66 
NATURE NOTES. 
“ The Forest was thrown open to the public by the Queen in person at High 
Beech, in the presence of a great assemblage of persons, on May 6th, 1882. 
Restitution was thus made, by the Sovereign, of land which in very ancient times 
had probably been taken from the folk-land for the purpose of a Royal Forest, 
and the Forest was dedicated for ever to the use and enjoyment of the public.” 
But not every country-side is favoured with beechen forest 
and heather}'- common. The road-side waste, gay with wild 
flowers and patches of furze, is often the only playground of 
the village children. Of such wastes the law is decidedly 
against inclosure, yet the lords of manors have oftentimes con- 
trived to absorb them. In 1867, the late Lord Salisbury in- 
closed all the road-side strips in the neighbourhood of Hatfield. 
Lord Cowper, who owned adjoining land, sought the advice of 
the Commons Society, and, following the example of Mr. 
Augustus Smith, at Berkhampstead — 
“collected a large body of tenants and labourers, who, under his personal 
superintendence, removed the whole of the fences in the night and early morning. 
Having effected this, he sent a servant on horseback to Hatfield with a letter, 
informing Lord Salisbury of what had been done, and of his reasons for doing it.” 
The limits assigned us forbid of our dwelling on the more 
recent victories of the Commons Preservation Society, and of 
the virtual repeal of the Statute of Merton, which originated, 
the opposition of the present Lord Salisbury notwithstanding, in 
the House of Lords. 
For an account of the lengthy, spirited, and finally success- 
ful, struggle on the part of the Commons Society for the rescue 
of the Banstead Commons, our readers must refer to the volume 
itself. The New Forest case, in which the encroachments of 
the War Office were so triumphantly thwarted, is fresh in all 
our memories. It is a little disappointing to Selbornians, 
however, to find in this book no allusion to the efforts of our 
own Society in the cause of commons and open spaces in general, 
and of the New Forest in particular. Unquestionably many 
members of the Selborne Society are members of the Commons 
Society also, but the former as a body had a distinct share in 
resisting the arrogant attempts of the War Office to create 
Volunteer Ranges in the New Forest. 
Bating this single omission, nothing could be more complete 
or thorough than this record of a battle for public rights. In 
addition to the maps and excellent index, there are several 
valuable tables showing at a glance what commons and forests 
have been placed under regulations, and are secured to the public 
for ever, and how many are still open to the attacks of the ever- 
watchful encroacher and land-grabber. This leads us to con- 
clude with a note of warning. Let no one imagine that the 
battle is over. It is still in the power of lords of manors, as 
^Ir. Shaw-Lefevre tells us, to buy up the rights of commoners, 
and thus, if left to themselves, to annihilate an open space as 
such. To be ever on the alert against such insidious attacks. 
