BURNHAM BEECHES. 267 
“was that Lady Grenville entertained a feeling akin to spite and 
aversion towards this portion of her estates; and certainly if 
such were the case, no one could wonder at it, after learning 
what I have narrated concerning the mistaken calculation which 
her husband fell into in purchasing the reversion to it at so 
high a rate. I never heard of her ladyship setting fvot in any 
one of the cottages or farms on this estate during the twenty 
years of my connection with Burnham.” 
What, however, is more pertinent to the present 
narrative is that Lady Grenville, by the advice probably 
of her agent, began a series of arbitrary acts with 
reference to the Common, such as indicated a determina- 
tion to assume absolute ownership over it, and to deny 
the rights of any others. ‘The people of the district, 
whether Commoners by virtue of the ownership of land, 
or as tenants of the land of others, had been in the habit 
of cutting turf for fuel in the boggy parts of the 
Common, and firewood in its coppices. Mr. Grote, like 
others, had availed himself of this right for the benefit 
of the labourers he employed. Lady Grenville forbade 
the exercise of it, and when remonstrated with, her 
agent declared the Common not to be “a Common of 
turbary,” and that Lady Grenville was entitled to the 
exclusive jurisdiction over it, to the entire abrogation 
of all rights or privileges on the part of any other per- 
sons. “If she granted leave,” he said, * to anyone to 
take away any portion of the soil, such as turf, gravel, 
peat, and the like, it was as a matter of favour which 
might be annulled at pleasure.” 
Mrs. Grote says that she found but one feeling ex- 
isting on the subject among the people of the parish— 
