Forests Courts or by Presentments,
the sole object being to extort money
from the owners of the afforested
lands. The compounding payments
for disafforesting manors are stated
by Ranke to have amounted to
£00,000 in Essex alone.*
Five years afterwards the King
attempted to retrace his steps, and
during the first few months of the
"Long Parliament" (in 1640) it was
signified to the House of Lords
"That His Majesty, understanding
that the Forest laws were grievous
to the Subjects of this kingdom, His
Majesty, out of his Grace and
* It should be remembered that during the Common-
wealth (as also in later times) the very existence of the
Forest was threatened. On the 22nd of November, 1653.
the Long Parliament passed an Act for the sale of the
whole for the benefit of the Commonwealth, but "King
Cromwell" promptly took the matter out of their hands.
It remained for a Parliament of 1851 to grab up a great
part of a woodland which had been carefully conserved and
guarded by King and Commons from time immemorial !