economy of our Saxon ancestors, gave particular directions relating to the fattening of swine in woods, since then called pannage, or pawnage. (Mart. Mill.) The same king made injuring or destroying trees penal; and those who did so clandestinely were fined thirty shillings, the very sound of the axe being sufficient conviction; and the man who felled a tree under whose shadow thirty hogs could stand incurred a double penalty, and was mulcted to sixty shillings. (Hunter's Evelyn.) In a succeeding century, Elfhelmus reserves the pannage of two hundred hogs for his lady, in part of her dower; and mast is particularly mentioned, about the middle of the eleventh century, in a donation of Edward the Confessor. It appears from the Domesday Book, that, in William the Conqueror's time, oaks were still esteemed principally for the food they afforded to swine; for the value of the woods, in several counties, is estimated by the number of hogs they would fatten. The survey is taken so accurately, that in some places woods are mentioned of a single hog. (Mart. Mill.) The rights of pannage were greatly encroached on by the Norman princes, in their zeal for extending forests for the chase; and this was one of the grievances which King John was obliged to redress in the charter of the liberties of the forest. (Chron. Sax.)

66

The number of oak forests which formerly existed in Britain is proved by the many names still borne by British towns, which are evidently_derived from the word oak. "For one Ash-ford, Beech-hill, Elm-hurst, or Poplar," Burnet remarks, we find a host of oaks, Oakleys, Actons, Acklands, Åken hams, Acringtons, and so forth. The Saxon ac, aec, aac, and the later ok, okes, oak, have been most curiously and variously corrupted. Thus we find ac, aec, degenerating into ak, ack, aike, ack, acks, whence ax, exe; often, also, aspirated into hac, hace, and hacks. In like manner, we trace oak, oke, ok, oc, ock, œck, ocke, oks, ocks, ockes, running into oax, ox, oxes, for ox, oxs, with their farther corruptions, auck, uck, huck, hoke, and wok. As an example of this last extreme, the town Oakingham, or Ockingham, is at this day called and spelt indifferently Oakingham, Okingham, or Wokingham; and Oaksey or Oxessey are two common ways of writing the name of one identical place. Oakham, Okeham, Ockham, and Wockham, Hokenorton on the river Oke, Woking in Surrey, Wacton in Herefordshire and Norfolk, Okey or Wokey in Somersetshire, Oakefield or Wokefield in Berkshire, and Old or Wold in Northamptonshire, with the provincial Whom or Whoam, are other similar corruptions." (Aman. Quer., fol. 11.)

The history of the use of the British oak in building, carpentry, and for naval purposes, is necessarily coeval with that of the civilisation of the British islands. The timber found in the oldest buildings is uniformly of oak. Professor Burnet possessed a piece of oak from King John's Palace at Eltham, perfectly sound, fine, and strong, which can be traced back upwards of 500 years. The doors of the inner chapels of Westminster Abbey are said to be coeval with the original building; and if by this is meant Sibert's Abbey of Westminster, which was founded in 611, they must be more than 1200 years old. The shrine of Edward the Confessor, which must be nearly 800 years old, since Edward died in 1066, is also of oak. One of the oaken coronation chairs in Westminster Abbey has been in its present situation about 540 years. "In the eastern end of the ancient Chapel of St. Stephen, in the Castle of Winchester, now termed the County Hall, is Arthur's round table, the chief curiosity of the place. It bears the figure of that Prince, so famous in the old romances, and the names of several of his knights, Sir Tristram, Sir Gawaine, Sir Gerath, &c. Paulus Jovius, who wrote between 200 and 300 years ago, relates that this table was shown by Henry VIII. to his illustrious visiter the Emperor Charles V., as the actual oaken table made and placed there by the renowned British Prince, Arthur, who lived in the early part of the sixth century; that is, about 1030 years ago. Hence the poet Drayton sings,

'And so great Arthur's seat ould Winchester prefers,
Whose ould round table yet she vaunteth to be hers.'

