_Age of Trees_ (Vol. v., p. 8.).--Living near the Forest of Dean, I wish
to state that it is not known that any trees exist there which can
possibly be of anything approaching to the age of Edward III.; that the
word _forbid_ savours of a reservation of timber for the use of the
mines, if the privileges of the free-miners can really be carried back
to that time. The intelligence in Pepys was derived from Sir John
Winter, the person who bought the whole forest in perpetuity from
Charles I., but was allowed by Charles II. only to make the most of it
he could in his own time. Some trees may have survived the smash which
he made, but they must either have been young, or worthless from age or
decay.