had been done at once. So Sir Roger put up notices
all about, that the roads were to be stopped by an Order of Sessions, and
these notices were signed, as required by law, by their worships of
Bullockshed and Sheepshank. But Sir Roger soon found that it was one
thing to stop a road leading from Oneman-Town to Lonely-Lodge, and
another to attempt to stop those from Great-Stockington to Rockville.

On the very first Sunday after the exhibition of those notice-boards,
there was a ferment in the grove of Rockville, as if all the bees in the
county were swarming there, with all the wasps and hornets to boot. Great
crowds were collected before each of these obnoxious placards, and the
amount of curses vomited against them was really shocking for any day,
but more especially for a Sunday. Presently there was a rush at them;
they were torn down, and simultaneously pitched into the river. There
were great crowds swarming all about Rockville all that day, and with
looks so defiant that Sir Roger more than once contemplated sending off
for the Yeoman Cavalry to defend his house, which he seriously thought in
danger.

But so far from being intimidated from proceeding, this demonstration
only made Sir Roger the more determined. To have so desperate and
irreverent a population coming about his house and woods now presented
itself in a much more formidable aspect than ever. So, next day, not only
were the placards once more hoisted, but rewards offered for the
discovery of the offenders, attended with all the maledictions of the
insulted majesty of the law. No notice was taken of this, but the whole
of Great Stockington was in a buzz and an agitation. There were posters
plastered all over the walls of the town, four times as large as Sir
Roger's notices, in this style:--

"Englishmen! your dearest rights are menaced! The Woods of Rockville,
your ancient, rightful, and enchanting resorts, are to be closed to you.
Stockingtonians! The eyes of the world are upon you. 'Awake! arise! or be
forever fallen!' England expects every man to do his duty! And your duty
is to resist and defy the grasping soil-lords, to seize on your ancient
Patrimony!"

"Patrimony! Ancient and rightful resort of Rockville!" Sir Roger was
astounded at the audacity of this upstart, plebeian race. What! They
actually claimed Rockville, the heritage of a hundred successive
Rockvilles, as their own. Sir Roger determined to carry it to the
Sessions; and at the Sessio