xix. Staneswood (Staneude), which is more southward, also, according

to _Domesday_, possessed a mill which paid five shillings, and two fisheries worth fifty pence. Farther north lies Redbridge, the Rodbrige of _Domesday_, which also maintained two mills, rented, however, at fifty shillings. This was the Hreutford and Vadum Arundinis of Bede, where lived Cynibert the Abbot, who, failing in his attempt to save the two sons of Arvald from Ceadwalla, delayed their death till he had converted them to Christianity. (Bede, _Hist. Eccl._, tom. i., lib. iv., cap. xvi., p. 284, published by the English Historical Society.) All these places, with the exception of Redbridge, were more or less afforested. The district, however, seems to have been by far the most flourishing of any adjoining the New Forest, owing, no doubt, to the immigration which the various creeks invited, and the remains of salterns still show its former prosperity. Next to it came the Valley of the Avon, its mills often rented, in _Domesday_, by a payment of the eels caught in the river.

[65]Colonel Hammond, Governor of the Isle of Wight, in a letter to the Committee of Derby House, dated from Carisbrook Castle, June 25th, 1648, speaks of “Caushot Castle as a place of great strength.” (Peck’s _Desiderata Curiosa_, vol. ii., book ix., p. 383.) In the reign of Elizabeth there were stationed here a captain, with a fee of one shilling a day; a subaltern with eightpence; four soldiers and eight gunners with sixpence each; and a porter with eightpence. (Peck’s _Desiderata Curiosa_, vol. i., book ii., p. 66.) And in 1567, we find the queen ordering “the mountyng of ordinance,” probably to pay attention to Philip, who was expected to pass through “the narrowe seas.” Record Office. Domestic Series, No. 43, Aug. 27, 1567, f. 52.

[66]_The Chronicle._ Ed. Thorpe. Vol. i. p. 24. _Florence._ Ed. Thorpe. Vol. i. pp. 3, 4.

[67]Compare his edition of _The Chronicle_, vol. ii. p. 13, with note 1 at p. 4, vol. i., of _Florence_.

[68]Early English Settlements in Great Britain—_The Proceedings of the Archæological Institute_, the Salisbury volume, pp. 56-60. It is, of course, not without much consideration that I presume to differ from Dr. Guest; but surely the passages quoted from Bede refer to nearly 200 years after the arrival of Cerdic and his nephews, Stuf and Wihtgar, when their descendants would have been sure to have crossed over, finding the east side far richer than the cold, barren district where the New Forest afterwards stood.

[69]_The Early and Middle Ages of England_, p. 56, foot-note. I may, perhaps, add, that Camden also placed it at Yarmouth; Carte, at Charmouth, in Dorsetshire; and Milner, at Hengistbury Head. Gibson, with some others, in his edition of _The Chronicle_ (under _nominum locorum explicatio_, pp. 19, 20), alone seems to have fixed on this spot. Lappenburg, however, says that the site is no longer known. _England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings._ Ed. Thorpe, p. 107.

[70]In a letter of Southampton’s to Cromwell, 17th September, 1539 (_State Papers_, vol. i. p. 617), it is called Calsherdes; whilst in another letter of his, also to Cromwell (_Ellis’s Letters_, second series; vol. ii. p. 87), he writes Calshorispoynte. Leland, in his _Itinerary_ (Ed. Hearne, second edition, vol. iii., p. 94, f. 78), speaks of both “Cauldshore” and “Caldshore Castelle;” and again (p. 93, f. 77), calls it Cawshot, as it is also spelt in Baptista Boazio’s Map of the Isle of Wight, 1591; whilst in the State papers of Elizabeth we find Calshord. (Record Office. Domestic Series, No. 43, f. 52. Aug. 27th, 1567.) I give these examples to show the number of variations through which the name has passed. No form is too grotesque for a corruption to assume. How names become corrupted, let me give an instance in the word Hagthorneslad (from the Old-English “hagaþorn;” a hawthorn), as it is written in the perambulation of the Forest in the twenty-ninth year of Edward I., which in Charles II.’s time is spelt Haythorneslade, thus losing its whole significance, although to this day the word “hag” is used in the Forest for a “haw,” or “berry.”

[71]The simple termination “ore”—“ora,” and not “oar,” as spelt in the Ordnance Map, may be found within a stone’s-throw of Calshot, in Ore Creek.

[72]See previously, chapter iv. p. 40, foot-note.

[73]The derivation of Leap as given in the text is very doubtful.—_errata_

[74]At the date of the Dauphin’s leaving England, William de Vernon was dead, which makes his embarkation at Leap less probable. Neither Roger of Wendover (vol. iv. p. 32. Ed. Coxe), nor Walter Hemingburgh (vol. i. p. 259. Ed. Hamilton), nor Ralph Coggeshale (_Chronicon, Anglicanum Bouquet Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France_, tom. xviii. p. 113 C.), nor the _Chronicon Turonense_ (in the _Veterum Scriptorum Amplissima Collectio_ of Martène and Durand, tom. v. p. 1059 B), nor Rymer’s _Fœdera_ (“De salvo conductu Domini Ludovici,” tom. i. p. 222), say anything of the place of embarkation.

[75]I believe on that of the Oglander MSS. in the possession of the Earl of Yarborough, but which I have never seen. Neither the _Iter Carolinum_, Herbert’s _Memoirs_ (London, 1572, p. 38), Huntington’s account (same volume, p. 160), Berkeley’s _Memoirs_ (second edition, 1702, p. 65), _The Ashburnham Narrative_ (London, 1830, vol. ii. p. 119), nor Whalley’s letter in Peck’s _Desiderata Curiosa_ (tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 374, 375), nor Hammond’s, in Rushworth’s _Collection_ (part iv., vol. ii., p. 874), mention the place, though the latter would seem to indicate that the King sailed direct from Tichfield to Cowes. Ashburnham and Berkeley had, we know from Berkeley (_Memoirs_, same edition as before, p. 57) and Ludlow (_Memoirs_, 1771, p. 93), previously gone by Lymington to the Island.

[76]The road is marked in the map which accompanies Dr. Guest’s paper on “The Belgic Ditches.” _The Archæological Journal_, vol. viii. p. 143.

