 1859, a pair bred in a high beech in Coalmeer Wood, near Stoney Cross, and though fired at more than once did not desert. The female, however, was first shot, when the cock, nothing daunted, took his partner's place, and sat on the eggs, and in a day or two afterwards shared her fate. In the nest were two eggs, which, with the exception before mentioned, I have never known exceeded. Those in my 263 The New Forest: its History and its Scenery. collection vary in colouring from the light dull vermilion, v \iich so often characterizes the merlin's eggs, to a deep rich morone, tinted, especially in newly-taken specimens, with a delicate crimson bloom.* A few words more. The birds are not much seen in the day, but generally early in the morning. Whilst the hen bird * As so few opportunities occur of weighing the eggs of the honey- buzzard and hobby, the following notes, most carefully made by Mr. Kake and myself, may not be without interest : 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) . loz. 3dr. Isc. 5gr. Second egg (very slightly dinted) . loz. 2dr. 2sc. lOgr. Honey-buzzard's nest, taken June 24tb, 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 loz. 4dr. Osc. lOgr. Second egg loz. 3dr. 2sc. lOgr. Hobby's nest, placed in a nest which, in 1861, had been occupied by a honey-buzzard, Avas taken in Prior's Acre, June 21st, and contained three fresh-laid eggs, now in Mr. Rake's cabinet : First egg 6dr. Osc. Ogr. Second egg 5dr. 2sc. lOgr. Third egg (very slightly dinted) . . 5dr. 2sc. Ogr. Hobby's nest, taken in South Bentley Wood, July 12, contained t\vo eggs hard sat upon and addled : First egg 5dr. 2sc. 15gr. Second egg (cracked) .... 5dr. Osc. 14gr. With these weights may be compared the following : Egg, supposed to be that of a merlin, taken with two others which were broktn, June 17th, 1862, near Alum Green, in the hole of a beech, rather sat upon, weighed 4dr. Isc. lOgr. Two fresh-laid eggs of kestrels, taken at the same time, weighed 4d. 2sc. 15gr. Other eggs of kestrels, however, have weighed con- siderably more ; and two others, also laid about the same time, came to odr. o gr. 264 The Habits of the Common ttuzzard. sits on the eggs, the cock perches close by in some tall thick tree. Perhaps from this very affection for their young arises their seeming stupidity, and the ease with which they are killed. Some years ago a keeper found a nest with two young birds in Bentley Wood, and on purpose to secure them tied them by their legs to a small tree, where the old birds regularly came and fed them. But the strangest fact with regard to their breeding is that before they finally decide upon a nest they will line several with green leaves and small leafy twigs. Lastly, I may add that though I have examined many nests, I have never found any traces of their being, as is related by some writers, lined" with wool. If there was any wool it was probably placed there by the bird which had previously inhabited the nest. The common buzzard (Falco buteo) is a resident all through the year in the Forest, and may now and then be seen towering high up in the air, so high that you would not at first notice him, unless you heard his wild scream. It is not, however, nearly so plentiful as formerly. He is a sad coward, and the common crow will not only attack, but defeat him. Once or twice I have seen their battles . during the breeding season. The jays, and magpies, too, and even the pewits, will mob him, the latter striking at him almost like a falcon. Its favourite breeding-places are in the Denny and Bratley Woods, Sloden, Birchen Hat, Mark Ash, and Prior's Acre. Several nests are yearly taken, for the bird generally breeds when the bark- strippers are at work in April and May. A series of its eggs, in my collection, taken in the Forest, show every variety of colouring from nearly pure white to richly blotched specimens. In the breeding-season the birds are excessively destruc- tive. A boy who climbed up to a nest in the spring of 1860 told me that he found no less than two young rabbits, a prey M M 25 The New Forest: its History and its lieu, aiid two thrushes as provision for two nestlings. However, there is always some compensation, for in one which I examined were the skeletons of two snakes and a rat picked to the hone. The accompanying vignette will, I trust, although the nests are so exactly alike, he of some interest. Whilst the artist was sketching the honey-buzzard's nest, the old bird, the first which I had noticed in 1862, made its appearance and circled round the tree, uttering its peculiar short shrill squeak. This nest, which had been repaired in the previous year, the dead beech-leaves still hanging on to the twigs, was between forty and fifty feet from the ground ; whilst that of the common Common Buzzard's Nest. Honey-Buzzard's Nest. buzzard, who, whilst sitting, had, a month before, been killed, was upwards of seventy feet, and placed on the very topmost boughs of a beech, on which tree^was also the other. But more important than even the nesting of the honey - 266 The Breeding ILibits of tJie Merlin. buzzard is that of the merlin (Falco / : its Ilixturii mnl its The marsh and lieu-harriers, too, frequent the moors and heaths of the Forest, especially the latter, locally known as the " blue hawks." Some few pairs of these breed here, and in 1859 a nest containing three young birds was found near Picket Post by a woodman, and another in 1862, with three eggs, on Beaulieu Heath. One of the Forest keepers described the fern for some distance round a nest, which he discovered, as com- pletely trodden down by the young birds, and so littered with feathers and dirt that, to use his words, the place had exactly the appearance of a goose-pen. A woodman, too, who in 1860 was set to watch a pair near Ocknell, gave me an interesting account of his seeing the old birds breaking off the young tops of the fern to form their nest. I have never \\hence it flew up, perching for a moment on a holly, and then making off to the woods. On June 4th, however, I observed a hen bird fly out of a hole, about twenty feet from the ground, in an old beech in Woolst one's Hill, on the east side of Haliday's Hill Enclosure. There were, how- ever, no eggs. On the 5th I went again, and the bird, when I was about fifty yards from the tree, again flew off. Still, there were no eggs. I did not return till the 9th, when the nest, now pulled out of the hole, had been robbed. It was made of small sticks, and a considerable quantity of feather-moss, and some fine grass, and in general character re- sembled the nests of the bird found by Mr. Hewitson in Norway. In the holes were the bones of young rabbits, but these had, from their bleached appearance, been brought by a brown owl, who had reared her brood there in the previous summer. I afterwards learnt where the three eggs had been taken in 1861 ; but there was nothing, with the exception of a few sticks, in the hole, which was in this case about ten feet from the ground, and placed also ir> a beech on the edge of Barrowsmoor. Great caution, however, must be exercised regarding the merlin's eggs ; for I am inclined to think that the kestrel, contrary to its usual practice, sometimes also breeds in the Forest in the holes of trees. The egg mentioned at p. 264, foot-note, brought to me on June 17th, 1862, I have every reason to believe is a merlin's, but could not quite satisfy myself as to the evidence. 268 The Harriers mid Oirlx. myself been fortunate enough in the Forest to find their nest, but I have often watched a pair on Black Knoll and Beaulieu Heath skimming over the ground, pausing to hover just above the furze, then flying forward for some ten or twenty yards, turning themselves suddenly sideways ; and then again, for a minute, poising, kestrel-like, beating each bush, and every now and then going up a little higher in the air, but quickly coming down close over the cover. Passing from, the falcons, let us look at the owls, of which the Forest possesses four, if not more, varieties. The com- monest is the tawny (Strix aluco), whose hooting fills the woods all through the winter. At Stoney Cross I have repeatedly heard, on a still November night, a pair of them calling to one another at least two miles apart. It not only breeds in holes of trees, but in old crows' -nests, and will often, when its eggs are taken, ky again within a week. The barn owl, strange to say, is not much more abundant than the long-eared (Strix otus), which breeds in the old holly -bushes, generally taking some magpie's nest, where it lays thfee eggs. Barer still is the short-eared (Strix br achy otus) , which visits the Forest in November, staying through the winter, and in the day-time rising out of the dry heath and withered fern.* Leaving the owls, let us notice some of the other birds. Many a time, in the cold days of March, have I seen the wood- cocks, in the new oak plantations of Wootton, carrying their young under their wing, clutching them up in their large claws. Here, on the ground, they lay their eggs, which are of the same colour as the withered oak-leaves a dull ochre, spotted * For some account of the little owl (Strix passerina), see Appendix III. under the section of Stragglers, p. 314. 269 The New Forest: it* lH*trit tir,d it* and clouded with brown, and are thus easily overlooked. About the same time, or even earlier in February the raven will build, or rather used to, in the old woods round Burley. In 1858 the two last nests were taken, the eggs being somewhat smaller than those which I have received from the Orkneys. Another of its breeding stations was in Puckpits, where, how- ever, it has not built for the last four seasons. Formerly the bird was common enough, as the different Bavensnest Woods still show ; and old men in the Forest have told me, in direct opposition, however, to what Yarrell says,* that when, as boys, taking its eggs, they were obliged to arm themselves with stones and sticks to drive off the parent birds, who fiercely defended their nests with their claws and bills. Now it is nearly extinct, though a pair may sometimes be seen wherever there is a dead horse or cow in the district. Then, when the summer comes, and the woods are green and dark, the honey-buzzard skims round the tops of the trees ; and the snipe, whose young have not yet left the swamps, goes circling high up in the ftir, " bleating," as the common people here call the noise of its wings, each time it descends in its waving, wandering flight ; whilst out on the open spaces the whinchat, known throughout the Forest, from its cry, as the "furze hacker," jerks itself from one furze branch to another; and flitting along with it fly a pair of Dartford warblers. And as, too, evening draws down, from the young green fern the goatsucker, the "night-crow" and the "night-hawk" of the district, springs up under your feet, and settles a few yards off, and then flies a little way farther, hoping to lead you from its white marble-veined eggs on the bare ground. * Vol. ii. p. 57. 270 The Winter Birds. Such scenes can the Forest show to the ornithologist in spring and summer, nor is it less interesting to him in the winter. Here, as he wanders across some moor, flocks of field- fares and missel-thrushes start out of the hollies, and the ring- ousel skulks off from the yew. A bittern, its neck encircled with a brown frill of feathers, is, perhaps, wading by the stream ; and hark ! from out of the sky comes the clanging of a wedge- shaped flock of grey-lag geese. Instead of a chapter a volume might be written upon the ornithology of the New Forest, especially about the winter visitants the flocks of pochards, and teal, and tufted-ducks, which darken the Avon, and the swans and geese which whiten the Solent. I have stood for hours on the beach at Calshot, and watched the faint cloud in the horizon gradually change into a mass of wings beating with one stroke, or marked string after string of wigeon come splashing down in the mid-channel. Little flocks of ring- dotterels and dunlins flit overhead, their white breasts flashing in the winter sun every time they wheeled round. The shag flies heavily along, close to the water, with his long outstretched neck, melancholy and slow, and the cry of the kittiwake sounds from the mud-flats. To leave, however, the winter birds, and to pass on to more general observations, let me notice a curious fact about the tree-creeper (Certhia familiaris) in the southern parts of the Forest. Here there are large plantations of firs, and conse- quently but few holes in the trees. To make up for this deficiency, I have twice found the creeper's nest placed inside a squirrel's " cage," showing the same adaptability to circumstances which is met with in the whole animal creation. Here, too, in these thick firs build great numbers of jays ; and I have, when climbing up to their nests, more than once seen 271 The New Forcxt : it* llixtor// and its Scenery. a squirrel coming out with an egg in its claw or mouth. I should have been inclined to have doubted the fact had I not seen it. The sucked eggs which are so often found must, there- fore, be attributed quite as much to the squirrel as the magpie or the jay, who have so long borne the guilt. Of course, too, from the great extent of wood we should expect to find the woodpeckers very plentiful. The common woodpecker, known as the "yaffingale" and " woodnacker," is to be seen darting down every glade. The greater-spotted (Picus major) is- not unfrequent, and the lesser-spotted (Picus minor) in the spring comes out of the woods and frequents the orchards of Burley, and Alum Green, boring its hole in the dead boughs. And here let me notice the tenacity with which the greater- spotted woodpecker, whose nesting habits are not elsewhere in England so well observable, clings to its breeding-place ; for I have known it, when its eggs have been taken, to lay again in the same hole, the eggs being, however, smaller. Mr. Farren tells me that he has observed the same fact, -which is curious, as its ally, the green woodpecker, is so easily driven away, by even a common starling. The presence of the great black woodpecker (Picus mart inn) has long been suspected, especially since a specimen has been killed in the Isle of Wight, and a pair have been seen near Christclmrch.* Mr. Farren, in 1862, was fortunate enough not only to see the bird, but to discover its nest. On the ninth of June, whilst in Pignel Wood, near Brockenhurst, he observed the hen bird fly out of a hole placed about six feet high in a small oak, from which he had earlier in the season taken a green woodpecker's nest. Hiding himself in the bush- * Yarrell, vol. ii. p. 139. 