Chapter XXXII: Appendix: IV (3)

[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
chapter xx. There are not many fossils in either the grey sand or
the green clay before you reach the “bunny.” Plenty, however, may be
found in the top part of the bed immediately above, known as the
“High Cliff Beds,” and which rise from the shore about a quarter of
a mile to the east of the stream.

[182]Chewton is not mentioned in _Domesday_. Beckley (Beceslei), which
is close by, where there was a mill which paid thirty pence, had a
quarter of its land taken into the Forest; whilst Baishley
(Bichelei) suffered in the same proportion. Fernhill lost two-thirds
of its worst land, and Milton (Mildeltune) half a hyde and its
woods, which fed forty hogs, by which its rental was reduced to
one-half.

[183]At this point the Marine Beds end, and the Brackish-Water series
crop up; and then, lastly, the true Fresh-Water shells commence—the
Paludinæ and Limnææ, with scales of fish, and plates of chelonians,
and bones of palæotheres, and teeth of dichodons. See, further,
chapter xx.

[184]See Lappenberg’s _England under the Anglo-Norman Kings_. Ed.
Thorpe, p. 89.

[185]Yarranton, in that strange but clever work, _England’s Improvement
by Land and Sea_ (Ed. 1677, pp. 43-63), dwells at length on the
quantity of iron-stone along the coast, and the advantage of the New
Forest for making charcoal to smelt the metal. He proposed to build
two forges and two furnaces for casting guns, near Ringwood, where
the ore was to be brought up the Avon.

[186]

“That narrow sea, which we the Solent term,
Where those rough ireful tides, as in her straights they meet,
With boisterous shocks and roars each other rudely greet;
Which fiercely when they charge, and sadly when they make retreat,
Upon the bulwark forts of Hurst and Calshot beat,
Then to Southampton run.
_Polyolbion_, book ii.

[187]Hall’s _Union of the Families of Lancaster and York_, xxxi. year of
King Henry VIII., ff. 234, 235, London, 1548.

[188]From Peek (_Desiderata Curiosa_, vol. i., b. ii., part iv., p. 66)
we find that in Elizabeth’s reign the captain received 1_s._ 8_d._ a
day; the officer under him, 1_s._; and the master-gunner and porter,
and eleven gunners and ten soldiers, 6_d._ each, which in Grose’s
time had been increased to 1_s._ (Grose’s _Antiquities_, vol. ii.,
where a sketch is given of the castle). Hurst, on account of its
strength, was to have been betrayed, in the Dudley conspiracy, to
the French, by Uvedale, Captain of the Isle of Wight. (Uvedale’s
Confession, _Domestic MSS._, vol. vii., quoted in Froude’s _History
of England_, vol. vi. p. 438.) Ludlow mentions the great importance
of Hurst being secured to the Commonwealth, as both commanding the
Isle of Wight and stopping communication with the mainland
(_Memoirs_, p. 323). Hammond, in a letter from Carisbrook Castle,
June 25th, 1648, says it is “of very great importance to the island.
It is a place of as great strength as any I know in England” (Peck’s
_Desiderata Curiosa_, vol. ii., b. ix., p. 383).

[189]Sir Thomas Herbert’s _Memoirs of the two last Years of the Reign of
King Charles I._, Ed. 1702, pp. 87, 88.

[190]Warwick calls the King’s rooms “dog lodgings” (_Memoirs_, p. 334);
but it is evident from Herbert (_Memoirs_, p. 94) that both Charles
and his attendants were well treated, which we know from Whitelock
(_Memorials of English Affairs_, p. 359; London, 1732) was the wish
of the army, as also from the letter of Colonel Hammond’s deputies
given in Rushworth (vol. ii., part iv., p. 1351). Of Colonel
Hammond’s own treatment of the King we learn from Charles himself,
who, besides speaking of him as a man of honour and feeling, said
“that he thought himself as safe in Hammond’s hands as in the
custody of his own son” (Whitelock, p. 321).

[191]Evidently a misprint for three-quarters of an hour.

[192]Herbert’s _Memoirs_, pp. 85-86.

[193]A Keltic derivation for both places has been proposed, but it is
not on critical grounds satisfactory.

[194]Gough possessed a brass coin inscribed Tetricus Sen. rev. Lætitia
Augg., found here; and adds that in 1744 nearly 2 cwt. of coins of
the Lower Empire were discovered in two urns. Camden’s _Britannia_,
Ed. Gough, vol. i. p. 132.

[195]The grant is given in the Appendix to Warner’s _South-West Parts of
Hampshire_, vol. ii., p. i., No. 1.

[196]Like those of Christchurch, the Corporation books of Lymington are
full of interest, though they do not commence till after 1545, the
previous records being generally supposed to have been burnt by
D’Annebault in one of his raids on the south coast. Du Bellay,
however, who, in his _Mémoires_, has so circumstantially narrated
the French movements, says nothing of Lymington having suffered, nor
can I find the fact mentioned in any of the State papers of the
time. Take, for instance, the following entries from the
Chamberlain’s books:—

“1643. Quartering 20 soldiers one daie and xvi._s._ ij._d._
night, going westward for the
Parliam^t service
1646. For bringinge the toune cheste from ij._s._
Hurst Castell
1646. Watche when the allarme was out of iiij._s._
Wareham
1646. For the sending a messenger to the xiiij._s._
Lord Hopton, when he lay att Winton
with his army, with the toune’s
consent
1648. For keeping a horse for the Lord iij._s._ x._d._
General’s man
1650. Paid to Sir Thomas Fairfax his xij._s._”
souldiers going for the isle of
Wight with their general’s passe

Such entries to an historian of the period would be invaluable, as
showing not only the state of the country but of the town, when the
town-chest had to be sent four miles for safety; and proving, too,
that here (notice the fourth entry), as elsewhere, there were two
nearly equally balanced factions—one for the King, the other for the
Commonwealth. I may add that a little book has been privately
printed, of extracts from the Lymington Corporation books, from
which the foregoing have been taken. It would be a very good plan if
those who have the leisure would render some such similar service in
other boroughs.