[77]As the passage is so important, I give it in full:—Ἀποτυποῦντες δ’ εἰς ἀστραγάλων ῥυθµοὺς κοµίζουσιν εἴς τινα νῆσον προκειµένην µὲν τῆς Βρεττανικῆς, ὀνοµαζοµένην δὲ Ἴκτιν. κατὰ γὰρ τὰς ἀµπώτεις ἀναξηραινοµένου τοῦ µεταξὺ τόπου ταῖς ἁµάξαις εἰς ταύτην κοµίζουσι δαψιλῆ τὸν καττίτερον. Ἴδιον δέ τι συµβαίνει περὶ τὰς πλησίον νήσους τὰς µεταξὺ κειµένας τῆς τε Εὐρώπης καὶ τῆς Βρεττανικῆς. Κατὰ µὲν γὰρ τὰς πληµµυρίδας τοῦ µεταξὺ πόρου πληρουµένου νῆσοι φαίνονται, κατὰ δὲ τὰς ἀµπώτεις ἀποῤῥεούσης τῆς θαλάττης καὶ πολὺν τόπον ἀναξηραινούσης θεωροῦνται χεῤῥόνησοι.—Lib. v., cap. xxii., vol. i., p. 438. Ed. Dindorf. Leipsic, 1828-31. Pliny, as Wesseling remarks, in his note on this passage, quoted by Dindorf, vol. iv. p. 421, by some mistake, makes the Isle of Wight (Mictis) six days’ sail from England. See Sir G. C. Lewis’s _Astronomy of the Ancients_, chap. viii., sect. iii. p. 453.

[78]As before, sect. iv. p. 462.

[79]_The South-Western Parts of Hampshire_, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6, 1793.

[80]For an account of the barrows on Beaulieu Heath, see ch. xvii.

[81]Dugdale’s _Monasticon Anglicanum_. Ed 1825, vol. v., p. 682. Num. ii. See _Chronica de Kirkstall_. Brit. Mus. Cott. MSS. Domitian. A. xii., ff. 85, 86. The cause of John’s enmity against the Cistercian Order may be gathered from Ralph Coggeshale, _Chronicon Anglicanum_, as before in Bouquet, _Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France_, tom. xviii. pp. 90, 91.

[82]_Carta Fundationis per Regem Johannem_, given in Dugdale (Ed. 1825, vol. v. p. 683); and _Confirmacio Regis Edwardi tertii super cartas Regis Johannis_, Brit. Mus., Bib. Cott. Nero, A. xii., No. v., ff. 8-15, quoted in Warner (_South-West Parts of Hampshire_, vol. ii., Appendix, pp. 7-14). There are, however, no less than three dates given for its foundation. The _Annals of Parcolude_, according to Tanner (_Notitia Monastica_, Ed. Nasmyth, Hampshire, No. vi. foot-note _h_), say 1201, which is manifestly wrong; whilst John of Oxnede, better known as the chronicler of St. Benet’s Abbey at Hulme (_Chronica._ Ed. Ellis, p. 107), with the _Chronicon de Hayles et Aberconwey_ (Brit. Mus., Harl. MS., No. 3725, f. 10), and Matthew Paris, according to Dugdale, say respectively 1204 and 1205, though I have not been able to verify the last reference.

[83]_Roger of Wendover._ English Historical Society. Ed. Coxe, vol. iii. p. 344.

[84]See the previous chapter, pp. 57, 58, foot-note.

[85]Curiously enough, as Warner remarks (vol. i. 267), Matthew Paris gives two dates for the dedication, the first 1246 (_Hist. Angl._, tom. i. p. 710, Ed. Wats., London, 1640); and the second (p. 770) 1249; not, however, 1250, as Warner says, and who, followed by all later writers, totally misunderstands the passage, which means that, although the abbot spent so large a sum, yet the King would not remit him the fine he had incurred by trespass in the Forest,—“Nec tamen idcirco aliquatenus pepercit rex, quin maximum censum solveret illi pro transgressione quam dicebatur regi fecisse in occupatione Forestæ.”

[86]See Matthew Paris, in praise of the Cistercian Order. Same edition as before, tom. i. p. 916.

[87]Not Margaret of Anjou, as the common accounts say, who, landing at Weymouth, took refuge at Cerne Abbey. See _Historie of the Arrival of Edward IV. in England_, pp. 22, 23, printed for the Camden Society, 1838; and Hollinshed’s _Chronicles_, vol. iii. p. 685; and _Speed_, B. ix. p. 866. Hall, however (_The Union of the Families of Lancaster and York_, p. 219), with Grafton, in his prose continuation of Hardyng (Ed. Ellis, 1812, p. 457), says it was to Beaulieu that Margaret fled. But they are evidently mistaken, as Speed and Hollinshed, and the explicit and circumstantial narrative of the author of the _Historie_, show.

[88]The following list of books at Beaulieu, taken by Leland (_Collect. de Rebus Brit._, vol. iv. p. 149), just before the dissolution, will show what was in those days an average ecclesiastical library:—“_Eadmerus de Vitâ Anselmi, et Vitâ Wilfridi Episcopi._ _Stephanus super Ecclesiasticum, Libros Regum, et Parabolas Salomonis._ _Joannes Abbas de Fordâ super Cantica Canticorum._ _Damascenus de Gestis Barlaam eremitæ, et Josaphat regis Indiæ._ _Libellus Candidi Ariani_” (most probably the _De Generatione Divinâ_). “_Libellus Victorini, rhetoris, contra Candidum_” (the _Confutatorium Candidi Ariani_, written against the preceding work). “_Tres libri Claudiani de Statu Animæ ad Sidonium Apollinarem._ _Gislebertus super Epistolas Pauli. Prosper de Vitâ contemplativâ et activâ._”

[89]_Ellis’s Letters_, second series, vol. ii. p. 87. For Henry VIII.’s enforcement of Wolsey’s levies on Beaulieu, see _State Papers_, vol. i., part ii., p. 383.

[90]Accounts of this palace—probably, as Mr. Walcott says, the King’s hunting lodge—may be found in the _Proceedings of the Archæological Institute_, 1846, p. 32, and the Rev. Makenzie Walcott’s _Church and Conventual Arrangement_, p. 115.

