112 THE FORESTS OF ENGLAND. 



habitation and the country she was in : the Countess of 

 Suffolk (Stamford) wrote for answer, that the house was 

 tolerable, that the country was a forest, and the inhabitants 

 all brutes. The sister in consequence, by letter, desired 

 her to set fire to the house, and run away by the light 

 of it. The former part of the request, it is said, she 

 immediately put in practice ; and thus this celebrated and 

 interesting mansion was consigned to the flames." * 



Charnwood, although now presenting different features 

 from what it did many ages since, when, to quote the 

 old Leicestershire tradition, ' a squirrel might be hunted 

 six miles without touching the ground, and a traveller 

 might journey from Beaumanor to Bardon on a clear 

 summer's day without once seeing the sun,' still abounds 

 in picturesque views ; and although trees are scanty, many 

 specimens of the oak are to be found there unmatched for 

 beauty. 



SECTION VI. FOKEST WOODLANDS. 



In preceding sections have been described several 

 ancient forests of England, under different categories to 

 which they formally belong, and did so previous to the 

 present century Forests, Chases, Parks, Warrens, and 

 Woods. But there are not a few other ancient forests 

 still existent which, in the absence of explicit information 

 in regard to their exact position in regard to one or other 

 of these categories, I find it convenient to describe under 

 the more general head of Forest Woodlands. 



Of these, some may be supposed to retain a claim to 

 the technical designation Forest though few bucks or 

 does or other game are said to be found in them ; and 

 others may have neither game nor sylvan shelter for game 

 neither beast of venerie nor vert, but which have no 

 better claim to be considered a chase, a park, a warren, or 

 a wood. 



* We need hardly tell out readers that the latter part of this account is apocryphal. 



