162 Swindon and its Neighbourhood — No. 2. 



absolutely nothing to occupy them, the lounger has a strong- ten- 

 dency towards the beer and spirit shops, and I believe a principal 

 difficulty at Greenwich was — and at Chelsea Hospital for old soldiers 

 still is — to keep the old fellows within the bounds of propriety. At 

 the same time it must be admitted that to many of them who have 

 no fortune, no friends, and perhaps no home left, such a hospital may 

 be a welcome and comfortable refuge. 



The scheme lately proposed for doing away with the Charterhouse 

 as an asylum has been for the present defeated, chiefly on the ground 

 that it is an interesting feature of Old London and presents a 

 tolerably perfect specimen of a nobleman's house of the period. 

 But whatever change may be made as to the actual building and 

 the site, Sutton's Charity will certainly be continued under different 

 arrangement. The school has been already removed into the country, 

 and the site was sold : on the pretence, I believe, of its being un- 

 healthy. This, I from experience, can vouch to be utter nonsense, 

 and a further proof of it is that the site was bought by the Merchant 

 Taylors, who instantly removed their school to the spot. 



I have been induced to dwell at some length upon the history 

 and present condition of the Charterhouse in London, first, because 

 it is the history of one of the largest as well as most permanent 

 landlords in North Wilts : and next, because, having been educated 

 at the school there, I have a vivid and affectionate remembrance of 

 the old place and all its associations. But I was not on the foun- 

 dation, and am therefore under no obligation to the rent-payers in 

 Elcombe, Wroughton, and the other estates in this neighbourhood. 



Braden Forest. 

 Turning northwards, in the direction of the Excursion, you have 

 before you, as far as you can see, and farther, a large tract of land 

 formerly called Braden Forest. It was anciently ten times larger 

 than the part called Braden now. You must understand that in 

 early days by a forest was meant not merely a continuous tract 

 of woody country, but a district placed by the authority of the 

 Crown under the severe forest law. Within the prescribed limits, 

 any number of miles long, and any broad, the larger game-— the 



