i8 



EPPING FOREST. 



or was stimulated by the impending danger, and 

 I am happy to think that I am now entering on 

 the third period, when a truer and a juster view of 

 the needs and rights of the pubhc began to pre- 

 vail. Opinion was at the same time influenced by 

 the fact that, as the markets of the whole world 

 had been thrown open to us by Sir Robert Peel, 

 the importance of laying every available acre under 

 the plough was diminished. 



We now reach the great legal contest which 



MONK WOOD. 



lasted fifteen years, and resulted in the pre- 

 servation of the 5500 acres which the public now 

 enjoys. 



A society, called " The Commons Preservation 

 Society," was formed for the purpose of resisting 

 encroachments on this and other open spaces. 

 It has included such names as Mr. Cowper- 

 Temple, now Lord Mount -Temple, Mr. W. H. 

 Smith, Mr. John Stuart Mill, Sir Charles Dilke, 

 Mr. Fawcett, Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, Mr. Charles Bux- 



