THE FORESTS OF STAFFORDSHIRE 145 



ninety-nine years to Henry Seymour. The parks of Hanbury 

 and Tutbury, for a like period, in 1698, to Edward Vernon ; 

 and two of the other parks at the same, and also for ninety-nine 

 years, to Sir John Turton. 



Mr. Mundy, the poet of Needwood, left it on record that he 

 had known and conversed with a gentleman of the district, 

 who had been high-sheriff of Staffordshire in the reign of 

 George II., who used to boast how many deer poachers he 

 had got off when arrested by the keepers, and how well they 

 used to keep his table supplied with venison. 



After considerable opposition, Needwood was at last dis- 

 afforested by special Act of Parliament in 1804. The damage 

 done to cultivation by the straying deer was no doubt exces- 

 sive, and there were other distinct drawbacks to its continuance 

 as a forest. Nevertheless, the general scheme of enclosure 

 naturally aroused keen resentment among the lovers of its 

 picturesque beauties and historic associations. Mr. F. N. C. 

 Mundy, who had printed a stilted poem in 1776, called 

 Needwood Forest, after the classical descriptive style then in 

 vogue, produced, in 1808, a wild screed termed The Fall of 

 Needwood, which, by its very extravagance, caused the utili- 

 tarian view to be the more appreciated. The following passage 

 is a fair example of the character and style of its forty-five 

 pages : 



'Twas Avarice with his harpy claws, 

 Great Victim ! rent thy guardian laws ; 

 Loos'd Uproar with his ruffian bands ; 

 Bade Havoc show his crimson'd hands ; 

 Grinn'd a coarse smile, as thy last deer 

 Dropp'd in thy lap a dying 1 tear ; 

 Exulted in his schemes accurst, 

 When thy pierc'd heart, abandon'd, burst ; 

 And glozing on the public good, 

 Insidious demon ! suck'd thy blood. 

 Detested ever be tfoat day, 

 Which left thee a defenceless prey ! 

 May never sun its presence cheer ! 

 | O be it blotted from the year ! 



CANNOCK CHASE 



There were two other Staffordshire forests besides Needwood 

 -Cannock Chase and Kinver, both of which require investi- 





