76 THE NEW FOREST 



come that he may produce his servant, William 

 Eussel, on the Friday before Ash Wednesday." 

 The Abbots of Beaulieu seem to have been 

 peculiarly troublesome neighbours to the adjoin- 

 ing Crown Forest, and indeed up to the present 

 day they have one after another been actively 

 tenacious of what they, with wide views, con- 

 ceived to be their rights. But the following 

 incident is a very delightful instance of the 

 royal economy in dealing with the Church 

 subscriptions which existed then, and are now 

 always with us. 



" The Abbot of Beaulieu was indicted at the 

 Pleas of the Forest held at Winchester on the 

 morrow of St Hilary 8 Edward I, for receiving 

 Brother Richard his convert and Richard de 

 Rames his servants \_familiarum] indicted for 

 trespass of venison with snares and other engines 

 in a close, made fine with the King for forty 

 marks, came and brought the Queen's writ by 

 which the Queen pardoned the Abbot and 

 convert for the trespass aforesaid and gave the 

 forty marks for the work of his Church. There- 

 fore he is quit." Good and businesslike. This time 

 the worthy prelate seems to have been fairly 

 caught out and condemned to pay. But how 

 cunningly he got out of the fix, and with what 

 sound feminine economy did the Queen com- 



