156 Cranborne Chase. 



purpose of driving them home again, such deer as had been roused 

 within the smaller bounds, and had strayed beyond them. Con- 

 sequently the verdict was in favour of Mr. King, to the great 

 satisfaction of a crowded court, especially of the Wiltshiremen, who 

 shouted for joy. 



It was this verdict that gave the death-blow to any revival of 

 obsolete forest right, and in fact, was the knell of Cranborne Chase.^ 

 Disputes might have gone on : because, although Mr. King had 

 established that Trow Down was not in the Chase, that did not 

 carry all the other lands on the Wiltshire side. There was, there- 

 fore, a wide door still open for further litigation. But the Rivers 

 family acted discreetly. Taking all things into full consideration, 

 and foreseeing no end of trouble, they were wisely advised to come 

 to some final composition. This opened the way to doing away 

 altogether with the rights of the Chase, which was afterwards 

 happily accomplished. 



There had, indeed, been made, many years before, an attempt to 

 some arrangement of the kind, but the terms could not be agreed 

 upon. At last, in 1828, an Act of Parliament was obtained for the 

 disfranchisement, by which it was provided that the Rivers family 

 were to receive (I believe) £1800 a year, clear annual rent, to dispose 

 of all the deer, and to retain the lodges of Rushmore, West Lodge, 

 and Bursey-stool. 



One of the writers upon this subject, a strong supporter of Lord 

 Rivers's real and full rights, and who praises highly the way in 

 which that nobleman behaved throughout the whole business, never- 

 theless feels himself constrained to admit, upon the whole question, 

 that there were circumstances which rendered the disfranchisement 

 a measure of public benefit. Loud and general had been the dis- 

 satisfaction of the agriculturists whose lands bordered on the Chase 



* Mr. Thomas King was also successful in another suit, which put an end to 

 the vexatious claim of " cheminage." Two oil paintings, as trophies of the double 

 victory, are preserved at Chilmark House, by Mr. Frederick King, nephew of 

 the winner of the law-suits. One represents the shooting of the greyhound by 

 the keeper : the other, Mr. King's horses dragging away (never to be replaced) 

 the barrier that was set up on Harnham Bridge. In this picture, the stag's 

 head above-mentioned is introduced. 