[197]Warner’s _Hampshire_, vol. i., sect. ii., p. 6; London, 1795. See,
too, previously, ch. xi., p. 122, foot-note.

[198]See Dugdale’s _Monasticon Anglicanum_, vol. vi., part ii., p. 800.
Tanner’s _Notitia Monastica_. Ed. Nasmyth, 1787. Hampshire. No. iv.

[199]I may seem to exaggerate both here and in the next chapter. I wish
that I did. For similar cases in the neighbouring counties of Dorset
and Sussex let the reader turn to the words “hag-rod,”
“maiden-tree,” and “viary-rings,” in Mr. Barnes’s _Glossary of the
Dorset Dialect_; and vol. ii. pp. 266, 269, 270, 278, of Mr.
Warter’s _Seaboard and the Down_. I hesitate not to say that
superstition in some sort or another is universal throughout
England. It assumes different forms: in the higher classes, just at
present, of spirit-rapping and table-turning, more gross than even
those of the lower; and I am afraid really seems constitutional in
our English nature.

[200]Of the extreme difficulty of classification of race in the New
Forest I am well aware. I have, however, taken such typical families
as Purkis, Peckham, Watton, &c., whose names are to be met in every
part of the Forest, as my guide. Often, too, certain Forest
villages, as Burley and Minestead, though far apart, have a strong
connection with each other, and a family relationship may be traced
in all the cottages. A good paper was read, touching upon the
elements of the New Forest population, by Mr. D. Mackintosh, before
the Ethnological Society, April 3rd, 1861. Of the Jute element,
which we might have expected from Bede’s account of the large Jute
settlement in the Isle of Wight, and Florence of Worcester’s
language (as before, ed. Thorpe, vol. i., p. 276), few traces are to
be found. See, however, on this point, what Latham says in his
_Ethnology of the British Isles_, pp. 238, 239.

[201]See Dr. Guest’s paper on “The Early-English Settlements in South
Britain,” _Proceedings of the Archæological Institute_, Salisbury
volume, 1851, p. 30.

[202]This, of course, is not the place to go into so difficult a
subject. I need not refer the reader to Mr. Davies’s paper in the
_Philological Society’s Transactions_, 1855, p. 210, and M. de Haan
Hettema’s _Commentary_ upon it, 1856, p. 196. On the great value of
provincialisms, see what Müller has said in _The Science of
Language_, pp. 49-59. In Appendix I., I have given a list of some of
those of the New Forest, which have never before been noticed in any
of the published glossaries.

[203]In the charter of confirmation of Baldwin de Redvers to the
Conventual House of Christchurch, quoted in Dugdale’s _Monasticon
Anglicanum_, vol. iii., part i., p. 304, and by Warner, vol. ii.,
Appendix, p. 47, it is called Hedenes Buria, which may suggest that
the word is only a corruption. I do not for one moment wish to
insist on the personal reality of Hengest, but simply to notice the
fact of the High-German word for a horse being prominent in the
topography of a people whose ancestors used so many High-German
words. See Donaldson, _Cambridge Essays_, 1856, pp. 45-48.

[204]On this word as explaining Shakspeare’s “gallow” in _King Lear_
(act iii. sc. 2), see _Transactions of the Philological Society_,
part i., 1858, pp. 123, 124.

[205]See ch. iii., p. 33.

[206]In the parish of Eling we have Netley Down and Netley Down-field,
the Nutlei of _Domesday_. Upon this word—which we find, also, in the
north of Hampshire, in the shape of Nately Scures and Upper Nately
(Nataleie in _Domesday_)—as the equivalent of Natan Leah, the old
name of the Upper portion of the New Forest, see Dr. Guest, as
before quoted, p. 31.

[207]A Keltic derivation has, I am aware, been proposed for this word.
It is to be met with under various forms in all parts of the Forest.
The Forest termination den (_denu_) must, however, be put down to
this source. See _Transactions of the Philological Society_, 1855,
p. 283.

[208]See what Mr. Cooper says with regard to the affinity of the western
dialect of Sussex, as distinguished from the eastern, to that of
Hampshire, in the preface (p. i.) to his _Glossary of Provincialisms
in the County of Sussex_. For instance, such Romance words as
appleterre, gratten, ampery, bonker, common in Sussex, are not to be
heard in the Forest; whilst many of the West-Country words, as they
are called, used daily in the Forest, as charm (a noise—see next
chapter, p. 191), moot, stool, vinney, twiddle (to chirp), are, if
Mr. Cooper’s Glossary is correct, quite unknown in Sussex.

