"Argute resonas Citharæ prætendere chordas,
Novit et Aonia concrepuisse lyra.

Gaudebat terræ teneras defigere plantas,
Et mira pulchras construere arte domos.
Composita varias lingua formare loquelas,
Doctus et edocta scribere multa manu."

Cleared of the slanders which had been so unjustly heaped upon his memory, one can welcome Anthony Forster, the Squire of Cumnor, as a member of the same distinguished family from which the Willey Squire and the present ennobled house of Willey are descended.* But before introducing the Squire, it is fitting to say something of Willey itself.

* For a more complete account of the Forester family, we refer the reader to the Pedigree given in the Appendix E.

CHAPTER V.

WILLEY.

Willey, close Neighbour to the Royal Chace of Shirlot-Etymology of the Name-Domesday - The Willileys—The Lacons-The Welds and the Foresters-Willey Old Hall Cumnor Hall as described by Sir Walter Scott-Everything Old and Quaint-How Willey came into possession of the Foresters.

"Bove the foliage of the wood

An antique mansion might you then espy,
Such as in the days of our forefathers stood,
Carved with device of quaintest imagery."

To commence with its earlier phase, it was clear that Willey would be close neighbour to the Royal Chace of Shirlot, and that it must have been about the centre of the wooded country previously described. The name is said to be of Saxon origin; and in wattle and dab and wicker-work times, when an osier-bed was probably equal in value to a vineyard, the place might have been as the word seems

1

to suggest, one where willows grew, seeing that various osiers, esteemed by basket makers, coopers, and turners, still flourish along the stream winding past it to the Severn. The name is therefore redolent of the olden time, and is one of those old wordpictures which so often occur to indicate the earlier features of the country. Under its agricultural Saxon holders, however, Willey so grew in value and importance that when the Conquest was complete, and King William's generals were settling down to enjoy the good things the Saxons had provided, and as Byron has it

"Manors

Were their reward for following Billy's banners," Willey fell to the lot of a Norman, named Turold, who, as he held twelve other manors, considerately permitted the Saxon owner to continue in possession under him. Domesday says: "The same Turold holds Willey, and Hunnit (holds it) of him.”

"Here is half a hide geldable.

Here is arable land

sufficient for ii ox teams. Here those ox teams are, together with ii villains, and ii boors. Its value is v shillings." At the death of Hunnit the manor passed to a family which took its name from the place; and considerable additions resulted from