27-2 The Heronry at Vinneij Ridge. wood, he saw, after waiting about half an hour, the hen return, and had no doubts as to its identity. An endeavour, how- ever, to secure her in the hole, with the butterfly-net which he had with him, was unsuccessful. He was afraid to leave the eggs, as some woodmen were working close by, and so lost any other opportunity of making the capture. The eggs, now in my collection, were four in number, one being slightly addled, and are the only specimens ever taken in England. They were laid on the bare rotten wood, the bird finding the hole sufficiently large, as Mr. Farren had widened it when taking the previous eggs. It is, however, remarkable that such a shy bird should have built in such a scattered and thin wood as Pignel, close to a public thorougfare, and where the woodmen had for some time past been constantly felling timber. But what gives the Forest so much of its character is the number of herons \vlio have lately established themselves in various parts. You can scarcely go along a stream-side with- out surprising some one or two, which, as you approach, flap their large slate-coloured wings, and fly off with a rolling, heavy motion, circling in the air as they go. . Down at Exbury, at the mouth of the Beaulieu .river, they may be seen in com- panies of threes and fours, wading in the shallows, probing their long bills into the mud and sand ; and then, as the tide comes up, making off to the freshwater ponds. They are, however, I am afraid, rather persecuted, as they never long here remain at one breeding station. They first took up their abode in Old Burley Wood, and then removed to Wood Fidley, and subsequently to Denney, and finally to Vinney Ridge. In 1861. fifty pairs, at least, must have built in its tall beeches. On a fine early spring morning, a long grey line of them would perch on the neighbouring green of Dame Slough, N X 273 Tin 1 AV/r f'o/v.s/ : /'(* History and it* picking up the twigs of heather and flying off with them to line their great platforms of nests ; and then sailing down to the Blackwater stream, in the " bottom " close by, to fish. In the morning and evening, and, in fact, all through the day, one incessant clamour was going on, and under the trees lay great eels, which had fallen from their nests. Last year the numbers were greatly decreased, the birds having been, perhaps, driven away by the woodcutters and charcoal-burners employed to cut down the surrounding timber. The sketch which stands at the head of this chapter was taken in June too late in the year to show any of the nests, but several young birds were still hovering round who had not even then quite quitted. A. small colony has, too, established itself at Boldrewood, where I trust it will be protected; for few birds possess so much character, and give so much beauty to the landscape. Before we conclude, let us glance at some other peculiarities of the Forest district, and its effects on its birds. It is not too far westward for the east winds to bring the hoopoe, so common in Sussex. Throughout the summer of 1861, a pair were constantly flying about and hopping on the " Lawn " near Wilverlej Forest Lodge. The black redstart (Sylvia tithys) and the fire-crest (Regulus ignicapillus) just skim its borders in their westerly winter migrations. Small flocks of dotterel make it their halting spot for a few days in spring, on their way to their northern breeding-places. In the winter, its mild- ness brings numbers of siskins, some few bramblings, and the common and even the parrot crossbill, escaping from the frosts of the north. Other things may be mentioned. The hawfinches do not stay all the year round, as might be expected, or, at least, only 274 General Summary. one or two pairs, simply because there are no hornbeams in the Forest, nor gardens to tempt them with their fruits. The chough, too, is seldom seen, its eggs and young being plundered in the Isle of Wight cliffs and the Lulworth rocks. It is now extinct in Sussex, and will soon be in the New Forest. Yet these birds were once so numerous in England, not only damaging the crops, but unthatching the barns and houses, that a special Act of Parliament was passed against them.* Twopence for a dozen heads were given. People were, under various penalties, bound to destroy them, and parishes were ordered to keep chough and crow nets in repair. There is, unfortunately, no other forest in England by which we can make comparisons with the ornithology of the New Forest. In Churchill Babington's excellent synopsis of the birds of Charnwood Forest, we find only one hundred and twenty-five species, but little more than one-half of those in the New Forest. Out of the three hundred and fifty-four British birds the New Forest possesses seventy-two residents, whilst it has had no less than two hundred and thirty killed or observed within its boun- daries, f With this we must end. I am afraid it is too late to protest against the slaughter of our few remaining birds of prey. The eagle and kite are, to all purpose, extinct, in England, and the peregrine and honey-buzzard will soon share their fate. The sight of a large bird now calls out all the raffish guns * Passed in the twenty-fourth year of Henry VII [., 1532. Statutes of the Realm, vol. iii., p. 425, 426. It should, however, be remembered that under the term chough was in former times included the whole of the Corvidce. Shakspeare's " russet-pated choughs" are evichntly jackdaws. f In Appendix III. is given a list of all the birds hitherto observed in the New Forest District, as also more special information, which I thought would not interest the general reader. N N 2 275 The AV/r .- //.s Ilixtory and it of a country-side. Ornithologists have, however, themselves to thank. With some honourable exceptions, I know no one so greedy as a true ornithologist. The botanist does not uproot every new flower which he discovers, but for he loves them too well carefully spares some plants to grow and increase ; whilst few ornithologists rest content till they see the specimen safe in their cabinets. This, I suppose, must be, from the nature of the study, the case. Still, however, the love for Nature, and the enthusiasm which it gives, must be regarded as a far greater offset. And here let me, for the last time, t~;iv that I feel sure that nobody knows anything of the true charms of the country who is ignorant of natural history. With the slightest love and knowledge of it, then every leaf is full of meaning, every pebble a history, every torn branch, gilded with lichens, and silvered with mosses, has its wonders to tell; and you will find life in the dust, and beauty in the commonest weed. :. Euckhill Weed. MAP OH' TILE - ^n : &^*< .rfssu'yzf- *t&3r^ s^zztzs I*- ^^&& $ -.;.-sv. ^^i >*er :- **/~iW ; %r ^U*rf ajwfeKi ?T?hft ^v ^fe J~^^ rfSK^SS^'^-i&fi-i' * v -.^-^ ^ssi i?!^ **L *"y^** At**- ::-a-.-.s^c. ^.c-^ *.,,..../ a.- ; ' *-V6oA^tjB ? * ;##", Holm* HOI """ , ' -v.r^i^uA U^oiVwK. K-sjs A**S^W^ -^,'r.' My\T :/:. A> \ .'^' r ?. ^-,i A*v,A --' g.y '.^w>;^'f ^ 'Ki? '>.7w-, -4^SSV* r .-' /yji fttit-tn. I ** ? /// -, rA , ^ /A/i/X . ; , APPENDICES I. GLOSSARY OF PROVINCIALISMS. II. LIST OF THE FLOWERING PLANTS. III. LIST OF THE BIRDS. IV. LIST OF THE LEPIDOPTERA. APPENDICES, APPENDIX I, A GLOSSARY OF SOME OF THE PROVINCIALISMS USED IN THE NEW FOREST. I COULD easily have expanded the following glossary to three times its size, but my object is to give only some specimens of those words which have not yet found their way into, or have not been fully explained in Mr. Halliwell's or Mr. Wright's dictionaries of provincialisms. The following collection is, I believe, the first ever made of the New Forest, or even, with the exception of the scanty list in Warner,* of Hamp- shire provincialisms, which of course to a certain extent it represents, more especially those of the western part of the county. A separate work, however, would be needed to give the whole collection, and the following examples must here suffice. Of course I do not say that all these words are to be found only in the New Forest. Many of them will doubtless be elsewhere dis- covered, though they hitherto, as here, have escaped notice. The time, however, for assigning the limits of our various provincialisms and provincial dialects has not yet arrived. * Collections for the History of Hampshire, by Richard Warner, vol. iii., pp. 37, 38. A brief list of Hampshire words will also be found in Notes and Queries, First Series, vol. x., No. 250, p. 120. Mr. Halliwcll, in his account ot the English Provincial Dialects, p. xx., prefixed to his Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, mentions a MS. glossary of the provincialisms of the Isle of Wight, by Captain Henry Smith of which he has made use. 279 Glossary of Provincialism*. [APP. The use of the personal pronoun "he," as, throughout the West of England, applied to things alike animate and inanimate, and the substitution of "thee " for you, when the speaker is angry, or wishes to he emphatic, may he here noticed. In the Forest, too, as in parts of Berkshire, a woman when employed upon out-door work is some- times spoken of in the masculine gender, as the Hungarians are falsely said to have done of their queen on a certain memorable occa- sion. The confusion of cases which has been noticed by philologists is here, as in other parts of England, rather the result of ignorance than a peculiar character of the dialect. ADDER'S-FERJJ. The common poly- pody (Polypodium vulgare), so called from its rows of bright spores. The hard-fern (Blechnum boreale) is known as the " snake-fern." ALLOW, To. To think, suppose, con- sider. This word exactly corresponds to the American " guess " (which, by the way, is no Americanism, but used by Wiclif in his Bible : see Luke, ch. vii. v. 43), and is employed as often and as indefinitely in the New Forest. If you ask a peasant how far it is to any place, his answer nearly invariably is, " I allow it to be so far." " Sup- pose," in Sussex, is used in much the same way. BELL-UEATH. See Red-heath. BED-FURZE. The dwarf furze (Ulex nanvs), which is very common through- out the Forest. BLACK-HEATH. See Red-heath. BLACK-HEART, The. The bilberry ( Vaccinium Myrtillus), the " whim- berry" of the northern counties, which grows very plentifully throughout the Forest. It is so called, by a singular conniption, the original word being hartberry, the Old-English heorot-berg, to which the qualifying adjective hae been added, whilst the terminal sub- stantive has been lost, and the first totally misapprehended. To go " heart- ing " is a very common phrase. (Sec Proceedings of the Philological Society, vol. iii. ])]). 154, 155.) BRIZE. To press. " Brize it down.'' 280 means, press it down. Is this only another form of the old word prize, prcese, to press, crowd ? BOUGHT. A tree, which instead of running up straight is full of boughs, is said to be "boughy." It is also used generally of thick woods. Akin to it is the old word buhsomenesse, boiighsomeness, written, as Mr. Wedge- wood notices (Dictionary of English Etymology, p. 285), bnxomeness by Chaucer. BOWER-STONE, A. A boundary-stone. Called a " mere-stone " in some of the Midland Counties. Perhaps from the Keltic bwr, an inclosure, intrench- ment ; just as manor is said to be from maenawr, a district with a stone bound. BOUND-OAK. See Oak, Mark-. BROWNIES, The. The bees. See chap, xvi., p. 185. BROW. Mr. Halliwell and Mr. Wright give this as a Wiltshire word, in the sense of brittle. In the New Forest it is applied only to short, snappy, splinter- ing timber of bad quality. BUCK, The. The stag-beetle, so called from its strong horn-like antenncp. The children, when catching it, sing this snatch " High buck, Low buck, Buck, come down." It is also called pinch-buck. The female is known as the doe. Sec " Bryanston Buck," in Mr. Barnes's Glossary of the I.] Glossary of Provincialisms. Dorsetshire Dialect, appended to his Poems of Rural Life. BUNCH, A. A blow, or the effects of a blow ; and then a blotch, burn, scald, pimple, in which latter senses " bladder " is also often used. The verb " to bunch," to strike, is sometimes heard. See Mr. Wedgwood (as before, p. 269) on its allied forms. CAMMOCK, The. (From the Old- English cammec, cammoc, cammuc.) The various species of St. John's-wort, so plentiful in the neighbourhood of the New Forest ; then, any yellow flower, as the fleabane (Pulica dysentcrica) and ragwort (Senecio Jacobcea). In Dorsetshire, according to Mr. Barnes, it only means the rest-harrow (Ononis arvensis). CASS, A. A spar used in thatching, called in the Midland and North- Western Counties a " buckler." Before it is made into a cass, it is called a " spar- gad." CATTAN, A. A sort of noose or hinge, which unites the " hand-stick " to the flail. It is made in two parts. The joint which joins the " hand-stick " is formed of ash or elm, whilst that which fits the flail is made of leather, as it is required to be more flexible near the part which strikes the floor. Mr. Wright and Mr. Halliwell give as a North-country word the verb " catton," to beat, with which there is evidently some connection. CHILDAG, A. A chilblain. Often called simply a " dag," and " chil- bladder." GLEET, A. More generally used in the plural, as "elects." Iron tips on a shoe. Hence we have the expression, " to elect oxen," that is, to shoe them when they work. CLOSE. Hard, sharp. "It hits close," means it hits hard. COTHE. (From the Old -English " coa, co&e.") A " cothe sheep," means a sheep diseased in its liver. The springs in the New Forest are said " to O cothe " the sheep that is, to disease their livers. Hence we have such places as "Cothy Mead," and "Cothy Copse." Mr. Barnes (as before) gives the form " acothed," as used in Dorset- shire. CRINK-CRANK. " Crink-crank words " are long words verba sesquipedalia not properly understood. (See Proceed- ings of Philological Society, vol. v. pp. 143-148.) CROW-PECK, The. The Shepherd's needle ( Scandix-pecten Veneris) ; called also " old woman's needle." There is a common saying in the New Forest, that " Two crow-pecks are as good as an oat for a horse ; " to which the reply is, " That a crow-peck and a barley-corn may be." CRUTCH, A. (From the Friesic kroek, connected with the Old-English crocca, our crock). A dish, or earthenware pipkin. We daily in the New Forest and the neighbourhood hear of lard and butter crutches. The word " shard," too, by the way, is still used in the Forest for a cup, and housewives still speak of a " shard of tea." CUTTRAN, A. A wren; more com- monly called a " cutty ; " which last word Mr. Barnes gives in his Glossary of the Dorsetshire Dialect, p. 331, but which is common throughout the West of England. As Mr. Barnes, p. 354, observes, the word is nothing more than cutty wren the little wren. (See " Kittywitch," Transactions of Philo- logical Society, 1855, p. 33.) DECKER, or DICKER, To. One of the old forms of to deck ; literally, to cover; from the Old-English " Jjetcan ;" in German, decken. It now, however, only signifies to ornament or spangle. A lady's fingers are said to be deckercd with rings, or the sky with stars. DEER'S-MILK. Wood-spurge (Eu- phorbia amygdaloides). So called from the white viscous juice which exudes from its stalks when gathered. O 281 Provincialitms. [APP. l).