[209]It is surprising, in looking over the musters of ships in the
reigns of Edward II. and Edward III., to see how few Northern ports
are mentioned. The importance, too, of the South-coast ports, which
were sometimes summoned by themselves, arose not only from the
reasons in the text, but from being close to the country with which
we were in a state of chronic warfare. See, too, the _State Papers_,
vol. i., p. 812, 813, where the levies of the fleets in 1545,
against D’Annebault, with the names of each vessel and its port, are
given; as also p. 827, where the neighbouring coast of Dorset is
described as deserted, in consequence of the sailors flocking to the
King’s service. I think that I have somewhere seen that our sailors
were once rated as English, Irish, Scotch, and the “West Country,”
the latter standing the highest.

[210]From an old chap-book, _The Hampshire Murderers_, with
illustrations, without date or publisher’s name, but probably
written about 1776.

[211]That is to say, the smuggled spirits were concealed either below
the fireplace or in the stable, just beneath where the horse stood.
The expression of “Hampshire and Wiltshire moon-rakers” had its
origin in the Wiltshire peasants fishing up the contraband goods at
night, brought through the Forest, and hid in the various ponds.

[212]See _Dictionary of Americanisms_, by J. R. Bartlett, who does not,
however, we think, refer nearly often enough to the mother-country
for the sources of many of the phrases and words which he gives.
Even the Old-English inflexions, as he remarks, are in some parts of
the States still used, showing what vitality, even when
transplanted, there is in our language. Boucher, too, notices in the
excellent introduction to his _Glossary of Archaic and Provincial
Words_, p. ix., that the whine and the drawl of the first Puritan
emigrants may still in places be detected.

[213]All over the world lives a similar fairy, the same in form, but
different in name. His life has been well illustrated in Dr. Bell’s
_Shakspeare’s Puck and his Folk-lore_. In England he is known by
many names—“the white witch,” “the horse-hag,” and “Fairy Hob;” and
hence, too, we here get Hob’s Hill and Hob’s Hole. For accounts of
him in different parts see especially Allies’ _Folk-lore of
Worcestershire_, ch. xii. p. 409, and _Illustrations of the Fairy
Mythology of A Midsummer Night’s Dream_, by J. O. Halliwell.
Published by the Shakspeare Society.

[214]The most popular songs which I have noticed in the Forest and on
its borders are the famous satire, “When Joan’s ale was new,” which
differs in many important points from Mr. Bell’s printed version:
“King Arthur had three sons;” “There was an old miller of
Devonshire,” which also differs from Mr Bell’s copy; and

“There were three men came from the north,
To fight the victory;”

made famous by Burns’ additions and improvements; but which, from
various expressions, seems to have been, first of all, a
West-Country song, sung at different wakes and fairs, part of the
unwritten poetry of the nation.

[215]_The Repression of Over-much Blaming the Church_, edited by
Churchill Babington, vol. i., part. ii., ch. iii., p. 155.

[216]Dr. Bell takes quite a different view of these passages in his
_Shakspeare’s Puck and his Folk-lore_. Introduction to vol. ii. p.
6. The simple explanation, however, seems to me the best.

[217]See ch. xviii. p. 197.

[218]The best cheese, the same as “rammel,” as opposed to “ommary,”
which see in Appendix I.

[219]In the Abstract of Forest Claims made in 1670 some old customs are
preserved, amongst them payments of “Hocktide money,” “moneth
money,” “wrather money” (rother, hryðer, cattle-money), “turfdele
money,” and “smoke money,” which last we shall meet in the
Churchwardens’ Books of the district. The following is taken from
the Bishop of Winchester’s payments:—“Rents at the feast of St.
Michael, 3_s._ 8_d._ For turfdeale money, 3_s._ 0_d._ Three quarters
and 4 bushels of barley at the feast of All Saints. Three bushels of
oats, and 30 eggs, at the Purification of the Virgin Mary.”—(p. 57.)

[220]Against tracking hares on the snow and killing them with “dogge or
beche bow,” was one of the statutes of Henry VIII., made 1523
(_Statutes of the Realm_, vol. iii., p. 217).

[221]In that winter 300 deer were starved to death in Boldrewood Walk.
_Journals of the House of Commons_, vol. xliv., pp. 561, 594.

[222]I have never in the Forest met the old phrase of “shaketime,” or
rather “shack-time,” as it should be written, and still used of the
pigs going in companies after grain or acorns, according to Miss
Gurney, in Norfolk. _Transactions of the Philological Society_,
1855, p. 35.

[223]On this word, see Appendix I., under “Hoar-Withey,” p. 283.

[224]By a decree of the Court of Exchequer, in the twenty-sixth year of
Elizabeth, the keepers were allowed to take all the honey found in
the trees in the Forest.

[225]A local name for a sieve, called, also, a “rudder;” which last word
is, in different forms, used throughout the West of England.

[226]For other words applied to cows of various colours, see Barnes’s
_Glossary of the Dorset Dialect_, under the words “capple-cow,” p.
323; “hawked cow,” p. 346; and “linded cow,” p. 358.

[227]_Glossary of the Provincial Words and Places in Wiltshire_, pp. 37,
38. London, 1842.

[228]See Müller’s _Science of Language_, pp. 345-351; and compare
Wedgwood, _Dictionary of English Etymology_, introduction, pp. 5-17.

[229]_Dictionary of English Etymology_, p. 260. Manwood uses “bugalles”
as a translation of _buculi_. _A Treatise of the Lawes of the
Forest_, f. iii., sect. xxvii., 1615.

