The king being seised of a forest, did grant the forest to another in fee, the grantee shall have no forest, because he kath no power to make justices and officers of the forest to hold courts, &c. but yet though it cannot take effect by force of the grant as a forest, yet the same shall pass as a free chase. But if the king grants a forest to a subject, and granteth further, that upon request made in chancery, he and his heirs shall have the justice of the forest, then the subject hath a forest in law. The oath of the inhabitants of the forest, of the age of twelve years, was antiently in the following old rhymes. You shall true liege-man be, Unto the king's majesty: Unto the beasts of the forest you shall no hurt do, Nor to any thing that doth belong thereunto: The offences of others you shall not conceal, But to the utmost of your power, you shall them reveal Or to them who may see them redrest: All these things you shall see done, So help you God at his holy doom. A Chase, is derived from chasser to chase, and is a pri vileged place for the receipt of deer, &c. being of a middle nature betwixt a forest and a park. It is commonly less than a forest, and not indowed with so many liberties; as officers, laws, courts, &c. and yet is of a larger compass than a park, having more officers, i.e. keepers, woodwards and game, than a park. Every forest is a chase, but every chase is not a forest. It differs from a park in that it is not inclosed; for if it is inclosed it is a good cause of forfeiture, though it must have certain metes and bounds. It is not lawful to make a chase, park or warren, without li cence under the broad seal. A chase is governed by the common law, and such as were never forests cannot have any purlieu. The beasts of the chase are the buck, doe, fox, and formerly the martern and the roe. The beasts of the chase frequent the fields, hills and mountains in the day-time, and the vallies, corn-fields and meadows in the night; and are called campestres, because they frequent the fields more than the woods. If a man hath a chase adjoining to a forest, if he deny the keepers of the forest to fetch back the hunted stag, this is fineable; but red deer may be in a chase by special claim. A grant may be made to one to have a chase in a forest; but yet in such case the grantee ought not to hunt or kill any stag or red deer, or other beast of the forest, if he doth, it is an offence, and finable. Where a man hath a freehold in a free chase, he may cut down timber without view or licence of any person; which he cannot do in a forest; but if he cut such a quantity, that there is not enough for covert, and to maintain the game, he shall be punished at the king's suit; so if he hath a chase in another man's soil, the owner cannot destroy all the covert, but must leave sufficient for the deer to browse. The owner of the soil in a chase may have common for sheep, and feeding for his conies there, either by grant or prescription, but he must not surcharge it with more than hath been usual, neither can he make any new coneyburrows. In Hainault Forest, about a mile from Barking Side, stands an oak, which has been known through many centuries by the name of Fairlop. For an account of this celebrated tree (which seems to have escaped the attention of ale the laborious Camden, and his indefatigable continuator Mr. Gough) we are indebted to the late rev. Mr. Gilpin. "The tradition of the country," says this ingenious writer, in his Remarks on Forest Scenery and other Woodland Views, "traces it half way up the Christian æra. It is still a noble tree, though it has suffered greatly from the depredations of time. About a yard from the ground, where its rough fluted stem is thirty-six feet in circumference, it divides into eleven vast arms; yet not in the horizontal man ner of an oak, but rather in that of a beech. Beneath its shade, which overspreads an area of three hundred feet in circuit, an annual fair has long been held on the 2d of July; and no booth is suffered to be erected beyond the extent of its boughs. But, as their extremities are now become sapless, and age is yearly curtailing their length, the liberties of the fair seem to be in a very desponding condition. The honour, however, is great. But honours are often accompapanied with inconveniencies; and Fairlop has suffered from its honourable distinctions. In the feasting that attends a fair, fires are often necessary; and no places seem so proper to make them in as the cavities formed by the heaving roots of the tree. This practice has brought a more speedy decay on Fairlop, than it might otherwise have suffered.” This celebrated tree was fenced round with a close paling, about five feet high. Almost all the extremities of its branches have been sawed off, and Mr. For-yth's composi tion applied to them, to preserve them from decay; and the injuries which the trunk of the tree had sustained from the lighting of fires in the cavities, have been repaired, as much as possible, by the same composition. On one of the branches is fixed a board with this inscription: "All good foresters are requested not to hurt this old tree, a plaister having been lately applied to his wounds." Many years ago, Mr. John Day, a worthy but whimsical character, in Wapping, used annually to go and dine with his friends, on beans and bacon, under this tree; from which circumstance originated the annual fair now held under it. Mr. Day had his coffin made out of one of the large arms of the tree, and kept it many years by him.