[91]Her remains were lately discovered near the high altar, with part of the inscription on her gravestone. (See the Rev. F. W. Baker’s account in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, vol. ccxiv. p. 63.) A carved head with a crown in the refectory preserves the memory of her husband, crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle King of the Romans, and whose heart was buried, in a marble vase, beside his wife. (Leland, as before, iv. 149.) Tradition says that Eleanor of Acquitaine was also buried here, but she lies with her husband at Fontevraud.

[92]Warner (vol. i. 255) mentions that in his time there was still brandy in the steward’s cellars made from the vines growing on the spot. _Domesday_ gives several entries of wines (see Ellis’s _Introduction_, vol. i. pp. 116, 117), though none in the Forest district. But the term ‘Vineyards’ is still frequently found hereabouts as the name of fields generally marked by a southern slope, as at Beckley and Hern, near Christchurch, showing how common formerly was the cultivation of the vine, first introduced into England by the Romans.

[93]In Brit. Mus., Harl. MS. 892, f. 40 _b_, is an extract from a most interesting letter written in 1648, describing the state of the refectory, which seems, with the exception of the alterations made in 1746, to have been much the same as at present.

[94]Corrected from “the injunction which the Bishop of Hippo gives to the canons of his own order”—_errata_

[95]Quoted from Dugdale’s _Monasticon Anglicanum_, by Warner, vol. i. p. 249.

[96]It is pleasant to have to add that the present noble owner, the Duke of Buccleuch, has shown not only good taste and judgment in the restoration of the guest-house and the excavation of the church, but a wise liberality in throwing the grounds open to the public.

[97]In Parker’s _Glossary of Architecture_ is given a list of some of these old barns. Vol. i. pp. 240, 241.

[98]Some curious leaden pipes, soldered only on one side, were dug up close by, which are worth seeing, as they show how late the process of running hollow lead pipes was invented. The earthenware pipes found with them are as good as any which are now made. At Otterwood Farm, on the other side of the Exe, pavement and tiles have also been discovered.

[99]The chapel was standing in Warner’s time. _South-Western Parts of Hampshire_, vol. i. pp. 232, 233.

[100]In Brit. Mus., Bib. Cott., Nero, A. xii., No. vii. f. 20 _a b_, is a copy of a Bull from Alexander I., giving permission to all the Cistercian Houses to hold service at their granges.

[101]Even Layton saw their kindness, and pleaded for the poor wretches whom they had protected. Letter regarding Beaulieu Sanctuary from Layton to Cromwell, _Ellis’s Letters_, third series, vol. iii. pp. 72, 73.

[102]Blount’s _Fragmenta Antiquitatis_. Ed. Beckwith, p. 80, 1815. _Testa de Nevill_, p. 235 a (118). We know, however, that our forefathers, long before this, possessed beds, or rather cots, hung round with rich embroidered canopies. For their general love, too, of comfort and personal ornament and dress, we need go no further than to Chaucer’s description of “Richesse,” in his _Romaunt of the Rose_. Englishmen, however, were still then, as now, ever ready to lead a rough life if necessary, and to make their toil their pleasure.

[103]In that portion of it which comes under the title of “In Forestâ et circa eam.” See chap. iii. p. 31.

[104]All over England did the church towers serve as landmarks, alike in the fen and forest districts. Lincolnshire and Yorkshire can show plenty of such steeples. At St. Michael’s at York, to this hour, I believe, at six every morning, is rung the bell whose sound used to guide the traveller through the great forest of Galtres; whilst at All Saints, in the Pavement, in the same city, is shown the lantern, which every night used to serve as a beacon.

[105]The following measurements may have some interest, and can be compared with those of the oaks and beeches in the Forest, given in chap. ii. p. 16, foot-note:—Circumference of the oak, twenty-two feet eight inches. Yew, seventeen feet. An enormous yew, completely hollow, however, stands in Breamore churchyard, measuring twenty-three feet four inches. There are certainly no yews in the Forest so large as these; and their evidence would further show that at all events the Conqueror did not destroy the churchyards. As here, too, there remains some Norman work in the doorway of Breamore church.

[106]For some account of these barrows, see chapter xvii.

[107]The word is from the French _merise_. At Wood Green, in the northern part of the Forest, a “merry fair” of these half-wild cherries is held once a week during the season, probably similar to that of which Gower sung.

[108]An objection, that the lime-tree was not known so early in England, has been taken to this derivation. This is certainly a mistake. In that fine song of the Battle of Brunanburh, we find—

“Bordweal clufan Heowan heaþolinde Hamora lafan.” (_The Chronicle._ Ed. Thorpe. Vol. i. p. 200.)

The “geolwe lind” was sung of in many a battle-piece. Again, as Kemble notices (_The Saxons in England_, vol. i., Appendix A, p. 480), we read in the _Cod. Dip._, No. 1317, of a marked linden-tree. (See, also, same volume, book i., chap. ii., p. 53, foot-note.) Then, too, we have the Old-English word _lindecole_, the tree being noted for making good charcoal, as both it and the dog-wood are to this day. Any “Anglo-Saxon” dictionary will correct this notion, and names of places, similarly compounded, are common throughout England.

[109]The entry in _Domesday_ (facsimile of the part relating to Hampshire, photo-zincographed at the Ordnance Survey, 1861, p. iv. a) is as follows:—“In Bovere Hundredo. Ipse Rex tenet Linhest. Jacuit in Ambresberie de firmâ Regis. Tunc, se defendebat pro ij hidis. Modo, Herbertus forestarius ex his ij hidis unam virgatam (tenet), et pro tanto geldat; aliæ sunt in forestâ. Ibi modo nichil, nisi ij bordarii. Valet x solidos. Tempore Regis Edwardi valuit vi. libras.” It is worth noticing that Lyndhurst is here put by itself, and not with Brockenhurst and Minestead, and other neighbouring places under “In Novâ Forestâ et circa eam;” a clear proof, which might be gathered from other entries, that the survey was not completed.

[110]Blount’s _Fragmenta Antiquitatis_. Ed. Beckwith, p. 183. 1815. Here the place is called Lindeshull.

[111]Let me especially call attention to the exquisite carving of some thorns and convolvuluses in the chancel. It is a sad pity that this part of the church should be disfigured by glaring theatrical candlesticks and coarse gaudy Birmingham candelabra.

