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CA8TLES AND ABBEYS OF ENGLAND.

[Tub Abbet

respective estates. After an obstinate dispute, the lord of Cheshunt agreed toyield up his claim to the abbot; but these meadows were frequently afterwardsa subject of litigation. A new lawsuit was begun in the time of the last abbotof Waltham; and the question remained undecided when the Abbey wassurrendered to King Henry VIII .

Until the reign of this monarch, Waltham continued to receive frequentvisits from the English kings, who are said to have possessed a smallhouse within the parish, at a spot known in more recent times by thename of Homtlanb, where occasionally they sought pleasure and retirement.Richard II . was residing here at the time of Wat Tyler ’s insurrection. Itwas also a favourite retreat of King Henry VIII. ; and Fuller has preserveda traditionary anecdote relating to one of Henry ’s visits, which (though asimilar story has been told of other kings in like circumstances) loses nothingby being repeated. The king was one day hunting in the forest; and,wandering from his companions, he came to the Abbey, about dinner-time, inthe disguise of one of his own guard. He was immediately invited to theabbot’s table, and a sirloin of beef was placed before him. The king washungry, and ate veiy heartily, to the great admiration of the abbot, whosepampered stomach had been spoilt by the good fare of his house. “ Well farethy heart!” he said to his guest: “here is a cup of sack, and remember thehealth of his Grace thy master. I would willingly give a hundred pounds oncondition that I could feed as heartily on beef as thou dost. Alas! my weakstomach will hardly digest a wing of a small rabbit or chicken.” The kingpledged his host, and then, thanking him for his hospitality, departed as secretlyas he had arrived. Shortly afterwards, a pursuivant suddenly made his appear-ance at Waltham; and, to the consternation of the whole fraternity, the abbotwas carried to London , and committed a close prisoner to the Tower, where hewas kept for some days strictly confined to a diet of bread and water. Theseverity of his imprisonment was then as suddenly relaxed, and a sirloin ofbeef was set before him, on which, to use the quaint expression of the oldnarrator of this story, “ he fed as heartily as a farmer of his own grange.” Theking immediately entered from a small lobby, where he had been looking onunobserved, and demanded of his prisoner a hundred pounds, the sumpromised to him who should restore his lost appetite, which the abbot paidimmediately, and lost no time in returning again to enjoy the good cheer of hisown refectory.

We can trace, but with uncertainty, the progress of destruction -withwhich this noble building was visited after its ^Dissolution. Part of thechurch, with the offices and other parts of the Abbey, were probably de-molished for the sake of the materials, the nave only being reserved to