n account of his wholesale fellings of the Forest timber,
by the decision which Mr. Pepys records his "cousin Roger" to have given
upon him, viz. that "he deserves to be hanged." In order that the
mischief might be put an end to as soon as possible, late as it was in
the session, a bill was brought into the House for settling the Forest,
and preserving and improving the wood and timber. Parliament was
prorogued, however, before the bill could pass, and its promoters had to
be content with the House "recommending the Lord Treasurer and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to take care for the preservation and
improvement of the Forest." This recommendation appears to have had no
influence on Sir John Winter, for on a new survey made in 1667 it was
reported to Government that out of the 30,233 trees sold to him, only
about 200 remained standing, and that from 7000 to 8000 tons of timber,
fit for his Majesty's navy, was found wanting. He would seem to have
felt some alarm at this report, for twice about this time he resorted to
Mr. Pepys, who writes, 15th March, 1667--"This morning I was called up by
Sir John Winter, poor man, come in a sedan from the other end of the
town, about helping the King in the business of bringing down his timber
to the sea-side in the Forest of Deane;" and again 30th April, "Sir John
Winter, to discourse with me about the Forest of Deane."

All the propositions sent up to the Government in 1663 were incorporated
in the Act of 20 Charles II., chap. 3, which also provided that the new
enclosures should be perfected within two years, in favourable and
convenient places, the cost of making and maintaining them being met by
the sale of such trees as would never prove timber; that no trees were to
be felled until they had been viewed and marked by two or more justices
of the peace, under a penalty of twenty pounds; that no fee-trees were to
be allowed, and all grants to be void; that every freeholder might do
what he pleased with his land; that no enclosure was to be mined,
quarried, or trespassed in; that the bounds of the Forest were to remain
as settled in 20 James I.; that all lawful rights and privileges relating
to its minerals were to continue, with permission to the Crown to lease
coal-mines and stone-quarries for periods not exceeding thirty-one years;
that the letters-patent granted for a term not expired to Sir John
Winter, Kt., Francis Finch and Robert Clayton, Esqs., should remain good,
as