-Among the very numerous and respectable societies that have been formed, since the revival of the now fashionable amusement of archery, that of "The Hainault Foresters" was not the least distinguished, as the principal ladies and gentlemen of the county belonged to the association, and, at certain sta ed times, marched in procession round this venerable father of the sylvan race. They were dressed in an elegant uniform, and attended by a band band of music, and all " quality, pride, pomp, and circumstance, of glorious archery." At the twelve-mile stone is a tavern or genteel public house, well known by the sign of the Bald-faced Stag, a short distance from which it has long been a custom, every Easter Monday, to uncart a stag for the diversion of the votaries of Diana. On this occasion a great number of persons, principally from the metropolis, generally assemble, scarcely any of whom are ever in at the death, unless it be that of a broken-winded Rosinante, whose rider, having hired him to go twelve miles, has been imprudent enough to push him an extra mile or two in order to obtain, if possible, a sight of the stag. Indeed, it is truly laughable to behold such a motley group as present themselves, for the purpose of hunting, on the day above-mentioned. We proceed from Fairlop oak to Valentines, a large mansion in the Forest, built by James Chadwick, Esq. who married the daughter of archbishop Tillotson; the site was originally that of a small cottage. Its next possessor was George Finch, Esq. from whose family it passed to Robert Surman, Esq, who enlarged the lawn and gardens. It was then purchased by the late Sir Charles Raymond, bart. whose coheirs sold the estate to Donald Cameron, Esq. whose fon, Charles Cameron, Esq. is the present possessor. Within this mansion are some valuable pictures, particularly the original painting of Hogarth's Southwark Fair; here is also some very fine carved work by Gibbons. In the hothouse is a vine, aimost incredibly productive +. In *On the 25th of June, 1805, this famous oak was discovered to be on fire, occasioned by a party of sixty persons, who had come from London in several carriages during the morning, and amused themselves through the day with playing at cricket, and other sports. They had kindled a fire, which had spread very considerably after they had left the field; but it was not discovered for two hours. A number of persons came with pails, and poured water to extinguish the flames, but without effect; the main branch on the south side, with part of the body, being consumed, The following account of this remarkable production is taken from Mr. Gilpin's Reflections on Forest Scenery: "This vine was planted, a cutting, In 1724 a stone coffin, inclosing a skeleton, was discocovered in a field behind Valentines; and in 1746, in the same field was discovered an urn of coarse earth, filled with burnt bones. Aldbury, or Aldborough Hatch, was the property of Bartholomew Barnes, who died in 1548. Mr. Bladen, built the present mansion at the expence of 14,000l.; his widow, Mrs. Frances Bladen, left it to her cousin, Mrs. Ann Hodges, who married her second husband, John Lambert Middleton, Esq. It is still belonging to that family. Mrs. Bladen, by will, endowed the chapel belonging to this house, with an annuity of 201. for ever, chargeable upon the estate. HIGHLANDS, near Valentines, was built by Sir Charles Raymond, bart. whose heirs sold it to earl Tylney. It is now in the occupation of Isaac Currie, Esq. The mau cutting, in 1758, of the black Hamburgh sort; and as this species will not easily bear the open air, it was planted in the hot-house; though without any preparation of soil, which in those grounds is a stiff loam, or rather clay. The hot-house is seventy feet in the front; and the vine, which is not pruned in the common way, extends two hundred feet, part of it running along the south wall on the outside of the hot-house. In the common mode of pruning, this species of vine is no great bearer; but managed as it is, it produces wonderfully. Sir Charles Raymond, on the death of his lady, in 1781, left Valentine House; at which time the gardener had the profits of the vine. It annually produces about four hundred weight of grapes; which used formerly (when the not-house, I suppose was kept warmer) to ripen in March; though lately they have not ripened till June, when they sell at 4s. a pound,' which produces about 801. This account I had from Mr. Eden himself, the gardener, who planted the vine. With regard to the profits of it, I think it probable, from the accounts I have had from other hands, that when the grapes ripened earlier, they produced much more than 801. A gentleman of character informed me, that he had it from Sir Charles Raymond himself, that, after supplying his own table, he made 1201. a year of the grapes; and the same gentleman, who was curious, enquired of the fruit-dealers, who told him, that in some years, they supposed the profits have not amounted to less than 3001. This does not contradict Mr. Eden's account, who said, that the utmost he ever made of it (that is, I suppose, when the grapes sold for 4s. per pound in June) was 841. The stem of this vine was, in 1789, thirteen inches in circumference." soleum, |