Epping Forest.}

staircase by a low wide doorway. It is about twenty-five feet in width by about forty feet in length; it is open to the roof, the tiles being merely hidden by plaster-work, and the sides consist of massive timbers filled in with plaster. It was originally lit by four windows. The roof, it should be added, is supported by timbers springing into two pointed arches, which render it probable that the original roof was of a different form, as well as material, to the present. The timbers of the staircase sides and roof are massive, and spring into arched forms, so as to impress the beholder with their strength and durability; and it is observable that all the doorways in the building consist of flattened arches The local tradition reports that Queen Elizabeth was accustomed to ride up the stairs on horseback, and alight at the door of the large room upon a raised place, which was of old called the horse-block. Marvellous as the story may seem, the width and solidity and the many landings of the staircase are in its favour; and in order to test its feasibility, it is stated that early in the present century a wager of ten pounds was won by a sporting celebrity riding an untrained pony up the assigned route of the chivalrous queen. It is well known that Queen Elizabeth was ex

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tremely fond of the pleasures of the chase, and that she hunted at the age of fifty-seven is an established fact, so that her freak of riding up-stairs would be but a trifle to her Majesty.

It is satisfactory to know that by the Act of Parliament of 1878, under which the forest was made over to "the people," the Corporation of London are bound to keep Queen Elizabeth's Lodge in repair, as "an object of antiquarian interest."

The Royal Forest Hotel, which adjoins Queen Elizabeth's Lodge, is the constant resort of London excursionists and holiday-makers. Throughout the summer, and especially at Eastertide, Whitsuntide, and on Bank Holidays, the glassy glades in front of it are crowded with picnic parties.

Near the Lodge, on the road to High Beech, is a large piece of water, still retaining all its rural picturesqueness, frequented by wild fowl, and a great resort for insects, and full of aquatic plants. Hence it is constantly visited by microscopical and naturalist and field clubs. It is now called Connaught Water, after the new royal ranger of the forest. The fine oaks which surround it speak as plainly as in words that "this is the forest primeval."

IT has been remarked by one of our best writers on landscape that "the forest, like other beautiful scenes, pleases the eye, but its great effect is to arouse the imagination." Mr. William Paul, Fellow of the Linnean Society, in a lecture on "The Future of Epping Forest," delivered in 1880 before the Society of Arts, spoke as follows: "The scenery of Epping Forest, as a whole, is hardly of a character that can be correctly spoken of as sublime or beautiful, although beautiful spots may occasionally be met with, and it possesses the elements of both picturesqueness and grandeur. But there are no mountains or torrents, no frowning precipices, no furious eddies, no foaming cascides. It would, perhaps, be correctly described

as a tract of woodland and pasture, the surface broken into hill and dale, interspersed with a few fine trees and groves; the old trees possessing a rare and glorious beauty, but not being numerous or prominent enough to impart dignity to a forest of 6,000 acres. It is picturesque from its natural ruggedness; it is grand from its extent. These two forms or expressions of beauty-picturesqueness and grandeur, which are inherent-should never be lost sight of, or suffer diminution at the hands of the improver."

Since the forest has been taken in hand by the Corporation of London, alterations have been effected in different parts, which, if they may not be called "improvements" so far as the mere

natural appearance of the forest is concerned, may at any rate be put down as works of great utility and convenience, and also as enhancing the enjoyment of visitors in the future. One of these is the Ranger's Road, a new thoroughfare from Chingford to Loughton, made in 1880, and formally opened by the Duke of Connaught as Ranger of Epping Forest; and another is the large sheet of water mentioned at the end of the preceding chapter, which, from being the dismal swamp that it formerly was, when known as the Forest Pool, has been converted into an ornamental lake, some seven acres in extent, and renamed Connaught Water. This lake, which contains two islands, and is used for boating, &c., is fed by the little Ching rivulet. Another lake has also been formed at Staple Hill, near Loughton. As the forest is now well drained, and as many new paths and roadways have been formed through it--one of the latter extending its whole length, from Woodford to Epping-the danger of losing one's way is reduced to a minimum.

A broad roadway, called the Green Ride, skirts the Connaught Lake on the west side, and then passes on through the forest, crossing another roadway called Earl's Path, and so on in a northeasterly direction, by Monk Wood, to Ambresbury Banks and Epping; whilst on the south side of the lake the Ranger's Road leads towards the north-east in the direction of Loughton.