[112]I have only seen but the slightest portion of this fresco, so that it is impossible to properly judge of even the merits of this part. No criticism is true which does not consider a work of Art as a whole. At present, the angel with outstretched hands, full of nervous power and feeling, seems to me very admirable, though the position and meaning of the cloaked and clinging figure below is, at the first glance, difficult to make out; but this will doubtless, as the picture proceeds, become clear. The richness, however, of the colouring can even now be seen under the enormous disadvantage of being placed beneath the strong white glare of light which pours in from the east window. Further, Mr. Leighton must be praised for his boldness in breaking through the old conventionalities of Art, and giving us here the owl as a symbol of sloth, and the wretchedness it produces.

[113]_Herbert’s Memoirs of Charles I._, p. 95.

[114]William of Malmesbury: _Gesta Regum Anglorum_. Ed. Hardy, tom. ii., lib. iv., sect. 333, p. 508.

[115]Vitalis: _Historia Eccl._, pars. iii., lib. x., cap. xii., in Migne: _Patrologiæ Cursus_, tom. clxxxviii. pp. 751, 752; where occurs (pp. 750, 751) a most remarkable sermon, on the wrongs and woes of England, preached at St. Peter’s Abbey, Shrewsbury, on St. Peter’s Day, by Fulchered, first abbot of Shrewsbury, a man evidently of high purpose, ending with these ominous words:—“The bow of God’s vengeance is bent against the wicked. The arrow, swift to wound, is already drawn out of the quiver. Soon will the blow be struck; but the man who is wise to amend will avoid it.” Surely this is more than a general denunciation. On the very next day William the Red falls.

[116]Malmesbury, as before quoted, p. 509. Vitalis, however, in Migne, as before, p. 751, says there were some others.

[117]William of Malmesbury says nothing about the tree, from which nearly all modern historians represent the arrow as glancing. Vitalis, as before, p. 751, expressly states that it rebounded from the back of a beast of chase (_fera_), apparently, by the mention of bristles (_setæ_), a wild-boar. Matthew Paris (Ed. Wats., tom. i. p. 54) first mentions the tree, but his narrative is doubtful.

[118]Malmesbury, as before, p. 509. The additions that it was a charcoal-cart, as also the owner’s name, are merely traditional.

[119]The _Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 364.

[120]Vitalis, as before, p. 752. Neither William of Malmesbury nor Vitalis, who go into details, mentions the spot where the King was killed. The _Chronicle_ and Florence of Worcester most briefly relate the accident, though Florence adds that William fell where his father had destroyed a chapel. (Ed. Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 45). Henry of Huntingdon (_Historiarum_, lib. vii., in Saville’s _Scriptores Rerum Anglicarum_, p. 378) says but little more, dwelling only on the King’s wickedness and the supernatural appearance of blood. Matthew Paris brings a bishop on the scene, as explaining another dream of the King’s, and gives the King’s speech of “trahe arcum, diabole” to Tiril, which has a certain mad humour about it, as also the incident of the tree, and the apparition of a goat (_Hist. Major. Angl._ Ed. Wats., pp. 53, 54), which are not to be found in _Roger of Wendover_ (_Flores Hist._ Ed. Coxe, tom. ii., pp. 157-59), and therefore open to the strongest suspicion. Matthew of Westminster (_Flores Hist._ Ed. 1601, p. 235) follows, in most of his details, William of Malmesbury. Simon of Durham (_De Gestis Regum Anglorum_, in Twysden’s _Historian Anglicanæ Scriptores Decem_, p. 225), as, too, Walter de Hemingburgh (Ed. Hamilton, vol. i. p. 33), and Roger Hoveden (_Annalium Pars Prior_, in Saville’s _Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores_, pp. 467, 468), copy Florence of Worcester. So, too, in various ways, with all the later writers, who had access to no new sources of information. Peter Blois, however, in his continuation of _Ingulph_ (Gales’s _Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores_, tom. i. pp. 110, 111; Oxford, 1684) is more vivid, and adds that the dogs were chasing the stags up a hill; but his whole book is very doubtful, and his account in this particular instance is irreconcilable with the others. Gaimar (_L’Estorie des Engles._ Ed. Wright. Caxton Society, pp. 217-224), who says that the King was hunting near Brockenhurst (Brokehest), gives a still more detailed account, but we are met by the same difficulties. Of later writers, Leland, in his _Itinerary_ (vol. vi. f. 100, p. 88) states that the King fell at Thorougham, where in his time there was still a chapel standing, evidently meaning Fritham, called Truham in _Domesday_. Gilpin (_Forest Scenery_, vol. i. p. 166) mentions a similar tradition; so that there is a very reasonable doubt as to the spot itself being where the Stone stands, especially since, with the exception of the vague remark of Florence, none of the best Chroniclers say one word about the place. Thierry, in many minor particulars, follows Knyghton, whose authority is of little value, and I have therefore omitted all reference to him.

[121]Very much against my inclination, I give a sketch of the iron case of the Stone, which the artist has certainly succeeded in making as beautiful as it is possible to do. The public would not, I know, think the book complete without it. It stands, however, rather as a monument of the habit of that English public, who imagine that their eyes are at their fingers’ ends, and of a taste which is on a par with that of the designer of the post-office pillar-boxes, than of the Red King’s death, for the spot where he fell is, as we have seen from the previous note, by no means certain. We must, too, remember that there is no mention made by the Chroniclers of Castle Malwood, but the context in Vitalis, as also the late hour mentioned by Malmesbury when William went out to hunt, show that he was at the time staying somewhere in the Forest.

[122]See, as before, Lappenberg’s _History of England under the Norman Kings_, pp. 266-8; and Sharon Turner’s _History of England during the Middle Ages_, vol. iv. pp. 166-8.

[123]“Tabidi aëris nebulâ” are the words of William of Malmesbury. (_Gesta Regum Anglorum._ Ed. Hardy, tom. ii., lib. iii., sect. 275, pp. 454, 455.)

[124]_Gul. Gemeticensis de Ducibus Normannorum_, lib. vii., cap. ix. To be found in Camden’s _Anglica Scripta_, p. 674.

[125]This seems to be the meaning of a not very clear passage in William of Malmesbury. Same edition as before, p. 455. Vitalis, however, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, pars 3, lib. x., cap. xi. (in _Migne, Patrologiæ Cursus Completus_, tom. clxxxviii. pp. 748, 749), says he was shot by a knight, who expiated the deed by retiring to a monastery, and speaks in high terms both of him and his brother William, who fell in one of the Crusades.