Some antiquarians, however, state that the tabulæ rotundæ were introduced into this country by Stephen, and believe that the table in question was made by him, which in that case would diminish its age 600 years; leaving it, however, above seven centuries to boast of; enough to render it a most valuable and interesting monument. It has been perforated by many bullets, supposed to have been shot by Cromwell's soldiers. (Grose and Hutchins.) The massive tables, paneled wainscots, and ceiling of Morton Hall, Cheshire; the roofs of Christ-Church, Oxford, and Trinity College, Cambridge, are fine specimens of old oak. In Gloucester Cathedral, also, are thirty-one stalls of rich tabernacle work on either side, little inferior in point of execution to the episcopal throne at Exeter, or to the stalls at Ely; erected in the reign of Edward III., and allowed to be among the finest pieces of carving in wood now remaining in England of that early date. (Britton.) Of about equal age were the carved figures of Edward III. and his Queen Phillippa, in the collegiate church and hospital of St. Catherine, lately removed from the tower to St. Catherine's newly built church and hospital, in the Regent's Park. The screens, stalls, seats, &c., in the old church were all of oak, beautifully carved, and very ancient; the old oaken pulpit, also, which now adorns the new structure, was the donation of Sir Julius Cæsar, A.D. 1621. The rich carvings in oak which ornamented the King's room in Stirling Castle were executed about 300 years ago, and are many of them still in good preservation in the collections of the curious. In digging away the foundation of the old Savoy Palace, London, which was built upwards of 650 years since, the whole of the piles, many of which were of oak, were found in a state of perfect soundness, as, also, was the planking which covered the pile heads. (Tredgold.) Buffon mentions the soundness of the piles of the bridge which the Emperor Trajan built across the Danube; one of which, when taken up, was found to be petrified to the depth of three quarters of an inch, but the rest of the wood was little different from its ordinary state. And of the durability of oak timber, the oldest wooden bridge of which we have any account, viz. that one famous from its defence by Horatius Cocles, and which existed at Rome in the reign of Ancus Martius, 500 years before Christ, might be given as another example. The piles which supported the buttresses, and immense uncouth starlings which confined the waterway and so greatly disfigured old London Bridge, were some of them of oak; and I [Professor Burnet] have a specimen of one, which is far from being in a rotten state: and the still older piles on which the bridge piers rested were also in a very strong and sound condition: nay, those stakes which it is said the ancient Britons drove into the bed of the Thames to impede the progress of Julius Cæsar, near Oatlands, in Surrey, some of which have been removed for examination, have withstood the destroyer time nearly 2000 years." (Amæn. Quer., fol. 7.) In Cambden's time, the place where these stakes were found was called Cowey Stakes. In the Vetusta Monumenta, vol. ii. pl. 7., is a sketch of an old wooden church at Greenstead, near Ongar, the ancient Aungare, in Essex. The inhabitants have a tradition, that the corpse of a dead king once rested in this church; and it is believed to have been built as a temporary receptacle for the body of St. Edmund (who was slain A. D. 946), and subsequently converted into a parish church. The nave, or body, which renders it so remarkable, is composed of the trunks of oaks, about 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter, split through the centre, and roughly hewn at each end, to let them into a sill at the bottom, and a plank at the top, where they are fastened by wooden pegs. The north wall is formed of these half oaks, set side by side as closely as their irregular edges will permit. In the south wall there is an interval left for the entrance; and the ends, which formerly were similar, have now to the one a brick chancel, and to the other a wooden belfry, attached. The original building is 29 ft. 9 in. long, by 14 ft. wide, and 5 ft. 6 in. high on the sides, which supported the primitive roof. The oaks on the northern side have suffered more from the weather than those on the southern side; but both are still so strong, and internally so sound, that, although "corroded and worn by

time," having been beaten by the storms for nearly a thousand winters, they promise to endure a thousand more. (Ibid.)

