502 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ending-towD," neav Wylverly Lodge, the residence of one of 

 the forest keepers of the name of Toomer. This is the person, 

 who once succeeded in tutoring a pig he had in his possession, 

 to perform the duties of a sporting-dog. The porcine quadru- 

 ped would gallcp by the sides of hedges, through stubble and 

 heath, and whenever he sceuted fur or feather, would come to 

 a dead stand, and maintain his position as stiff as the staunch- 

 est pointer. This pig, Toomer had for some years, and for 

 his good services was spared from the murderous knife of the 

 butcher, so that he might be said to have " saved his bacon." 

 Jem Dible was no less than fifty times incarcerated in Win- 

 chester jail, for longer or shorter terms of imprisonment. He 

 was the most notorious poacher of his day, and has left behind 

 him a name, that will go down with posterity for ages to come 

 in the legendary annals of " feats of the forest." 



From Bible's school, sprang up a race of similar characters, 

 uniivalled by the Waltham blacJcs for their daring intrepidity. 

 They spread terror in the neighbourhood around. Nor were 

 their pursuits directed to deer stealing and poaching alone ; 

 the farmers' homesteads were assailed by these nocturnal de- 

 predators. Poultry, sheep, and pigs came alike to them, in 

 fact, they made a trade of their daring ingenuity ; and have 

 been known to have succeeded, without a shadow of suspicion 

 attached to them, of disposing of joints of mutton to the 

 farmers' wives in the vicinity, which formed a part and parcel 

 of the very sheep, that, twenty-four hours before, were grazing 

 on their husbands' lands. 



A very remarkable instance of detection, in relation to one 

 of the Dible's, on the score of sheep-stealing, may prove in- 

 teresting in detail. It happened in the month of December. 

 Mr. Cole, of Bucklands, lost a sheep ofif bis farm during the 

 night; the animal had been killed on the spot on which it was 

 feeding, and the skin and garbage were abandoned to a ditch 

 hard by. Cole, on discovering hit loss, ordered his horse to 

 be saddled, and started off to Rhinesfield Lodge, the keeper of 

 which, one Biimpstead, kept a brace of highly-trained blood- 

 hounds, which were used for redeeming the red-deer that were 

 frequently apt to stray away beyond the forest bounds These 

 dogs were conveyed in a curt to the field in which the robbery 

 had been committed, and laid on to the foot-track of the 

 perpetrator of the theft ; accompanied by Bumpstead, Mr. 

 Cole, and his son. The sceut was quickly acknowledged by 

 the canine retrievers; thty drifted their way at an even pace^ 

 over a wild heath, a cold fallow, through a coppice, crossed the 

 high road at Garlingtou Mill, through a turnip field, over a 

 stubble, into the high road again, on to Arnewood farm, ran 

 the length of a mile towards Batchley, when they entered the 

 forest, and uninterruptedly entered Deer-ending-town, when 

 they opened ■tiitb the stentorian salute of euprjKa. ("We have 

 found.") On the parties entering the premises, in a shed be- 

 hind the house was the mutton, cut up ready for retail pur- 

 poses. Tiie man Dible was so struck with the novel mode of 

 his apprehension, that he credulously fancied the devil had had 

 a hand in the whole transaction, and falling on hia knees, im- 

 plored mercy from God and man, for the criminal act he had 

 committed. He was, however, visited with the usual punish- 

 ment atteudaut upon such a feature of felony, at the following 

 assizes, held at Winchester. 



But, although the New Forest has been for a long course of 

 years the parent of crimes of a like character, uevtrtheless it 

 may be considered somewhat anomalous in the scale of truth, 

 that the gipsies, who are numerous in these parts, are seldom 

 if ever, known to trespass upon the possessions of the farmer. 

 These roving tribes arc koked upon in the light of the 

 guardians of the housekeeper, rather than as pilferers or 

 plundereis. The farmer feels more satisfied when gipsies en- 



camp near his residence, than wlieu they are away. He is 

 safe from the encroachments of his more Tartive neighbours, 

 for the Sybilline fraternity are invariably accomp?Tiied by a 

 kennel of restless, impatient curs, which give alarm at the 

 slightest sound of approach on the part of any stranger ad- 

 vancing towards them ; these watch-doga give the signal for 

 an immediate look out, so that no person can escape the 

 vigilant observation of the staff of the camp. 



The Lee's, the Cooper's, and the Stanley's have, from time 

 immemorial, visited the different farms in the neighbourhood 

 of their Sylvan encampment, every year. They on their 

 arrival announce their presence by personally waiting on the 

 respective farmers at their residences ; generally begging of 

 the latter a few trusses of straw, which constitute the chief of 

 their bed-furniture. This boon is invariably afforded them, 

 and in such good faith is the bond of reciprocal accommodation 

 observed, that if any one of the tiibe should, under any cir- 

 cumstances, betray the trust reposed in him, by committing 

 a depredation on a neighbouring farmer who has befriended 

 them with their necessary wants, that individual is, after un" 

 dergoing a judicial ceremony, reproved by the whole commu- 

 nity, and ultimately expelled the tribe he belonged to, abandoned 

 as an excile and an outcsst. A singular instance of this kind 

 occurred about twenty-five years ago, at a place called Bolton 

 Bench, in the forest. It happened that a young gipsy boy had 

 been guilty of some act of a nature repugnant to the general 

 understanding of the tribe. He was removed to a spot a short 

 distance from the camp, and was there surrounded by the 

 whole of the brethren, each member having a branch of ouk in 

 his and her hand. He was then commanded by the king, who 

 assembled the council, to walk slowly round the human circle, 

 within arms length of thecircumstationed group. During this 

 perambulatory exposure, he received a stroke from the branches 

 that the men and women were provided with. A vessel of 

 dirty water was then soused over him, and he was suffered to 

 beat a hasty retreat from the camp. 



Joseph Lee was tiie patriarchal monarch of the gipsies, on 

 the above occasion. He was 87 years of age when he died, 

 having by hook or by crook, as the saying goes, lumped 

 together a tidy personal estate ; for, according to the accredited 

 reckoning of the gipsy court of " testamentary commons," he 

 left behind him no less a sum than six thousand pounds ster 

 ling. He had three daughters, whom he severally named 

 "Faith," "Hope," and " Charity." Oa Charity Lee, hia 

 youngest daughter, being ir.irried to a young man of the 

 Stanley tribe, it is stated that he presented to the bridegroom 

 £300 worth of plate and jewellery, aud 200 sovereigns, and 

 to his daughter, the bride, four New Forest ponies, and a new 

 saddle aud bridle. The gipsies are the least oifeusive features 

 that are to be met with in the New Forest of Hampshire. 



Independent of the great gain that would speedily follow in 

 the wake of bringing this long neglected waste into a state of 

 cultivation, the government would, at one swoop, sap the foun- 

 dation of this forest Babel of crime aud its contingeneies, 

 thereby admitting the flood gotes of civilization to be opened, 

 aud the back waters of sound knowledge aud rotral example 

 to find their way into the hearts of its degraded and depraved 

 iuhabitaiits. 



I shall not advance any further remarks on ths subject of 

 its being cultivated, but must leave it to the fate of the 

 future. It will I have no doubt, sooner or later, arrest the 

 serious and well-meaning attention of the legislature, and be- 

 come what it ought to have been some hundred years ago, a 

 useful and remuuetative portion of our much neglected 

 agricultural territory. I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



22, Albany Street, RegenVs Park, D. G. 