[126]Ed. Thorpe, vol. ii. p. 45. Lewis, in his _Topographical Remarks on the New Forest_, pp. 57-62, is hopelessly wrong with regard to Richard, the son of Robert, a grandson of the Conqueror, whom he calls Henry, and confounds at p. 62 with his uncle; and makes both William of Malmesbury and Baker (see his _Chronicle_, p. 37, Ed. 1730) say quite the reverse of what they write.

[127]As I am not writing a History of England during this period, my space will not permit me to enter into those details which, when viewed collectively, carry so much weight in an argument; but at all events, it will be well for some of my readers to bear in mind the character of William II., who in a recent work has lately been elevated into a hero. Without any of his father’s ability or power of statesmanship, he inherited all his vices, which he so improved that they became rather his own. From having no occupation for his mind, he sank more and more into licentiousness and lust. (“Omni se immunditiâ deturpabat,” is the strong expression of John of Salisbury. _Life of Anselm_, part ii. ch. vii., in Wharton’s _Anglia Sacra_, tom. ii. p. 163. See, also, Suger, _Vita Lud. Grossi Regis_, cap. i., in Bouquet: _Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France_, tom. xii. p. 12. D. E.) Being lustful, he naturally became cruel; not as his father was, on, at least, the plea of necessity, but that he might enjoy a cultivated pleasure in gloating over the sufferings of others. From being cruel, too, he became, in its worst sense, an infidel; not from any pious scruple or deep conviction, but simply that he might indulge his passions. (See that fearful story of the trial of forty Englishmen told in Eadmer: _Hist. Nov._, lib. ii., p. 48, Ed. 1633, which illustrates in a twofold manner both his cruelty and his atheism.)

To a total want of eloquence he joined the most inveterate habit of stammering, so that, when angry, he could barely speak. His physical appearance, too, well harmonized with his moral and mental deformities. His description reads rather like that of a fiend than of a man. Possessing enormous strength, he was small, thick-set, and ill-shaped, having a large stomach. His face was redder than his hair, and his eyes of two different colours. His vices were, in fact, branded on his face. (Malmesbury, Ed. Hardy, tom. ii., lib. iv., sect. 321, p. 504, whom I have literally translated.)

Let us look, too, at the events of his reign. Crime after crime crowds upon us. His first act was to imprison those whom his father had set free. He loaded the Forest Laws with fresh horrors. Impartial in his cruelty, he plundered both castle and monastery (_The Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 364). He burnt out the eyes of the inhabitants of Canterbury, who had taken the part of the monks of St Augustin’s. At the very mention of his approach the people fled (Eadmer: _Hist. Nov._, lib. iv. p. 94). Unable himself to be everywhere, his favourites, Robert d’Ouilly harried the middle, and Odineau d’Omfreville the north of England; whilst his Minister, Ralph Flambard, committed such excesses that the people prayed for death as their only deliverance (_Annal. Eccles. Winton._, in Wharton’s _Anglia Sacra_, tom. i. p. 295).

As _The Chronicle_ impressively says, “In his days all right fell, and all wrong in the sight of God and of the world rose.” Norman and English, friend and foe, priest and layman, were united by one common bond of hatred against the tyrant. It could only be expected that as his life was, so his death would be; that he would be betrayed by his companions, and in his utmost need deserted by his friends.

[128]Eadmer: _Vita Anselmi_, Ed. Paris, 1721, p. 23. John of Salisbury: _Vita Anselmi_, cap. xi.; in Wharton’s _Anglia Sacra_, tom. ii. p. 169. William of Malmesbury: Ed. Hardy, vol. ii., b. iv., sect. 332, p. 507; and Roger of Wendover, Ed. Coxe, vol. ii. pp. 159, 160.

[129]Vitalis: _Historia Ecclesiastica_, pars 3, lib. x.; in Migne, _Patrologiæ Cursus Completus_, tom. clxxxviii., pp. 750 D, 751 A. See previously, p. 94, foot-note.

[130]Eadmer: _Vita Anselmi_, Ed. Paris, 1721, p. 6.

[131]Baxter, in his Preface to his _Glossarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum_, Ed. 1719, p. 12, entirely misquotes Alanus de Insulis (see _Prophetica Anglicana Merlini Ambrosii cum septem libris explanationum Alani de Insulis_. Frankfort, 1603. Lib. ii. pp. 68, 69), and completely misunderstands the passage. Alanus, however (p. 69), seems to have no doubt that the King fell by treachery,—“spiculo invidiæ,” as was foretold by Merlin, though he gives no other reason; and which by itself, resting on nothing further, would carry no weight. His account, though, of the general detestation of the Red King immediately before his death, as also the conversation of Hugh, Abbot of Cluny, with Anselm (p. 68), is very suggestive, especially by the way in which it is introduced. Alanus must have possessed far too shrewd an intellect to have believed in Merlin; though it might have suited his purpose to have appeared to have so done, as a veil and a blind, so that he might better say what his high position and authority would not in any other form have well permitted, but which still give to many points, as here, enormous significance and weight.

