CHAPTER IX 



THE KING'S HOUSE 



IT would hardly be possible for me to set on 

 paper my reminiscences, and omit any mention 

 of the delightful, old, inconvenient, but well appre- 

 ciated residence in which it was my duty to live. 

 I conceived also that, as the residence of the re- 

 presentative of the Crown, it was intended to be 

 a centre of hospitality, and therefore, although no 

 " table money " was allowed to me, I thought it 

 right to make as welcome as I could, not merely 

 my official chiefs and those connected with the 

 Office of Woods, but also all the many professors of 

 Forestry or students of our English systems that 

 came to England or to Hampshire in the prosecu- 

 tion of their researches. This was not only a 

 great pleasure to my wife and myself, but it also 

 caused me to make friends of most of the distin- 

 guished lights of forestry and leaders of that branch 

 of science and its practice that have been living 

 in or visiting this country for the last thirty 

 years. Many interesting discussions took place at 

 my table, and I was able to learn and profit very 



