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It afcertains with fome exaftnefs the quantity 

 of land, which William afForefted : but as it 

 neither gives us the value of it, nor the mode, 

 in which it was obtained, the injury remains 

 ftill undetermined. 



With regard to the fituation, and boundaries 

 of this extenfive foreft, it occupies the fouth- 

 weft extremity of Hampshire ; and in it's 

 earlier form was a kind of peninfula, bounded 

 by the bay of Southampton on the eaft — 

 by the river Avon on the weft — and on the 

 fouth ; by the channel of the iile of Wight, 

 as far as the Needles ; and to the weft of thofe 

 rocks by the ocean. Thus the boundaries of 

 New-foreft were determined by the natural 

 lines of the country. 



It does not however appear, that William I 

 extended the bounds of New-foreft thus 

 far. They are fuppofed rather to have been 

 inlarged by fucceeding princes ; particularly 

 by Henry I, who was probably tempted by 

 the natural limits of the country. By this 

 prince, or at leaft by fome of the early fuc- 

 cefTors of William, the whole peninfula was 

 taken in -, and the bounds of the foreft were 



fairly 



