march to Colchester. The gates of that town. were closed against them, but after a slight skirmish, in which a townsman fell, the authorities capitulated, stipulating that the town should not be plundered nor the inhabitants molested. Fairfax advanced northward with rapidity, reinforced by the local Parliamentary forces, and summoned the Royalists to surrender. The Earl of Norwich replied with a scornful defiance, and Colonel Fane sallied forth to meet the besiegers, but was repulsed with considerable loss. The town was then subjected to a regular siege. Fairfax planted his main body on Lexden Heath, blocked the West Bergholt road with a strong force of cavalry, and occupied the fort at Mersea Island, thus hemming in the defenders on every side. The Royalists had not intended to remain in the town more than a few days, but retreat being now impracticable, they strengthened the defences of the town as well as they could, and held the place for eleven weeks, surrendering only when their provisions and ammunition were exhausted, and their number reduced by losses in fruitless sallies. This, so far as Essex was concerned, was the closing scene of the civil war.

While these events were in

progress, Essex was

the scene of a series of judicial murders in the form of executions for the pretended crime of witchcraft, belief in which appears at that time to have been almost universal. Matthew Hopkins, the arch witchfinder, was a native of Manningtree, and he favoured his native county with many exhibitions of his pretended skill in the detection of that imaginary offence. He stated in his depositions that there were seven or eight witches living in Manningtree in 1644, and others in towns adjacent; and in the following year he haled twenty-five old women before a special court held at Chelmsford. Ten of these poor wretches were hanged there, four were burned at Manningtree, one died on the way to execution, and two in prison. Only one of the number was acquitted.

During the next hundred years the part which Essex played in the history of the kingdom was marked by no striking events. The county gave a hearty welcome to William III., whose accession afforded relief from the despotism of the latter Stuarts, under whom one hundred and twenty-four clergyman of the Established Church were ejected from their pulpits for conducting the services otherwise than according to the Act

of Uniformity. But amidst all the agitations of that period, the industries of Essex flourished, and the woollen goods of Colchester in particular were in high repute, the value of the weekly production amounting to £30,000. So wealthy were the manufacturers becoming that a local historian (Morant) expressed a fear that the moral welfare of the inhabitants might be endangered by a plethora of riches. This manufacture has long since left the county, however, and without its departure entailing the serious consequences that were feared when it began to decay. Agriculture continued to flourish, and with the improvement of the roads and the cultivation of the waste lands, the people were able to contemplate without regret the imaginary "good old times" which each generation refers to a period beyond its own recollection.

Epping Forest: 3ts history, Customs,

TH

and Laws.

BY JESSE QUAIL.

HE Forest of Epping, or Waltham, as it was formerly called, is a splendid tract of nearly nine square miles of primitive woodland, in the county of Essex, which has in recent years been rescued by the London Corporation from being enclosed and built upon, and is now dedicated to the use and enjoyment of the public. It is the remains of what was once one of the most extensive Royal Forests of England. Originally the whole of Essex was forest land, and it bore the name of Essex Forest. But large portions of it were disafforested in the reigns of successive kings, until, about the time of Edward III., what remained became localised as Waltham Forest, and subsequently the name was gradually changed to Epping Forest.

King Henry VIII. is said to have preferred Epping to any other Royal Forest in England for hunting purposes. So fond was he of it, that,

according to an old tradition, he went to the hunt there on the morning that his Queen, Anne Boleyn, was executed, setting out the moment he heard a signal gun which told him that the fatal deed was done.

The old Forest Laws-enacted to preserve the royal privileges and facilities of hunting-were so strict and even cruel up to comparatively modern times, and there were so many offenders against them, that King James I. gave sanction to Henry, Earl of Oxford, who was then Warden of Waltham Forest, to build a gaol at Stratford, solely for the accommodation of those charged with breaches of the Forest Laws within the limits of this forest. The same king ordered a perambulation of the Forest bounds, for the purpose of its delimitation, but the documentary records of this perambulation could not afterwards be found, and it is alleged that they were "smugged" by some predatory Lord of the Manor, intent on enclosure of the Forest land for his own exclusive pleasure. King Charles I. ordered the appointment of a commission of enquiry to take evidence of such perambulation, and redetermine the boundaries of the Forest. This commission fixed the acreage at 60,000, but subsequent encroachments so