KENILWORTH Corfe, then to Bristol, and finally to Berkeley Castle. When he left Kenilworth, Maltravers, in the open fields between the castle and Warwick, disguised Edward by shaving the hair from his head and face with ditch-water. This act of devilish cruelty is related by old Stow in the following words: Devising to disfigure him that hee might not bee known, they determine for to shave as well the haire of his head as also of his beard; wherefore, as in their journey they travailed by a little water which ranne in a ditch, they commanded him to light from his horse to be shaven, to whome, being set on a moale hill, a barber came unto him with a bason of colde water taken out of the ditch, to shave him withall, saying unto the king that that water would serve for that time. To whome Edward answered, that would they, noulde they, he would have warme water for his beard; and to the end that he might keepe his promise, he began to weepe, and to shed teares plentifully." It is not necessary to follow the history of Kenilworth farther than that. The best part came in the time of Elizabeth, and Scott made it into one of the finest stories ever written. To-day all is desolate at Kenilworth. "The bed of the lake is but a rushy swamp," wrote Scott; "and the massive ruins of the castle only serve to show what their splendour once was, and to impress on the musing visitor the transitory value of human possessions and the happiness of those who enjoy a humble lot in virtuous contentment." CHAPTER VI FORESTS: THE CONQUEST OF ANDERIDA SILVA. "THIS IS THE FOREST PRIMEVAL” HERE are three things to be considered in this chapter: T 1. The landscapes of forest, shrub, and thicket which for many centuries covered about a third part of England. 2. How one forest was transformed into the present-day counties of Surrey and Sussex, with a part of Kent and a piece of Hampshire. I refer to the Antred of the ancient Britons-Antred, the Uninhabited. This name the Romans Latinised into Anderida Silva, while the Saxons translated it into Andredes-Weald. 3. The results of all the clearing work as seen today in the illustrations by Mr. Orrock. There is a widespread belief at the present time that there was something ideal in the primitive forests of Old England: that they were delightful places for a picnic, charming as the greenwood |