THE EPPING HUNT. 



31 



politan districts members, that the removal of our main collections to the centre 

 of the county may not weaken the sympathy of such members in the Club's 

 work. The branch Museum at Chingford, if carried into being, will be wel- 

 comed by all intelligent visitors to the Forest, and the Council asks for the 

 active support of the metropolitan members to an institution mainly promoted in 

 their interests. 



The Council has unanimously recommended Mr. Chancellor's re-election as 

 President for the ensuing year. 



In conclusion, the Council may justly congratulate the members on the 

 position the Club has attained, and the extensive and useful programme of work 

 to be carried out during the ne.xt few years. The Club only requires an in- 

 creased membership, and a somewhat greater interest to be taken in its work and 

 progress by the inhabitants of the county generally, to become a really impor- 

 tant local institution. 



THE EPPING HUNT. 



NOTES FROM A " MEMORANDUM AS TO THE RIGHT OF 

 THE CITIZENS OF LONDON TO HUNT IN ITS VICINITY, 

 INCLUDING EPPING FOREST." 



npHE enlightened liberality of the representatives of the late 

 -*■ Mr. Henry Ford Barclay has placed at the disposition of the 

 Council of the Esse.x Field Club a number of MSS. and printed docu- 

 ments and pamphlets of various kinds, which came into that gentle- 

 man's possession when a member of the Epping Forest Commission 

 of 187 1, and also as a Verderer of the Forest. The records of the 

 Commission are enshrined in four great folio volumes of a thousand 

 pages each, a copy of which is accessible in the Guildhall Library. 

 And four volumes containing manuscript copies of a mass of docu- 

 ments put in evidence at the time, have recently found their way to 

 the Public Record Office, and are included among the Departmental 

 Records of H.M. Office of Works — a series only accessible, it may be 

 added, under special permit. But the "■Memorandum as to the right 

 of the Citizens of London to hunt in its vicinity, including Epping 

 Forest" recently sent to me for examination by the Editor of The 

 Essex Natur.vlist, is not, so far as I know, included in either set. 

 Whether it is or is not, a short account of it will, I think, prove a 

 not unwelcome addition to the notes on the Forest which, from time 

 to time, find a place in these pages. 



The Memorandum in question is rather in the nature of the 

 famous chapter entitled : " Of snakes in Iceland " ; for, while 