Besides Gaimar and Alanus, Nicander Nucius also hints at treachery (_Second Book of Travels_, published by the Camden Society, pp. 34, 35), but his account is too vague to be of any service. We should, however, constantly bear in mind, with Lappenberg, that the best authority, _The Chronicle_, simply relates that the King was shot at the chase by one of his friends, without any allusion to an accident. Not one word or fact else is given, except the appearance of a pool of blood in Berkshire (at Finchhamstead, according to William of Malmesbury), which we know, from other sources, was supposed to foretell some calamity, and which phenomenon science now resolves into merely some species of _alga_, probably either _Palmella cruenta_ or _Hæmatococcus sanguineus_. Eadmer, with some others, in his _Historia Novorum_, lib. ii. (Migne: _Patrologiæ Cursus Completus_, tom. clix. p. 422 B) mentions a report, prevalent at the time, that the King accidentally stumbled on an arrow. Then follows, in the very next book (Migne, as before, p. 423 B), a singular passage, to be found also in his _Life of Anselm_, book ii. ch. vi. (Migne, as before, tom. clviii. p. 108 D), where, on the news of the Red King’s death, Anselm bursts into tears, and, with sobs, cries, “Quod si hoc efficere posset, multo magis eligeret se ipsum corpore, quam illud, sicut erat, mortuum esse.” Whether this wish sprang from the effects of some pangs of conscience as to William’s death, or from an honourable feeling of natural emotion under the circumstances, as suggested by Sharon Turner, it is hard to determine. From John of Salisbury (_Vita Anselmi_, pars ii., cap. xi., in Wharton’s _Anglia Sacra_, tom. ii. p. 169), it would seem that Anselm thought that he was the direct cause, through God, of his death. Wace, quoted by Sharon Turner (vol. iv. p. 169), says that a woman prophesied to Henry his speedy accession to the throne; but I am not inclined to put any faith in this story, especially as Wace’s account is in poetry, where a prophetical speech might after the event be given dramatically true, without being so historically. The same criticism must be applied to the still more detailed account of Gaimar, who vaguely accuses Tiril of conspiracy. No one, however, was likely to declare, for so many reasons, that the King was murdered. We must not expect such a statement, or even look for it in the Chroniclers; we must seek for it in the contradictions, and absurdities, and prophecies which have gathered round the event.

[132]Let no one be startled at the fact of ecclesiastics being assassins. We have on record during this very reign the deliberate confessions by monks of plots to murder their abbots, deeming they were doing God a service. We must further keep steadily in mind that prelates then united in their own persons both sacred and military offices. How much Henry was under the influence of the monasteries his marriage and his various appointments show. Their power was enormous. In fact, I believe that the Conqueror owed his success as much to them as Rufus his death, and Henry his crown.

[133]At the time of his death he held in his hand the archbishopric of Canterbury, the bishoprics of Winchester and Salisbury, besides eleven abbacies, all let out to rent. _The Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 364.

[134]_The Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 356.

[135]William of Malmesbury, Ed. Hardy, tom. ii., lib. iv., sect. 306, p. 488.

[136]The same, tom. ii., lib. iv., sect. 319, p. 502.

[137]_The Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 362.

[138]Suger: _Vita Lud. Grossi Regis_, cap. i. (to be found, as before, in Bouquet, tom. xii. p. 12 E.) See, also, John of Salisbury: _Vita Anselmi_; Migne: _Patrologiæ Cursus Completus_, tom. cxcix., cap. xii., p. 1031 B.; or, as before, in Wharton’s _Anglia Sacra_, tom. ii. p. 170.

[139]Quoted by Sharon Turner: _History of England_, vol. iv. p. 167. See, as before, Migne: tom. cxcix., cap. xii., p. 1031 B.

[140]The word, however, is going out of use, and is more generally now softened into hill. We meet with it in the perambulation of the Forest made in the twenty-second year of Charles II.—“The same hedge reaches Barnfarn from the right hand, right by Helclose, as far as to a certain corner called Hell Corner.”

[141]For the geology of this part of the Forest see chapter xx.

[142]_Testa de Nevill_, p. 237 b. 130. See, also, p. 235 b. (118). Throughout the Forest, as we have seen at Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst, were similar feudal tenures. Some held their lands, as the heirs of Cobbe, at Eling, by finding 50; and others, again, as Richard de Baudet, at Redbridge, 100 arrows. _Testa de Nevill_, as in the first reference; and p. 238 a. (132).

[143]See previous chapter, p. 96, foot-note.

[144]For some account of the contents of these barrows and potteries, see chapters xvii. and xviii.

[145]Lewis: _Topographical Remarks on the New Forest_, p. 80, foot-note. I have not, however, been able to find his authority. A tradition of the sort lingers in the neighbourhood. Blount (_Fragmenta Antiquitatis_, Ed. Beckwith, p. 115. 1815) says that Richard Carevile held here six librates a year of land in chief of Edward I., by finding a sergeant-at-arms for forty days every year in the King’s army. See, also, the _Testa de Nevill_, p. 231 (101), No. 3.

[146]Dugdale: _Monasticon Anglicanum_, Ed. 1830, vol. vi., part ii., p. 761. Leland, however (_Itin._, vol. iii., f. 72, p. 88, Ed. Hearne), says it was given to King’s College, Cambridge.

[147]_The Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 26. _Florence of Worcester_, Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 4.

[148]Same edition as before, p. iv. a. Its manor then belonged to that of Rockbourne, and was held in demesne by the Conqueror, as it had also been by Edward the Confessor. Two hydes and a half, and a wood capable of supporting fifty swine, were taken into the Forest. From the mention of a priest (_presbyter_), who received twenty shillings from some land in the Isle of Wight, there may have been, though by no means necessarily, a church, situated, as the old yew would perhaps show, in the present churchyard, and of which the Norman doorway may be the last remains.

The Valley of the Avon, as was mentioned in chapter v., p. 51, foot-note, appears from its nature to have been, with the exception of the east coast, the most flourishing district of any in the neighbourhood of the Forest. It is worth, however, noticing that many of its mills were rented not only by a money value, but by the additional payment of so many eels. Thus at Charford (Cerdeford) the mill is rented at 15_s._ and 1,250 eels, and at Burgate (Borgate) the mill paid 10_s._ and 1,000 eels, whilst at Ibbesley (Tibeslei) the rental was only 10_s._ and 700 eels (_Domesday_, as before, pp. xix. a, iv. b, xviii. a). The latter place had two hydes, and Burgate its woods and pasture, which maintained forty hogs, taken into the Forest; but Charford with its ninety-one acres of meadow-land, seems not to have been afforested, which, taken with other instances, shows that the best land was, as a rule, spared.

[149]In the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for 1828, vol. 98, part, ii., p. 17, is a sketch of the house, taken fifty years ago, which, with the exception of some parts now pulled down, much resembles its present condition.

[150]Monmouth, like a second Warbeck, was in all probability on his way through the Forest to Lymington, where Dore, the mayor, had raised for him a troop of men, and would assist him to embark. At Axminster, in Dorsetshire, there is a local MS. record, “_Ecclesiastica, or the Book of Remembrance_,” made by some member of the Axminster Independent Chapel, of the sufferings of Monmouth’s followers, which appears to have been unknown to Macaulay.