We now pass on eastward from Queen Elizabeth's Lodge across an open part of the forest, keeping in view the tall square tower of the waterworks on the top of Buckhurst Hill.

largely increased. In 1871 it amounted to 2,500, being nearly three times as many as it was ten years previously, whilst according to the census returns for 1881 it has now reached about 4,000. At the foot of the hill, further eastward, is a railwaystation on the Epping and Ongar branch of the Great Eastern Railway, around which are clustered several small cottages and "villa residences." From the top of the hill some beautiful views are obtained over the surrounding country, including the high ground on the opposite side of the valley of the Roding; whilst a pleasant and picturesque piece of the forest ground lies along the old Cambridge road to the left, between Woodford Wells and Loughton.

The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was built in 1837, and occupies a commanding site at the top of the hill. It is in the Early English style. It has been enlarged at different periods, and now consists of a chancel, nave, aisles, and a tower with spire. A Congregational church is a handsome stone building of Gothic architecture, of the Early Decorated style. The pinnacled tower at its western end is about 100 feet in height, and, like the spire of St. John's Church, is a conspicuous object for miles around. At the lower end of Palmerston Road, opposite the Congregational church, and on the ground now occupied by a private house called Langford Place, stood the hunting seat or palace of Henry VIII., known as Poteles, or Langford Place. It remained with the Crown till the reign of Elizabeth, when it passed into private hands. Mr. James Jones, in his " Directory of Woodford," &c., says :-"There is no traceable account when the old building was pulled down. In the year 1773 a farm-house occupied the spot, known as King's Place Farm; this was, a few years ago, con

"There's Buckett's Hill, a place of furze and clouds, Which evening in a golden blaze enshrouds."

Poor Clare, when he wrote these not very original lines, it must be remembered, was an inmate of Fairmead Asylum, not very far off.

This locality was formed into an ecclesiastical district out of the parish of Chigwell in 1838, since which time the number of its inhabitants has very

the royal name of Langford Place.' The Congregational chapel is called King's Place Congregational Church, and the carriage-way commencing near the Three Colts' Tavern, Prince's Road, and which crosses the Queen's Road to the entrance of Roebuck Lane, is named King's Place. Some fields to the north-east of the palace site, by the river Roding, are known as the King's Meadow."

The Essex Naturalists' and Field Club has its head-quarters at Buckhurst Hill. This society has of late years done much towards throwing additional light on the antiquarian objects in the neighbourhood.

Here are two wayside inns of celebrity, both of which, in their turn, have been the scene of the

'For want of a better, this must do.'

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The custom is said to have begun in 1226, when King Henry III. granted the liberty of hunting over this country to the citizens of London. Mr. Rounding, who was the landlord of the "Horse and Well," was the last huntsman, and for some years it was not an uncommon sight to see him with as many as 500 mounted followers. The "meet" formerly took place on the ridge near Buckhurst Hill, overlooking Fairmead. It is asserted that the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, as the recognised heads and leaders of the citizens, used to attend the hunt in state; but this is probably untrue.

From Hone's "Every-day Book," Vol. II. (March, 1827), page 459, we extract the following interest ing particulars concerning the Epping Hunt:"In 1226 King Henry III. confirmed to the citizens of London free warren, or liberty to hunt a circuit about their city, in the warren of Staines, &c.; and in ancient times the lord mayor, aldermen, and corporation, attended by a due number of their constituents, availed themselves of this right of chase 'in solemn guise.' From newspaper reports, it appears that the office of 'common hunt,' attached to the mayoralty, is in danger of disuetude. The Epping Hunt seems to have lost the lord mayor and his brethren in their corporate capacity, and the annual sport to have become a farcical show.

"A description of the Epping Hunt of Easter Monday, 1826, by one 'Simon Youngbuck,' in the Morning Herald, is the latest report, if it be not the truest; but of that the editor of the Everyday Book' cannot judge, for he was not there to see: he contents himself with picking out the points; should any one be dissatisfied with the 'hunting of that day' as it will be here presented, he has only to sit down in good earnest to a plain matter-of-fact detail of all the circumstances from his own knowledge, accompanied by such citations as will show the origin and former state

