ANCIENT AND MODERN FORESTRY 45 



the Regard of the forest. One section shows 

 that certain persons could ' claim to have privi- 

 leges, as dogs unlamed and greyhounds, within 

 the bounds of the forest,' but the only specific 

 authority given was that ' It is lawful for the 

 Abbot of the borough of St. Peter to hunt, 

 and to take hares, foxes, and martens, within 

 the bounds of the Forest, and to have unlamed 

 dogs, because he hath sufficient warrant there- 

 unto.' Edward seems, however, to have been a 

 sufficiently-enlightened monarch to have learned 

 in time that the forest laws were oppressive and 

 vexatious both to the nobles and to the smaller 

 landowners, as well as to the rural population 

 generally. Hence, when they clamoured for 

 perambulations and fixation of the true boun- 

 daries of the royal forests, Edward found it 

 politic to accede to their request. And he was 

 by no means loath to earn an honest penny by 

 sale of clemency in this respect; so, in 1299, 

 when anxious to raise money for prosecuting 

 his war in France, he gave formal confirmation 

 of Magna Charta and the great Charta de Foresta 

 of 1225. In doing this he contrived to slip in 

 a little phrase, ' without prejudice to the right 



