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and medieval forests of Britain. In regard to its picturesque 
beauties and rich variety of heath-clad waste and sylvan scenery, 
so much has been written in prose and verse that most people are- 
more or less familiar with them; and only the merest reference 
need be made to a few of the more prominent as we pass. It may 
be of some interest to Scottish members to know that Sir Walter 
Scott composed a part of Marmion in the New Forest, while 
visiting his friend Mr W. S. Rose, at Gundimore Villa, near 
Christchurch. Mr Rose was also a poet, and the author of the 
following descriptive lines— 
‘* Here Walter Scott has woo’d the Northern Muse; 
Here he with me has joy’d to walk or cruise; 
And hence has prick’d through Ytene’s holt, where we 
Have call’d to mind how, under greenwood tree, 
Pierc’d by the partner of his woodland craft, 
King Rufus fell by Tyrrel’s random shaft. 
Hence have we ranged by Celtic camps and barrows, 
Or climb’d the expectant bark, to thread the Narrows 
Of Hurst, bound westward to the gloomy bower 
Where Charles was prison’d in yon island tower.”? 
ARBORICULTURE IN THE NEw FOREST. 
The history and chief features of the New Forest, from an 
arboricultural point of view, have been so ably sketched by the 
Deputy-Ranger, the Hon. Gerald Lascelles, in a report on the 
Arboriculture of the New Forest, drawn up for the instruction of 
the Excursionists, and inserted in full in the 7vansactions of the 
Society, that it is unnecessary to refer to them here in detail. 
After a perusal of that most interesting record, the members will 
be able to clearly understand the former and present aspects of 
Arboriculture on the 63,000 acres of Woodlands and Common, 
which now comprise the Crown property in the New Forest. 
It may be remarked that the adjective ‘‘ New,” as applied to 
the extensive area of Crown lands known as the ‘‘ New Forest,” is 
somewhat of a misnomer, for there is evidence of the district having 
been used as a Royal Forest as early as the days of King Canute, 
in the eleventh century. Every one has read how the Norman 
Conqueror, William I., turned this extensive tract of country into 
a hunting-ground, where, as the chronicler of old said, “he hunted 
1 Carisbrook Castle, in the Isle of Wight, where Charles I. and his family 
were imprisoned by Cromwell and the Parliamentary leaders. 
