LEGISLATION ANTERIOR TO "CHARTA FORESTA." 221 



circumstances, with great naivete, adduces from Scripture 

 testimony to the great antiquity of forests, and by 

 consequence of forest laws. 



Quoting Psalm 1. 10, Every beast of the forest is mine, 

 and the cattle upon a thousand hills ; and Psalm cxxxii. 6, 

 Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of 

 the wood. He adds, " Hereby we may gather that there 

 were forests in the prophet David's time," and by the same 

 authority he justifies the distinction he has drawn between 

 the beasts of the forest and the beasts of the field, adducing 

 as proof, Psalm civ., v. 20 : Thou makest darkness, and it 

 is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. 

 The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat 

 from God. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves to- 

 gether, and lay them down in their dens ; and Psalm 1. 

 9-11: I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats 

 out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, 

 and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the 

 fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are 

 mine. I cite his exposition, but I do not accept it ! 



The vert, consisting of the arborescent vegetation of 

 the forest, is described by him as consisting of Over-vert or 

 trees, and Neather-vert or shrubs. "And," says he, "as-a 

 forest might, and generally did, include private properties 

 as well as royal demesnes, there were a number of particulars 

 relating to them, in regard to which the proprietor was re- 

 quired to satisfy the forest-officers ; and heavy penalties 

 were attached to waste of the vert. If a man cut down 

 aught of his own, without licence to do so, even though it 

 should grow again, it was reckoned waste, and punished as 

 such, because destroying the covert of the game. If, having 

 a licence to cut upon his own property, and he should do so, 

 but not enclose or fence the ground to secure the renewed 

 growth of the vert, it was waste, and was punishable as 

 such. If holding such a licence to fell his woods, he doth 

 fell them at such unseasonable times that they do thereby 

 die, and grow no more to be covert in the forest, this shall 

 be said to be waste and destruction of the forest. 



