VILLAGE GREEKS. 309 



The Common Hill had been used from time im- 

 memorial for games by the villagers. They had played 

 there football, rounders, and cricket. It was distinctly 

 larger than an ordinary village Green, consisting of 

 sixty-four acres, but the whole of it had been used by 

 the people for recreation, and many parts of it for 

 games. These were now prohibited. On the lord's 

 agent being requested to explain the grounds on 

 which the changes were made, and what justification 

 there was for the keepers interfering with the use of 

 the Common for games and recreation, he replied that 

 the Lord of the Manor intended to prosecute any 

 persons who in any way trespassed on the hill, over 

 which he claimed absolute control; if the claim, he said, 

 were persisted in, the question would have to be settled 

 in a Court of Law. Mr. Virgo, a working gardener and 

 florist, with land adjoining the Common, then took up 

 the case of the C )mmoners and the public. He was in- 

 formed that, in consequence of his action, the Lord 

 of the Manor would stop him from using a cart-road 

 across the Common, which afforded the only access in 

 one direction. He was also told that the Lord of the 

 Manor had ample means at his disposal, and that he 

 must expect no quarter. 



Undeterred by these threats, Mr. Virgo brought 

 an action at law against the trustees for interference 

 with the right of the inhabitants to play games on the 

 Common, and claimed an injunction to restrain them 

 from so doing. The case was tried at Bristol before a 

 special jury by Mr. Justice Wills, in August, 1892. 



