130 THE NEW FOREST 



James visited Lyndhurst pretty frequently, and 

 most likely, after the building ordered to be done 

 was completed, they were more comfortably housed. 



Her Majesty Queen Anne devoted her hunt- 

 ing days to the Forest of Windsor, where she 

 regularly followed the chase ; but I trace no 

 record of any visit to the New Forest, though 

 I have already recorded her inspection of the 

 herd of red deer at Woolmer. 



Neither George I nor George II had inclina- 

 tions that led them to the Forest, but during 

 the reign of George III at least two visits 

 were paid notably in 1789, when he resided at 

 his own house, the old house at Lyndhurst. 



An account of this visit is to be found in 

 the Diary and Letters of Madame DArUay, 

 June 25, 1789: "Arrived at Lyndhurst, we 

 drove to the Duke of Gloucester's" (i.e. the old 

 King's House, held by the Duke as Warden, in 

 which capacity he was acting as the host of the 

 King). 



" The Royal Family were just before us, but 

 the two Colonels came and handed us through 

 the crowd. 



" The house, intended for a mere hunting 

 seat, was built by Charles II, and seems quite 

 unimproved and unrepaired from the first founda- 

 tion. It is the King's, but lent to the Duke of 



