monarchs were disafforested. The charter commuted to fine and imprisonment the penalties for taking deer, and thenceforward no one was to lose either life or limb for such an offence. It also made it lawful for "Archbishop, Bishop, Earl, or Baron to kill one or two deer" in passing through any forest on the way to or from "doing commandment of the King." The charter likewise granted amnesty to "outlaws of trespass," and relieved them of outlawry on their giving security for good behaviour.

Edward I. made certain laws for the regulation of hunting in the royal forests, and subsequent sovereigns who were fond of the chase appointed verderers, huntsmen, and other officials, with extensive powers, to look after the forests and protect the deer. Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth, as already noted, were especially fond of hunting in Epping Forest. James I. was another votary of the chase, and he treated with great harshness those who interfered in any way with his favourite amusement. Osborn, an old writer, says of James's practices :—“ I do boldly say that one man in his reign might with more safety have killed another than a rascal deer; but if a stag had been known to have miscarried, and

the author fled, a proclamation with a description of the party had been presently penned by the Attorney-General, and the penalty of his Majesty's high displeasure (meaning the Star Chamber) threatened against all that did abet, comfort, or relieve him; thus satyrical, or, if you please, tragical, was this sylvan prince against deer killers, and indulgent to man slayers."

Owing to the continued encroachments on Epping Forest, to which reference has been made, the House of Commons adopted a resolution, in February, 1870, that it was necessary to take steps to preserve the popular rights therein. The City of London took action, and in 1874 obtained an injunction from the Master of the Rolls preventing further enclosures by Lords of Manors. Lord Mayor Stone visited the Forest in state in 1875, and in 1878 an Act was passed vesting the control of the Forest in the hands of a body of Conservators, consisting of four Verderers elected by the inhabitants of the Forest parishes, and twelve members appointed by the London Corporation. Memorial trees to commemorate the rescue of the Forest from the hand of the spoiler were planted by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, in October,

1880. The last act in the conflict between popular rights and private privilege in regard to Epping Forest was the state visit of Her Majesty the Queen, on the 6th May, 1882, when it was dedicated to the use of the people for all time. It should be stated that the purchase of lands and rights, and litigation in connection with Epping Forest, cost the public of London some £330,000 in all, and the management expenses now come to over £5,000 annually. Even at this high price the preservation of so delightful a piece of natural woodland must be accounted cheap. The Forest is a public boon, the value of which to the community, is, even to-day, insufficiently appreciated. But by the artist, the naturalist, and the contemplative lover of nature, the wildness and beauty of Epping Forest glades are highly prized, for though so near to the busy haunts of men, Nature there still

Greensted Church.

BY EDWARD LAMPLOUGH.

HE settler in the wilderness, in his first

TH

attempt to house his family, resorts to the most accessible and easily-worked material, and the wattled cabin or log-hut springs into existence. It is not uninteresting to find traces of a similar evolution in the church architecture of England; but the resort to wood must not be regarded as any indication that stone and brick were not in use, but simply that a temporary building was urgently required, that the means of the builder were circumscribed, and that, therefore, the most accessible and easily-worked material was resorted to.

Glastonbury, that once princely pile, had such a beginning, and according to William of Malmesbury, was founded by Joseph of Arimathea, and consisted of a chapel, the walls of which were constructed of twisted osiers. This primitive building was undoubtedly the first Christian church erected in Britain, and ap

parently was preserved with religious veneration, being in existence in the eleventh century. In 1032, Canute's Charter of Glastonbury was written at that place, in the wooden church, in His Majesty's presence, although the humble chapel had developed into a magnificent abbey, and covered with its sacred soil the bones of the heroic Arthur, and the wise and pacific Edgar. No doubt the original building was preserved by the monks, and in the midst of more pretentious and enduring buildings, was regarded with that peculiar love for holy things which rested with refining grace in the hearts of many of the shaven fathers, maugre the gluttony, pride, and narrow superstition of the many.

The darkness of paganism closed like midnight over the war-smitten land after the departure of the Roman legions, but the work of regeneration commenced when Augustine and Paulinus came to fan into living flame the few red embers that smouldered in the heart of the ashes. In the city of York, Paulinus built the timber church or baptistery of St. Peter the Apostle, which was afterward enclosed by a nobler and more commodious building of stone.

The church of Lindisfarne appears to have