[151]There was formerly a cell here, subordinate to the Abbey of Saint Saviour le Vicomte in Normandy, to which it was given by William de Solariis, A.D. 1163, but dissolved by Henry VI., and its revenues annexed to Eton. Tanner’s _Notitia Monastica_, Hants., No. xii. See, also, Dugdale’s _Monasticon Anglicanum_, Ed. 1830, vol. vi., part. ii., p. 1046.

[152]Same edition as before, p. iv. a. The entry is remarkably interesting. Out of its ten hydes, four were taken into the Forest. In the six which were left, there dwelt fifty-six villeins, twenty-one borderers, six serfs, and one freeman. There were here 105 acres of meadow, a mill which paid 22_s._, and a church with half a hyde of land. On the four hydes which were taken into the Forest, fourteen villeins, and six borderers, who had seven ploughlands, used to dwell. How very much the woodland preponderated over the arable we may tell by the additional entry, that the woods maintained 189 hogs, whilst a mill in that part was only assessed at 30_d._, which facts may help us to form some opinion of the kind of soil that was in general afforested. The meadows, as usual, were not touched.

[153]See Yarrell’s _History of British Fishes_, vol. ii. pp. 399-401.

[154]On this phenomenon, see Lyell’s _Antiquity of Man_, p. 139.

[155]The Ordnance map here falls into an error, placing Sandford a mile too far to the south; whilst it omits the neighbouring village of Beckley, the Beceslei of _Domesday_, and “The Great Horse,” a clump of firs, so called from its shape, a well-known landmark in the Forest, and to the ships at sea, as also “Darrat,” or “Derrit” Lane.

[156]In _Archæologia_, vol. v. pp. 337-40, is a description, illustrated with a plan of these entrenchments, together with the adjoining barrows, most of which have been opened, but the accounts are very scanty and unsatisfactory.

[157]See Dr. Guest on the “Belgic Ditches,” vol. viii. of the _Archæological Journal_, p. 145.

[158]Gibson, in his edition of _The Chronicle_—in the “nominum locorum explicatio,” p. 50, seems to think that Yttingaford, where peace was made between the Danes and Edward, was somewhere in the New Forest, deriving the word from Ytene, the old name of the district. Mr. Thorpe, however, in his translation of _The Chronicle_, vol. ii. p. 77, suggests that it may be Hitchen.

[159]_The Chronicle_. Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. p. 178. _Florence of Worcester_, Ed. Thorpe, vol. i. pp. 117, 118.

[160]Grose, in his _Antiquities_ (vol. ii., under Christchurch Castle), gives the following curious extract from a survey, dated Oct. 1656, concerning the duties of Sir Henry Wallop, the governor:—“Mem.: the constable of the castle or his deputy, upon the apprehension of any felon within the liberty of West Stowesing, to receive the said felon, and convey him to the justice, and to the said jail, at his own proper costs and charges; otherwise the tything-man to bring the said felon, and chain him to the castle-gate, and there to leave him. Cattle impounded in the castle, having hay and water, for twenty hours, to pay fourpence per foot.” The fee of the Constable in the reign of Elizabeth was 8_l._ 0_s._ 9_d._ Peck’s _Desiderata Curiosa_, vol. i., book ii., part. 5, p. 71. In the Chamberlain’s Books of Christchurch we are constantly meeting with some such entry as, “1564, ffor the castel rent for ij yeres—xiij_s._ v_d._” “1593, ffor the chiefe rent to the castel—vi_s._ xi_d._”

[161]Descriptions of it will be found in Hudson Turner’s _Domestic Architecture of England_, vol. i. pp. 38, 39. Parker’s _Glossary of Architecture_, vol. i. p. 167. Grose’s _Antiquities_, vol. ii. Hampshire; in whose time it appears to have been cased with dressed stones. In the Chamberlain’s Books of the Borough, under the date of the sixth year of Edward VI., 1553, we meet with repairs “for the house next the castle,” which entry probably refers to some buildings belonging to the house, which, according to Grose, stretched away in a north-westerly direction to the castle.

[162]_England’s Improvements by Sea and Land._ By Andrew Yarranton. Ed. 1677, pp. 67, 70.

[163]As we have said, the muniment chest of the Christchurch Corporation, like that of all similar towns, is full of interest. It contains absolutions from Archbishops to all those who assist in the good work of making bridges;—letters from absolute patrons directing their clients which way to vote;—bonds from others that they will not require any payment from the burgesses, or put the borough to any expense;—old privileges of catching eels and lampreys with “lyer,” and “hurdells de virgis,” by all of which the past is brought before us. So, too, the Chamberlain’s Books are most interesting. From them we can learn, year by year, the prices of wheat and cattle, the fluctuation of wages, the average condition of the day, and both the minutest outward events as also the innermost life of the town. The true social history of England is written for us in our Chamberlain’s Books. They have unfortunately never been made use of as they deserve. Thus let me give a few general quotations from those of Christchurch. In 1578 lime was 6_d._ a bushel, from which price it fell within two years to 2_d._ Stone for building we find about 1_s._ a ton. Wages then averaged, for a skilled mechanic, from 7_d._ to 1_s._ a day, and for a labourer, 4_d._; whilst night-watchmen, in 1597, were only paid 2_d._ Timber, contrary to what we should have expected, was comparatively dear. Thus in 1588 we find 9_d._ paid for two posts, and 20_d._ for a plank and two posts, whilst a few years afterwards a shilling is paid for making a new gate. Of course in all these calculations we must bear in mind that money was then three times its present value. Turning to other matters, we learn that in 1595, “a pottle of claret wine and sugar” cost 2_s._, whilst a quart of sack is only 12_d._ In 1582, a quart of “whyte wine” is 5_d._, and twenty years before this a barrel and a half of beer cost 4_d._ Again, in 1562, the fourth year of Elizabeth, large salmon, whose weights are not specified, appear to have averaged 7_d._ a piece. A load of straw for thatching came to 2_s._ 6_d._, and in some cases 3_s._, which in 1550 had been as low as 8_d._, and never above 20_d._ Drawing it, or passing it through a machine, cost 4_d._; whilst a thatcher received 1_s._ 4_d._ for his labour of putting it on the roof.

At the same time a load of clay, either for making mortar or for the actual material of the walls, the “cob,” or “pug” of the provincial dialect, was 5_d._, a price at which it had stood with some slight variations for many years.