The ancient Britons appear to have first used the oak for ship-building; the alder (see p. 1680.), the cypress, the pine, &c., having been previously used for that purpose by the Romans. The Britons, indeed, appear to have possessed a species of navy almost from the earliest period of their existence as a nation. The ancient name of Britain, according to the Welch bards, was Clas Merddin," the sea-defended green spot ;" and we read, that, before the invasion of Britain by Julius Cæsar (52 B. C.), a naval engagement took place between the Romans and the Veneti, aided by the Britons, or Cymry, in which the vessels of the latter are said to have been so firmly constructed, that the beaks of the Roman ships could with difficulty make any impression on them. These vessels were built of oaken planks, their sails were made of skins, and their anchors were attached to iron chains, or cables. The Saxons, who settled in Britain about the middle of the fifth century, were famed for their piracies at sea, and seem to have kept up a formidable marine. Their vessels, we are told by Aneurin, a Welch bard," were single-masted, carrying one square sail. They had curved bottoms, and their prows and poops were adorned with the heads and tails of monsters." (See Saturday Magazine, vol. iv. p. 73.) King Alfred, who ascended the throne in 872, had numerous vessels, some of which carried sixty oars; and his enemies the Danes were also celebrated for their ships. The English vessels, at this period, are known to have been of oak; and that the Danish ones were built of the same timber is extremely probable. Professor Burnet, writing on this subject, says, "An ancient vessel was discovered, some years ago, in a branch of the river Rothen, near the west end of the Isle of Oxney, in Kent, and about two miles from the spot where formerly stood the Roman city of Anderida. The timber of which this vessel was constructed is oak, perfectly sound, and nearly as hard as iron; and some persons believe it to be one of the fleet abandoned by the Danes after their defeat in the reign of Alfred. This, however, is but conjecture: still, whether it be so, or whether it be a wreck of some Danish pirates, it must have lain there many centuries. (Lit. Reg.) Sir Joseph Banks records, in the Journal of Science (vol. i. p. 244.), the following account of an ancient canoe found in Lincolnshire in April, 1816, at a depth of 8 ft. under the surface, in cutting a drain parallel with the river Witham, about two miles east of Lincoln, between that city and Horsley Deep. It seems hollowed out of an oak tree: it is 30 ft. 8 in. long, and measures 3 ft. broad in the widest part. The thickness of the bottom is between 7 in. and 8 in. Another similar canoe was discovered in cutting a drain near Horsley Deep; but it was unfortunately destroyed by the workmen before it was ascertained what it was. Its length was nearly the same as the former, but it was 44 ft. wide. Besides these, three other canoes, resembling the above in construction, have been found in the same county: one in a pasture near the river Trent, not far from Gainsborough; and two in cutting a drain through the fens below Lincoln. One of these is deposited in the British Museum. Conjecture alone can be indulged with regard to the probable age of these three canoes; but the fact of their being hollowed out of the trunks of old trees must carry them back to a very early date, and establish their extreme antiquity. Long before the time of Alfred, the Britons were familiar with ships regularly built: vessels such as these are found only amongst the rudest people, and in the earliest stages of society; and the epoch when any of the European nations used such canoes must be remote indeed." (Aman. Quer.) The fleet of King Edgar, however, appears to have consisted chiefly of boats; and, though that of William the Conqueror, amounting to 900 vessels, with which he invaded England in 1066, is said to have consisted of ships, the representations extant of them bear but little resemblance to our men-ofwar. William set great value on his navy, and was the monarch who first gave exclusive privileges to the Cinque Ports. John was the first who asserted the exclusive right of the English to the dominion of the seas; and, in

1214, issued a mandate to his chief admiral, ordering him to arrest, seize, and make prizes of all ships whatever found therein. In the reign of Edward I., the first admiral was appointed; and, about 1380, cannons were first used on board ships. The first three-masted vessel was built by Henry VII.; and Henry VIII. not only built many fine ships, but established the royal dockyards of Woolwich, Deptford, and Portsmouth; and made laws for the planting and preservation of oak timber. He was also the last English monarch who employed foreign hired ships of war. Elizabeth and James greatly encouraged the navy, and the planting of oak timber; and Charles I., in 1635-37, built a magnificent vessel, called the Sovereign of the Seas, an oak used in constructing which produced fear beams, each 44 ft. in length, and 4 ft. 9 in. in diameter. This ship, which was afterwards called the Royal Sovereign, was destroyed by fire at Chatham in 1696, after having been upwards of sixty years in the service. (See Sat. Mag. for 1834.)

It is difficult to assign any exact date for the period when oak_plantations were first made for profit. According to popular tradition, William Rufus was the first who is recorded to have planted oak trees, when, in 1079, he formed the New Forest in Hampshire. But Gilpin appears to think that it is much more probable that he merely thinned out chases in the woods already existing, than that he planted fresh trees. The district of Ytene, indeed, appears to have been a forest in the time of the Saxons; and, from the poorness of its soil, to have been thinly populated. Henry of Huntingdon, and the other monkish writers, who relate that William destroyed about fifty parish churches, and as many villages, extirpating their inhabitants to make this forest, were therefore probably guided more by their hatred to the Norman monarch, than by a strict adherence to truth. Henry I. enlarged the New Forest, enacting severe laws for securing the timber in that and other woods; and he appointed proper officers to enforce these laws, and to preserve the royal forests from decay. In Henry II.'s time, England appears to have been nearly covered with wood, consisting principally of oak trees; and Fitzstephen tells us that a large forest lay round London, “in the coverts whereof, lurked bucks and does, wild boars and bulls." As civilisation advanced, these woods became partially cleared away; and those which remained were called the Royal Forests, and were retained for the purpose of sheltering game for the diversion of the kings. Henry II. gave a right to the Cistercian Abbey of Flaxley, in the neighbourhood of the Forest of Dean, to erect an iron forge, together with liberty to cut two oak trees weekly, to supply it with fuel. But Henry III. revoked this latter grant, as being prejudicial to the forest; and a wood, called the Abbot's Wood, was gifted to the abbey in lieu of it. (See Lauder's Gilpin, vol. ii. p. 67.) _An inquisition was held, in the reign of Henry II., respecting Sherwood Forest, by which it appears that the right of hunting in it was then considered of great importance; and an act was passed, in the reign of Henry III. (1231), to define its boundaries. The Forest of Salcey was also formerly one of great importance, and it is frequently mentioned in the forest laws of different English kings. The forest of Norwood, and several others, were entirely of oak, and, of course, valuable as producing naval timber; but the two great forests for this purpose were the New Forest and the Forest of Dean. Among all the laws that were passed at different times for regulating the forests, as late as the reign of Henry VII., there appears to have been none enjoining planting; the cares for the preservation of the forests being chiefly confined to directions as to the proper age and season. for felling the trees. Forests, indeed, were so abundant, even in the reign of Henry VII., that we are told by Polydore Virgil that they covered one third part of all England; and the efforts of the people must have been rather directed towards clearing away trees than planting them. About the time of Henry VIII., when, as we have already seen, the use of hired foreign ships of war was discontinued, and several English vessels were built of large size, the first fears respecting a scarcity of oak timber appear to have been felt. Tusser, who wrote about 1562, complains that "men were more studious to

