BURNHAM BEECHES. '267 



" was that Lady Grenville entertained a feeling akin to spite and 

 aversion towards this portion of her estates ; and certainly if 

 such were the case, no one could wonder at it, after learning 

 what I have narrated concerning- the mistaken calculation which 

 her husband fell into in purchasing the reversion to it at so 

 high a rate. I never heard of her ladyship setting foot in any 

 one of the cottages or farms on this estate during the twenty 

 years of my connection with Burnham." 



What, however, is more pertinent to the present 

 narrative is that Lady Grenville, by the advice probably 

 of her agent, began a series of arbitrary acts with 

 reference to the Common, such as indicated a determina- 

 tion to assume absolute ownership over it, and to deny 

 the rights of any others. The people of the district, 

 whether Commoners by virtue of the ownership of land, 

 or as tenants of the land of others, had been in the habit 

 of cutting turf for fuel in the boggy parts of the 

 Common, and firewood in its coppices. Mr. Grote, like 

 others, had availed himself of this right for the benefit 

 of the labourers he employed. Lady Grenville forbade 

 the exercise of it, and when remonstrated with, her 

 agent declared the Common not to be " a Common of 

 turbary," and that Lady Grenville was entitled to the 

 exclusive jurisdiction over it, to the entire abrogation 

 of all rights or privileges on the part of any other per- 

 sons. " If she granted leave," he said, " to anyone to 

 take away any portion of the soil, such as turf, gravel, 

 peat, and the like, it was as a matter of favour which 

 might be annulled at pleasure." 



Mrs. Grote says that she found but one feeling ex- 

 isting on the subject among the people of the parish 



