U THE FOBESTS '<0F kENCKLAND, 



towns and villages, with mo feweri lUian thiityisix^pariBh 

 cheixihes. 3?he towns, >viiia,ges,. and ancestrial bdlls were 

 all demolished, and the ipeople driven away: 



* The ^^d? stre i^visji'd from the indt^i^trioiu^^it^iQai 

 "Fiopa men their eities,, and from gods {their fanes ; 

 The leVell'd tdwns with -weeds lie covered o'er ; 

 The hoUow winds through naked temples roar ; 

 B^ind broken coluinns clasping ivy twined ; 

 O'er heaps of ruins stalk'duie stately hind ; 

 The fox obscene to gaping tombs retires, 

 ,And savage howlings fill the sacred quires.' * 



"No compensation was made. According to Domesday- 

 l?^pk, 108 places, manors, villages, or hamlet?, suffered in 

 a, greater or less degree. The traditional names of places 

 still use^ by the foresters — such as ' Church Place, ' OhuriGh 

 Moor,' ' Thomson's Castle ' — sepm to mark the now splitary 

 spots as ^e sitps of ancient buildings where the EngUsh 

 people woisihif^ed thpir God, and dwelt in peace, ere they 

 were ruthlessly s^ept away by the Norman. The late Mr 

 ■\y'. S. Rose, who had long held the ofiice of bow-bearer 

 for the New Forest, was of opinion that the terminatipn 

 of ham and ton, yet annexed to some woodlands, nught be 

 taken as evidence of the fornier existence of hamlets, and 

 towns in the forest. 



"Tlje hisifcorians whp lived about the period are not 

 sparing in their denu:pciation of the arbitary conduct of 

 William and the cruel nature of his forest laws. 



"Henry pf Huntingdon says. of William, 'If any one 

 killed a stag or a wild boar, his eyes were put out, and no 

 oneipresumed tp complain. But beasts of chase he cherished 

 as if they were his children (an expression used by other 

 chroniclers) ; so that to form the hunting-groimd of ifche 

 New Foresti, he caused churches and vUlagea to be de- 

 8twfi4» f^w d^vi;)g out the people, made it a habitation 

 forrdper,' And Holliij^hed mys, in his quaint old way, 

 * the pepple sore bewailed their . digtres, and greatlie 



• Pope's Wlndeor Forest. 