[230]Cunning, I need scarcely add, is here used in its original sense of
knowing, from the Old-English _cunnan_, as we find in Psalm cxxxvii.
v. 5.

[231]See ch. xvi. p. 178.

[232]_Apology for Smectymnus_, quoted by Richardson. The word is even
used by Locke.

[233]Corrected from ”literally the raw-mouse”—_errata_

[234]Miss Gurney, in her _Glossary of Norfolk Words_, gives “ranny” as a
shrew-mouse. _Transactions of the Philological Society_, 1855, p.
35. The change of _e_ into _a_ is worth noticing, as illustrative of
what was said in the previous chapter, p. 167, of the pronunciation
of the West-Saxon.

[235]The word “more” was in good use less than a century ago; whilst the
term “morefall,” as we have seen in chapter iv. p. 43, foot-note,
was very common in the time of the Stuarts. Mr. Barnes, in his
_Glossary of the Dorset Dialect_, pp. 363, 391, gives us “mote,” and
“stramote,” as “a stalk of grass,” which serve still better to
explain St. Matthew.

[236]Thorpe’s Preface to the English translation of Pauli’s _Life of
Alfred the Great_, p. vi.

[237]Thorpe’s Preface to _The Chronicle_, vol. i., p. viii., foot-note
1. See, however, Lappenberg’s _History of England under the
Anglo-Saxon Kings_; translated by Thorpe, Literary Introduction, p.
xxxix.; and the Preface to _Monumenta Historica Britannica_, p. 75,
where, as Mr. Thorpe notices, the examples quoted, in favour of the
Mercian origin of the manuscript, are certainly, in several
instances, wrong.

[238]I may as well add that a little way from where the Bound Oak
formerly stood, near Dibden, and between it and Sandy Hill, lies a
small mound, thirty yards in circumference, and three feet high in
the centre, surrounded by an irregular moat, from which the earth
had been taken. This I opened in 1862, driving a broad trench from
the east to the centre, and another from the south to the centre,
which, as also the west side, we entirely excavated; digging below
the natural soil to the depth of four feet. Nothing, however, was
found, though I have no doubt charcoal was somewhere present.

Beyond this, in Dibden Bottom, rises a large mound, from twenty to
thirty feet high, apparently of a sepulchral character, known as
Barney Barns Hill. Proceeding, close to Butt’s Ash End Lane, and
near the Roman, or rather British, road to Leap (see chap v., p.
56), stand two barrows, the northernmost one hundred and the
southernmost eighty yards in circumference. Farther away, in Holbury
Purlieu, are three more, each with a circle of about seventy yards.
To the west of these, in the Forest, as shown in the illustration at
page 213, rise four more, the three farthest forming a triangle.
Beyond these, again, about three-quarters of a mile distant, near
Stoneyford Pond, lie four others, respectively ninety, one hundred,
and seventy yards in circumference. To the north rise three more,
known as the Nodes, the westernmost about one hundred yards in
circumference; the other two, which are ovaler and form twin
barrows, being one hundred and fifty and one hundred yards. Two more
stand on the side of the Beaulieu road to Fawley. All these, with
others on Lymington Common and near Ashurst Lodge, and on the East
Fritham Plain, still remain to be explored. For the barrows opened
by the Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, on Langley Heath, see farther on,
page 211.

[239]_South-Western Parts of Hampshire_, vol. i. pp. 69-79.

[240]Warner probably meant an overhanging brim, such as is common to
most of the early Keltic cinerary urns, or, perhaps, one like that
of the left-hand urn in the illustration at p. 196, which is more
contracted than the others. He unfortunately gives us no dimensions.

[241]This camp was probably, since coins of Claudius have been found
there, occupied by Vespasian, when he conquered the Isle of Wight. A
bronze celt was found here some eighty years ago, and came into the
possession of Warner. Others have been discovered, in great
quantities, in various parts of the Forest, two of which are
engraved in _Archæologia_, vol. v., plate viii., figs. 9 and 10.
Brander, too, the well-known antiquary, found others at Hinton, on
the west border of the Forest (_Archæologia_, vol. v. p. 115). Mr.
Drayson has also picked up two flint knives at Eyeworth, which are
figured, showing both the under and upper surfaces, at p. 206.

[242]As in Derbyshire all barrows are marked by the terminal low—_hlœw_,
a grave, so in the Forest they seem particularized by a reference to
the Old-English _lic_. Thus, near the Beaulieu barrows we find
Lytton Copse and Common, and at the west end of the Forest, not far
from Amberwood, meet another Latchmoor. I may notice that just
outside the Forest, in Darrat’s Lane—a word which often occurs—we
find a place, near some mounds, called “Brands,” equivalent to the
“Brund” of Derbyshire, and having reference to the burning funeral
pyre. (See Bateman’s _Ten Years’ Diggings_, Appendix, p. 290.)

[243]I certainly think that these urns were fired, though imperfectly.
As Mr. Bateman remarks, sun-baked specimens soon return to their
original clay. See Appendix to _Ten Years’ Diggings_, p. 280.

