EPPING FOREST. 133 
personally suggested to the Lord Mayor, in an interview 
on the subject, that the official City Solicitor, however 
able as a man of business, would probably be at sea on 
such a special subject, and that the wise course would 
be to associate with him the Solicitor of the Commons 
Society, Mr. Robert Hunter, who had been engaged in 
all the great Commons cases, who had brought so many 
of them to a successful conclusion, and who in the 
Willingale case had already made himself acquainted 
with much of the history and rights of the Forest. 
Fortunately, my advice was followed, and the great suit 
which was then initiated was practically conducted, on 
behalf of the City Solicitor, by Mr. Robert Hunter. 
The effect of ample funds for the prosecution of the 
great cause of saving the Forest was soon visible. They 
enabled a much more searching and complete investi- 
gation of the records of the Forest to be made than 
had hitherto been possible; and this led to a discovery 
of the utmost importance, which was the keystone to 
the subsequent success of the Corporation suit. 
It had long been the contention of the Lords of 
Manors that each of their Manors was entirely distinct 
trom all others in the Forest, that the Communers of 
each had rights of common only in the waste of their 
particular Manor, and not generally over the whole 
of the Forest. In this view, the process of inclosure 
by a Lord of the Manor of the forest waste within the 
boundaries of his own district was comparatively easy, 
for it was only necessary for him to come to terms 
with this limited number of Commoners; and after 