>ixT, To. To dint, or imprint, i Formed, as Mr. Wedgwood reraark>. of the kindred word-, dint, dent, dant, by an onomatopoetic process. We find the word in an old song still sung in the Xew Forest, " A Time to remem- ber the Poor : " " Here's the poor harmless hare from the woods that is tracked, And her footsteps deep donnted in snow." DRAT, A. A prison ; " the cage" of the Midland districts. Curiously enough the old poet William Browne, as also Wither, speaks of a squirrel's nest as a "dray" still used, by-the-by, in some counties which in the Xew Forest is ; always called a " cage." In this last sense Mr. Lower adds it to the glos- sary of Sussex provincialisms (Stwser Archaeological Collections, voL xiiL, p. 215). I may further note that at Christmas in the Forest, as in other ; wooded parts of England, squirrel- feasts are held. Two parties of boys and young men go into the woods armed with " scales " and " snogs " (see chap. xvi. p. 182), to see who will kill the most squirrels. Some- times as, many as a hundred or more are brought home, when they are baked in a pie. Their fur, too, is sought after for its glossiness. DRUM, Ivy-, An. The stem of an i ivy tree or bush, which grows round the ' bole of another tree. DRCSCH, To. To draw up, press, squeeze. We find the substantive " drunge," with which it is evidently connected, given in Wright as a Wilt- shire pronunciation for pressure, or crowd. Mr. Barnes also, in his Glos- sary of the Dorsetshire Dialect, p. 235, gives the forms " dringe " or " drunge," to squeeze or push. ELAM, An. An handful of thatch. Common both in the Xew Forest and Wiltshire. In the former three elams make a bundle, and twenty bundles ' 282 one score, and four scores a ton. In the latter the measurement is some- what different, five elams forming a bundle. FK ET. (From the Old-English fits, ready, prompt, quick). Proud, upstart. In the glossaries of Wright and Halliwell we find " fess " given as the commoner form. FETCH, To. Used with reference to churning butter. "To fetch the butter," means, to raise the cream into a certain consistency. FIRE-BLADDER. A pimple, or erup- tion on the face. See " bunch." FLISKT. Small, minute. Used es- pecially of misty rain. FLITCH, or quite as often FRITCII. (From the Old-English Jlit, or geflit). Xot only as explained in the glossary of Wiltshire, impertinent, busy, but, by some bouslrophedon process, good-hu- moured. " Yon are very flitch to-day," that is, good-natured. FLUDERS. Worms, which on certain land get into the livers of sheep, when the animal is said tobe"cothed." Called also " flukes," and " flounders." See the word " cothe." GAIT, A. A crotchet, or, as the vul- gar expression is, a maggot. Used always in a deprecatory sense. When a person has done anything foolish he says, " this is a gait I have got." GETTET. Sprung, or slightly cracked. Used throughout the West of England. GIGGLE, To. To stand awry or crooked. Said especially of small things, which do not stand upright. GLCTCH, To. (From the French en-glontir). Xot simply, to swallow or gulp, as explained in the glossaries, but more e&pecially to keep down or stifle a sob. GOLD-HEATH, The. The bog-moss- ( Sphagnum squarrosum), which is used in the Xew Forest to make fine brooms and brushes. GOLD-WITHET. The. The bog-myr- tle, or English mock-myrtle (Myrica I.J Glossary of Provincialisms. Gale), mentioned in Mr. Kingsley's New Forest ballad, " They wrestled up, they wrestled down, They wrestled still and sore ; Beneath their feet, the myrtle sweet, Was stamped in mud and gore." It grows in all the wet places in the Forest, and is excessively sweet, the fruit being furnished with resinous glands. It is said to be extensively used in dragging the beer in the district. GRAFF, or grampher. See Wosset. GROSS. Often used in a good sense for luxuriant, and applied to the young green crops, just as " proud," and " rank," or rather " ronk," as it is pro- nounced, are in the Midland Counties. GUNNEY. To look " gunney " means. to look archly or cunning. There is also the verb "to gunney." "He gumieyed at me," signifies, he looked straight at me. HACKER, FURZE-, The. The whinchat, so called from its note, which it utters on the sprays of the furze. HAME. There is a curious phrase, "all to hame," signifying, broken to pieces, used both here and in Wiltshire. Thus the glass, when broken, is said to be "all to hame," that is, " all to bits." The metaphor has been taken from "spindly" wheat on bad ground run- ning to halm, from the Old-English healm, now the West-Saxon peasant's " hame." " All to," I may add, is used adverbially in its old sense of entirely, quite, as we find it in Judges ix. 53. HARL, The. The hock of a sheep. HARVEST-LICE. The seeds of the common agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria) and " heriff" (Galium Aparine). See Clivers, chap. xv. p. 166. HELL. A dark place in the woods. See chap. x. p. 110. HICUDER. A sieve. See chap. xvi. p. 185, foot-note. HILL-TROT, The. The wild carrot (Daucus Carvta), used also in Wilt- shire. Most probably a corruption of | eltrot, oldrot, oldroot, and so from the Old-English. These last forms are given in Mr. Barnes' Glossary of the Dorset dialect, p. 336. HOAR-WITHEY. The whitebeam (Sorbus Aria), which, with its white leaves, is very conspicuous in the Forest. We find the word used in the perambu- lation of the Forest in the twenty-second year of Charles I., " by the road called Holloway, and from thence to Hore- vvithcy, in the place whereof (decayed) a post standcd in the ground." It is exactly the same as the " bar wi<5ig" of the Old-English. It is called also, but more rarely, the " white rice." See chap. xvi. p. 183. Hoo, To. To simmer, boil; evidently formed, like so many other words, by an onomatopoetic process (pp. TAJIAREX GALLICA, Sm. " On the beach near Hum Cas le." Gamier and Ponlter. Milford. Probably naturalized, as on the opposite coast near Yarmouth. " The Lymington Salterns," Rev. H. M. Wilkinson. See, however, Bromfield, in Phytolog'St, voL iii. p. 212 ; 392. EUYM.IIM MARITLMCM, Lin., Sea Holly. Mudeford, 444. FOZXICULCM TTLGARE, Gaertn, Com- mon Fennel. Farewell Road, Christ- church, 476. APICM GRAVEOLEXS, Lin., Wild Ce- lery. " Marchwood," W. A. Broom- field. " Mudeford and Be&ulieu,"' Rev. H. M. Wilkinson, 450. CEXAXTHE LACHEXALH, GmeL, Lachenal's Drbpwort. " Mudeford," Rev. H. M. Wilkinson, 471.* CARDCTS TExrrFLORUs, Curt., Small-flowered Thistle. Lanes near the sea-coast, 59 >. ARTEMISIA MARITLMA. Lin., Sea Wormwood. " The coast," W. Pamp- lin. " Salt marshes near Millbrook," W. A. Bromfield ; quoted in the New Botanist's Guide, 624. ASTER TRIPOLIUM, Lin. Sea Star- wort. Very common in the rivers at Beaulieu and Lymington, 641. INULA CRITKUOIDES, Lin., Golden Samphire. Key Haven and Hurst Beach, where Ray saw it, 657. COSTOLTTTLUS SoLDAXELLA,Lin.,Sea Bindweed. Hnrst Castle. Mudeford, 731. GLAFX MARITMA, Lin., Sea Milk- wort or Glasswort. Hurst Castle, Beanlieu Estuary, 894. ARMERIA MARITEMA, Ant., Common Thrift. Hordle and Barton Cliffe, Beauh'en Estuary, 895. STATICE Ltitoxini, Lin., Sea Lavender. On this and 5. rariflora, see Bromfield, in Phytologist, vol. iii. p. 742 ; 897. PLA>TAGO XARFTIMA, Lin., Sea Plantain. The Beaulieu Estuary, 904. CHEXOPODinf OLIDUJI, Curt., Stink- ing Goosefoot. Mr. Wilkinson irivcs " the seaside, Beaulien," 9O8. 290 ATRIPLEX PORTCLACOIDES, Lin. Hurst Castle, where I first saw it in 1859, with Mr. Lees, 918. ATRIPLEX BABIXGTOXII, Wd*., "Mudeford," RCT. H. M. Wilk 921. ATRIPLEX LITTORALIS, Lin., Grass - leaved Sea Orache. Estuary of the Beaulieu river, 924. BETA MARITUIA, Lin., Sea Beet. Mndeford, 925. SALSOLA KALI, Lin., Prickly Salt- wort. The sea-shore, Mndeford, 926. SCHOBEKIA XARITOCA, Mey., Sea Goosefoot. Estuary, 927. SALICORXIA HERBACEA, Lin., Jointed Ghisswort. " The Beanlieu river," Rev. H. M. Wilkinson, 939. POLTGOXTM MARi-mrrn, Lin., Sea Knot Grass. " Mudeford," Borrer, C. C. Babington. (5e Watson's JTeo Botanist's Guide, Supplement, vol. ii. p. 570.) The Rev. W. M. Wilkinson has found it on the other side of the har- bour at Hengistbnry Head, 940. PoLTGOxcai RAH, Bab. " Mude- ford," Borrer,and R. Stevens, Esq., 940.* ASPARAGUS OFTICIXALIS, Lin., Com- mon Asparagus. " At Christchurch," Gamier and Ponlter. TRIGLOCHIX MARITIMCM, Lin., Sea Arrow Grass. Marshes of the Beaulien river, 1115. ZOSTERA MARIXA, Lin^ Narrow Grass Wrack. Southampton water, Hythe, 1137. Jrxcrs MARiTnirs, Sm., Lesser Sharp Sea Rush. Beanlieu river, 1154. SciRprs SAVII, S. and M., Savis' Club Rush. See Bromfield, in Phyto- logist, voL iii. p. 1030 ; 1187. SciRprs siARrrmrs, Lin., Salt Marsh Club Rush. Mudeford, 1190. CAREX EXTEN-A. Good., Long Brac- teated Carex. " The Beaulien river," Rev. H. M. Wilkinson, 1235. AMMOPHTLA ABOTHXACEA. Host. , Sea Reed. The loose sand, Mudeford, where it grows with Triticum junctum, 1293. II.] Peculiar to, or characteristic of, the Forest. GLYCERIA MARITIMA, M. and K., Sea Hard Grass. Mudcford, 1323. GLYCERIA LOLIACEA, Watson, Dwarf Sea-wheat Grass. " Mudeford. On the New Forest side of the Avon, which is the only place I have ever seen it." Eev. H. M. Wilkinson, 1327. TRITICUM JUNCEUM, Lin., Rushy Sea- wheat Grass. Mudcford, 1362. HORDEDM MARITIMUM, With., Sea Barley. Very common along the whole of the east coast. "By the roadside from Cadenham " (more probably Hythe) " to Marchwood," W. A. Brom- field. See Watson's New Botanist's Guide, vol. ii., p. 571.; 1369.f LEPTURUS FILIFORMIS, Trin., Sea Hard-grass. Mudeford, 1371. In the next division are placed more especially those plants which either grow only in the Forest, or form a peculiar feature in its land- scapes, such as Eriophorum angustifolium, Gentiana Pneumonanthe, Drosera rotund ifolia, and intermedia, Narthecium ossifragum, Melittis Melisso2)hyllum, and the Carices, Aires, and Agrostes generally. The rest will be found in the third division, as common both to the Forest and the adjoining districts. As the Ferns and St. John's -worts have been so fully mentioned in Chapter XXI., they will not be again noticed. ANEMONE NEMOROSA, Lin., Wood Anemone, 6. RANUNCULUS AQUATILIS, Lin., Water Crowfoot. Streams and pools, not of course confined to the Forest, but still a conspicuous feature, 11. RANUNCULUS TRIPARTITUS, D. C., Three-parted-leaved Crowfoot, " with Limosella aquatica, in splashy places by the roadside, just beyond the bridge, as you leave Brockenhurst for Lynd- hurst," H. C. Watson, in a private letter, 11.* RANUNCULUS HIRSUTUS, Curt., Hairy Crowfoot. Roads in the Forest, 22. CALTHA PALUSTRIS, Lin., Common Marsh Marigold. Forest pools ; but, of course, in the district generally, 26. AQUILEGIA VULGARIS, Lin., Common Columbine. Very common round Wootton, but may be found with Hy- pericum androsatmum in the old woods of Mark Ash, Gibb's Hill, Winding Shoot, and Boldrewood, 31. NYMPH.EA ALBA, Lin., White Water Lily. Forest streams. Not so com- mon as the next, but still a feature, 36. NUPHAR LUTEUM, Sm., Yellow Water Lily. In the Avon, and else- where in the district, 37. VIOLA CANINA, Sm., Dog's Violet. The violet of the Forest, but, of course, common in the district, 135. VIOLA LACTEA, Sm., Cream-coloured Violet. " Near Boldre," W. A. Brom- field. See Watson's New Botanist's Guide, vol. ii., p. 567 ; 135.* DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA, Lin., Round-leaved Sundew. Everywhere in the Forest, 138. DROSERA INTERMEDIA, Hayn., Nar- row-leaved Sundew. Though not so com- mon as rotundifolia, it is equally distribut- ed throughout the Forest district, 139. POLYGALA VULGARIS, Lin., Common Milkwort, 141. MfENCHiA ERECTA, Sm., Upright Mcenchia. Common, 166. SAGINA SUBULATA, Wimm., Ciliated Awl-shaped Spurrey, 170.* t Scirpus parvulus (R. and S.), mentioned by Rev. G. E. Smith as growing " on a mud-flat near Lymington," is now extinct. See Watson's Cybele Britan- nica, vol. iii. p. 78 ; and Bromfield, in the P/tytoloyist, vol. iii., 1028. P P -2 291 Flowering Plants of the New Forest District. [APP. SPERGCLARIA RUBRA, St. Hilaire, Purple Sandwort, 175. CERASTIUM SEMIDECANDRUM, Lin., Little Mouse-ear Chickweed, 194. CERASTIUM TETRANDRUM, Curt., Four-cleft Mouse-ear Cliickwccd, 194.* LIN UK ANGUSTIFOLIUM, Huds., Nar- row-leaved Flax, 201. RADIOLA MILLEGRANA, Sin., Thyme- leaved Flax-seed. Common. The Rev. P. Somerville pointed it out to me in Beacon Burney, growing close to the sea, 203. TILIA INTERMEDIA, D. C., Common Lime, 212. ACER CAMPESTRE, Lin., Field Maple. Rather plentiful in some of the woods, 225. GERANIUM PRATENSE, Lin., Meadow Crane's-bill. On a rubbish heap, near Alum Green, where it had been natu- ralized, 231. OXALIS ACETOSELLA, Lin., Wood- sorrel. Very common, 243. EUONTMUS EUROP^EUS, Lin., Spindle Tree. Here and there a speciman may be seen, as at the north side of Wootton Enclosure, near the Osmauby Ford River, 245. RHAMNCS FRAXGULA, Liu., Alder Buckthorn, 247. SPARTIUM SCOPARIUM, Lin., Common Broom, 248. ULEX EUROP.EUS, Lin., Furze, 249. ULEX NANUS, Forst., Dwarf Furze. If any one wishes to see the difference between this and Europeans he should visit the Forest at the end of August or the beginning of Sept., 250. GENISTA TINCTORIA, Lin., Dyers' Green Weed. Common on the southern parts of the Forest, 251. GENISTA ANGLICA, Lin., Petty Whin. Everywhere, 253. TRIFOLIUM STRIATUM, Lin., Soft Knot- ted Trefoil, 277. TRIFOLIUM FRAGIFERUM, Lin., Straw- berry-headed Trefoil. Ashley Common, 280. TRIFOLIUM GLOMERATUM, Lin., Smooth round-headed Trefoil, 278. OROBUS TUBEROSES, Lin., Common Bitter Vetch, 312. PRUXUS SPINOSA, Lin., Sloe-tree, 314. PRUNUS AVIUM, Lin., Wild Cherry. Burley, 316.* POTENTILLA TORMENTILLA, Scllk., Common Tormentil, 332. COMARUM PALUSTRE, Lin., Purple Marsh Cinquefoil. Bog of the Osmanby Ford River, below Wootton Enclosure, 334. FRAGAKIA VESCA, Lin., Strawberry, 335. RUBUS IDJEUS, Lin., Raspberry. Young plantations, especially near Boldrewood, 339. RUBUS FRUTICOSCS, Aut., Common Bramble, 340. RUBUS SUBERECTUS, Aud.,Red-fruited Bramble. Wootton Enclosures, where it was first pointed out to me in 1859 by Mr. Lees, 340 (3). ROSA SPIXOSISSIMA, Lin., Bnrnet- leaved Rose. Not uncommon round Ashley and Wootton, 341. CRAT^EGCS OXYACANTIIA, Lin., Com- mon Hawthorn, 360. PYRUS MALUS, Lin., Wild Crab, 363. PYRUS TORMINALIS, Sm., Wild Ser- vice Tree, 364. PYRUS ARIA, Sm., White Beam, 365. PYRUS AUCUPARIA, Givrt., Mountain Ash. Probably naturalized, 366. EPILOBIUM MOXTAXUM, Lin., Moun- tain Willow Herb, 370. TSNARDIA PALUSTRIS, Lin., Marsh Isnardia. Found at Brockenhurst by Mr. Borrer ; Phytoloyist, vol. iii. p. 368. See also iv. p. 754 ; 376. ClRCERATrs,,Mur.,Sharp- leaved Dock, 948*. RCHEX ACETOSA, Lin., Common Sorrel, 951. RotEX ACETOSELLA, Lku, Sheep's Sorrel, 952. EUPHORBIA HEUOSCOPIA, Liiu, Sun Spurge, 962. ECPHORBIA ExrcrA, Lin., Dwarf Sparge. Near the coast, 971. EUPHORBIA PEPLUS, Lin., Petty Spurge, 972. URTICA UREXS, Lin., Annnal Stinging Settle, 978. UKTICA DIOICA, Lin., Perrennial Stinging Nettle, 979. PARIETARIA OFFICIXALIS, Lin., Com- mon Peflitory. Walls of Beaulieu Abbey, 982. HntuLus Lcprxrs, LUL, Hop, 983. Umrs CAMPESTRIS, Sm., Common Elm. Rare in the Forest, 985a. SALES CXSEREA, Lin., Grey Sallow, 1010. LJSTERA OVATA, Br., Common Tway- blade. Meadows round Cnristchurch, 1038. EPIPACTIS PALCSTHIS, Sw., Marsh Helleborine. Chewton Glen. Rare. Mr. Rake, however, has found it growing abundantly in the neighbour- hood of f ordingbridge, August, 1862, 1040. ORCHIS MORIO, Lin., Green-winged Meadow Orchis, 1045. ORCHIS MABCCLA, Lin., Early Purple Orchis, 1046. ORCHIS JCACTLATA, Lin., Spotted Palmate Orchis, 1053. IRIS PSECDACORCS, Lin., Flag Water Iris, 1067. GALAXTHCS XTVALIS, Lin., Common Snowdrop. " Bisterne, apparently wild, though it has, doubtless, at some time or another, been planted," Rev. H. M. Wilkinson, 1074. Arurnc VTSEALE, Lin., Common Garlic, 1083. ORXTTHOGALOf rUBEIAATnf, Lin., Common Star of Bethlehem. " Bis- 304 terne. Not truly wild," Rer. H. M. Wilkinson, 1090. TAHCS cosntrxis, Lin., Black Bryony, 1104. ANACHARIS Ajusi^ASTRm, Bab., Chickweed-Uke American Weed. R. Stevens, Esq., M.D., found this straggler, " July 23rd, 1862, at Knapp Mill, in a ditch leading out of the Avon," 1107.