4 EEMIXISCEXCES OF A SPORTSMAN. 



pecuniary forfeiture for trespassing therein in search of 

 game ; but every freeliolder had the full right to sport 

 on his own territory. However, on the conquest of 

 England by William the Norman, more severe laws 

 were enacted, and the right of pursuing and taking all 

 beasts of chase or venery, and such other animals as 

 were accounted game, was exclusively vested in the 

 king, or in such persons only as were authorised by 

 him. The right thus vested in the crown was executed 

 with the utmost rigour at and after the period of the 

 Norman establishment ; not only in the ancient forests, 

 but in the new, which the Conqueror made with an 

 unscrupulous and devastating hand ; for example, the 

 New Forest in Hampshire, where the Norman tyrant re- 

 solved to make a forest for the chase, near Winchester, 

 where he frequently resided. To accomplish this selfish 

 object, the country was laid waste for upwards of thirty 

 miles, churches and monasteries destroyed, and the un- 

 fortunate inhabitants driven from their homes, and their 

 properties confiscated. Two of William's sons met with 

 untimely deaths in this forest, and Eichard his nephew, 

 a natural son of Duke Kobert, shared the same fate in 

 this district. A general opinion prevailed among the 

 clergy and the people that these disasters which befell 

 William's family were a mark of the just vengeance of 

 Heaven for his cruel and atrocious conduct. 



New game laws were now enacted, by which William 

 the Conqueror prohibited all his subjects, under severe 

 penalties, from hunting in the royal forests. The kill- 

 ing of a stag, a wild boar, or a hare, was punished by 

 putting out the eyes of the offender, whilst the punish- 

 ment for committing murder might be evaded by 

 paying a moderate fine or composition ; and in pursuance 



