ITS HISTORY. 



granted to individuals of position, subject to the 

 proviso " that he do use the liberty with that 

 moderation which is fitting." These were con- 

 tinued to quite recent times, and two or three 

 holders of licenses are still alive, and one occasion- 

 ally exercises his right. 



For the watching of the Forest, and for the en- 

 forcement of the decrees, there were, besides the 

 above-named verderers, thirteen master keepers, 

 who were gentlemen of landed estate, and a 

 number of foj'esters, agistors, and rega7-ders, who 

 attended upon his Majesty's vert and venison, re- 

 ported encroachments, and detained and charged 

 offenders ; woodwards, who, as the name implies, 

 had a care for the timber ; and reeves, who marked 

 the cattle of those who had commoning rights, and 

 impounded stray beasts. The functions of the 

 reeves are not less important at the present day 

 than they were at the time of the Saxons. Over 

 all these officials was an hereditary Lord Wai-den, 

 whose duty it was to maintain the Forest unim- 

 paired for the king's pleasure, and who enjoyed 

 the following perquisites : — " Of every covert and 

 hedgerow to be sold, of every shilling one penny ; 

 and of every wood to be sold, the second best 

 oak ; and of the buyer and seller of every such 

 wood, one bow to one broad arrow ; and one 

 penny of every shilling of the seller and buyer of 

 every such wood upon the sale of it." 



The nature of the functions originally entrusted 

 to the chief officers of the Forest is well shown by 

 the following quaint rhyming charter of appoint- 

 ment by Edward the Confessor ; but this refers to 

 the earliest period of which we have any docu- 

 mentary evidence relating to the Forest laws : — 



