C. B.
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.
C. B.
Objective and Subjective (Vol. v., p. 11.).
—I would beg to refer X. to the first of the five Sermons by W. H. Mill, D.D., preached before the University of Cambridge, in Lent, 1844. When he has carefully perused it, he will be enlightened as to the precise meaning of the terms objective and subjective; being made aware that there is one great object of faith, though, with some writers, the subject, man, may be made the most prominent. X. will there find that what he styles "exoteric jargon" has, in the hands of so judicious a writer and so excellent a divine as Dr. Mill, been "translated into intelligible English."
J. H. M.
Parish Registers (Vol. v., p. 36.).
—I am sorry not to be able to agree with MR. CHADWICK in thinking "that no fee is legally payable for searching the register-books of baptisms and burials, nor even for making a copy," &c. It is quite certain that even parishioners have no right to inspect the parish books, except for ordinary parochial purposes. In the case of Rex v. Smallpiece, 2 Chitt. Rep. 288., Lord Tenterden said, "I know of no rule of law which requires the parish officers to show the books, in order to gratify the curiosity of a private individual." Therefore the "genealogical or archæological inquirer" has in general no right to inspect, much less copy the register-books: consequently he must pay the fees demanded for being allowed to do so.
J. G.