* ALISMA PLAXTAGO, Lin., Greater Water Plantain, 1109. SAGITTARIA SAGITTIFOLIA, Lin., Arrow Head. The Avon, 1113. Brroinrs mBELLAxr?, Lin., Flower- ing Rush. The Avon, 1114. TRIGLOCHIX PALCSTRE, Lin., Marsh Arrow Grass. Banks of the Avon, 1116. PoTAMOGEToy r>EN*r, Lin., Close- leaved Pond Weed, 1118. POTAMOGETOS CRISPCS, Lin., Curled Pond-weed. 1124. POTAMOGETOS pERFOLiATtrs, Lin., Perfoliate Pond Weed, 1125. POTAMOGETOX LrcE>'s, Lin., Shining Pond Weed, 1126. POTAMOGETOX XATAXS, Lin., Broad- leaved Pond Weed, 11 - ZAXXICHELLIA PALUSTBIS, Ian., Homed Pond Weed, 1 136. LEMXA MINOR, Lin., Lesser Duck- weed, 1138. LEKXA POLTRHTZA, Lin., Greater Duckweed, 1140. LEMXA TRISCLCA., Lin., Ivy-leaved Duckweed. The Avon, 1141. ARC* MACTLATOC, Lin., Cuckoo- pint, 1142. SpAHGAxrcif gncpLKS, Hnds., Un- branched Bur-reed, 1145. SpARGASim RAiiosrM, Huds.. Branched Bur-reed. Found it. with Mr. Lees, in ponds at Wootton, 1147. Jrxcrs coNGLOitEBAir*. Lin., Com- mon Rush, 1151. Jrxcrs EFFrsrs, Lin., Soft Rush, 1151. Jrxrrs GLArcrs. Sibth., Hard Rush, 1152. ii.] Found in the Forest or the V r alley of the Avon. JUNCUS ACUTIFLORUS, Elirh., Sharp- flowercd jointed Kush, 1156. JUNCUS LAMPROCARPUS, Elirh., Shin- ing-fruited jointed Rush, 1157. JUNCUS SUPINUS, Moench., Whorl- headed Kush, 1159. JUNCUS COMPRESSUS, Jacq., Round- fruited Rush, 1160. JUNCUS BUFONIUS, Lin., Toad Rush, 1162. LUZULA CAMPESTRIS, " Br.," Field Wood Rush, 1172. SCIRPUS LACUSTRIS, Lin., Bull Rush. The Avon, 1184. CAREX PANICULATA, Lin., Great Panicled Carex. ' Chewton Glen," Rev. H. M. Wilkinson, 1224. CAREX VULGARIS, Fries., Tufted Bog Carex, 1228. CAREX PALLESCENS, Lin., Pale Carex, 1236. CAREX PR.ECOX, Jacq., Vernal Carex, 1251. CAREX PILULIFERA, Lin., Reed- headed Carex, 1252. LEERSIA ORYZOIDES, Sw., Leersia. " Bisterne and Sopley," Rev. H. M. Wilkinson ; " Brockenhurst," Phyto- logist, vol. iv. p. 754 ; 1262*. ANTHOXANTHUM ODORATUM, Lin., Sweet-scented Vernal Grass, 1271. PHLEUM PRATENSE, Lin., Meadow Timothy Grass, 1273. ALOPECURUS PRATENSIS, Lin., Mea- dow Fox -tail Grass. Rare in the Forest, 1278. ALOPECURUS GENICULATUS, Lin, Floating Fox-tail Grass, 1279. ALOPECURUS AGRESTIS, Lin., Slender Fox-tail Grass, 1282. ARUNDO PiiRAGMiTES,Lin., Common Reed, 1294. ARUNDO EPIGEJOS, Lin., Wood Reed, 1296. A VENA FLAVESCENS, Lin., Ycllw Ont Grass, 1311. ARRHENATHERUM AVENAC'ET-M, Bcau- vois, Oat-like Grass, 1312. HOLCUS LANATI'S, Lin., Meadow Soft Grass, 1313. HOLCUS MOLLIS, Lin., Creeping Soft Grass, 1314. CATABROSA AQUATICA, Presl., Water Whorl Grass, 1320. GLTCERIA AQUATICA, Sm., Reed Meadow Grass, 1321. GLYCERIA FLUITANS, Br., Floating Sweet Grass, 1322. POA ANNUA, Lin., Annual Meadow Grass, 1328. POA PRATENSIS, Lin., Smooth-stalked Meadow Grass, 1331. POA TRIVIALIS, Lin., Roughish Mea- dow Grass, 1332. BRIZA MEDIA, Lin., Common Quaking Grass, 1335. BRIZA MINOR, Lin., Small Quaking Grass. " Corn-fields round Matchwood, perhaps introduced with the grain," W. A. Bromfield, 1336. CYNOSURUS CRISTATUS, Lin., Crested Dog's Tail Grass, 1337. DACTYLIS GLOMERATA, Lin., Rough Cock's-foot Grass, 1339. FESTTJCA PRATENSIS, Huds., Meadow Fescue Grass, 1347. FESTUCA LOLIACEA, Huds. " Com- mon at Bisterne," Rev. H. M. Wilkin- son, 1347 b. BROMUS GiGANTEUs,Lin., Tall Fescue Grass, 1348. BROMUS STERILIS, Lin., Barren BJome Grass, 1350. BROMUS SECALINUS, Lin., Smooth Rye Brome Grass, 1354. BROMUS MOLLIS, Lin., Soft Brome Grass, 1356. BROMUS RACEMOSUS, Lin.(?) " Com- mon at Bisterne," Rev. H. M. Wilkin- son, 1356 b. BRACHYPODIUM SYLVATICUM, Beauv., Slender False Brome Grass, 1357. TRITICUM CAMM-.M, Huds., Fibrous- rooted Wheat Grass, 1359. TRITICUM REPENS, Lin., Creeping Wheat Grass, 1360. LOLIUM PERENNK, Lin., C )inmon Rye Grass, 1363. HORDEUM PRATEXSK, Hurts., McaduW Barley, 1367. R 305 Flon-e.ring Plants of tin- AV/r Itixtrict. HORDEUM MURINCM, Lin., "Wall Bar- ley, 1368. EQUISETUM TELMATEIA, Ehrh., Great Horsetail. 1420. EQUISETUM ARVEXSE, Lin., Field Horsetail, 1422. EQUISKTUM PALU.STRE, Lin., Marsh Horsetail, 1424. Whilst these lists were passing through the press, H. C. Watson, Esq., sent me the following additions, all noticed by himself in August, 1861, within three or four miles of Brockenhurst : NASTURTIUM AMPHIBIUM, Br., Great Yellow Cress, 101. VIOLA FLAVICORNIS, Sin., Dwarf Yellow-spurred Violet, 135 b. EPILOBIUM ROSEUM, Schreb., Pale Smooth-leaved Willow Herb, 371. EPILOBIUM OBSCURUM, Schreb. (For a description of this plant, see Phyto- logist, new series, vol. ii. p. 19.) 373 b. EUPHRASIA GRACILIS, Fr., 766 b. POLYGONS MINUS, Huds., Small Creeping Persicaria. (Bromfield in the Flora Vectensis, p. 433, mentions it as growing in the Island.) 938. CAREX BIXERVIS, Sm., Green-ribbed Carex, 1239. BROMUS ASPER, Lin., Hairy Wood Brome Grass, 1349. To these also may be added Coronopus ilidyma, mentioned by Bromfield (Phytologist, vol. iii. p. 210) as found along the coast, but which will, perhaps, be met inland. Gladiolus Jllyricus 306 APPENDIX III, LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE NEW FOREST DISTRICT. THE best plan is, perhaps, to arrange the birds in groups, and to give a short analysis of each section, so that the reader may be able to see at a glance the more characteristic as well as rarer species. We will first of all take the Residents. In making out this list I have been prin- cipally guided with of course certain exceptions by the rule of admitting every bird whose nest has been found upon reliable evidence, as we may be sure that for one nest which is discovered a dozen or more remain undetected. PEREGRINE FALCON. (Falco peregri- nus, Gmel.) As this bird breeds so near, both in the Isle of Wight and along the Dorsetshire coast, it may be considered as a resident. From different lists before me, ranging over several years, it appears to have been shot and trapped in the Forest at all seasons. MERLIN. (Falco cesalon, Gmel.) See Chapter XXII., pp. 266, 267. KESTREL. (Falco tinnunculus, Lin.) Numerous. SPARROW HAWK. (Falco nisus, Lin.) More abundant than even the kestrel, especially in the southern part of the Forest. COMMON BUZZARD. (Falco buteo, Lin.) Breeds in nearly all the old woods, but is becoming scarce. See Chapter XXII., p. 265. MARSH HARRIER. (Circus arugino- sus, Lin.) Rare. HEN HARRIER. (Circus cyaneus,Um.) See Chapter XXII., p. 268. This bird has become much more numerous of late. No less than six or seven pairs were, I am sorry to say, trapped last year. R R LONG -EARED OWL. (Strix otus, Lin.) Not unfrequent. I have found it nesting round Mark Ash and Boldre- wood. Mr. Rake tells me that Amber- wood is also a favourite breeding station. BARN OWL. (Strix flammea, Lin.) Not so common as might be expected. TAWNY OWL. (Strix aluco, Lin.) The most common of the three. Very often this bird may be seen during the day in the Forest mobbed by thrushes and blackbirds, and taking refuge in some of the large ivy-bushes. MISSEL THRUSH. ( Turdus viscivorus, Lin.) Known throughout the Forest as the " Bull thrush." SONG THRUSH. (Turdus musicus, Lin.) BLACKBIRD. (Turdus merula, Lin.) ROBIN REDBREAST. (Sylvia rubecula, Lath.) STONECIIAT. (Sylvia rubicula, Lath.) Mr. Rake tells me that it breeds rather plentifully round Ogdens and Frogham, about two miles from Fordingbrictge. I have also had the eggs brought me from Wootton. 307 List of the Birds of the New Forest District. [APP. DARTFORD WARBLER. (Sylvia pro- vincialis, Ks. and Bl.) Is sometimes very common in the Forest, and is generally to be seen in company with the whinchat. In sonic years, as in 1861, it is scarce. I have its nest, with two Bgga, in my collection, taken by Mr. Farren,on Lyndhurst Heath, April 29th, 1862 ; but it is always difficult to find, as the bird frequents, in the breeding season, the thickest part of the high furze. GOLDENCRESTED REGULUS. (Reyulus cristatus, Koch.) Not uncommon. Known throughout the Forest as " The thumb bird. " GREAT TITMOUSE. (Parus major, Lin.) BLUE TITMOUSE. (Parus caruleua, Lin.) COLE TITMOUSE. (Parus ater, Lin.) Far more common than the next. MARSH TITMOUSE. (Parus palustris, Lin.) LONG-TAILED TlTMOUSE. (ParUS caudatus, Lin.) Known throughout the Forest as the " Long-tailed caffin," or "cavin." PIED WAGTAIL. (Motacitta Yarrellii, Gould.) Partially migratory. GREY WAGTAIL. (Motacifla boarula, Lin.) After some hesitation, I have decided to put this bird among the resi- dents. Yarrell (vol. i., 434) mentions it breeding near Fordingbridge, close to the upper boundary of the Forest. MEADOW PIPIT. (Anfhus pratensis, Bechst.) The " Butty lark," that is, companion bird, of the Xew Forest ; so called because it is often seen pursuing the cuckoo, which the peasant takes to be a sign of attachment instead of anger. ROCK PIPIT. (Anthus obscurus, Keys and Bl.) Inhabits the muddy shores of the south-eastern district. SKY LARK. (Alauda arrensis, Lin.) WOOD LARK. (Alauda arborea, Lin.) Mr. Rake found its nest on Gore ley race- course, near Fordingbridge, on the 2nd of April, 1861, with three eggs. 308 COMMON BUSTING. (Emberiza milia- ria, Lin.) BLACKHEADED BUSTING. (Emberiza schceniclus, Lin.) YELLOW HAMJIER. (Emberiza citri- nella, Lin.) C'IRL BUNTING. (Emberiza cirlus, Lin.) I have had its eggs brought to me from the neighbourhood of Wootton ; and Mr. Farreu found a nest with three eggs in 1861, close to the village of Brockenhurst. CHAFFINCH. (Fringilla ccelebs, Lin.) The " Chink ' of the Xew Forest. HOUSE SPARROW. (Fringilla domes- tica, Lin.) GREENFINCH. (Frinyilla chloris, Lin.) HAWFINCH. (Frinyilla coccothraustes, Lin.) A few pair now and then certainly remain in the Forest to breed, though I have never been fortunate enough to obtain their eggs. Great quantities were killed at Burley in the spring of 1858. GOLDFINCH. (Fringilla carditelis.Lin.) BULLFINCH. (Loxia pyrrhula, Lin.) Always to be seen very busy in Novem- ber amongst the young buds just formed, in the cottage gardens near the Forest.) STARLING. (Sturnus vulgaris, Lin.) RAVEN. (Corvus corax, Lin.) Be- coming very scarce. See Chapter XXlC pp. 269, 270. CROW. (Corvus corone, Lin.) ROOK. (Corvus frugilegus, Liu.) JACKDAW. (Corvus monedula, Lin.) JAY. (Corvus glandarius, Lin.) GREEN WOODPECKER. (Picus viri- dis, Lin.) " The yaffingale " and " woodnacker " of the Forest. SPOTTED WOODPECKER. (Picus ma- jor, Lin.) Both this and the next are known throughout the Forest as the " wood-pie." LESSER - SPOTTED WOODPECKER. (Picus minor, Lin.) CREEPER. (Certhiafamiliaris, Lin.) Builds in the holes of the old ash and thorn trees. See, however, Chapter XXII.. p. 271. III.] The Residents. WREN. ( Troglodytes Europaus, Cuv.) NUTHATCH. (Sitta Europaa, Lin.) KINGFISHER. (Alcedo ispida, Lin.) Not very common, yet it may now and then be seen at Darrat's stream, near Lyndhurst, the brook in the Queen's Bower Wood, and the Osmanby Ford river, near Wootton. KINGDOVE. (Columbapalumbus, Lin.) STOCKDOVE. (Columba anas, Lin.) Numerous, building in the holes of the old beech-trees. PHEASANT. (Phasianus Colchicus, Lin.) BLACK GROUSE. (Tetrao tetrix, Lin.) Feeds on the young shoots of heather and larch, seeds of grass, blackberries and acorns, and I have seen it repeatedly perching in the hawthorns for the sake of the berries. The " heath poult " of the Forest. PARTRIDGE. (Perdix cinerea, Lath.) LAPWING. ( Vanelluscristatus, Meyer.) HERON. (Ardea cinerea, Lath.) See Chapter XXII., pp. 273, 274. I have known a pair lay, in one instance, at Boldrewood, as late as June 23rd. COMMON KEDSHANK. ( Totanus calid- ris, Lin.) This bird is certainly a resi- dent throughout the year. I have repeatedly put it up during the autumn in some of the swamps near Stoney Cross, more especially in the evening, when it will hover round and round, just keeping overhead, not unlike a pewit. Several nests are yearly taken. Last year Mr. Farren found one near Burley, April 4th, with a single egg, and another, May 3rd, containing four, at Bishopsditch. WOODCOCK. (Scolopax rusticola, Lin.) Breeds in great numbers in some seasons. COMMON SNIPE. (Scolopax galli- nayo, Lin.) The greatest numbers occur in December, though many re- main to breed not only in the " bottoms" of the Forest, but the meadows of the Avon. Mr. Rake informs me that a Sabine's snipe (Scolopax Sabini, Vigors), which is now generally re- garded as only a melanism of this species, was shot at Picket Post, Jan., 1859. Another was shot not far from the borders of the Forest, at Heron Court, 1836. WATER RAIL. (Itallus aquations, Lin.) Most common in the winter. Some few, however, breed in the valley of the Osmanby Ford stream, where I have seen a pair or two in the summer time. COOT. (Fulica atra, Lin.) A straggler generally every year remains to breed on the Avon. MUTE SWAN. (Cyynus olor, Boie.) Large numbers belonging to Lord Nor- manton's swannery may be always seen on the Avon, near Fordingbridge and Ibbesley. WILD DUCK. (Anas boschas, Lin.) Breeds, like the teal, in most of the bottoms throughout the Forest, as also in the Avon. The fowlers round Ex- bury say that the wigeon, too, stays to nest ; but I do not know of any au- thenticated case. Mr. Rake has ob- served the tufted duck as late in the year as May. TEAL. (Anas crecca, Lin.) LITTLE GREBE. (Podiceps minor, Lath.) Known in the Forest as the di-dapper. A few breed in the Boldre Water, and, perhaps, even in the Osman- by Ford stream. Mr. Rake tells me that it breeds plentifully in the Avon, between Fordingbridge and Downton. GUILLEMOT. (Uria troite, Lath.) Locally known as the " spratter." RAZORBILL. (Alca torda, Lin.) CORMORANT. (Carbo cormoranus, Meyer.) Locally known as the "Isle of Wight parson." SIHG. (Carbo cristatus, Tern.) HERRING GULL. (Larus argentatus, Brim.) It is to be seen at all seasons with the four birds above mentioned, breeding like them in the Freshwater Cliffs of the Isle of Wight. The shag and the cormorant were the commonest 303 List of the Birds of the New Forest District. [APP. birds along the south-east coast of the Forest in Gilpin's time (vol. II. pp. 172, 302, third edition), but are now be- coming rare ; and Mr. More, in his excellent account of the birds of the Isle of Wight, doubts whether more than one or two pairs now annually breed in the Island. Thus the Forest possesses in all seventy-two residents. The common buzzard, the merlin, the henharrier, the three owls, and as many wood- peckers, with the nuthatch and the stockdove, well indicate its woody and heathy character. Upon comparing this with Mr. More's list of the residents of the Isle of Wight, we find that the Forest possesses fourteen more than that Island. The principal additions consist, as might he expected, of the common huzzard, hiack-grouse, green and great and lesser spotted woodpeckers, common snipe, and woodcock, although by the way the last, to my knowledge, breeds in the Island, as also probably the little grebe. The summer visitors are arranged by the date of the arrival of the main body, drawn partly from Mr. Rake's and my own observations. In a few cases, as a further criterion, I have given the dates of their nesting spread over the last four years. CHIFFCHAFF. (Sylvia rufa, Lath.) Arrives about the middle and end of March. Common. WHEATEAR. (Sylvia ananthe, Lath.) Follows very close after the chiffchaff ; but the bird is scarce. SANDMARTIX. (Hirundo riparia, Lath.) In 1862, Mr. Bake saw some specimens near Fordingbridge on March 15th, about a week earlier than usual. MARTIN. (Hirundo urbica, Lin.) Arrives with the sandmartin about the end of March, though sometimes both are seen a little earlier. SWALLOW. (Hirundo rustica, Lin.) WRYNECK. (Yunx torguilla, Lin.) Generally to be heard about the end of March and beginning of April. Known in the Forest as the " Little Eten bird ; " and from its cry the " Wect bird." Mr. Kake both heard and saw one as late as Dec. 5, 1861. REDSTART. (Sylvia phceniotrtts. Lath.) Beginning of April. 310 THICKNEE. ((Edicnamus crepttans, Tern.) It is possible that some may remain to breed. NIGHTINGALE. (Sylvia luscinia, Lath.) About the middle of May their nests are mostly found in the Forest. CCCKOO. (Cuculus canorus, Lin.) May 26 and June 1 are the dates when I have found its eggs placed, in one case, at Baishley, in a hedge sparrow's, and. in the other, on Beanlieu Common, in a titlark's nest. BLACKCAP. (Sylvia atricapilla, Lath.) Arrives about the beginning and middle of April. RAY'S WAGTAIL. (Motacilla cam- pestris, Pall.) Known in the Xew Forest as the " Barley bird," as it ap- pears about the time barley is sown. Probably does not breed. GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. (Sylvia locustella, Lath.) Breeds in the young plantations, but is by no means common. SEDGE WARBLER. (Sylvia Phrag- rnitis. Bechst.) Very scarce. m.l The Summer Visitors. WILLOW WREN. {Sylvia trochilus, Lath.) Many are to be seen about the middle and end of April in the young enclosures, where I have frequently caught the bird on its nest. WOOD WEEN. {Sylvia sibilatrix, Bechst.) Its nests and eggs are gene- rally found about the same time as the willow wren's. WHITETHKOAT. {Sylvia cinerea, Lath.) Common. LESSER WHITETHROAT. {Sylvia curruca, Lath.) Not abundant. WHISTCHAT. {Sylvia rubetra, Lath.) Known throughout the Forest as the " Furze Hacker." TREE PIPIT. {Anthus arboreus, Bechst.) Common. REED WREN. {Sylvia arundinacea, Lath.) The five foregoing species come much about the same time, namely, the end of April, but the reed wren is ex- cessively scarce in the Forest, and I have only once or twice heard its note in the Beaulieu river. Mr. Hart assures me that it builds on the banks of the Avon, but its nest has yet to be found. LANDRAIL. {Gallinula crex, Lath.) About the end of April or beginning of May. A good many yearly build round Milton, and the south parts of the Forest, and even in the interior, as at Fritham and Alum Green. COMMON SANDPIPER. ( Tetanus ky- poleucos, Tern.) A pair now and then remain to breed at Whitten pond, near Burley, and also at Ocknell. TURTLE DOVE. {Columba turtur, Lin.) Not uncommon. Makes a slight framework of heather for a nest, which it places in a furze bush or low holly. Is extremely shy, and easily forsakes its eggs. SWIFT. {Cypselus apus, Illig.) NIGHTJAR. {Caprimulgus Europceus, Lin.) Known throughout the Forest as the "Night Hawk," "Night Crow," "Ground Hawk," from its habits, and manner of flying. I have received its eggs at all dates, from the middle of May to the end of July. