CHAPTER XL 



THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 



I view each well-known scene, 

 Think what is now and what hath been, 



Scott (" The Lay of the Last Minstrel "). 



We have glanced shortly at the history of the 

 district, its forest rulers, at the severe laws which 

 were enforced, and we cannot help wondering who 

 were the people living in the district, where and how 

 they lived, what the face of the country looked like 

 in those troubled times, and what actual changes 

 have taken place to bring it to its present condition. 



A most cursory glance at the old records leads at 

 once to the conclusion that the population was much 

 greater than, looking at the present state of the 

 country, might at first sight seem probable ; that 

 while the chief villages were smaller, the outlying 

 hamlets contained many more inhabitants than at a 

 later period. 



Our principal means of information are the 

 Doomsday Survey and the Pleas of the Forest quoted 

 from above. The first contains a list of manors and 

 their holders with the numbers of bordiers, villeins. 