cut down than to plant." The statute of Henry VIII., c. 35., appears to be the first on record which enjoins the "replantation of forest trees, to cure the spoils and devastations that have been made in the woods;" and the plantations thus made appear to have been enclosed, as Tusser says in his directions for April,

And again,

"Fence coppice in,

Yer hewers begin."

"Sow acornes, ye owners that timber do love;
Sow hay and rie with them, the better to prove:
If cattle or coney may enter the crop,

Young oak is in danger of losing his top."

In the reign of Elizabeth, a work was published on Forest Law; in which its author, Manwood, tells us that “the slender and negligent execution of the forest law hath been the decay and destruction (in almost all places within this realm) of great wood and timber; the want whereof, as well in this present time as in time to come, shall appear in the navy of this realm." (Manwood on Forest Law, c. ii. 6.) In consequence of this, or some previous representations, fresh laws were enacted (13 Eliz.) for the preservation and restoration of the royal woods. In the reign of James I. (in 1611), Arthur Standish published his celebrated Commons' Complaint, wherein is contained two special Grievances; the first of which is," the generall destruction and waste of woods in this kingdome, with a remedy for the same; also, how to plant wood according to the nature of any soyle," &c. To this work is appended a kind of mandate :-" By the king, to all noblemen, and other our loving subjects to whom it may appertain. Whereas, Arthur Standish, gentleman, hath taken much pains, and been at great charges in composing and publishing in a book some projects for the increasing of woods, the decay whereof in this realm is universally complained of; and, therefore, we would be glad that any intention might further the restoring thereof; we have therefore been pleased to give allowance to his book, and to the printing thereof. And if the same shall be willingly received of such of the gentlemen, and others of ability, who have grounds fitting for his projects, it shall much content us; doubting not but that such as shall think good to make use of the book will deal worthily with him for his pains. And we are also pleased, for the better encouragement of the said Standish, hereby to declare, that our pleasure is, that no person or persons whatsoever shall print any of the said books, but for and to the use of the said Standish, and none others. Given under our signet at Andover, the first day of August in the ninth year of our reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the five-and-fortieth. God save the king."

In the same reign (1612), another book was published, entitled " An Olde Thrift newly revived; wherein is declared the manner of planting, preserving, and husbanding young trees of divers Kindes for Timber and Fuell; and of sowing Acornes, Chesnuts, Beech-mast, the Seedes of Elmes, Ashen-keyes, &c." In this work are given directions for planting acorns, and rearing and protecting the young trees; and the abuses in the management of the royal woods are pointed out. The necessities of Charles I. induced him to make ruinous grants of the royal woods to any person who would supply him with money; and, in the civil wars which followed, many of the forests were nearly destroyed. In the reign of Charles II., an order was issued under the king's "sign manual to Sir John Norton, woodward of the New Forest, to enclose 300 acres of waste, as a nursery for young oak; the expense of which was to be defrayed by the sale of the decayed wood. This order bears date December 13. 1669. But, though the enclosure here specified was trifling in itself, yet it had the merit of a new project, and led to farther improvements." (Gilpin's For. Scen., vol. ii. p. 29.) These improvements, however, are not stated; and no permanent regulation appears to have been made till the reign of William ÌII., when a statute was passed (Will. 10.) empowering certain commissioners to enclose 2000 acres in the New Forest for the growth of naval timber; and 200 more every year for the space of 20 years. From this period, go