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. {Muscicapa grisola, Lin.) Arrives about the same tune as the three preceding, namely, the beginning of May. EEDBACKED SHRIKE. {Laniuscollurio, Lin.) HOBBY. {Falco subbuteo, Lath.) Generally breeds from the beginning to the end of June. Mr. Farren, how- ever, in 1861, found a nest containing three eggs so early as May 28th. See Chapter XXII. p. 261. HONEY BUZZARD. {Falco apivorus, Lin.) Never arrives before the end of May. See Chapter xxii. pp. 262-265. PUFFIN. {Mormon fratercula, Tern ) Comes to the Barton cliffs from the Isle of Wight, where it breeds. Here, as before, the list clearly indicates the nature of the country. The wheatear proclaims the down-like spaces on the tops of the hills, whilst the hobby and the honey-buzzard tell of the vast extent of woods. In the following division the winter birds speak, instead, of the morasses and bogs, and the river estuaries and mudbanks, which surround the Forest district. SHORTEAREDOWL. {Strix brttchyotus, Gmel.) Not uncommon. Mr. Cooper, the Forest Keeper to whom I have before referred, tells me that in winter and late in the autumn for twenty years past he has invariably met specimens in heathy and marshy spots at Harvcstslade between Burley and Boldrewood. A specimen \vas killed in November, 1860, in Dibden Bottom, by L. H. Cumberbatch, Esq. 311 List of the Birds of the New Forest District. APP. FIELDFARE. (Turdus pilaris, Lin.) Large numbers frequent the Forest, ! where it is known as the "blacktail." It especially frequents the hawthorn, and seldom approaches the hollies till i the berries of the former are all eaten. SISKIN. (FingiUa spinus, Lin.) Now and then taken by the birdcatchers. LESSER REDPOLE. (FingiUa linaria, Lin.) I should not be surprised if this was discovered to breed in the Forest, as so many pair are seen late in the spring. CROSSBILL. (Loxia curvirostra, Lin.) Not uncommon. In Dec., 1861, a large ! flock frequented the plantations round j Burley. A few pair are sometimes to be seen in the summer, and Mr. Farren ! mentions a nest built in a fir-tree in a : garden near Lyndhnrst, June, 1858, | but the birds were unfortunately not preserved, though their identity is be- yond dispute. HOODED CROW. (Corvus comix, Lin.) Xot unfrequent. GOLDEN PLOVER. (Charadrius plurialis, Lin.) RINGED PLOVER. (Charadrius hiati- cttla, Lin.) Known, with the dunlin, in the neighbourhood of Christchurch and Lymington, as the " oxbird." SANDERLING. (Calidris arenaria, Leach.) Not uncommon on the coast, especially in Christchnrch harbour. BITTERN. (Ardea stellaris, Lin.) ; Not a year passes without several speci- ' mens being brought to the bird stuffers. Mr. Rake tells me that five were killed ' close to Fordingbridge in the winter of 1858. CURLEW. (Kumenius arquata, Lin.) GREEN SANDPIPER. ( Totanvs ochro- pus, Tern.) Rather common between Lymington and Calshot Ca?tlo. Mr. Rake informs me that a pair were shot at Hale, on the borders of the New Forest, April, 1858; and Mr. Hart tells mo that he has shot several in the summer in Stanpit Marsh. In June. 18f>2, I saw several pair near Leap, so that it probably breeds on the coast. JACK SNIPE. (Scolopax gallinvla, Lin.) Mr. Cooper tells me that he has known this bird lie so close that he has walked up to it and caught it with his hat. KNOT. (Tringa Canutus, Lin.) Not uncommon during the spring at Christ- church Harbour. Mr. Tanner has a specimen in his collection, knocked down with a stick by a boy. DUNLIN. (Tringa variabilis, Meyer.) By no means uncommon. See II Plover. GRET-LAG GOOSE. (Anser ferns, Steph.) BEAX GOOSE. (Anser segetum, Gmel.) A stray bird from the Solent sometimes finds its way to "Whitten and Ocknell ponds. BRENT GOOSE. (Anser bernicla, Ulig.) Locally known as the " Bran- goose." HOOPER. (Cygnus musicus, Tern.) PINTAIL DUCK. (Anas acutu, Lin.) WIGEON. (Anas Penelope, Lin.) ( IMMON SCOTER. (Anas nigra, Lin.) POCHARD. (Anas ferina, Lin.) Known along the coast as the " red- head " and " ker." SCACP DUCK. (Anas marila, Lin.) TUTTED DUCK. (Anas fuligula , Lin.) RED-BREASTKP MERGANSER. (Mergus serrator, Lin.) Known to the fishermen at Christchurch as the " razorbill." GREAT CRESTED GREBE. (Podiceps cristatus, Lath.) Appears every winter in Christchurch harbour, and may be seen just cresting the waves, as they break under the Barton Cliffs. Mr. Rake informs me that specimens were killed at Breamore, November, 1855, ami again, Jan., 1856. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. (Colym- bvs glacial is, Liu.) RED THROATED DIVER. (Colt/mbus septentrionalis, Lin.) Xot so common as the last. GANNET. (Sula Bassana, Boie.) m.; The Birds of Double BLACKHEADED GULL. bundus, Lin.) KITTIWAKE. (Larus Lath.) CO3IMON GULL. (Larus canus, Lin.) (Larus ridi- ; LESSER BLACKBACKED GULL. (La- rus fai-cus, Lin.) Used formerly to tridactylus, breed in the Freshwater Cliff's of the Isle of Wight. GREAT BLACKBACKED GULL. marinus, Lin.) The difficulty in the foregoing list has been to decide which species to insert or omit. Many which I have left out, others, perhaps, would have given, will be found placed amongst my last catalogue of stragglers. But before we take these, let me mention two birds of double passage which visit the Forest. KIXG-OUSEL. (Turdus torquatus, Lin.) A few appear in the spring, but the greater body in the autumn, vhen they frequent the yews and mountain ashes, being especially fond of the sweet berries of the former. They will hide and skulk, much as a blackbird does, in the furze and brambles, and old thick heflges on the borders of the Forest. Mr. Hake sends me the following inter- esting note: "An intelligent working man, somewhat, too, of an ornithologist, told me that a few years since lie took its nest with four or five eggs, near Eingwood, having a distinct view of the bird as she left the nest." THE DOTTEREL. ( Charadrius mor- inellus, Lin.) Little flocks of them may be seen in the Forest in April, and again in the autumn ; but they stay only for a few days. These are the only two birds which I can satisfactorily class as being truly of double passage. The common sandpiper remains to breed, whilst the grey plover and the whimbrel are killed in the depth of winter. The common redshank, which is generally placed in this division, remains all the year, and the greenshank is seen in the summer, whilst the bar-tailed godwit appears too seldom to admit of being classified in this section. We will therefore go on to the next list, which includes all those birds that cannot be arranged in the fore- going divisions, with the rare stragglers which are driven here by accident, or only appear at uncertain intervals. GOLDEN EAGLE. (Falco chrysaetos, Lin.) The last seen was killed, accord- ing to Mr. Hart, about twenty years ago, at the mouth of Christchtirch harbour. SPOTTED EAGLE. (Falco navius, Gmel.) A fine male specimen was>hot, Dec. 28th, 1861, by a keeper of Lord Normanton's, in the plantations near Somerley. The bird had been noticed for some days previously hovering over the Forest. Mr. Rake, who saw it in the flesh, tells me that the wii:;^ measured six feet from tip to tip, ai:d its weight was exactly ei.ulit pounds. WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. (Falco albi- cilla, Gmel.) See Chapter XXII., p. 260. OSPKEY. (Falco haliaeetus, Lin.) Might almost lie classed as a regular visitor in the autumn along the coast. GOSHAWK. ( Falcu pulumbai ins, Lin.) Sometimes a .-tray bird is killed. S S -T13 List of the Birds of the New Forest District. [APP. KITE. (Fulco milvus, Lin.) Very scarce. Mr. Farrcn, however, in April, 1861, was lucky enough to see a solitary bird ; and another, as L. H. Cumber- batch, Esq., informs me, was trapped at New Park, about six years ago, in the winter. ROCGH-LEGGED BCZZARD. (Falco lagopus, Brim.) Mr. Rake informs me that a specimen was trapped near Ford- ingbridge, in the summer of 1857. It is, however, more generally noticed later in the year. LITTLE OWL (Strix passerina, Lath.) When Mr. Farren first mentioned this bird as breeding in the Forest, I was somewhat incredulous. Subsequent in- quiries, however, have left no doubt on my mind that the bird is sometimes seen, though mistaken for a hawk. Mr. Farren, as far back as 1859, found two eggs in a hole of an oak, which seem to have been those of this bird ; and in 1862 I received information of a hawk laying white eggs in a hollow tree, but which were unfortunately broken. I hope, however, some day to be able to give more satisfactory information on the subject. ASH-COLOURED HARRIER. (Fdlco cineraceus, Mont.) Mr. Hart has, during the last twenty years, received three or four specimens to stuff one in the winter of 18C1. Mr. Farren saw a male bird, April, 1861. GREAT GREY SHRIKE. (Lanius excu- bitor, Lin.) A straggler is now and then killed by the Forest keepers. WOODCHAT SHRIKE. (Lanius rufus, Briss.) As some pairs are sometimes to be seen in the summer, I should not be surprised to hear of its breeding, more especially as Mr. Bond has obtained its eggs in the Isle of Wight. PIED FLYCATCHER. (Muscicapa atri- capilla, Lin.) A specimen was shot by the late Mr. Toomer, Forest keeper, June, 1857 ; but I cannot learn whether male or female. 314 WHITE'S THRUSH. (Turdus Whitei, Eyton.) Two specimens have been ob- tained ; one in the actual Forest shot by a Forest kee]>er, and which passed into Mr. Bigge's collection ; and the other, not far from its borders at Heron Court, by Lord Mahnesbury, and which is figured in Yarrell, vol. i., p. 202. For the best account of this bird see Mr. Tomes' description in the Ibis, vol. i., number iv., p. 379, of a specimen killed in Warwickshire. GOLDEN ORIOLE. (Oriolus gaJbula, Lin.) A specimen was killed in the Forest by one of the keepers, some fifteen years ago. BLACK REDSTART. (Sylvia tithys, Scop.) I am almost inclined to put this, as Mr. Knox has done in his ex- cellent Ornithological Rambles (page 193), and Mr. More in his list of the birds of the Isle of Wight, among the winter visitors, so many examples having occurred. GREAT SEDGE WARBLER. (Sylvia turdoides, Meyer.) Mr. Fan-en, in June, 1858, found between Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst, a nest, containing five eggs, which were supposed to be those ol this bird, and were exhibited at a meeting of the Linnasan Society. They are now, I believe, in the collection of Mr. Seeley. FIRECRESTED REGULrs. ( Regulus ignirapillus, Xawm.) Sometimes seen in the winter, but rare. CRESTED TITMOUSE. (Parus cris- tatus, Lin.) Mr. Hart has once only received a specimen, killed in Stanpit Marsh, near Christchurch. The bird has also been killed in the Isle of Wight. BEARDED TITMOUSE. (Parus biar- micus, Lin.) I once received the eggs of this bird, taken amongst the reeds of the Boldre stream, the only instance, I believe, of its breeding so far south. i The bird has also been seen near Christ- : church, among the rashes close to the mouth of the harbour. III. The Rarer Visitors and Stragglers. BOHEMIAN WAXWING. (Bombycilla garrula, Flem.) Mr. Hart tells me that a specimen was shot about twelve years ago at Milton, on the south border of the Forest. GRAYHEADED WAGTAIL. (Motacilla neglecta, Gould. ) Very rare ; but has, on Mr. Hart's authority, been killed. SHORT-TOED LARK. (Alauda brachy- dactyla, Leisl.) A specimen, caught not far from the Forest boundary, is now in the Eev. J. Pemberton Bartlett's aviary. See The Zoologist, March, 1862, p. 7930. SNOW BUNTING. (Emberiza nivalis, Lin.) A few are occasionally seen during hard winters. BRAMBLING . (Fringilla montifringilla, Lin.) Occurs like the former bird only during severe frosts. Mr. Rake informs me that a pair were killed near Fording- bridge, in February, 1853. TREE SPARROW. (Fringilla montana, Lin.) Rare. MEALY REDPOLE. (Fringilla borealis, Tern.) Sometimes caught by the bird- j catchers. PARROT CROSSBILL. (Loxia pityop- '. sittacus, Bechst.) Mr. Rake infonns me that one was killed at Breamore, Nov. 28th, 1855, out of a flock of a dozen, and that a few days afterwards several more were killed. ROSE-COLOURED PASTOR. (Pastor roseus, Tern.) A fine male was shot some twenty years ago, by Mr. Hart's brother, at Purewell. CHOUGH. (Pyrrhocorax gracuhts, Tem.J Becoming every year more scarce. See Chapter XXII., pp. 274, 275. GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER. (Picus martius, Lin.) On its breeding habits in Sweden, sec Mr. Simpson's account in the Ibis, vol. i., p. 264, which agrees about the bird not making a fresh hole, as described at pp. 272, 273. HOOPOE. ( Upupa epops, ~Lin.) See Chapter XXII , p. 274. WHITE-BELLIED SWIFT. (Cypselus S S alpinus, Tern.) Mr. Hart infonns me that a specimen was killed about ten years ago over Christchurch harbour. ROCK DOVE. (Columba livia, Briss.^ RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. (Perdix rubra, Briss) Introduced many years ago by the late Mr. Baring, of Somerley ; but very few, if any, are left. QUAIL. (Perdix coturnix, Lath.) Sometimes to be seen amongst the covies of partridges in the fields adjoin- ing the Forest. GREAT BUSTARD. (Otis tarda, Lin.J The last bustard, as mentioned in Chapter II., p. 14, footnote, was seen about twenty- five years ago by one of the Forest keepers, near Eyeworth Wood; but though on horseback, he could not overtake the bird, which ran across Butt's Plain, aiding itself by flapping its wings. LITTLE BUSTARD. (Otis tetrax Lin.) A female was shot some years ago near Heron Court ; and is in Lord Malmesbury's collection. See Ey ton's Rarer British Birds, p. 99. KILDEER PLOVER. (Charadrius vociferus, Lin.) This rare straggler, the only one ever known to have been seen in England, was shot, April, 1859, in a potato field close to Knapp Mill, near Christchurch, by a man of the name of Dowding, who was attracted to it by its peculiar flight, such as is described by Audubon, as also by its monotonous cry, fiom which its name is taken. The bird was brought in the flesh to Mr. Hart, and is now in the collection of J. Tanner, Esq. The vignette at p. 318 well shows its difference from the com- mon ring dotterel. LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. (Chara- drius minor, Meyer.) Very rare. Mr. Hart has only had one specimen, brought to him many years ago. GREY PLOVER. (Vanellus melano- gaster, Bechst.) Not uncommon during severe winters in the harbours along the coast. TURNSTONE. (Strepsilas interpres, 31.7 List i' tin- Birds of tit- \ I '<>r<>st Dist r'u-t. [APP. III.) Not uncommon. My friend, Mr. Tanner, has killed both male and female in summer plumage. OYSTER-CATCHER. (Ha-matoptu ostra- legus, Lin.) By no means uncommon. PCRPLE HEROX. (Ardea purpxrea, Lin.) One or two specimens have occasionally been shot. LITTLE EGRET. (Ardea garzetta, Lin.) Mr. Rake informs me that one was said to hare been shot some years ago at Hale, on the borders of the Forest. Yarrell mentions another(vol. ii.. p. 554) killed, in 1822, on the Stonr near Christchurch. SQUACCO HEROS. (Ardea raHuides, Scop.) A solitary specimen, shot a few years ago at Christchurch Harbour, is now in Lord Malmesbury's collection. See Eyton's Rarer British Birds, p. 100, where Dewhnrst must probably be a misprint for Christchurch. LITTLE BITTERX. (Ardea minuta, Lin.) Mr. Hart, to whom I am under so many obligations for notices of our stragglers, informs me that a fine male bird was shot, April, 26, 1362, on the borders of the Forest, at Heron Court, by one of Lord Malmesbnry's keepers. NIGHT HERON. (Nycticorajc ardeola, Tern.) Mr. Hart has occasionally re- ceived a specimen. GLOSSY IBIS. (Ibis falcineUus, Tern.) Mr. Hart killed a young pair in a mea- dow near Christchurch Harbour in Sep- tember, 1859. WHIMBREL. (Numenivs phaopus, Lath.) Not so very uncommon during the late autumn and winter months along the harbours of the coast. SPOTTED REDSHANK. ( Totanvs fuscus, LeisL) On the authority of Mr. Hart, who has killed it in Christchnrch Harbour. AVOCET. (Recmrvirostra aoocttla. Lin.) Mr. Rake informs me of a speci- men shot at Exbury, Dec, 1858. BLACKTAILED GOD WIT. (Liatosa melanura, Leisl.) Mr. Hart received one in the spring of I860, and a fine 316 specimen was killed by one of the 1 keepers, some twenty years ago, on Ocknell pond. Hawker, who well knew the sea-coast of the New Forest, men- tions large flicks of" grey god wits " off Keyhaven. May, 1842. but he does not distinguish between this and the next species. BARTAILED GODWIT. (Limasa rufa, .' Briss.) Mr. Hart had two pair brought ; to him from the Mndeford Marsh, in the j summer of 1861. RCFF. (Machetes pugitar, Cuv.) A specimen is now and then killed. GREAT SNIPE. (Scolopaje major, GmeL) Generally one or two may be seen in the Forest every winter. Mr. Cooper, the Forest keeper, to whom I have previously referred, tells me that durin the last twentv vears he has shot some six or seven specimens, and has seen as many more killed. SABINE'S SNIPE. (Scoloptuc Sabini, Vigors.) See Common Snipe (Scolopax galiinago), in the list of residents, p. 309. CCRLEW SANDPIPER. (Tringa sub- arquata. Tern.) LITTLE STINT. (Triiitta minuta, Leisl.) Like the preceding, not so very unfrequent along the coast. PCRPLE SANDPIPER. ( Tringa mari- tima, Briin.) Occasionally seen in Christchnrch Harbour. SPOTTED CRAKE. (Go//imt/o por- zana, Lath.) Has been seen both in winter and summer ; and I should ; not be surprised to hear of its breed- ; ing. BAILLOS'S CRAKE. (GaUimuIa Bail- ' lonii, Tern.) A female was shot near Lanwood, in the Forest, Nov., 1860. GRET PHALAROPE. (PhaJaroptts platyrhyncus, Tern.) Mr. Rake in- forms me that several specimens were killed on the Avon in the severe winter ! of 1855-6, and again in 1860-1. Mr. Tanner has a pair in his collection, ' shot in the mouth of Christchurch Harbour in summer plumage. III.] The Rarer Visitors and Stragglers. WHITEFRONTED GOOSE. (Anser albifrons, Bechst.) BERNACLE GOOSE. {Anser leucopsis, Bechst ) From Mr. Hart I learn that a pair were killed some years ago between Christchurch and Barton. ^EGYPTIAN GOOSE. {Anser JEgyp- tiacus, Jenyns ) From Mr. Rake I learn that a specimen was killed on the Avon, near Bicton Mill, February, J855. BEWICK'S SWAN. (Cygnus minor, Keys and Bl.) SHOVELLER. {Anas clypeata, Lin.) Mr, Rake, in his manuscript notes, which he so kindly put in my hands, mentions that this and the gadwall and Bewick's swan, were killed on the Avon during the hard winter of 1855. GADWALL. {Anas strepera, Lin.) GARGANEY. {Anas querquedula, Lin.) EIDER DUCK. {Anas mollissima, Lin.) VELVET SCOTER. (Anasfusca, Lin.) Sometimes shot by the Mudeford fisher- men, but always outside the bar of the harbour. LONG-TAILED DUCK. {Anas glacialls, Lin.) GOLDEN EYE. ( Anas dangula, Lin.) SMEW. {Mergus albellus, Lin.) Seen, like the two previous, during hard winters on the Avon. Mr. Rake notes that one was killed at Breamore, Nov., 1855 ; and Mr. Hart writes that he once saw a person kill two at one shot in Christchurch Harbour. GOOSANDER. {Mergus merganser, Lin.) Rather rare. Mr. Rake, however, in- forms me that one male and two or three females were killed near Fording- bridge in the winter of 1855. RED-NECKED GREBE. {Podiceps rufi- collis, Lath.) Rather rare. SCLAVONIAN GREBE. {Podiceps cor- nutus, Lath.) Very rare. Mr. Hart has never known an instance of one being killed, though he has received a specimen or two from the Dorsetshire coast. EARED GREBE. {Podiceps auritux, Lath.) Rather rare, but occasionally killed by the Mudeford fishermen. BLACK-THROATED DIVER {Colymbus arcticus, Lin.) Occurs pretty plenti- fully during some winters along the coast. LITTLE AUK. {Uria alle, Tern.) Found sometimes along the coast after a heavy storm. CASPIAN TERN. {SternaCaspia,Y&\\.') On the authority of Mr. Hart one was shot, about ten years ago, in Christ- church Harbour. COMMON TERN. {Sterna hirundo, Lin.) This, with the next, is sometimes, after a heavy gale, picked up in an exhausted state. I saw one which had been thus caught near Fordingbridge in September, 1861. AKTIC TERN. {Sterna arctica, Flem.) LESSER TERN. {Sterna minuta, Lin.) Seen during a hard winter. BLACK TERN. {Sterna nigra, Briss.) A pair were, not long ago, shot by Mr. Charles Reeks, near the Old Bridge, Christchurch. LITTLE GULL. {Larus minutus, Pall.) Mr. Rake informs me that a pair of these rare birds were killed near Breamore, in | November, 1855. GLAUCOUS GULL. {Lai us glaucus, I Briin.) A solitary specimen has, I | believe, once been shot near Christ- church, by the Hon. Grantley Berkeley, in whose collection it is. COMMON SKUA. {Lestris catarractes, 111.) Occasionally killed flying round Christchurch Head. FORK-TAILED PETREL. ( Thalassi- droma Leachii, Tern.) Mr. Rake informs me that a specimen was picked up dead, near Fordingbridge, November, 18 ',9. STORMY PETREL. ( Thalassidroma pelagica, Vigors.) Frequently picked up dead, or exhausted, along the coast, after severe weather, with the wind blowing from the west. 317 List of the Birds of the New Forest District. Adopting YarrelTs census, an analysis of these lists gives to the Forest district 72 out of the 140 British residents, 31 out of our 63 summer visitors, 35 winter visitors, and of rarer birds and stragglers, 90 ; or altogether, including the two birds of double passage, 230 species out of the whole 354. Since these lists were arranged, Mr. Hake sends me word, concerning the reed wren, that in the winter of 1858, a nest, evidently built the preceding summer, and exactly resembling that bird's, was found in a thick bed of reeds on the bank of the Avon, near Fordingbridge, but he has never seen the birds or eggs from the neighbourhood. With regard to the kildeer plover, I may add that several persons saw it in the flesh, and that Mr. Tanner received it soon after it was mounted. My only surprise is with Dr. Sclater.(see the Ibis vol. iv., No. xv., p. 277), that a bird with so large a range of flight should not before this have been recorded as occurring in England. The vignette is, with a slight alteration of position, taken from Mr. Tanner's specimen. The Kildeer Pi over. 318 APPENDIX IV. THE LEPIDOPTERA OF THE NEW FOREST. As, I am sorry to say, I am entirely ignorant of entomology, Mr. Baker, who possesses one of the finest collections of Lepidoptera in the district, has kindly compiled the following list. For the sake of space the Tineina have been omitted. The arrangement followed is that of Stainton, and the whole list has, to ensure the greatest accuracy, been revised by F. Bond, Esq., F.Z.S. No attempt has been made to classify the rarer and more common species, as both so much vary with the season. RHOPALOCERA. GONOPTERYX Tithonus NEMEOBIUS Rhamni COLIAS Hyperanthus CCENONYMPHA Lueina THECLA Edusa Hyale APORIA Crataigi Pamphilus LIMENITIS Sibylla APATURA Betulre Quercus Rubi CHRYSOPHANUS PIERIS Iris Phloeas Brassicas VANESSA POLYOMMATUS Rapte Napi ANTHOCHARIS Cardui Atalanta lo Argiolus Alsus Alexis Cardamines LEUCOPHASIA Sinapis ARGE Antiopa Polychloros Urticse ARGYNNIS Agestis THYJV1ELE Alveolus Galathea LASIOMMATA ^Egeria MegEera HIPPARCHIA Semele Paphia Adippe Aglaia Selene Euphrosyne MELITJEA THANAOS Tages STEROPES Paniscus PAMPHILA Linea Janira Artemis Sylvan us 319 The LepiJnptera of the Ncir Forest. r APP. PROCRIS Statices ANTHROCKKA Trifolii Lonicene Filipendnlae SMERIXTHUS Ocellatus Populi Tiliae ACHERONTIA SPHIXGIXA. Atropos M'HINX Convolvuli Ligustri DEILEPHILA Galii CHCEROCAMPA Elpenor Porcellns MACROGLOSSA Stellatanun BESIA Fnciformis Bombvlifornii* SPHECIA Bembecifonni* TROCHILIIM Ichneumonifonnc Criupiforme Sphegifonne Tipuliforme Mvopaefonnc BOMBYCINA. HEPIALUS Hectus Bucephala PSILURA Russnla ARCTIA Lupulinus Humnli Monacha DASYCHIRA Caja Villica Sylrinns Fascelina XEMEOPHILA ZENZERA Pudibunda Plantafrini< JBscoli DEM AS PHRAGMATOBIA COSSUS Ligniperda CERURA Furcula Vinula Corvli ORGYIA Antiqna STILPXOTIA Salicis Fuliginosa SPILOSOMA Meuthastri Lubricipeda DIAPHORA STAUROriS PORTHEMA Mendica Fagi NOTODONTA Auriflua MILTOCHRISTA (.'ALLIMORPHA Jacoba?ie Dromedarius Miniata EULEPIA DRYMOXIA LITHOSIA Cribrum Chaonia Aureola DEIOPEIA Dodonsea Helvola Pnlchella LEIOCAMPA Stramineola LASIOCAMPA Dictiea Dicteoides LOPHOPTERYX Camelina Complana Complannla Griseola CEXISTIS Rubi Trifolii Quercns ERIOGASTER DILOBA C-x ruleocephala PETASIA Cassinia Quadra GXOPHRIA Rnbricollis CYBOSIA Lancstris PCECILOCAMPA Popnli TRICHIURA PEREDEA ilesomella Oatt^i Trepida CLOSTERA NUDARIA Mundana CLISIOCAMPA Xcustria Reclosa Senex ODOXESTIS PYG^ERA EUTHEMOXIA Potatoria 320 IV. J TJi Lepidoptera of the New Forest. BOMBYCINA. (Continued.} GASTROPACHA Lacertinaria Testudo Quercifolia BATUKNIA DREPANA Falcataria PSYCHID^. Pavonia-minor Hamula PSYCHE CILIX Spinula PLATYPTERYX Unguicula HETEROGENEA Asellus Nigricans Opacella FUMEA LIMACODES Radiella NOCTUINA. THYATIRA Micacea CEL^ENA Derasa AXYLIA Haworthii Batis Putris GRAMMESIA CYMATOPHORA XYLOPHASIA Trilinea Duplaris Rurea ACOSMETIA Diluta Lithoxylea Caliginosa Flavicornis Polyodon CARADRINA Ridens Hepatica Morpheus BRYOPHILA DIPTERYGIA Alsines Perla Pinastri Blanda DIPHTHERA NEURIA Cubicularis Orion Saponarise RUSINA ACRONYCTA HELIOPHOBUS Tenebrosa Tridens Popularis AGROTIS Psi CHAR^AS Puta Leporina Graminis Suffiisa Megaccphala - CERIGO Saucia Alni Cytherea Segetum Ligustri LUPERINA Exclamationis Rumicis Testacea Nigricans LEUCANIA Csespitis Tritici Conigera MAMESTRA Aquilina Turca Anceps Poi-phyrea Lithargyria Furva Ravida Pudorina Brassicac TRYPH^ENA Comma Persicaria; lanthina Impura APAMEA Fimbria Fallens Basilinea Interjecta NONAGRIA Gcmina Subsequa Despecta Oculea Orbona Fulva MIANA Pronuba Typhse Strigilis NOCTUA GORTYNA Fasciuncula Glareosa Flavago Literosa Augur HYDRCECIA Furnncnla Plecta Nictitans Arcuosa C-nigrum T T 321 The Lepldoptera of the A*- APP. Trianguluni Bmnnea :iva XOCTUIXA. ' i. ontimud.j ^rIA Semibronnea Trapezina Petrificata Pyralina CL'CULLIA Bella Diffinis Chamomillae Umbrosa Affinis Umbratica Baja xrta Xantbographa TRACHEA Piniperda T.EXIOCAMPA ERE5IOBLV Ochroleaca DIANTHCECIA Carpophaga Capsincola Cncnbali IIELIOTHIS Marginata Dipsacea AX ART A MrrtilU HELIODES Gothica HECATERA Arbnti Rubricosa Serena ACOXTIA Instabilis POLIA Lnctnosa Stabilis Flavicincta ERA STRIA Gracilis EPDHDA Fuscula Mimosa Lutulenta HYDRELIA Munda Crada Xigra Viminalis Uncana BREPHOS ORTHOSIA MISELIA Parthenias Upsilon Lota Oxvacanthae AGRIOPIS HABROSTOLA Urtaca Macilenta AXCHOCELIS April ina PHLOGOPHORA Triplasia PLI Rnlina ilcricalosa Chrvsitis Pistacina EUPLEXIA Iota 1-unosa Litnra Lucipara APLECTA Pnlchrina Gamma CERASTIS Herbida DPT ERA Yaccinii Xebnlosa Libatrix Spadicea SCOPELOSOMA Adrena IIADEXA AMPIIIPYRA Pyramidea Satellitia DASYCAMPA Adusta Protea Tragopogonis MANIA Rabiginea OPORIXA Croceago XANTIIIA Dentina Chenopodii Snasa Oleracea Trpica Maura TOXOCAMPA Pastinum Citrago Cerago Silago Aurago Gilvago Ferraginea TETIIEA Pisi Thalassina Contigoa Genistie XYLOCAMPA LJthorhiza CAJLOCAMPA BTTLBIA Anomala rOCAJLA Xupta ProT Spousa EUCLIDIA Snbtusa Vetusta Mi Retnsa DICYCI.A Exoleta XYLINA Glvphica PHTTOMETRA Oo Rhizolitha ^nea 322 IV.] The Lepidoptera of the New Forest. GEOMETRINA. URAPTERYX Glabraria Scutulata Sarahucaria Licbcnariii Bisctata EPIONE BOARMIA Trigeniinata Apiciaria Rcpandaria Osscata Advcnaria Bhomboidaria Virgularia RUMIA Abietaria Oniata Cratajgata Cinctaria Incanaria VENILIA Roboraria Marginepunctata Maculata Consortaria Subsericeata ANGERONA TEPHBOSIA Iiinnutata Prunaria Consonaria Remutata METROCAMPA Crepuscularia Imitaria Margaritaria Exteraaria Aversata ELLOPIA Punctularia Enmrginata Fasciaria GNOPHOS BRADYEPETES EURYMENE Obscurata Amataria Dolabraria Pullata CABEBA PERICALLIA PSEUDOTERPNA Pusaria Syringaria Cytisaria ICxantlicmaria SELENIA GEOMETRA CORYCIA niunaria Papilionarin Tcmerata Lunaria MEMORIA Taminata Illustraria Viridata AVENTIA ODONTOPEBA IODIS Flexula Bidcntatu Lactearia MACARIA CROCALLIS PHORODESMA Alteraata Elinguaria Bajularia Notata ENNOMOS IIEMITHEA Liturata Tiliaria Thymiaria HALIA Fuscantaria EPHYRA Vauaria Erosaria Poraria STRENIA Angularia Punctaria Clathrata HIMERA Trilineai-ia LOZOGRAMMA Peimaria Omicronariu Petraria PHIGALIA Orbicularia NDMERIA Pilosaria Pendularia Pulveraria NYSSIA HYRIA. WLSSIA Hispidaria Anroraria Belgiaria AMPHIDASYS ASTHENA SEMDOSEMA Prodromaria Luteata Plumaria Betularia Candidata FIDONIA HEMEROPHILA Sylvata Atomaria Abrnpta ria EUPISTERTA Piniaria CLEOBA Heparata MINOA Yiduaria ACTDALIA Eophorbiatfl T T 2 323 The Lrpiiloptrra of the New Forest. GEOMETRINA. (Continue,!, j ASl'ILATES I'ygnuvata Montanatu Strigillaria Satyrata Fluctuate ABRAXAS Castigata ANTICLKA Grossulariata Irriguata Rahidata LIGDIA Denotata Badiata Adustata Innotata Derivata LOMASPILIS Indigata COREMLA Marginata Nanata Propngnata PACHYCNEMIA Subnotata Ferrugata Hippocastanaria Vulgata CAMPTOGRAMMA HYBERXIA Expallidata Bilineata Rupicapraria Absintbiata Gemmata Leucophaearia Minutata SCOTOSIA Aurantiaria Assimilata Dubitata Progemmaria Tenuiata Certata Defoliaria Dodoneata Undulata ANISOPTERYX Abbreviata ('ID ART A jEscularia Exiguata P.