PART I. 

 THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER I. 



ANCIENT FORESTS. 



WHEN Britain was invaded by the Romans, about the 

 commencement of the Christian era, the country was 

 extensively covered with forest. The people were liter- 

 ally a savage salvage people. Caesar found upon the 

 South Coast people engaged in agriculture, and some 

 towns inhabited by traders between Britain and the Con- 

 tinent ; but all beyond appeared to be a vast and horrid 

 forest ; and he tells, apparently with a feeling of con- 

 tempt, " A town among the Britains is nothing more than 

 a thick wood, fortified with a ditch and rampart, to serve 

 as a place of retreat against the incursions of their enemies." 

 Strabo, the historian, who died A.D. 25, in his treatise 

 on Geography a work celebrated for its elegance and 

 purity, and for the erudition and extensive knowledge 

 which it displays devotes a chapter to notices of Gaul 

 and Britain, and tells of our ancestors: "Forests were 

 the only towns in use among them, and these were formed 

 by cutting down a large circle of wood and erecting huts 

 within it, and sheds for cattle." It may be the case that 

 the generalisation was carried further than was warranted ; 

 but much is known which is in accordance with these 

 pictures of ancient Britain ; and though Geoffrey, of Mon- 



