( 17 ) 



amufement in hunting, and therefore diftinguiflied by the 

 appellation of game, became alfo the objedls of the defires 

 of others, who were difpofed to take them for their own 

 ufe without the leave of the crown. The laws which pro- 

 te6ted property in the cultivated parts of the country were 

 not adapted to the prcfervation of the rights of the crown 

 in thefe wilds ; and the coverts for game, afforded alfo 

 fhelter to outlaws and vagabonds. The prefervation of 

 the public peace therefore required Jome law of forefts. 

 But acknowledging the neceflity for fome law, we may 

 fairly enquire whether the eflablifhed law was well or ill 

 formed ; and particularly, for the prefent purpofe, Mhether 

 it was that horrid fyflem of abominable defpotifm which 

 the author of Obfervations on Foreft Scenery reprefents it 

 to have been. For this purpofe let us take a curfory view 

 of it's moft important parts. 



The Danifh monarchs in their own country were extra- 

 vagantly fond of the chace. Canute, to whofe mildnefs 

 of government the quiet fubmiffion of the Saxons to his 

 dominion has been frequently attributed, feems to have 

 firft reduced the laws of the foreft in England to a fyftem ; 

 probably, eftablifhing regulations fimilar to thofe to which 

 he had been accuflomed in his native country. The con- 

 flitutions attributed to Canute have come to us very in- 

 corredlly ; but there feems no ground for imagining that 

 they were the mere will of a defpot, or framed by a dif- 

 ferent authority from that which gave fandion to his laws 

 for the ordinary purpofes of jufticc. On the contrary, the 

 conftitutions are ftated in the preamble to have been framed 

 with the advice of his great men, for the ends of peace and 

 juftice. 



The vafl: demefne of the crown in thofe days extended 

 into all parts of the kingdom, and every county had great 

 tracts of wafte lands belonging to the crown. The biws 



b of 



