126 EPl'ING FOREST. 



so as to maintain their rights. One man, however 

 kept his head clear of liquor, and stole from the feast 

 at midnight, perambulated the Forest, and exercised 

 his right by lopping some trees, and having done so 

 returned to the feast, where he found his friends still 

 being plied with drink ; the lord, thereupon, angry 

 at the failure of his scheme, bid them begone with 

 many curses. Whether the story be true or not, the 

 tradition as to the necessity for observing the mid- 

 night programme on St. Martin's Eve was firmly planted 

 in the minds of the people. 



After Mr. Maitland's great inclosure, when the day 

 arrived, in 1S66, for the annual assertion of the custom, a 

 labouring man named Willingale, with his two sons, 

 who had in past years made a living, during the winter 

 months, by lopping wood for their neighbours, went 

 out as usual at midnight, broke in upon the lord's 

 fences, perambulated the Forest, and lopped the trees 

 in accordance with the custom. For this act in 

 vindication of their rights, the three Willingales were 

 summoned a few days later by the Lord of the Manor 

 before the local justices ; and although they protested 

 that they were only asserting their rights according to 

 the custom, which should have ousted the jurisdiction 

 of the magistrates, they were convicted of malicious 

 trespass on property, and were sent to prison for two 

 months with hard labour. It turned out that one at 

 least of the magistrates had received an allotment of 

 the inclosed lands in compensation for his rights. One 

 of Willin gale's sons was put into a damp cell in the 



