ESSEX FIELD CLUB.--_June 21_, the members and friends paid a visit to Epping Forest. On arriving at the ancient earthwork called Ambresbury Bank, Mr. J. E. Harting, F.L.S., delivered a discourse on “The Deer of Epping Forest,” in which he treated firstly of the antiquity of the forest as a hunting-ground of the Kings and Queens of England; and, secondly, of the nature of the deer which were hunted, and the present condition of the two kinds of deer which may be found there. The forest was in early times called the Forest of Essex, as being the only forest within that county, nearly the whole of which was anciently comprehended within it. As its extent became abridged it was called the Forest of Waltham, from the first village of importance which sprung up within its purlieus. According to Camden, the first mention occurs about the latter times of the Saxons, when Tovi, standard-bearer to King Canute, “induced by the abundance of deer, built a number of houses here, and peopled them with sixty-six inhabitants.” After his death, his son Athelstan squandered the estate, whereupon Edward the Confessor, into whose hands it had come, bestowed the village on his brother-in-law, Harold, son of Earl Godwin, who built Waltham Abbey. The Abbot was one of the few residents in the neighbourhood who, besides the King, was privileged to kill deer in this forest, although mediæval records contain notices of royal permission given at times to the citizens of London to use the Forest of Epping as a hunting-ground for their recreation. Henry III., in 1226, granted to the citizens the privilege of hunting once a year, at Easter, within a circuit of twenty miles of the city, and until within comparatively recent times the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Corporation continued annually to avail themselves of this privilege. At the conclusion of Mr. Hastings’ lecture the party moved on towards Loughton, passing on the way through the ancient earthwork known as Cowper’s Camp, which was explored by the Club in 1883.