INTRODUCTION 3 



ment, my leisure hours, except when on leave, 

 were few, and had always to be made up for 

 by working double tides. My home, however, 

 was in the New Forest, at the old King's House 

 (the Queen's House for all the earlier years of 

 my service) at Lyndhurst ; and it is with my 

 experiences there, rather than with my other 

 work, that I propose to deal in these pages. I 

 do not propose to attempt anything in the shape 

 of a history of the New Forest that would be 

 a difficult and much more serious undertaking ! 



I have only dipped into ancient records 

 where they served or, indeed, were necessary, in 

 order to correctly describe the condition of Forest 

 affairs as they presented themselves to me. It 

 took me years before I could find out the why 

 and wherefore of many of the customs and pre- 

 judices that I encountered. But there generally 

 was a reason, and, while it interested me to dig 

 out this concealed root, I also found that when 

 it was discovered it was often much appreciated 

 by my local friends, who had neither the time 

 nor the opportunity to hunt out these things 

 for themselves. If, then, I have been a little 

 diffuse in such matters as these, and perhaps 

 especially in what I may call Forest politics, 

 and the various storms that ever vex that 

 stormy sea on which the barques of Crown, com- 