To conclude, the smallest things are noted. Thus a thousand “peats,” perhaps brought from the Forest, cost, in 1562, 15_d._, whilst a load of “fursen,” still the local plural of furse, perhaps also from the same place, was 8_d._ Nothing in these accounts escapes notice. In 1586 a “coking stole,” the well-known _cathedra stercoris_, the Old-English “_scealfing-stol_,” is charged 10_d._; whilst a collar, or, as it is elsewhere in the same book called, “an iron choker for vagabonds,” cost 14_d._

[164]In _Archæologia_, vol. iv. pp. 117, 118, is a letter from Brander, the geologist and antiquary, describing a quantity of spurs and bones of herons, bitterns and cocks, found on a part of the monastic buildings, showing that the site had been previously occupied.

[165]Holdenhurst had ten hydes and a half taken into the Forest (_Domesday_, as before, iv. a). It then possessed a small church, and, as we find one mentioned in the charter of Richard de Redvers in Henry I.’s reign, we may fairly conclude that this, too, was not destroyed by the Conqueror. There were also there fisheries for the use of the hall.

[166]_Cartularium Monasterii de Christchurch Twinham._ Brit. Mus., Cott. MSS., Tib. D. vi., pars ii., f. 194 a. This chartulary was much injured in the fire of 1731, but has been restored by Sir F. Madden. Quoted in Dugdale’s _Monasticon Anglicanum_, vol. vi. p. 303, Ed. 1830.

[167]For further information, especially on the fortunes of the De Redvers family, and minor details, which I think would hardly interest the general reader, see Brayley’s and Ferrey’s work on the Priory of Christchurch, London, 1834, pp. 6, 11, 22: and Warner’s _South-west Parts of Hampshire_, vol. ii. pp. 55-65, which, notwithstanding some errors, is a most painstaking history.

[168]_Collectanea de Rebus Britannicis_, Ed. Hearne, vol. iv. p. 149.

[169]The possessions of the house were large, and brought in above 600_l._ a year. Yet we find that the brethren were in debt in every direction. At Poole, Salisbury, and Christchurch, they owed 41_l._ 19_s._ 6_d._ for mere necessaries. There was due 24_l._ 2_s._ 8_d._ to the Recorder of Southampton for wine; and a bill of 8_l._ 13_s._ 2_d._ to a merchant of Poole, for “wine, fish, and bere.” Certificate of Monasteries, No. 494, p. 48. Record Office. Quoted by Brayley and Ferrey, Appendix No. vi., pp. 9, 10.

[170]Brit. Mus., Bibl. Cott., Cleopatra, E. iv., f. 324 b.

[171]“Petition of John Draper.” Amongst the Miscellaneous MSS. of the Treasury of the Exchequer, Record Office.

[172]_Archæologia_, vol. v. pp. 224-29.

[173]I know nothing equal to this last screen in the delicacy of its carving, seen in bracket, and canopy, and the flights of angels; in the deep feeling especially manifest in the central bracket, with the Saviour’s head crowned with thorns, but surrounded with fruit and flowers, typical of His sufferings and the world’s benefits; and in the grave humour, not out of place, as allegorical of the world’s pursuits, which peeps forth in the figures over the two doorways.

[174]Lord Herbert’s _Life and Reyne of King Henry VIII._, p. 468. 1649. See, however, Froude: _History of England_, vol. iv. p. 119, foot-note.

[175]The year, as was generally the case, is not given to this letter, but simply December 2nd. From internal evidence, however, it was certainly written in 1539; for we know that the Priory was surrendered Nov. 28th of that year. Why, then, two years before her death, the commissioners should speak of the “late mother of Raynolde pole” I know not.

[176]Below the north transept, part, perhaps, of Edward the Confessor’s church, is a vault, which, when opened, was stacked with bones, like the carnary crypts at Grantham, in Lincolnshire, and of the beautiful church at Rothwell, in Northamptonshire—the “skull houses,” to which we so often find reference in the old churchwardens’ books.

[177]In the south choir aisle the broken sculptures represent the Epiphany, Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin. Little can be said in praise of any of the modern monuments. The best are Flaxman’s “Viscountess Fitzharris and her three Children,” and Weekes’s “Death of Shelley.” Some of the others should never have been permitted to be erected, especially those which disfigure the Salisbury chapel. The new stained window at the west end adds very much to the beauty of the church.

[178]For further details the student of architecture should consult Mr. Brayley and Mr. Ferrey’s work, before referred to, of which a new edition is much needed, as also Mr. Ferrey’s paper in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for Dec., 1861, p. 607, on the naves of Christchurch and Durham Cathedral, both built by Flambard, and a paper on the rood-screen in the _Archæological Journal_, vol. v. p. 142; and also a paper read at Winchester, September, 1845, before the Archæological Institute, on Christchurch Priory Church, by Mr. Beresford Hope, and published in the Proceedings of the Society, 1846. An excellent little handbook, by the Rev. Makenzie Walcott, the Honorary Secretary of the Christchurch Archæological Association, may be obtained in the town.

[179]Scott used to admire the _Red King_; but his praise must have been far more the result of friendship than of unbiassed criticism. The following lines, from Rose’s MS. poem of “Gundimore” (quoted in Lockhart’s _Life of Scott_, p. 145, foot-note), are interesting from their subject, and at the conclusion, though the idea is borrowed, are really fine:—

“Here Walter Scott has wooed the Northern Muse, Here he with me has joyed to walk or cruize; And hence has pricked through Ytene’s holt, where we Have called to mind how under greenwood tree, Pierced by the partner of his ‘woodland craft,’ King Rufus fell by Tiril’s random shaft. Hence have we ranged by Keltic camps and barrows, Or climbed the expectant bark, to thread the Narrows Of Hurst, bound westward to the gloomy bower Where Charles was prisoned in yon island tower. * * * * * * * Here, witched from summer sea and softer reign, Foscolo courted Muse of milder strain. On these ribbed sands was Coleridge pleased to pace Whilst ebbing seas have hummed a rolling base To his rapt talk.”

[180]_Antiquities_, vol. ii., where there is a sketch of the Grange as it was in 1777.

[181]For the geology of High Cliff, Barton, and Hordle Cliffs, see