The quantity of timber actually delivered for naval purposes, from 1764 to 1786, was twenty-three thousand loads of oak, and seven thousand and three loads of beech: the annual quantity, therefore, must have been, on an average, about eight hundred and eighty-five ioads of oak, and two hundred and seventy loads of beech.

It is almost melancholy to consider, for what trifling, childish, and altogether contemptible objects, (excepting always the private peculation that has thriven on the destruction of our heart of oak,) this noble magazine of naval timber has been rendered almost useless to the public. In the report of the commissioners of 1789, it is stated, that the number of deer killed annually, is about seventy-six brace of bucks, and seventeen brace of does; a few of which are sent to His Majesty's larder, and the great officers of the crown: the remainder are distributed in fees to the forest officers, and to the proprietors of neighbouring estates, by way of compensation for the damage sustained by them from the deer trespassing on their lands.

After passing the eleventh stone, the beautiful villa called NORTHERWOOD, seen over the trees on the right, points out the situation of Lyndhurst.

We now leave, on the right, the woods which shelter and conceal IRON SHILL LODGE, and, at the ninth stone, the race-ground, where forest ponies, a sturdy and serviceable breed, and sometimes oxen, exhibit their speed. BOLTON'S BENCH, on the left, commands a good view of the neighbouring woody hills.

LYNDHURST is the most considerable village within the precincts of New Forest, and it may therefore be considered as a sort of capital. Its name occurs in the Domesday-book; and it probably succeeded Castle Malwood in being the rural court of the forest. The principal forest lodge, now called the king's house, but appointed for the residence of the lord warden, stands in the centre of the village. It is a dismal and comfortless old building. During the minority of the late duke of Gloucester's children, it was occasionally used as a nursery. Since that time, His present Majesty, in June, 1789, spent nearly a week here; being the first royal guest that it had entertained since Charles II. Its desolate apartments are now stripped even of their aged furniture. The person who shows the house, produces a curious ancient stirrup, which is asserted to have been used by William Rufus. It is made of iron, and it was once gilt. Its extreme width at the bottom is ten inches and a half; its depth, seven inches and a half; measured all round, it compasses no less than two feet seven inches. It was formerly applied as a test for ascertaining what dogs kept within the forest should suffer expeditation. If a dog could not be drawn through the stirrup, he was to undergo this operation, to disqualify him for the pursuit of deer.*

The ancient hall of this royal hunting seat has obtained the name of Rufus's hall. Here the forest courts are

*"The way of expeditating of mastiffs is done after this manner, viz. Three claws of the fore foot shall be cut off by the shin, by setting one of his fore feet upon a piece of wood eight inches thick and a foot square, and with a mallet, setting a chisel of two inches broad upon the three claws of his fore foot, and at one blow cutting them clean off."-Abridgment of Manwood on Forest Laws, p. 35.

held. The seats for the verderers, and other officers of the courts, at the upper end, are all of sturdy oak, and of great age; as are also some capacious tables. The walls are hung with the antlers of stags, and with the skins of two eagles, which were shot, many years ago, by some of the keepers of the forest.* When the courts are held here, "the green habits of the judges and their officers, assort well with the rest of the scene; and it is impossible to see a court held under this sylvan pomp and circumstance,―to view the mixed and oddly accoutred crowd of people attached,—to hear their defences, founded on some wild notions of natural law, delivered in an uncouth jargon, still considerably dashed with Anglo-Saxon,-to observe the sang froid with which they hear the decision of their judges,—and, not least, to observe the prompt dispatch of justice-it is impossible to witness such a scene, without being transported in imagination back to the fourteenth century."+

Opposite to the king's house, are the royal stables, a spacious quadrangular building, with four very singular conical roofs at the angles.

The church, situated, like the other forest churches, on

*Mr. Gilpin numbers the eagle among the forest birds. "Very often the eagle himself is found in the forest. Mountainous and rocky countries are his delight. On the ledge of some steep prominent rock, he builds his eyry, and rears his royal progeny. But when food becomes scarce in those desolate regions, as it sometimes does, he finds it convenient to make an excursion into the forest. Here he hunts the leveret and the fawn, and screens his atrocious deeds in the closest woods. Wherever he is seen, the watchful forester endeavours to keep him in sight, till he brings him to the ground."-Forest Scenery, vol. ii. p. 294

Notes on the poem previously referred to, entitled the Red King,

a hill, in order that it might be seen at a distance, when rude tracks were the only roads through the forest, is a decent modern structure. It was rebuilt by the bounty of George II. obtained at the instance of lord Lymington, in 1740. The inside is fitted up with great neatness: a capacious pew, at the upper end, is set apart for the royal family: His present Majesty once made use of it. On the north wall of the church, is a finely executed monument of white marble to the memory of Sir Charles Philip Jennings, bart. late of Foxlease, erected by his sister.

This church is a chapel, not in charge, to the rectory of Minstead. The resident population of Lyndhurst, in 1801, consisted of 882 persons; in 1811, of 1015 per

sons.

About the middle of Lyndhurst, stands NORTHERWOOD, which, from its high situation, commands an extensive forest view.

Near this, on the left of the road leading to Christchurch, is CUFFNELLS, the seat of the late Rt. Hon. George Rose, whose useful exertions in behalf of benefit societies and saving banks will be long remembered. "Cuffnells possesses many peculiar advantages of scenery; and, from its bold irregularity of surface, being adorned by majestic oaks, and noble beech trees, composes some charming landscapes. The house stands on a rising ground, embosomed with trees; and is calculated more for internal convenience, and domestic comfort, than splendour. The conservatory is filled with a choice assemblage of plants. It communicates, by large folding doors, with the library, which is supposed to contain one of the most valuable collection of books belonging to any

private gentleman in the kingdom. They came into the possession of Mr. Rose, from the late earl of Marchmont, who died in 1792, and to whom Mr. Rose was sole executor." There are valuable original portraits in the house, of William III. Pope, lord Bolingbroke, Sarah duchess of Marlborough, Sir W. Wyndham, and the late earl of Chatham. Mr. Rose was honoured by two visits from their Majesties, who spent a few days at Cuffnells, in the years 1801 and 1804.*

. Turning towards Lymington, we pass FOXLEASE, a comfortable sheltered mansion in a fine valley. The views from the house are necessarily confined. There is water in the park, over which an elegant bridge is thrown.

Immediately beyond this, we enter a scene which is more strictly sylvan, than most of those tracts through which the direct road leads. It is a fine forest vista, and is one of those scenes which the late elegant and regretted author of Remarks on Forest Scenery selected for description.

"We are not to conceive of the forest vista, as we do of the tame vistas formed by the hand of art. As it is cut through a tract of woody country, it is, first, free from all formality in the disposition of the trees. In the artificial vista, the trees are all of one age, and planted in regular growth. The whole plan is the offspring of formality; and the more formal it is, the nearer it approaches that idea of perfection at which it aims.

But,

*Beauties of England and Wales, by Brayley and Britton, vol. vi. p. 179.