256 



ships, . \\-ood ; It is enacted, that in copse of underwood felled at twenty - 



o\vth there shall In- left twelve standrells or store oaks, on each acre. 

 many elm, asli .and that they be of suci 



ely trees I'd)- timber, and such as In en left at former t'el! ; 



ha\ e been any left before ; under pain of inri'i-iling 3s. 4d., for every such standard 



me h.-df to the crown, and the other to the party who may inform and 



sue for it in any court of record, which might be done as in an 



, action for debt. When cut under fourteen years' growth, ' nind bl 



enclosed or protected for four A proprietor or the lawful p< ir of 



the wood under pain for not enclosing for every rood so left unenclosed :Js. 4d.,for 



month it may remain so unenclosed. No calves are to ' in for two 



years after felling, and no other cattle for four years. When cut from four : : 

 to i '-four years of age to be six years enclosed under the same penalty ; 



after twenty-four years twelve trees to be left under penalty of 6s. od., each tree, 

 the moiet}' to the Crown, and the informer may recover as before. The ground 

 to be kept enclosed for seven years under the penalty of Hs. -Id. per rood per 

 month as before." In the County of Cornwall, within t\vo miles of the ees 



might be felled when dead on the top. 



Xo wood containing two or more acres, at the distance of two furlongs from 

 the house of the owner was to be cut down under the pain of forfeiture of ten 

 pounds for every acre of woodland so destroyed. Woods felled under fourteen 



were afterwards not to have colts or calves put into them till eight years 

 after cutting and enclosing. Most of these acts of Henry, etc., were only tempor- 

 ary till the loth of Elizabeth, Chap. 25, when the time of protection was enlarged 

 and the whole made permanent. By the 7th of Edward VI., Chap. 7, the Act of 

 the 35th of Henry VIII., Chap. 3, was confirmed, and a little modified. 



It was then enacted, that every fcaleshide (bundle of cleft wood) be four feet 

 long beside the carfe; and if named one, to be marked one. and to be sixteen 

 inches circumference within a foot of the middle ; if t TO, in two, and 



twenty-three inches girt; if three, marked as such, and to be i /tit inches 



girt ; if four, to girt thirty-three inches ; if five, to girt thirty-eight inches ; anil 

 so on in proportion. Billet wood was to be three feet four inches in length, 

 the single one, to be seventeen inches and a half in girt, and erery billet of one 

 cast as they term the mark, to be ten ; ab ut ; and of two cas ;e four- 



teen inches girt, and t ) be marked within six inches of the middle, mil. the 



private use of the owner. Every bound iagot should be three set long, and i 

 band twenty-four inches in circumference beside the knot. This Aet was prin- 

 cipally for London, but the -iord of Elizabeth, Chap. 1-i, rendered the statute 

 more general ; and ordered that the fagots should be every stick three feet in 

 length except one to harden and wedge the binding of it. This was to prevent 

 the abuse, then much practised, of filling the middle with short sticks. Th 

 Acts were confirmed by the 9th of Anne, Chap. 15, and the 10th of the same 

 reign, Chap. 6, dhects that the assize of billet shall not extend to beech, but that 

 these shall not be sold in London or Westminster, unless the vendor make them 

 of the same size as required by the Statutes for other wood. Chnp. 17 of the 

 7th of K Iward VI.. is an Act for prevnting unlawful hunting in parks, places, 

 forests, etc. ; and confirms the 38th of Henry VIII. 



The 2nd and 3rd of Philip and Mary, Chap. 2. confirms that of Henry 7th 

 and of the 20th of Henry VIII. ; and in the 27th of Elizabeth, there is another 

 Act to the same effect, nearly as that ot Henry VIII., which was then made per- 

 manent; and to render it still more complete and effectual in promoting improve- 

 ment, it further enacts, that timber of twenty-two years' growth shall be exempted 

 from tithes. By the 1st of Elizabeth, timber shall not be felled for iron-workers 



