APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



301 



would, if given in favour of the 

 defendant, most seriously affect 

 the value of estates, not only in 

 the parish of Tisbury, but in 

 every parish throughout the king- 

 dom where a modus in lieu of 

 tithe was paid. 



■ Verdicts were found in favour 

 of the parishioners, and in sup- 

 port of all the moduses except 

 that for heifers, which was not 

 insisted on, as being considered 

 to be included in the modus for 

 cows. 



Wilts Assizes, July. — Lord Rivers 

 V. Thomas King and two others. — 

 This suit was instituted to ascer- 

 tain the boundaries of the Chase 

 of Cranbornej and involved, on 

 one side, the most extensive roy- 

 alty that was ever claimed by any 

 subject, or perhaps by any sove- 

 reign prince ; and on the other, 

 the independent enjoyment of 

 their property by all the owners 

 of the soil throughout the range 

 of that wide domain. 



The pleadings were shortly ex- 

 plained by Mr. Baily, who stated, 

 that it was an action brought 

 against the defendants for enter- 

 ing Cranborne-chase in a certain 

 part, within that county, called 

 Trow-down, and with their dogs, 

 against the will of Lord Rivers, 

 chasing and hunting his deer ; 

 which trespass the defendants had 

 justified, on the ground that 

 Trow-down was the freehold es- 

 tate of the defendant King, that 

 the deer were wrongfully eating 

 his grass there, and that he and 

 the other defendants, his servants, 

 with his dogs, drove them off his 

 land} to which plea the noble 

 plaintiff had replied, that Trow- 

 dewn wa« part of his Chase of 



Cranborne, and that his deer 

 were lawfully feeding there. 



Mr. Sergeant Lens, in an elo- 

 quent address, explained to the 

 jury that the question upon these 

 pleadings involved the right of 

 Lord Rivers to exercise the pri- 

 vilege of his Chase, not only upon 

 the land in which the defendants 

 in this case were supposed to have 

 trespassed, but over a very en- 

 larged tract of country in the 

 three counties of Dorset, Wills, 

 and Southampton, in all of which, 

 during the lapse of many centu- 

 ries, far beyond the reach of 

 memory or tradition, the noble 

 lord, and all those from whom he 

 claimed, had exercised those pri- 

 vileges. He said, that the rights 

 of the forest and chase, now to be 

 exerted over this vast district, 

 however obnoxious they might be 

 to the feelings of those whom 

 they affected — however injurious 

 to the interests of individuals — 

 were grounded in the ancient con- 

 stitution of England, and were 

 protected by that law which held 

 every right as sacred, and would 

 never permit the irritated feelings 

 of men to justify the invasion of 

 any right. He said, it was with- 

 out dispute that Lord Rivers was 

 entitled to the ancient royalty of 

 the Chase of Cranborne, and that 

 within that Chase, however strait- 

 ened or extended, his deer were 

 entitled to run without molesta- 

 tion ; that the only question to be 

 now determined was that of 

 boundary ; that all objections to 

 the oppressive nature of his right, 

 and all clamour respecting its 

 origin, or the detriment which 

 others sustained from its exei'cise, 

 would be misapplied to the case. 

 The jury had nothing to determine 



but 



