106 THE NEW FOREST 



oak fittings and furniture which has never been 

 removed. There are two very ancient-^I think, 

 Tudor, but one may be Jacobean solid and 

 heavy oak tables. The dock in which the 

 prisoner stands is a most curious piece of oak 

 furniture solid and heavy as stone touched with 

 no tools but the axe and adze, and bearing the 

 marks of them to this day. I fancy this piece 

 of old oak is about the most ancient piece of 

 work on the premises; the solid oak "bar" or 

 barricade, between the court and body of the hall, 

 is also massive and ancient. Fortunately, too, 

 the ancient canvas with the Royal Arms on it 

 was also left. Though not beautiful, it is inter- 

 esting, as it records the holding of the last Great 

 Justice Seat in Eyre held for the Forests south 

 of Trent. " It bears date C. II. 16'9." The third 

 figure of the date is obliterated, but it is un- 

 doubtedly a 6, as the Justice Seat was held by 

 Vere, Earl of Oxford, in 1669-70. Worst of all, 

 it was quickly found out that the absorption of 

 the servants' offices as devised by the destroying 

 genius rendered the house uninhabitable. To 

 sacrifice the useless, cocktail brand-new hall, 

 which had absorbed and ruined the priceless (as 

 we should now think it) hall of 1388, was not to 

 be thought of. So a fresh device had to be re- 

 sorted to in order to provide absolutely necessary 



