150 . NATURAL HISTORY OF SUNNJNGHU.I.. 



Thus there was a very old tree, of this kind, that stood on the hill 

 about a mile to the west of Ascot Heath, and known as the "hag-thorn." 

 The hill was purchased about the year 1820-21 by a captain of horse- 

 guards, who laid it out in farm and pleasure-grounds, and built a genteel 

 residence near the spot. The old tree was for some time suffered to form 

 part of the garden hedge, but was afterwards cut off near the ground. 

 The old stump was, however, not so easily killed, for it soon afterwards 

 sprouted, and a very considerable bush, grown from the remnant, was to 

 be seen a very few years ago, if it does not still remain, and in the 

 county map, drawn from a survey taken soon after, the spot will be found 

 thus designated. The place where this thorn grew forms the western side 

 of the vast basin, which, as I have said, this part of the county presents. 

 The ridge runs from this to another point, called Tower-hill, from the 

 remains of a building to be seen some years since, and said to have been 

 erected by Henry the Eighth when Swinley Chase, which is about half a 

 mile from it, was used as a royal hunting-lodge. This is not improbable, as 

 the hill itself commands a most extensive prospect in every direction, 

 looking into the counties of Surrey, Sussex, Hants., Bucks., Wilts., and 

 Middlesex, and as the lodge which stood at Swinley, was in the occupa- 

 tion of a Royal Forester, until it was pulled down about the year 1S25. 

 The summit of this eminence is covered with a group of (I think) five 

 thorn trees, which are resorted to at Christmas times, for the purpose of 

 gathering mistletoe, which grows abundantly on their rugged trunk's. Time 

 has done its work since the time that I first remember this locality, and 

 instead of the free views of brown or purple heather, upon which the eye 

 could then wander freely, you now look upon a sea of green firs, which 

 run for miles on three sides, and indeed clothe the sides of Tower-hill 

 itself, so that, whereas it was a point to be seen for miles, you cannot now 

 distinguish it from the rest of the green ridge. Courts Leat were holden 

 at Swinley, of the manor of East Hampstead, and many curious docu- 

 ments existed among the ancient rolls, not the least of which was a 

 tradition of "Heme the Hunter," whose oak, or that which is said to be, 

 is well known to stand in the little park at Windsor, on the lower side 

 of the castle. This story was put into rhyme by my grandfather, Mr. 

 Stephen Round, of New Windsor, then steward of the manor, and conse- 

 quently having free access to these old records, I therefore shall insert 

 this without further preface, except to take notice of a discrepancy in 

 point of date. In Shakspeare's "Merry Wives," written somewhere about 

 the end of the sixteenth century, the legend of Heme is thus spoken of: — 



Mrs. Page. — "There is an old tale goes, that Heme the hunter, 

 Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest, 

 Doth all the winter time, at still midnight, 