On the authority aforesaid, and that without the introduction of any term not in the Herald, be it known, then, that before and at the commencement of the hunt aforesaid, it was a cold, dry, and dusty morning, and that the huntsmen of the east were all abroad by nine o'clock, trotting, fair and softly, down the road, on great nine-hand skyscrapers, nimble daisy-cutting nags, flowing-tailed chargers, and ponies no bigger than the learned one at Astley's; some were in job-coaches, at two guineas a-day; some in three-bodied nondescripts, some in gigs, some in cabs, some in drags, some in short stages, and some in long stages; while some, on no stages at all, footed the road, smothered by dust driven by a black, bleak north-easter full in the teeth. Every gentleman was arrayed after his own peculiar taste, in blue, brown, or black-in dress coats, long coats, short coats, frock coats, great coats, and no coats; in drab slacks and slippers; in grey tights and black-spurred Wellingtons; in nankeen bomb-balloons; in city-white cotton-cord unmentionables, with jockey toppers, and in Russiandrill down-belows, as a memento of the late Czar. The ladies all wore a goose-skin under-dress, in compliment to the north-easter.

"At that far-famed spot, the brow above Fairmead Bottom, by twelve o'clock, there were not less than three thousand merry lieges then and there assembled. It was a beautiful set-out. Fair dames, 'in purple and in pall,' reposed in vehicles of all sorts, sizes, and conditions, whilst seven or eight hundred mounted members of the hunt wound in and out 'in restless ecstasy,' chatting and laughing with the fair, sometimes rising in their stirrups to look out for the long-coming cart of the stag, 'whilst with off-heel assiduously aside' they

provoked the caper which they seemed to hide.' The green-sward was covered with ever-moving crowds on foot, and the pollard oaks which skirt the Bottom on either side were filled with men and boys.

"But where is the stag all this while? One o'clock, and no stag! Two o'clock, and no stag!--a circumstance easily accounted for by those who are in the secret, and the secret is this: there are buttocks of boiled beef and fat hams, and beer and brandy in abundance, at the 'Roebuck' public-house, low down in the forest; and ditto at the 'Bald-faced Stag,' on the top of the hill; and ditto at the Coach and Horses' at Woodford Wells; and ditto at the 'Castle,' at

Woodford; and ditto at the Eagle,' at Snaresbrook; and if the stag had been brought out before the beef, beer, bacon, and brandy were eaten and drank, where would have been the use of providing so many good things? So they carted the stag from public-house to public-house, and showed him at threepence a-head to those ladies and gentlemen who never saw such a thing before; and the showing and carting induced a consumption of eatables and drinkables-an achievement which was helped by a band of music in every house, playing

looking round him with great dignity as he stalked slowly and delicately forward down the avenue prepared for him; and occasionally shrinking from side to side, as some super-valorous cockney made a cut at him with his whip. Presently he caught a glimpse of the hounds and the huntsmen, waiting for him at the bottom, and in an instant off he bounded, sideways, through the rank, knocking down and trampling all who crowded the path he chose to take; and dashing at once into the cover, he was out of sight before a man could say 'Jack Robinson!' Then might be seen gentlemen running about without their horses, and horses galloping about without their gentlemen; and hats out of number brushed off their owners' heads by the rude branches of the trees; and everybody asking which way the stag was gone, and nobody knowing

hungry tunes to help the appetite; and then, when the eatables and drinkables were gone and paid for, they turned out the stag.

"Precisely at half-past two o'clock the stag-cart was seen coming over the hill from the 'Bald-faced Stag,' and hundreds of horsemen and gigmen rushed gallantly forward to meet and escort it to the top of Fairmead Bottom, amidst such whooping and hallooing as made all the forest echo again, and would have done Carl Maria Von Weber's heart good to hear. And then, when the cart stopped and was turned tail about, the horsemen drew up in long lines, forming an avenue wide enough for the stag to run down. For a moment all was deep, silent, breathless anxiety; and the doors of the cart were thrown open, and out popped a strapping four-year-old red buck, fat as a porker, with a chaplet of flowers round his neck, a girth of divers-coloured ribbons, and a long blue and pink streamer depending from the summit of his branching horns. He was received, on his alighting, with a shout that seemed to shake heaven's concave, and took it very graciously,

anything about him; and ladies beseeching gentlemen not to be too venturesome, and gentlemen gasping for breath at the thoughts of what they were determined to venture; and myriads of people on foot running hither and thither in search of little eminences to look from; and yet nothing at all to be seen, though more than enough to be heard; for every man and every woman, too, made as loud a noise as possible. Meanwhile the stag, followed by the keepers and about six couple of hounds, took away through the covers towards Woodford. Finding himself too near the haunts of his enemy, man, he there turned back, sweeping down the Bottom for a mile or two, and away up the enclosures towards Chingford, where he was caught nobody knows how,