-ittacata CIIEIMATOBIA Pumilata Miata Brumata Corouata Picata OPOKABIA Kectangulata Corylata Dilutata LOBOPHORA Russata LARENTIA Sexalata Immanata Didymata Hcxapterata SufFuinata Multistrigaria Viretata Silaccata Pectinitaria Lobulata Pmnata EMMELESIA THEBA Testata Affinitata Variata, Haw. Fulvata Alchemillata Firmaria Pyraliara Albulata IIYPSIPETES Dotara Decolorata Impla^ata EUBOLIA Unifasciata Elutata Cervinaria EUPITHECIA MELAXTHIA Mensuraria Venosata Rubiginata Falumbariu Linariata Ocellata Bipunctaria Pulchellata Albicillata Lineolata Centanreata MELANIPPE AXAITIS Succenturiata Unangulata Plagiata Subumbrata Rivata ODEZIA Haworthiata Subtristrata CSmrophvllata The Lepidoptera of the New Forest. PYRALIDINA. DELTOIDES. BOTYS EPHESTIA HYPENA Pandalis Elutella Proboscidalis Verticalis HO1VLEOSOMA Rostralis Lancealis Nebulclla HYPENODES Fuscalis ACROBASIS Costsestrigalis Urticalis Consociella RIVULA EBULEA Tumidella Sericealis Croccalis CRYPTOBLAB HERMINIA Sambucalis Bistriga Barbalis PIONEA MYELOIS Tarsipennalis Forficalis Suavella Nemoralis SPILODES Advenclla Sticticalis Maimorea PYRAL1TES Cinctalis NEPHOPTERY PYRALIS SCOPULA Abictella Costalis Olivalis Roborella Farinalis Prunalis PEMPELIA Glaucinalis Ferrugalis Dilutclla AGLOSSA STENOPTERYX Formosa Phigniiialis Hybridalis Palumbella CLEDEOBIA NOLA CRAMBUS Angnstalis Cucullatella Ccrussellus PYRAUSTA Cristulalis Chrysonychellus Punicealis Strigula Falsellus Purptirulis SYMAETHIS Pratellus Ostrinalis Fabriciana Dumetellus HEKBULA CHOREUTES Sylvellus Ca3spit;ilis Scintillulana Hamellus ENNYCHIA Pascuellus Cingulalia CRAMBITES. Uliginosellus Octomaculalis EUDOREA Hortucllus ENDOTRICHA Cembrae Culmellus Flammealis Ambigualis Inquinatellus DIASEMIA Pyralclla Geniculeus Literalis Cratregella Contaminellus CATACLYSTA Frequentella Tristellus Lcmnalis Rcsinea Pinctcllus PARAPONY Pallida Latistrius Stratiotalis APHOMIA Perlcllus IIYDROCAMPA Colonella CHELO Nymphaealis ACHROIA Forficellus Stagnalis Grisellu Phrajrmitollus Tin- L'']>i<1optera of the AW Forest. API'. TORTRICIXA. CHLOEPHORA PTYCHOLOMA STEGANOPTY( HA Prasinana Lecheana Xanana Qtiercana XoTnCKI.IA ANCHYLOPP:I:A SAKOTHKIPA (Jddmanniana Mirtcq>achcriana Revayana PARDIA Snbarcuana HTPERMBdA Tripunetana Biarcnana Augusta iia SPILONOTA Uncana EULIA Roborana Luudana Ministrana Trimaculana Derasana BRACHYT.EXIA Amoenana Comptana Semifasciana LITHOGRAPIIIA Siculana AXTITHESLA Campoliliana BACTRA Betuletana X i -ella I-anceolana Ochroleucana Penklcriana Furfiirana Cynosbatella PHL^ODES ARGYROTOXA Pruniana Tetraquetrana Conwavana Marginana Immnndana DICTYOPTERYX Similana POiDISCA Contaminana Sellana Piceana Lceflingiana PEXTHIXA Solandriana CRCESIA Salicella Opthalmicana (?) Bergmanniana SIDERIA CATOPTRIA Forskaleana Achatana Scopoliana Holmiana DICHELIA Hohen wartb iana HEMEROSIA Grotiana IIALOXOTA Rheediella CLEPSIS Bimaculana (XYGRAPHA Rusticana Cirsiana Literana TORTRIX Scutulana PEROXKA Icterana Brunnichiana Schalleriana Viburnana DICRORAMPHA Comparana Foreterana Petiverella Tristana Heparana Seqnana Rufana Ribeana Poll tana Favillaccana Cinnamomeana Plumbagana Ihi-tiana Corvlana Consortana Cri-tana LOZOT^XIA COCCYX Variegana Sorbiana Hercyniana PARAMESIA Mnsculana CAPUA Aspersana Costana Ochraceana Fernigana Unifasciana CARTELLA TE1L\- Fulvana Bilunana Caudana Roborana HEDYA PCECILOCHROMA Xylosteana Payluilliana Profundana Rosana Ocellana Corticaua DITULA Dealbana ANISOT^NIA Angnstiorana Trimaculana Ulmana 326 IV. The Lcpidoptem of the New Forest. TORTRICINA ( Continued) . ROXANA Juliana PHTHEOCROA Arcuella Splendana Rugosana SEMASIA Pomonana ERIOPSELA Populana GRAPHOLITIIA Fractifasciana Spiniana Albcrsana CHROSIS Wceberiana Hypericana Tesserana Janthinana Modestana ARGYROLEPIA EUCELIS SPHALEROPTERA JEneana(?) Aurana Ictcricana Baumanniana EPHIPPIPIIORA CNEPHASIA Badiana Trauniana Hybridana CALOSETIA Regiana Subjcctana Nigromaculana Argyrana Pas si van a EUPCECILIA STIGMONOTA Nubilana Maculosana Mtidana EUCHROMIA Carduana Wierana Ericetana Nana Compositella Striana Angustana Perlcpidana SERICORIS Griseana ASTHENIA Concliana Roseana Splendidulana Lacunana Subroseana RETINIA Urticana Ruficiliana Buoliana Csespitana LOZOPERA Pinivorana Politana Francillana Sylvestrana Latifasciana Stramineana ENDOPISA Bifasciana XANTHOSETIA Ulicana MIXODIA Hamana Gennarana Schulziana Zoegana Puncticostana LOBESIA TORTRICODES CARPOCAPSA Reliquana Hyemana PTEROPHORINA. PTEROPHORUS Fuscus Tetradactylus Trigonodactylus Acantliodactylus Punctidactylus Pterodactylus Tephradactylus Galactodactylus Pentadactylns ALUCITA Polydactyla Bipunctidactylns 327 Postscript. POSTSCRIPT. As a further addition to my list of plants, I have received the following from A. Gr. More, Esq., F.L.S. those without localities being communicated to him by the late Mr. Borrer as found in the Forest : WAHLENBERGIA HEDERACEA, Reich., Ivy-leaved Bell Flower. Near Lynd- hurst, 272. SIDM LATIFOLITTM, Lin., Broad- leaved Water Parsnep. Sec Bromfield, in the Phytologist, vol. iii. p. 403 ; 464. TRIFOLIUM MEDIUM, Lin., Zigzag Trefoil. Near Lyndhurst. 683. UTRICULARIA INTERMEDIA, Hayne, Intermediate Bladdenvort, 876. CAREX LIMOSA, Lin., Green-and-Gold Carex, 1244. A word or two may here be added concerning the only true species of cicada (Cicada Immatoides), which we have in England, and which has hitherto been only found in the New Forest. Mr. Farren, in June, 1858. was fortunate enough to take a specimen sitting on the stem of the common brake, being attracted to it by its peculiar monotonous humming noise. On the second of June, 1862, he captured two others, which rose from the fern, with their curious zigzag flight, and at the same time heard two more. Mr. Farren, to whom I ana indebted for the above information, has kindly sent me the following drawing, made by his brother, from one of the living specimens captured in the Forest. The Cicada. 328 Index. INDEX. ABBACIES, held by William II., at the time of his death, 104 (foot note). Abbey, Beaulieu, see Beaulieu. Jibcy Walls, the, or St. Leonard's Grange, 69. Acquitaine, Eleanor of, buried at Beau- lieu Abbey, 67. Adages, in the Forest, 180 ; see also Proverbs. Adder's-tongue Fern, 256. Alanus de Insulis, on the death of William II., 102. Alexander I., Pope, bull from, 71 (foot- note.) Amberwood Corner, barrows near, 208. Ambrosius Aurelianus, defeated by Cerdic, 118; his name preserved in the word Amesbury, 119; in Am- brose Hole and Ampress Farm, 198. Ancestry, our, 2. Anderwood Enclosure, Eoman and Romano-British potteries at, 215. America, Old-English character of its provincialisms, 172. Anselm, foretold by the Abbot of Cluny of the death of William II., 101. Anses Wood, mound near, 209, 210. " Apostles, the Twelve," 83. . Assart lands, granted by James I., 43. Ash, Mark-, Wood, 17. Ashley Rails, Roman and Romano- British potteries at, 221. Attachment, Court of, 87. Augustine, St., injunctions to his canons, 69. Aurelianus, Ambrosius, see Ambrosius. Avon, the, at Castle Hill, 118; at Ib- besley, 120; at Winkton, 128; eel peculiar to, 125, 126. Avon, the Valley of the, 116; Flora of. 253. Avon Tyrrel, 126. U BABINGTON, Churchill, synopsis of the birds of Chaniwood Forest by, 275. Baddesley, Preceptory of the Knights Templar formerly at, 156. Balm, Bastard (Melittis Melyssophyl- lum), in the Forest, 256. Bandits, troop of, at Lymington, 169. Bargciy Farm, 71. Barn, or spicarium, of Beaulieu Abbey, 69, 70. Barney Barns Hill, 197 (foot-note), 210. Barrows, named after fairies, 177, 197; opened by Warner, 198; in the east part of the Forest, 197 (foot-note), 211 ; on Sway Common, 198 ; on Bratley Plain, 199-205; near Ocknell Pond, 205, 206; near Darrat's Lane, 206 (foot-note); on the West Frit- ham Plain, 207 ; near Amberwood, 208; on Butt's Plain, 209; on Langley Heath, 211. Barton Cliff's, the, 147 ; Middle-Eocene beds of the, 4; atmospheric effects seen from the, 15, 16 ; geology of, 421, 422. Beacon, Bjirley, 82. Beaulieu Abbey, its foundation and en- dowments, 62 ; its dedication, 63 ; the Countess of Warwick and Perkin Warbeck come to its sanctuaiy, 64; its dissolution, 65 ; beauty of its situa- tion, 65 ; the abbot's house, cloisters, and chapter-house, 66; church, 67; refectory, 67, 68; the pulpit of the refectory, 68; bam of, 69; granges of, 69-71. Beaut v, exists in the beholder's mind, 18/19; God's love of, 127, 128; the chief end and aim of Nature, 5. Becton Bunny, 149; house burnt down, 170; geology of, 240. Beeches, measurements of, in the Forest, 16 (foot-note). IT 329 Bees, folk-lore about, 181. Bellas Locus, former name of Bcaulicu, 62. Bentley Wood, North, 1 13. Beteston Roger, tenure of, at Eve- worth, 114. Bible, words in the, now provincialisms, 193. Birds, bones of, discovered amongst the foundations of the Priory Church, Christchurch, 14 (jbot-note); see Or- nithology. Bishop's Ditch, 79. Black Bar, large mound at, 210. Blackheath Meadow, Roman pottery at, 210. Boghampton, village of, 127. Boldre, derivation of, 80; church, 79. Beoks, at Beaulieu Abbey, just before .the dissolution, 65 (foot-note). Botany of the Forest, 250-257; contra- dictions in the, 251 ; characterized by its soil, 251, 252; bog-plants, 252; carices abundant, 252 ; its position under Watson's system, 253, 254; its trees, 254; its St. John's Worts, 254, 255 ; its ferns, 255, 256 ; other plants, 256, 257. (See Appendix II., 289.) Bottom, meaning of the word, 187. Bowles, Caroline, married to Southey at Boldre church, 80. Bouvery Farm, 69. Bramble Hill, oaks at, 16; view from, 111. Bramshaw, village of, 111. Bratley Wood, 1 13. Bratley Plain, barrows upon, 113, 199- 205. Breamore, village of, 119. Brinken Wood, 83. Brockenhurst, derivation of, 75; tenure at, 76; church, 77; scenery round, 78. Brook Beds, the, 245, 246. Brook Common, 111. Buckholt, in Domesday, 51 (foot-note). Buckland Rings, Roman coins found at, 154; described, 199. Burgate, village of, 120. Burleigh, Lord, his advice to his son, 1,2. Bnrley, 82; Lodge, 83. Bustard, last seen in the Forest, 14 (foot-note). Butt's Ash Lane, barrows near, 197 (foot-note'), 211 (foot-note'). Butt's Plain, barrows on, 209. Buzzard, Honey, breeding habits of, 262-265; weight of tke'cggs of the, 264 ( foot-note); common, breeding of the, 265, 266. 330 C.VDEXHAM OAK, the, 110. Cadland's Park, 50. Calshot Castle, built by Henry VIII., 52 ; mentioned by Colonel Hammond, 52 (foot-note); the Cerdices-ora of the Chronicle, 53 ; different forms of the name, 53, .Vi. Canterton, held by Chenna, in Domes' day, 28. Canute, Forest laws of, 35; Charta de Foresta of, extracts from, 36 (foot- note). Castle Hill, 118. Castles, so-called, in the Forest, 32. Catharine's, St., Hills, 126. Cattle, right of turning out, in the Forest, 46. Cerdices-ford, nowCharford, 54, 118. Cerdices-ora, probably Calshot, 52, 53. Chapel, chantry, of the Countess of Salisbury, 137, 138; of Robert Harys, 143; of John Draper, 143. Charford, the Cerdices-ford of the Chronicle, 118. Charles L, his attempt to revive the Forest laws, 42 ; gives the New Forest as security to his creditors, 42 ; embarks for Carisbrook from Leap, 56; seized by Colonel Cobbit, 152 ; imprisoned in Hurst Castle, 153, 154 ; how treated by Colonel Hammond, 153 (Jbot-note) ; by Colo- nel Cobbit, 154. Charles H. bestows the young woods of Brockenhurst to the maids of honour, 43 ; encloses three hundred acres for oaks, 44. Charnwood Forest, the birds of, 275. Chestnuts, formerly common in the Forest, 13 (foot-note). Chewton Glen, 147, 148. Chichester, Reginald Pecock, Bishop of, on the legend concerning the man in the moon, 177. Chough, its increasing scarcity, 275. Christchurch, 129 ; its Old-English names, 131; JEthelwald at, 131; in Domesday, 131 ; the castle of, 131, 132; Norman House at, 132; Cham- berlains' Books of, 135 (foot-note); Priory Church of, 135, 141-144; the conventual buildings of, 138, 139; legend of the Priory Church of, 175. Chronicle, The, on the afforestation of the New Forest, 25, 26; the great value of its evidence, 23. Church, its date should be told by its style, 123. Churches in the Forest mentioned by Domesday, still in part standing, 31. Index. Church Green, in Eye-worth Wood, 32 (foot-note). Church Lytton, at Wootton, 32, 33 (foot-note}. Church Moor, near Mark Ash, 32 (foot-note). Church Place, at Sloclen, 32 (foot-note). Churchwardens' Books, at Ellingham, extracts from, 229-231; at Fording- hridge, extracts from, 230, 231. Chydioke, effigy of Sir John, in the Priory Church of Christchurch, 142, 176, 177. Clay Hill, view from, 86. Cluny, Hugh, Abbot of, foretells the death of William II., 101. Coleridge, at Mudeford, 145. Colgrimesmore, the ancient name of Souley Pond, 72. Commoners, rights of the, in the New Forest, 46. Coronella Icevis, 259 (foot-note). Corporation Books, extracts from the Christchurch, 135, 136 (foot-note); from the Lymington, 155 (foot-note). Court, Moyles, 120, 121. Crockle, Roman and Eomano-British potteries at, 217-219; their probable date, 222. Cross, the Staple, 146; the, at Bargate, 120. Cuckoo, sayings concerning the, 180. Customs, old, in the Forest, 178. DAME SLOUGH, 273. Dauphin of France, arms of the, for- merly in Boldre Church, 80; em- barked at Leap, 55. Defoe, his plan for colonizing the Forest with the Palatine refugees, 47. Deer in the Forest, abolished in 1851, 46; a few left, 113. Deer-stealing, method of, 171. Denny Wood, 79; heronry at, 273. Dibden, church at, 50, 51 (foot-note). Diodorus Siculus, quotation from, 57 (foot-note~). Dissolution of the religious houses, its need, 64, 137 ; of Beaulieu Abbey, 65 ; of Christchurch Priory, 138. Domesday, analysis and evidence of, on the afforestation of the New Forest, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31; churches in the Forest still in part remaining men- tioned in, 31; Eling in, 51 (foot- note); Redbridge in, 51 (foot-note); Lyndhurst in, 87 (foot-note*); Ford- ingbridgc in, 117; Christchurch in, 131; mills in, rented by a payment of eels, 128, 119 (foot-note); Ring- U U wood in, 123 (foot-note); Christ- church in, 131; Beckley, Baishley, and Milton in, 148 (foot-note); Lym- ington in, 155. Draper, John, the last prior of Christ- church Priory, character of, 137, 138. Drift, in the Forest, its contents, 236. Durham, Simon of, on the afforestation of the New Forest, 25 (foot-note); on the death of William II., 95 (foot- note). EAGLE, golden, the, 260; sea, the, 261. Eaglehurst, 59. Easter Sepulchre, at Brockenhurst Church, 77. Ecclesiastica, or the Book of Remem- brance, 122 (foot-note). Edward I. issues writs for the perambu- lation of the Forest, 41 ; possesses the Castle of Christchurch, 132. Edward III., corbel head of, in Sopley Church, 127. Edward VI. at Christchurch, 134. Eel, peculiar to the Avon, an, 1 25. Eels, mills rented by a payment of, 119 (foot-note), 128. Eling, in Domesday, 51 (foot-note) ;,exr tract from parish register of, 228. Ellingham, cross roads at, 1 20 ; Church of, 122, 123; extract from. Church- wardens' Books of, 229, 230, 231. England, its peculiar interest to English- men, 2; ignorance of, by English- men, 2. Everton, etymology of, 75. Exbury, 59 ; herons "feeding near, 273. Exe, the river, 69; derivation of, 163. FAIRIES in the New Forest, 174. 175. Falcon, peregrine, 261. Fawley, village of, 51; church, 51; Norman doorway of church, 59. Ferns hi the Forest, 255, 256. Ferrels, or " Verrels," meaning of, 82. Fidley, Wood-, rain, meaning of, 79. Flambard, hated by the clergy,- 102; builds the Priory Church of Christ- church, 136. Florence of Worcester, on the afforesta- tion of the New Forest, 24; on the death of William II., 95 (foot-note). Flowers. See Botany. Folk-lore, value of, 173; in the New Forest, 174-180. Font, Norman, at Brockenhurst, 77. Fordingbridge, 117; church of, 118; ancient tenure at, 117 (foot-note); extracts from Clmrclnvanlens' Books of, 230, 231. 2 331 Index. Forest, meaning of the word, 10 (foot- note) ; government of an ancient, 35, 36 ; life in an ancient, 36 (foot-note). Forest-Laws. See Laws. Forest Rights. See Rights. Frame Wood, 78, 79. Fritham, countrv round, 114. Fritham Plain, East, 113; West, 114. Fulchered and William II., 94, 102. GEMETICENSIS, Gulielmus, on the affo- restation of the New Forest, 23. Geology, the, of the Forest, 234; in the Eocene period, 235 ; the drift and its contents, 236; the Middle-Eocene of the Hordle and Barton Cliffs, 237- 242; the Bracklesham Beds in the valley of Canterton, 242-248; the great aim of, 248. Gilpin, author of Forest Scenery, his love for Nature, 15 (foot-note); buried in Boldre churchyard, 79, 80. Gipsies, principal families of, in the Forest, 159; their marriages, 159; their present mode of life, 159, 160. Godshill, in Cough's time, 14 (foot- note). Goreley Bushes, vast Keltic graveyard near, 207. Government, duty of, to protect the finest trees in the Forest, 18. Grange, St. Leonard's, 69; barn and chapel at, 70; Park, 71; Somerford, 138, 147. Guest, Dr., on Natan-Leaga, 33 (foot- note); on Cerdices-ora, 53; on the " Belgic Ditches," 130; on the "Early English Settlements in South Bri- tain," 163 (foot-note), 166 (foot- note). Guesten-hall, the, of the Abbot's House at Beaulicu, 66. HALL, Union of the Families of Lancaster and York, by, quotation from, 151. Handycross Pond, barrow near, 209. Harriers, marsh and hen, 268. Hat, meaning of, in the Forest, 182, 183. Hatchet Gate, 75. Hawfinches, in the Forest, 274, 275. Heather, its one defect, 81. Hengistbury Head, derivation of, 1 65. Hcmingburgh, Walter, on the afforesta- tion, 25 (foot-note); on the death of William II., 95 (foot-note). Henry III., confirmation of privileges to Bcaulieu Abbey, by, 63. Henry VHL, patriotism of, 151, 152. 