ll the trade;
They pitched their tents, and then without delay
They waited anxious for the bloody fray;
But our bold miners underneath did get,
And many a ton of powder there did set;
So up they blew the unsuspecting foe,
Their shattered limbs came rattling down below.
Our land thus cleared, our liberty thus saved,
Our noble miners dug the caitiffs' grave.
The King with honour did them so regard,
Made them free miners as a just reward;
The Forest Charter to them granted was,
And firm and sure were made the Forest laws.
In former times they gloried in the name,
But now the foreigners have got the game.

* * * * *

"The Forest now is numerous got of late,
Since moneyed men come here to speculate
Where once a little turfen hut did stand,
You'll see a noble house and piece of land.
Deeper the pits than any here before,
The lowest vein of coal for to explore.
They were but shallow pits in days of old,
They'd not the knowledge then, as I am told;
But though there was not then great learning's store,
It was much better for the labouring poor;
Men loved their masters--masters loved their men,
But those good times we ne'er shall see again."

A mining population is generally found to have peculiar customs and
privileges of its own, and such is more especially the case with the free
miners of the Forest of Dean, who have had hitherto their own Court of
Justice, with the exclusive occupation of the district, and the sole
control of its mineral wealth. Their claims are thus specified by the
Dean Forest Commissioners:--"Every free miner duly qualified by birth
from a free father in the hundred of St. Briavel's and abiding therein,
having worked in the mines a year and a day, claims the right to demand
of the King's gaveller a 'gale,' that is a spot of ground chosen by
himself for sinking a mine, and this, provided it does not interfere with
the works of any other mine, the gaveller considers himself obliged to
give, receiving a fee of five shillings, and inserting the name of the
free miner in the gale-book. The gaveller goes to the spot selected with
the free miner making the application, and gives him possession with the
following ceremonies:--The gaveller cuts a stick, and, asking the party
how many verns or partners he has, cuts a notch for every partner, and
one for the King. A tu