ROYAL VISITS 129 



the same from Portesmouth to Lyndhurst together 

 with his expenses for his food for three days 

 when he was away from the Court purchasing 

 the said fruit, &c. 16|c?., besides his wages. 

 Total cost of the provisions 67s. OJdL" 



And again a curious entry : " For the ex- 

 penses of Stephen de Fyta who came with the 

 King into England, in going from Lyndhurst to 

 Beaulieu, Southampton, and Winchester to see 

 and visit those places and be away from the 

 Court for 4 days, 1. 3s. 4d." Although many 

 sovereigns must have visited the Forest, yet I 

 have not found records of their personal pro- 

 ceedings there, the entries being all either of 

 Pleas of the Forest, heard in this or that court 

 of justice, or else records of expenditure on 

 houses or fences, or the like. 



In 1637, not long after the order had been 

 given to rebuild the greater part of the King's 

 House, but apparently before it was carried out, 

 Mr. Secretary Coke, writing from Lyndhurst, 

 says : " This morning His Majesty and all that 

 hunted with him in the Forest were roundly 

 wet, and the weather has continued so extreme 

 that since his return to Lyndhurst scarce a 

 room in his house has held out the rain." l It is 

 probable that both Charles II and his brother 



1 See Victoria County History, vol. ii., Hants. 