These three urns, with all the other fragments of cinerary vessels
found in the Forest, I have placed in the British Museum, where they
have been restored. The artist has represented them exactly as they
appeared on the second day of digging. The fractures in the central
urn were caused by an unlucky blow from a pick-axe. The measurements
are as follows:—

The north-eastern urn—Circumference at top 3 ft.
” ” bottom 1 ” 6 in.
” Total height 1 ” 4½ ”
The central urn—The same.
The south-western urn—Circumference at top 2 ” 9 ”
” ” bottom 1 ” 4½ ”
” Total height 1 ” 1¼ ”

[244]I am inclined to think that here, as in the similar instance on
Fritham Plain, the urns were put in the mound entire, and not, as is
sometimes the case, in fragments. The pieces had no appearance of
being burnt after the fractures had taken place, which were here
simply the result of decay. See on this point Bateman’s _Ten Years’
Diggings_, pp. 191, 192, where Mr. Keller’s letter to Sir Henry
Ellis on the subject is given.

[245]Instances have been known where the top of a Roman cinerary urn has
been taken off, and replaced; but, from the narrowness of the neck,
I hardly think this vessel was used for such a purpose. I give with
it also a late British urn found, some twenty years ago, in a barrow
outside the present Forest boundary, in a field known as Hilly
Accombs, near Darrat’s Lane, which has been previously mentioned. It
measures 6 inches in height, and has a circumference of 1 foot 9
inches round the top, and 1 foot at the base. With it was discovered
another, but I have been unable to learn in whose possession it now
is, or what has become of the Roman glass unguent bottle found in
Denney Walk (see the _Antiquities of the Priory of Christchurch_, by
B. Ferrey and E. W. Brayley, p. 2, foot-note). The two flint knives
were discovered by Mr. Drayson, near Eyeworth Wood, and somewhat
resemble the chipping found in the largest barrow at Bratley, and
were, perhaps, cotemporary. The conchoidal fracture may be well seen
in specimen on the right-hand side. The celts found by Warner and
Brander, with others in the possession of Gough, mentioned at p.
199, foot-note, were bronze.

[246]There are two large heathy tracts known as Fritham Plain; the one
to the east, where stand several large trenched barrows, which still
remain to be opened; and the West Plain, where these excavations
took place.

[247]An attempt to examine this barrow had been previously made, but the
explorers had opened a little to the south-west of the spot where
the pottery lay. It is just possible that the large square in Sloden
may be of the same character. I cut a small opening at the western
end, but it is impossible, on account of the trees, to make any
satisfactory excavation. Whatever might have been its original
purpose, it was certainly never the site of a church, as is commonly
supposed. See ch. iii., p. 32, foot-note.

[248]To assist the archæologist, I have marked on the map the sites of
all the barrows of which I am aware. In the British Museum is a
small urn, found in a barrow at Broughton, on the borders of
Hampshire, about twelve miles north of the Forest, measuring three
inches in height, and, though so much less, somewhat resembling,
with its two small ears, as also in the general character and
texture of its ware, those found in the Bratley barrow. The Rev. J.
Compton also informs me that some years ago a plain urn was
discovered in a barrow on his father’s property at Minestead, in the
Forest. I hear, too, that other urns have been found in barrows near
Burley on the west, and near Butt’s Ash Lane on the east side of the
Forest, but they have long ago been lost or destroyed, and I am
unable to learn even their general form. I trust, therefore,
permission will not be granted to open the mounds which are
unexplored, except to those who can produce some credentials that
they are fitted for the task, and are doing it from no idle
curiosity, but legitimate motives. Too much harm has been already
done, and too many barrows have been already rifled, without any
record being made of their contents. Nearly all that we know of Kelt
or Old-English we learn from their deaths. Their history is buried
in their graves.

[249]In Mr. Birch’s _Ancient Pottery_, vol. ii. pp. 382, 383, will be
found a list of the notices of the various discoveries of Keltic
urns, scattered through the different Archæological Journals and
Collections, which will save the student much time and labour. A
most valuable paper on the subject, by Kemble, was published in the
_Archæological Journal_ vol. xii. number 48, p. 309.

[250]_Archæologia_, vol. xxxv. pp. 91-93.

[251]See, too, Mr. Carrington’s “Account of a Romano-British Settlement
near Wetton, Staffordshire,” in Bateman’s _Ten Years’ Diggings_, pp.
194-200. I have never found any stone floors, but this may be
accounted for by the difficulty of procuring paving-stones in the
district. The best guide which I know for discovering any ancient
settlements is the presence of nettles and chickweed, which, like
the American “Jersey-weed,” always accompany the footsteps of man.
These plants are very conspicuous in the lower parts of Sloden, as
also at the Crockle and Island Thorn potteries.

[252]The spot where these banks intersect each other is known as Sloden
Hole, and is well worthy of notice. The annexed plan will best show
the character of the place. The largest bank is that which runs to
the south-west, measuring four yards across, and proving by its
massiveness that it is a Roman work. Upon digging, as shown in the
plan, at the point of intersection, we found pieces of iron and iron
slag, sandstone, charcoal, and Roman pottery similar to that made in
Crockle. Many of these banks run for long distances. That to the
south-east reaches the top of Sloden Green, about half a mile off,
whilst the north-east bank stretches for nearly a mile to
Whiteshoot. There are, too, other banks scattered about Sloden,
which, if examined, would doubtless yield similar results, but none
are so well defined as these. The largest bank which I know in the
district stretches from Pitt’s Enclosure, in a south-easterly
direction across Anderwood, and so through the southern parts of
Sloden.

