ITS HISTORY.
granted to individuals of position, subject to the
proviso " that he do use the liberty with that
moderation which is fitting." These were con-
tinued to quite recent times, and two or three
holders of licenses are still alive, and one occasion-
ally exercises his right.
For the watching of the Forest, and for the en-
forcement of the decrees, there were, besides the
above-named verderers, thirteen master keepers,
who were gentlemen of landed estate, and a
number of foresters, agistors, and regarders, who
attended upon his Majesty's vert and venison, re-
ported encroachments, and detained and charged
offenders; woodwards, who, as the name implies,
had a care for the timber; and reeves, who marked
the cattle of those who had commoning rights, and
impounded stray beasts. The functions of the
reeves are not less important at the present day
than they were at the time of the Saxons. Over
all these officials was an hereditary Lord Warden,
whose duty it was to maintain the Forest unim-
paired for the king's pleasure, and who enjoyed
the following perquisites :—" Of every covert and
hedgerow to be sold, of every shilling one penny;
and of every wood to be sold, the second best
oak; and of the buyer and seller of every such
wood, one bow to one broad arrow; and one
penny of every shilling of the seller and buyer of
every such wood upon the sale of it."
The nature of the functions originally entrusted
to the chief officers of the Forest is well shown by
the following quaint rhyming charter of appoint-
ment by Edward the Confessor; but this refers to
the earliest period of which we have any docu-
mentary evidence relating to the Forest laws :—