108 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. 



either the power of prophecy lasted much longer than is com- 

 monly supposed, or, as we have said, the clergy were accessories 

 to the murder ; we have no other choice. The last of these 

 solutions is fatal to the common belief; and very few persons 

 would, 1 suppose, venture upon the first. Nevertheless, the 

 monk of Gloucester's dream was not yet to be fulfilled. The 

 hour was not yet at hand for England's deliverance. As the 

 Parliamentary party said in Charles the First's time " Things 

 must become worse before they can mend." England had, 

 therefore, to undergo a tyranny for more than a century longer 

 till the evil became its own cure. Good was at length accom- 

 plished. Out of all the woe and wretchedness came the Bill 

 of Rights and the Charta de Foresta. 



View from Castle Malwood. 