332 Herbert's Memoirs, 153, 154 Herons in the Forest, 273, 274. Hi-h Cliff Beds, the, 242. Hill Top, 59, 61. Hinchelsea, Bottom and Knoll, 81. History, our, written on the country, 2, 129; tradition, value of, in history, 97, 98; truth in, 106. Hoadley, Bishop, on the deer in Walt- ham Chase, 171. Hob, Fain% 175 (foot-note). Hobby, the, 261; weight of the eggs of, 264 (foot-note). Holland's Wood, near Brockenhurst, 78. Holly, springing up in the Forest, 12 (foot-note). Holme Bush, explanation of a, 179. Holmsley, 81,82. Honey, the Forest, 184. Hoopoe, its occurrence, 274. Hordle, its church, when built, 31 (foot- note) ; churchyard, 150; Freshwater deposits at, 237. " Horse, the Great," 126 (foot-note). House, Burman's, at Beaulieu, 66. House, Norman, at Christchurch, 132. House, the Queen's, at Lyndlmrst, 87. Hovcdcn, Roger, on the afforestation of the New Forest, 25 (foot-note); on the death of William II., 95 (foot- note). Howard, the philanthropist, lived at Watcombe, 75. Huntingdon, Henry of, on the afforesta- tion, 25 (foot-note); on the death of William II, 95 (foot-note). Hurst, meaning of the word, 35. Hurst Beach, 151; Castle, built by Henry VJII., 151; Charles at, 152- 154; importance of, 152 (foot-note). Hyde or Hungcrford, 120. Hythe, village of, 50. IBBESLEY, view at, 120; extracts from parish register of, 232, 233. Icti.s, the Isle of Wight, 57, 58. Idleness, profitable, 90. Innocent III., grants the right of a sanc- tuary to Beaulieu Abbey, 63. Insulis, Alanus de, on the death of William II., 102. Iron's Hill Wood, 75. Iron-works at Souley Pond, 72. Isabella de Fortibus, her possessions at Christchurch, 132; at Lymington, 154. Island Hills, the, 78. Island Thorn, Roman and Romano- British Potteries at, 220. Index. JAMES I. grants twenty assart-lands in the Forest, 43. Jar-bird, meaning of a, 187. John, King, his oppression of the Cis- tercian order, 61; founds Beaulieu Abbey, 62. KALKESORE, old name of Calshot, 54. Keltic element in the dialect of the New Forest, 163; in the topography, 164. Kestrel, eggs of, weight of the, 264. " Keystone under the hearth," meaning of the proverb, 170. King's Day, the, explanation of, 231. King's Rue, 56. Kitts Hill, 91. Knives, flint, found at Eyeworth, 297 (foot-note). Knoll, Black, 78, 84. Knyghton, on the afforestation of the New Forest, 24; his authority of no value, 95 (foot-note). Knyghtwood Oak, the, 16. LABOURERS in the New Forest, average wages of, 47 (foot-note). Lane, Jane, 121. Langley Heath, barrows on, opened by the Rev. J. P. Bartlett, 211. Lappenberg, his account of the afforesta- tion of the New Forest by William I., 21; on the Ictis of the ancients, 56. Latchmore Fond, 81, 199. Lawrence, the sprite, in the Forest, 174. Law-Courts, last of the Forest, 12, 87. Laws, Forest-, Canute's, 35 ; made still severer by AVilliam I., 38; Charles I., attempts to revive, 42. Leap, 55; the spot where the Dauphin, Louis VIII. of France, embarked, 55; where Charles I. embarked, 56 ; British and Roman road at, 56; mass of tin found near, 57. Lease to, meaning of, 193. Leighton, Mr., fresco in Lyndhurst church by, 88. Leland on the death of William H., 96 (foot-note). Lepidoptcra, list of the Forest, Ap- pendix IV., 319. Lewis, Sir George C., on the Ictis of the ancients, 57 ; his theory corrobo- rated, 58. Lichens, used as specifics in the Forest, 176. Lichmore Pond, 81, 199. Life, modern, its hurry and confu- sion, 73. Lincy Hill Wood, 83. Lisle, Alice, 121. Loute, to, meaning of, 188. Lungs of oak (Sticta pulmonaria), used as a specific for consumption, 176. Lung-wort, narrow-leaved, the, 69, 256. Lymington, port of, 154; its history, 155, 156; extracts from the Corpora- tion Books of, 155 (foot-note). Lyndhurst, derivation of, 86 (foot-note) ; church of, 87; scenery round, 89, 90; ancient tenure at, 86, 87; woods round, 90, 91. MALMESBDRT, William of, on the afforestation of the New Forest, 25 (foot-note) ; on the death of William II., 93, 94 (foot-note), 95 (foot-note); on the physical appearance of Wil- liam II., 99 (foot-note). Map, Ordnance, mistake of the, 128 (foot-note). Mapes, Walter, on the afforestation of the New Forest, 24. Mark Ash Wood, 17. Mead, made in the New Forest, 184. Merlin, breeding of the, in the Forest, 267, 268 (foot-note); weight of sup- posed egg of, 161, 264. Middle Marine Bed, the, at Mineway, 237, 238. Milford, church of, 150, 151. Millaford Brook, the, 83, 90. Mills in the New Forest, comparative value of, by Domesday, 29 ; rented by a payment of eels, in Domesday, 119 (foot-note). Milton, words used by, now provin- cialisms, 191. Milton, village of, mentioned in Domes- day, 148 (foot-note). Minestead, 92. Monastery, average library of a, 65 (foot-note); life in a, 72, 73. Monmouth's Ash, 122. Monmouth, capture of, 122 ; writes to James, the Queen Dowager, and the Lord Treasurer, 123. Moon-Hill Woods, the, 75. Morefalls, the Lord Treasurer, South- ampton, on the evils of granting, 43, 44 (foot-note). Moyles Court, 120, 121. Moyne, William le-, tenure of, at Lynd- hurst, 87. Mudeford, 146. NATAN-LEAGA, the name preserved, 33. Nation, history of a, how best read, 224; its esthetic life, how best determined, I 224, 225. 333 Index. Nature, beauty the end and aim of, 5; her care for trees, 10 ; the proper spirit with which to see, 19. Natural history, its value, 235, 276. Needsore, 54 ; derivation of, 165. Netley Abbey Church, ruins of, 49; fort, 49, hospital, 50. New Forest, the ; its connection with our history, 3; scenery of, 4 ; trees of, 16, 17*; in the winter, 18 ; its boundaries in the reign of Edward I., 20, 21 ; its afforestation by William I., 21; value of land in Domesday, 29; geology of, 4, 10, 29, 30, 234- 249; botany of, 250, 257 (see also Appendix IL, 289) ; ornithology of, 258-276 (see also Appendix "lIL, 307); churches of, 4; the first and second perambulations of, 40 ; cha- racter of the second - perambulation of, 41, 42 ; hills of, 10 ; its former woody nature proved by the local nomenclature, 33 ; general character of, 11; in the time of the Normans, 12, 13; changes in, 12; granted as se- curity by Charles L to his creditors, 42 ; its neglected state under the Stuarts, 43, 44; William ILL legislates for, 44; statistics of, 40, 47 (foot-note) ; pre- sent management of, 47 (foot-note); assart lands in, granted by James L, 42 ; hurricane in, 44 ; ethnology of, 1 60, 161; smuggling in, 169, 170; deer- stealing in, 171 ; folk-lore of, 173, 180; poetry of, 176 ; love supersti- tions of, 179; proverbs of, 179; local sayings, 179; provincialisms of, 181, 195 (see, also, Appendix L., 279); traditions in, 96, 97, 180, 181 ; barrows of, 196-213 ; Parish Registers and Churchwardens' Books of, 226-233; Lepidoptera of, Appendix IV., 319. New Park, 86. Nodes, the, 197. OAK, the Cadenham, 110. Oaks, character of in the Forest, 16; measurements of, 16 (foot-note); " bustle-headed," meaning of, 183. Ocknell Wood, 113. Onomatopoieia, its occurrence amongst provincialisms, 186. Ordnance map, mistake of, 126 (foot- note). Ore Creek, 54 (foot-note). Ornithology of the Forest, 260; white- tailed eagle, 260; osprey, 261 ; hoi. by, breeding of the, 261 ; honey-buzzard, breeding habits of, 261, 263, 265; common buzzard, breeding habits of, 334 265 ; merlin, nesting of, 267, 268 (foot-note); harriers, 268; owls, 269; raven, breeding of, 270; winter birds, 271; woodpeckers, 272; herons, 273; hawfinches, 274; chough, 275; census of birds, 275 (see also Appendix III., 307). Ove^t, meaning of, 183. i Oxenford and Oxford, true derivation of, 80. PARIS, Matthew, on William II. 's death, 94 (foot-note), 95 (foot-note). Parish Registers. See Registers. Park Grange, 71. ; Park, New, 86. Pennington, the village of, 153. i Perambulation of the New Forest, the first, 40; the second, 40, 41; charac- ter of the second, 41, 42. Pignel Wood, 272, 273. Pigs, right of turning out, in the Forest, 46; breed of in the Forest, peculiar, 259. Pitt's Enclosure, Roman and Romano- British potteries, at. 220. Pliny on the Isle of Wight, 57 (foot- note). Poetrv of the New Forest, character of, 175, 176 (foot-note). \ Ponies, Forest, 259. , Potteries, Roman and Romano- British, 214; at Crockle, first discovered by the Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, 215; at Anderwood, 215; at Oakley, 215; at Sloden, 216; at the Lower Hat. 2! 7 : at Crockle, description of, 218, 219; at Island Thorn, 220; at Pitt's En- closure, 220; at Ashley Rails, 221; at Black Heath, 221. Provincialisms, Keltic element in the New Forest, 163; the real character of, 173; in the New Forest, 181-195. (See also Appendix I., 279). Proverbs in the Forest, 1 79. Puck, the fairy, in the Forest, 174; names of fields, and woods, and bar- rows, derived from him, 175. Puckpit's Wood, 112, 113. Pulpit, the, of Beaulieu Refectory, 68. Purkess, family of, 97. QCAKR ABBET, 155. Queen's Bower Wood, the, 83. Queen's Mead, the, 83. Queen's North, 11, 113, 114. RAYEX, its breeding in the Forest, 270. Reachmore Barrow, 113. Redbridge, in Domesday, 51 (foot-note). Index. Redstart, Black, its periodical occur- rence in the Forest, 274. Refectory of Bcaulieu Abbey, now the parish church, 67; pulpit of, 68. Register, Parish, at Eling, extract from, 227, 228; at Ibbeslcy, extracts from, 233, 234; at Christchurch, 234; date of registers in the Forest, 227 {foot-note}. Reredos, in the Priory Church of Christ- church, 140, 141 ; hi St. Mary's Overie, 141 (foot-note). Rere-mouse, meaning of, 192. Rhincfield, nursery at, 47. Rich and poor, difference between, 5. Rights, Forest-, their origin, 36 (foot- note), 46 (foot-note'). Ringwood, 123; fine brass at, 124. Bedford, derivation of, 166. Romans, why they 'chose the New Forest for their potteries, 224; their influence on the district, 225. See also Potteries and Buckland Rings. Rood-screen in Ellingham Church, 122; at Christchurch, 140. Rose, the Eed King by, 33 (foot-note); Gundimore, extract from his, 146, 147 (foot-note). Ross, John, on the afforestation of the New Forest, 25 (foot-note). Rue Copse, 56. Rue, King's, 56. SALISBURY CHAPEL, the, in the Priory Church of Christchurch, 141. Salisbury, Countess of, her execution, 141, 142. Salisbury, John of, on the character of William II., 99 (foot-note); on Wil- liam II.'s death, 106. Sanctuary of Beaulien, the right of, given by Innocent III., 63; the Coun- tess of Warwick flies to the, 64; Per- kin Warbeck, flies to, 64. Sandyballs, 118. Screen, Rood-, in Ellingham Church, 122; in the Priory Church of Christ- church, 140. Sepulchre, Easter, in Brockenhurst Church, 77. Serlo and William II., 93, 94. Setthomes, 81. Shade, meaning of the word in the Forest, 181, 182. Shakspeare, words used by, now provin- cialisms, 189. Sheets-axe, meaning of the word, 183. Shepherd's Gutter Beds, the, 244, 245. Shrewsbury, Fulchercd, Abbot of St. Peter's at, prophetic words spoken by, 94 (foot-note), 102. Sloden, Roman and Romano-British potteries at, 216. Sloden Hole, plan of, 217 (foot-note). Smoke Silver, 178 (foot-note); explana- tion of, 232. Smuggling, formerly carried on in the Forest, 169, 170. Snow-storm, great, in the Forest, 1 80, 181. Solent, traditions concerning the former depth of, 58. Somerford Grange, 147. Songs of the New Forest, 175, 176 (foot-note). Sopley, derivation of, 127; church of, 127. Southey, married his second wife at Boldre Church, 80; at Burton, 146. Southampton, the Lord Treasurer, on the evils of granting moorefalls, 43, 44 (foot-note). Southampton, Sir Bevis of, 3; ships built by Henry V. at, 4. Souley Pond, 72; iron-works at, 72. Spelman, Peter, tenure at Brockenhurst held by, 76. Spotswood, blunder of, 24 (foot-note). Squoyles, meaning of the word, 183. St. John's Worts in the Forest, 254, 255. Staneswood, in Domesday, 51 (foot- note). Staple Cross, the, 145. Stone, Rufus's, 96, 97. Stoney-Cross, views from, 110, 112. Streams, character of the Forest, 14; the best guide, 17; beauty of, 83, 84. Sunsets in the Forest, 15, 113; from the Barton Cliffs, 149, 150. Swanimote, Court of, 35. Sway Common, 80, 81 ; barrows on, 198, 199. THOROUGHAM, now Fritham, the Tru- ham of Domesday, 96 (foot-note). Tiril, Walter, William II. gives him two arrows, 93; according to the Chroni- clers shoots the King, 94; his declara- tion to Suger, 106; his implication in the murder, 106; the cause of his sup- posed flight, 106; his friendship with Anselm, 102. Towns, historical interest in English, 129, 130; then- history, the history of the day, 130. Tradition, its value in history, 97, 98. Traditions in the Forest, 96, 97, 180, 181. Trail of oak, the, meaning of, 183. Travelling, modern, style of, 2. Tire-forms, loveliness of, 9. 335 Index. Trees, their comparative value as stand- ing and cut, 18; in the Forest, 254. Truth, involuntarily perverted, 22. Tweonea, the ancient name of Christ- church, 131. Tyrrel's Ford, 97, 126. URXS found in Bratley barrow, 201, 202 ; in Hilly Accombs barrow, 206 (foot-note) ; in various other barrows, 211 (foot-note'); pieces of, in different barrows, 200, 204, 205, 207, 208. Usnea barbata, its abundance in the Forest, 91 (foot-note). VALLEY OF THE Avon, its character, 116. Van-winged hawk, the, of the Forest, 261. "Vineyards, the," at Beaulieu Abbey, 67. Vinney, meaning of the word, 190. Vinney Ridge, 82, 83; heronry at, 273, Vitalis on the afforestation of the New Forest, 24; on William EL's death, 94, 95. WAGES, average, of labourers in the New Forest, 47 (foot-note). Walking, advantages of, over driving, 6. Warbeck, Perkin, takes refuge at Beau- lien Abbey, 64. Warwick, Countess of, takes refuge at Beanlieu Abbey, 64. Wendover, Roger, on the afforestation of the Xew Forest, 25 (foot-note). West-Saxons, superstitious character of, still observable, 160, 161 ; love of sport, 162; peculiarity of dress, 162; verbal characteristics of, 167. Westminster, Matthew of, on the death of William II., 95 (foot-note). Whitebeams at Sloden, 114; at Castle Malwood, 254. Whiteshoot, square barrow near, 207. Wight, Isle of, atmospheric effects on the, 15; the Ictis of the ancients, 57, 58; Pliny on, 57 (foot-note), 236. William I., his character, 21, 22; his right to make a forest, 23; posses- sions in the Forest, 23 (^foot-note); his love for the chase, 34; his cruelty and oppression, 22, 38. William II., hi dream, as recorded, on the night before his death, 92, 93; his speech to the monk from Glou- cester, 94'; his death, 94; his body brought to Winchester Cathedral, 95; his brother and nephew killed in the Forest, 98 ; his character 99 (foot- note'); the events of his reign, 100 (foot-note) ; the cause of his death, 101, 102, 103; hated by his clergy, 104; plots against his life, 104, 105; his death read by his life, 108. William III., his legislation for the Forest, 44; not attended to, 45. Wilverley Plantations, 81. Wood, how sold for fuel in the Forest, 46. Woodcocks, their breeding in the Forest, 269. Woodmote, Court of, 87. Woodpecker, great black, breeding of the, 27i>. Woods, their beauty, 8 ; as dwelt upon by our English poets, 9 (foot-note) ; how valued in Domesday, 11. 12 (foot-note) ; round Lyndhnrst, 89, 90. Woollen, affidavits of 'burials in, 232, 233. Wootton plantations, 81 ; woodcocks breed in, 269, 270. Worcester, Florence of. See Florence. YAFFINGALE, local name for the green woodpecker, 272. Yarranton, his report upon making the Avon navigable, 134; on the iron- stone of the coast, 151. " Yellow as a kite's claw, as," a Forest proverb, 179. Yews, measurements of various, 78 (foot-note), at Sloden, 114. Ytene, the district of, 33, 163. Yvery, Roger de, leads the Midland barons, 105; possessed land at Lym- ington, 155. THE END. 3.36 / V i.Mft *> DC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY F A 000 675 753 8 Hfli^HifimfDm; ~^ \ .. : ;: '- r />^5ra8S^BBS > > ' - , ^ '\ ^ 'n s S ^ -3 v?^4 ? */^t ' - - :O : '.- v< i. n : &j8tS%&sK9?!&&tfi&3tg&