14 EPPING FOREST. 



'•'■Description of Efigland,^' written in the i6th cent- 

 ury — "Certes, if it be not one curfe of the Lord, to 

 haue our countrie conuerted in fuch fort from the 

 furniture of mankind, into the walks and fhrowds 

 of wild beafls, I know not what is anie. How 

 many families alfo thefe great and fmall games 

 haue eaten vp, and are likehe hereafter to deuoure, 

 fome men may coniecture * * * they fhall 

 faie at the lafl, that the twentith part of the 

 realm is imploied vpon deere and conies alreadie, 

 which feemeth verie much, if it be dulie con- 

 fidered of" The development of this idea is the 

 dark page in my history, when the Forest was 

 despoiled of many a beautiful glade. Let us 

 pass over the bad quarter of an hour as rapidly 

 as possible. 



The machinery of the Forest laws existed in full 

 force until near the end of the last century, and 

 was effective in preventing encroachments. Such 

 enclosures as were allowed were all recorded in 

 the Court Rolls, and were exceedingly minute both 

 in number and in quantity. But Mr. Wellesley 

 Pole, who, in his wife's right, became Lord Warden, 

 saw that more profit was to be niade in breaking 

 his trust than in keeping it, and by refusing to 

 support the authority of the verderers, but on the 

 contrary by his example encouraging persons to 

 defy the Forest law, and in other ways, designedly 

 brought the Forest laws into abeyance so that 

 he might himself infringe them with impunity. 

 This he proceeded to do by selling the rights 

 he was appointed to guard. At the final settle- 

 ment of the Forest question, the ofiice was 

 abolished by Act of Parliament, which directed 

 that compensation should be given to its then 