[253]The most noticeable specimens which I discovered were a strainer or
colander, a funnel, some fragments of “mock Samian” ware; part of a
lamp, with the holes to admit air, as also for suspension; and some
beads of Kimmeridge clay, proving, by being found here, their Roman
origin. The iron tools of the workmen had been dropped into the
furnace, and were a good deal melted. The wood owed its preservation
to the ferruginous soil in which it was imbedded, and was in a
semi-fossilized state. Nothing less slight than a plank could have
lasted so long. The finger-marks and impress of the hand were very
plain on one of the masses of brick-earth. The coin, I am sorry to
say, is too much worn to be recognized. These, with the other
vessels, _pateræ_, _urceoli_, _lagenæ_, _pocula_, _acetabula_, &c.,
I have placed in the British Museum, where is also Mr. Bartlett’s
rich collection. The patterns, with the necks of _ampullæ_ and
_gutti_, as also the specimens at pages 214, 225, will, I trust,
give some general idea of the beauty of the ware, and can be
compared with those given by Mr. Akerman in _Archæologia_, vol.
xxxv. p. 96, and by Mr. Franks in the _Archæological Journal_, vol.
x. p. 8. The commonest shape for a drinking-vessel is the right-hand
figure at page 225, known in the Forest, from the depressions made
by the workman’s thumb, as a “thumb pot.” Sometimes it is met with
considerably ornamented, and varies in height from three to ten
inches. The principal part of the pottery is slate-coloured and
grey, and faint yellow, but some of a fine red bronze and morone,
caused by the overheating of the ovens. The patterns are thrown up
by some white pigment, though a great many are left untouched by
anything but the workman’s tool. When chipped, the ware, by being so
well burnt, is quite siliceous. This manufactory, as its size would
show, was not confined to merely supplying the wants of the
immediate neighbourhood, but probably, with others at Alice Holt and
elsewhere, furnished a great part of the South of England with its
earthenware, for fragments of the same make, shape, and texture,
have been found at Bittern (Clausentum), and Chichester, though
doubtless a similarity of workmanship prevailed amongst many of the
potteries. The so-called crockery of the southern part of the Forest
is nothing else but the plates of turtles imbedded in the Freshwater
marls.

[254]_Archæologia_, vol. xxxv. pp. 95, 96.

[255]See _Journal of the Archæological Association_, vol. xii. pp.
141-145, where some figures of the jars are given.

[256]In Eyeworth Wood I have found pieces of Roman wine and oil flasks,
but they were left here by the former inhabitants, and not made on
the spot. The place known as Church Green is evidently the site of a
habitation. In the autumn of 1862 I made several excavations; but
there was some difficulty attending the work, as the ground had been
previously explored by the late Mr. Lewis, the author of the
_Historical Inquiries on the State of the New Forest_. The evidence,
however, of the Roman pottery was sufficient to show its occupation
during the Roman period, and to dispel the illusion that it was ever
the site of a church. On the north-east side of the wood are the
remains of a fine Roman camp, the _agger_ and _vallum_ being in one
place nearly complete.

[257]I may add that Mr. Drayson also possesses coins of Victorinus, and
Claudius Gothicus, found in various parts of the Forest, the last in
one of the “thumb-pots,” with 1700 others, perhaps, indicating the
period when the Crockle and Island Thorn Potteries were in their
most flourishing condition.

[258]In _Archæologia_, vol. xxxv. p. 99, Mr. Akerman has given a series
of patterns, which show the variety of designs according to the
fancy of each workman. The pattern on the right-hand side of our
second illustration at p. 223 is used as a border in the toga of the
later Roman empire. The height of the wine vessel at p. 214 is seven
inches and a half; of the oil-flask at p. 225, five inches; of the
largest drinking cup, five inches; and the smallest, three inches
and three-quarters; the jar, two inches.

[259]The following dates prior to 1700 of the Parish Registers in the
Forest district are taken from the _Parish Register Abstract_:
Accounts and Papers: 1833, vol. xxviii. (No. 13), p. 398:—

Eling 1537
Christchurch 1586
Milford 1594
Boldre 1596
Ellingham 1596
Bramshaw (loose leaves) 1598
Fordingbridge 1642
Beaulieu 1654
Ibbesley 1654
Milton 1654
Lymington 1662
Dibden 1665
Fawley 1673
Breamore 1675
Sopley 1678
Minestead 1682
Ringwood 1692

[260]See chapter v., p. 51, _foot-note_.

[261]Part of the Act is quoted in Burn’s _History of Parish Registers_,
second edition, pp. 26 and 27, and where, at pp. 159, 160, 161, are
given several examples of this kind of marriage—amongst them, that
of Oliver Cromwell’s daughter Frances, in 1657, from the Register of
St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

[262]Burn, in his _History of Parish Registers_, second edition, pp.
171, 172, 173, gives several similar instances of such licences.
These most valuable books at Ellingham are, notwithstanding the
incumbent’s care, in a shocking state of preservation. I trust some
transcript of them may be made before they quite fall to pieces.
Ellingham also possesses another book containing the names of the
owners of the different pews in the church in 1672, invaluable to
any local historian. In the beginning of this book are inserted a
number of law-forms of agreements, wills, and indentures, probably
for the use of the clergyman, who was, perhaps, consulted by his
parishioners in worldly as also spiritual matters. In the Register
there is, unfortunately, no mention of the death of Alice Lisle, as
the burials are torn out from 1664 to 1695.

