326 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 



to us. We shall not therefore pretend to say whether Wolmer. 

 forest existed as a royal domain before the conquest. If it did 

 not, we may suppose it was laid out by some of our earliest 

 Norman kings, who were exceedingly attached to the pleasures 

 of the chase, and resided much at Winchester, which lies at a 

 moderate distance from this district. The Plantagenet princes 

 seem to have been pleased with Wolmer ; for tradition says that 

 king John resided just upon the verge, at Ward-le-ham, on a re- 

 gular and remarkable mount, still called King John's Hill, and 

 Lodge Hill ; and Edward III. had a chapel in his park, or en- 

 closure at Kingsley.* Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, and 

 Richard, duke of York, say my evidences, were both, in their 

 turns, wardens of Wolmer-forest ; which seems to have served 

 for an appointment for the younger princes of the royal family, 

 as it may again. 



I have intentionally mentioned Edward III. and the dukes 

 Humphrey and Richard, before king Edward II. because I have 

 reserved, for the entertainment of my readers, a pleasant anec- 

 dote respecting that prince, with which I shall close this letter. 



As Edward II. was hunting on Wolmer-forest, Morris Ken, 

 of the kitchen, fell from his horse several times ; at which acci- 

 dents the king laughed immoderately : and, when the chase was 

 over, ordered him twenty shillings ;f an enormous sum for those 

 days ! Proper allowances ought to be made for the youth of this 

 monarch, whose spirits also, we may suppose, were much ex- 

 hilarated by the sport of the day : but, at the same time, it is 

 reasonable to remark that, whatever might be the occasion of 

 Ken's first fall, the subsequent ones seem to have been designed. 

 The scullion appears to have been an artful fellow, and to have 

 seen the king's foible ; which furnishes an early specimen of that 

 his easy softness and facility of temper, of which the infamous 

 Gaveston took such advantages, as brought innumerable calami- 

 ties on the nation, and involved the prince at last in misfortunes 

 and sufferings too deplorable to be mentioned without horror 

 and amazement. 



* The parish of Kingsley lies between, and divides Wolraer-forest from Ayles Holt-forest. -See 

 Letter IX. to Mr. Pennant. 



The church at Kingsley is a remarkably mean-looking edifice. The tower has a striking re- 

 semblance to a " dove-cote," and the edifice bears out the assertion made by Mr. White that some 

 of the Hampshire "places of worship make little better appearances than dove-cots. D. 



t " Item, paid at the lodge at Wolmer, when the king was stag-hunting there, to Morris Ken, 

 of the kitchen, because he rode before the king and often fell from his horse, at which the king 

 aughed exceedingly, a gift, by command, of twenty shillings." From a MS. in possession of 

 Thomas Astle, esq., containing the private expenses qf Edward II. 



