CHAPTER XIII. 



THE ROYAL HOUNDS. 



Wind, jolly huntsmen, your neat bugles shrilly, 

 Hounds make a lusty cry. — John Ford, 



We have seen how complete was the organisation of 

 a Royal forest, what an array of officials were charged 

 with the enforcement of the law, and with what 

 strictness they carried out their duties. For whose 

 benefit was all this done ? That the Crown derived 

 a certain amount of revenue from a forest is admitted, 

 but there can have been but little from Exmoor. A 

 few fines and a few customary payments, such as the 

 bull and fourteen heifers, or \od. each, payable 

 on the descent of the hereditary forestorship. Even 

 at a later date, when the agistment of cattle and sheep 

 had become valuable, the annual rental payable in 

 respect of Exmoor was only £^6 13^. ^d. 



Whatever may have been the case in other forests, 

 such as Sherwood and Selwood and the Forest of 

 Dean, where much valuable timber was grown, the 

 barren hills of West Somerset must have been main- 

 tained as Royal forests mainly, if not entirely, for 

 the sake of the deer. Who had a right to hunt 



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