[263]See _Notes and Queries_. First Series, vol. ii., pp. 344, 345. In
the Churchwardens’ Books of Fordingbridge we find—“1609. For
smoke-mony, for makynge and deliveringe of the bills xvj^d,” which
would confirm the first explanation given in the text.

[264]30 Car. II., cap. iii. See _Journals of the House of Commons_, vol.
viii., p. 650; ix., p. 440. In _Burn’s History of Parish Registers_,
second edition, p. 117, may be found a much more complicated
affidavit than those given in the text.

[265]See chap. v., pp. 57, 58. It is just possible that by his “τὰς
πλησίον νήσους,” Diodorus may mean the Shingle Islands, which we
have described in chapter xiv. p. 151, and whose sudden appearance
and disappearance would lead to the most extravagant reports.

[266]“On the Newer Deposits of the Sussex Coast:” _Geological Journal_,
vol. xiii. pp. 64, 65.

[267]In the coast-map at p. 148, the principal beds are marked, so that,
I trust, there will be no difficulty in finding them.

[268]For the direction of the river from east to west, see a paper “On
the Discovery of an Alligator and several New Mammalia in Hordwell
Cliff,” by Searles Wood, F.G.S.: _London Geological Journal_, No.
1., pp. 6, 7.

[269]“The Freshwater Strata of Hordwell Cliff, Beacon Cliff, and Barton
Cliff:” _Transactions of the Geological Society_, second series,
vol. ii., p. 287.

[270]“Stratigraphical Account of the Section of Hordwell, Beckton, and
Barton Cliffs:” _The Annals and Magazine of Natural History_, June,
1851. In making these measurements I was very greatly assisted by
the Rev. W. Fox, who was most untiring to ensure accuracy.

[271]See the _Geological Journal_, vol. iv., p. 17; as also, Professor
Owen’s _Monograph_ on “The Fossil Reptilia of the London Clay,”
published by the Palæontographical Society, 1850, p. 48.

[272]Some of the most characteristic shells in this bed may perhaps be
mentioned:—

Pleurotoma exorta. _Sol._
Terebellum fusiforme. _Lam._
Murex minax. _Sol._
Murex asper. _Sol._
Murex bispinosus. _Sow._
Typhis pungens. _Sol._
Voluta ambigua. _Sol._
Voluta costata. _Sol._
Voluta luctatrix. _Sol._
Dentalium striatum. _Sow._
Scalaria reticulata. _Sow._
Scalaria semicostata. _Sow._
Littorina sulcata. _Pilk._
Solarium plicatum. _Lam._
Hipponyx squamiformis. _Lam._
Fusus porrectus. _Sol._
Fusus errans. _Sol._
Fusus longævus. _Lam._
Bulla constricta. _Sow._
Bulla elliptica. _Desh._

I scarcely need, I hope, refer the reader either to Mr. Edwards’
_Monograph on the Eocene Mollusca_, 1849, 1852, 1854, 1856, or to
Mr. Searles Wood’s _Monograph_ on the same subject, both in course
of publication by the Palæontographical Society. There is an
excellent table of the Barton shells, by Mr. Prestwich, in the
_Geological Journal_, vol. xiii. pp. 118-126.

[273]For the High Cliff Beds, see Mr. Fisher’s paper on the Bracklesham
Sands of the Isle of Wight Basin, in the _Proceedings of the
Geological Society_, May, 1862, pp. 86-91, whose divisions are here
followed.

[274]All these beds are shown in the large map by the word “Fossils,”
there not being space enough to particularize each bed.

[275]These beds were discovered by Mr. Fisher in 1861, and for the
following measurements I am indebted to Mr. Keeping. We find, about
one hundred yards in a south-eastward direction from the point where
the footpath from Brook to Fritham crosses the stream, (1) the Coral
Bed, the equivalent of that at Stubbington, full of crushed
_Dentalia_ and _Serpulæ_, six inches. (2) Sandy light blue clay,
with very few fossils, seven feet. (3) Verdigris-green and
slate-coloured clay, characterized near the top by a new species of
_Dentalium_, _Serpulorbis Morchii_ (?), and _Spondylus rarispina_.
The other typical shells are _Voluta Maga_, several species of
_Arca_ and _Corbula gallica_, five feet. It is in this bed that
large roots of trees and ferns are found.

No persons, however, I should suppose, would think of examining any
of these beds without first consulting Mr. Fisher’s most valuable
paper on the Bracklesham Beds in the _Proceedings of the Geological
Society_, May, 1862. And I should further most strongly advise them,
if they wish to become practically acquainted with the beds, to
procure the assistance of Mr. Keeping, of Freshwater, in the Isle of
Wight.

I may here also mention that a well is at the present moment being
sunk at Emery Down, and which, as I learn from Mr. Keeping, gives
the following interesting measurements:—(1) Beds of marl, containing
_Voluta geminata_, discovered forty years ago, at Cutwalk Hill, by
Sir Charles Lyell, and now re-discovered, and a small _Marginella_,
seven feet. (2) Bed of bluish sandy clay, which becomes, when
weathered, excessively brown. This bed, very rich in fossils, which
are in a good state of preservation, is equivalent to what is now
called the Middle Marine Bed, at Hordle and Brockenhurst, sixteen to
nineteen feet. (3) Hordle Freshwater Beds, containing two species of
_Potanomya_, and comminuted shells, fifteen feet. (4) Upper Bagshot
Sands, measuring, as far as the workmen have gone, twenty feet, and
below which lies the water at the top of the clay. The important
point to be noticed is the extreme thinning out of the Hordle
Freshwater Beds, which, from the depth of two hundred and fifty feet
at Barton, have here shrunk to fifteen. Mr. Prestwich has suggested
that these beds, as they advance in a north-easterly direction,
become more marine, which seems here to be confirmed.

