The Forest remains where it was. Brayley describes it as a royal chase, extending from Epping almost to London, anciently a very extensive district; and, under the name of the Forest of Essex, including a great part of the county. It had afterwards the name of Waltham Forest, which it long since yielded to its present appellation. To this Forest, that of Hainault, which lies to the south-east, was once, it is supposed, an appendage: it was formerly styled "the Queen's Forest," and it possesses more beautiful scenery than, perhaps, any other forest in England. The Crown possesses the whole of the rights over Hainault, and the encroachments are not nearly so numerous here as in Epping Forest, where the Crown has only certain rights--the right of vert and venison. The loss of the picturesque features of wild expanse of woodlands, heath, and mosses; of vast masses of umbrageous tree-tops, and little patches of cultivation--here and there a little town, sending up its fleecy smoke amidst the forest boughs--must excite concern amongst all who take interest in the amusements of the people. How truthfully has the isolated picture of forest life been sung: "From age to age no tumult did arouse The peaceful dwellers; there they lived and died, Passing a dreamy life, diversified By nought of novelty, save now and then A horn, resounding through the forest glen, Woke them as from a trance, and led them out To catch a brief glimpse of the hunt's wild rout-- The music of the hounds; the tramp and rush Of steeds and men;--and then a sudden hush Left round the eager listeners; the deep mood Of awful, dead, and twilight solitude, Fallen again upon that forest vast." The Forest remains where and as it was, save that invasions on the waste, and encroachments, have from time to time greatly restricted its extent; not so the city, for that has advanced, and meets the old liberty at half-way. Now the metropolis reaches to Bow, or nearly to Stratford, where the Forest commences; and there the road divides, one branch leading northward to Chigwell, the other eastward to Romford. In extent it reaches five miles from Ilford on the south, nearly to Abridge on the north, by four miles from Woodford-bridge on the west, to Havering-at-Bower on the east. Were the whole area of this scope one continuous chase, there would be some 12,000 acres; but from the numberless excisions from, and appropriations of the liberty, the contents of the whole do not at present amount to 4,000 acres. It appears that an Act of Parliament was passed (the 14th and 15th Vict.) for the disafforesting and inclosure of Hainault Forest; that on the 24th August, 1851, a commission was formed for the purpose: and summary execution was done upon 14,000 oak-trees, which had stood unmolested for centuries. This was preliminary to the utter clearance, parcelling out, and selling off of the whole domain.[85]