[276]I say probably, for Professor Owen, who examined the specimen,
states that it is of a bovine animal of about the same size as _Bos
longifrons_, but does not yield sufficiently distinct characters for
an exact specific identification.

[277]I had intended to have accompanied this description with a group of
some of the best fossils from this pit, including the fruit,
fish-spines, and palates, and the large _Pleurotoma attenuata_. It
was, in fact, commenced by the artist. But the specimens were
obliged to be so greatly reduced, that the drawing gave no complete
idea of their form and beauty, and would only have confused the
reader. I have, therefore, contented myself with figuring at p. 249,
in its matrix of clay, the rare _Natica cepacea_ (?), which has
passed into Mr. Edwards’ fine collection, and who has kindly allowed
me the use of it, with the characteristic _Cassidaria nodosa_, and a
lovely _Calyptræa trochiformis_, found, as mentioned, inside a
_Cardita_. At p. 244, the specimens given from the Shepherd’s Gutter
Beds are _Cerithium trilinum_ (Edw. _MS._), _Voluta uniplicata_,
and, in the centre, a shell, showing oblique folds on the
_columella_, which Mr. Edwards thinks may be identical with _Fusus
incertus_ of Deshayes.

[278]In one place only in the Forest, on some waste ground at Alum
Green, have I seen this plant.

[279]On this point see what Bromfield observes in his _Introduction to
the Flora Vectensis_, p. xxvi.

[280]In Appendix II. I have given a list of all the characteristic
plants of the New Forest to assist the collector; and, I trust,
comprehensive enough for the botanist to make generalizations.

[281]Besides these we have all over the Forest _Lastrea Filix-mas_, and
_dilatata_, and _Asplenium adiantum nigrum_, and _Polystichum
angulare_, with its varieties, _angustatum_ and _aculeatum_, found
near Fordingbridge. My friend, Mr. Rake, who discovered
_angustatum_, found also, in February, 1856, near Fordingbridge,
_Lastrea spinulosa_, but it has never since been seen in the
locality.

[282]The Forest would afford a good field for deciding the controversy
as to whether our tame pigs are descended from the European Wild
Boar. (See _Proceedings of the Zoological Society_, 1861, p. 264;
and _Annals and Magazine of Natural History_, Third Series, vol. ix.
p. 415.) Certain it is that here are some breeds distinct in their
markings. I must not, too, forget to mention _Coronella lævis_
(Boie), which is found in the Forest, as also in Dorsetshire and
Kent. This is the _Coronella austriaca_ of Laurenti, and afterwards
the _Coluber lævis_ of Lacépede. It might be mistaken for the common
viper (_Pelias berus_), but differs in not being venomous, as also
from the ringed snake (_Natrix torquata_) in having a fang at the
hinder extremity of its jaws, the peculiarity of the genus
_Coronella_. It feeds on lizards, which its fang enables it to hold;
drinks a great deal of water; and Dr. Günther, of the British
Museum, to whom I am indebted for the above information, tells me
that it crawls up the furze and low bushes to lick the rain off the
leaves. For a list of the Lepidoptera of the New Forest, see
Appendix IV.

[283]Vol. i. p. 26.

[284]_Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds_, by W. C. Hewitson,
vol. i. p. 27.

[285]As so few opportunities occur of weighing the eggs of the
honey-buzzard and hobby, the following notes, most carefully made by
Mr. Rake and myself, may not be without interest:—

Honey-buzzard’s nest, taken June 16th, in a low fork of an
oak-tree in Anses Wood, contained two fresh-laid eggs:—
First egg (apothecaries’ weight) 1oz. 3dr. 1sc. 5gr.
Second egg (very slightly dinted) 1oz. 2dr. 2sc. 10gr.
Honey-buzzard’s nest, taken June 24th, in Ravensnest Wood, near
Brook, in the higher branches of a tall beech, overhanging the
road. This nest had been deserted, and the two eggs were very
much addled and hard set:—
First egg 1oz. 4dr. 0sc. 10gr.
Second egg 1oz. 3dr. 2sc. 10gr.
Hobby’s nest, placed in a nest which, in 1861, had been occupied
by a honey-buzzard, was taken in Prior’s Acre, June 21st, and
contained three fresh-laid eggs, now in Mr. Rake’s cabinet:—
First egg 6dr. 0sc. 0gr.
Second egg 5dr. 2sc. 10gr.
Third egg (very slightly dinted) 5dr. 2sc. 0gr.
Hobby’s nest, taken in South Bentley Wood, July 12, contained
two eggs hard sat upon and addled:—
First egg 5dr. 2sc. 15gr.
Second egg (cracked) 5dr. 0sc. 14gr.

With these weights may be compared the following:—Egg, supposed to
be that of a merlin, taken with two others which were broken, June
17th, 1862, near Alum Green, in the hole of a beech, rather sat
upon, weighed 4dr. 1sc. 10gr. Two fresh-laid eggs of kestrels, taken
at the same time, weighed 4d. 2sc. 15gr. Other eggs of kestrels,
however, have weighed considerably more; and two others, also laid
about the same time, came to 5dr. 5 gr.