The 10 Geo. IV. c. 50, contains some provisions peculiar to Ireland. Leases, grants, &c., of any of the small branches of the royal revenue (s. 128), and the powers appertaining to the chancellor and council of the Duchy of Lancaster (s. 130), are exempted from its operation.
The real property of the crown may be thus classified: 1. Honours, manors, and hundreds, not In lease.
2. Other lands in the occupation of the crown, either for the personal conveni ence of the king or for the public service.
3. Forests, chaces, and wastes.
4. Lands, tenements and hereditaments, held of the crown by lease.
5. Fee-farm rents, issuing out of lands, tenements, and hereditaments, held of the crown in fee-simple.
Of the first, fourth, and fifth classes it would be impossible to attempt any par ticular enumeration ; the fourth consisted, at the time of passing the statute 26 Geo. III. c. 87 (A.D. 1786), of about 130 manors, 52,000 acres of land in cultiva tion, 1800 houses in London and West minster, and 450 houses and other build ings in other parts of England, exclusive of houses demised with manors or forests.
The second class comprises the follow ing royal palaces and houses :—Bucking ham Palace ; St. James's Palace ; the Pa vilion at Brighton ; Windsor Castle ; the palaces of Hampton Court, Kensington, and Whitehall; the King's House at Win chester ; the palace at Greenwich (con verted into an hospital for seamen) ; So merset House (used as public offices) ; the palace of Westminster (Westminster Hall, including the houses of parliament and courts of law). The following palaces and buildings have been pulled down and their sites used for other purposes:— Carlton House; the Mews ; Newmarket Palace. The following parks are also included in this class :—St. James's, Hyde, Bagshot. Bushey, Greenwich, Hampton Court, Richmond, and Windsor.
In the third class are included not only the royal forests which have preserved their Jura regalia, but several nominal forests and chaces, warrens, wastes, &c.
The following is a list of the real forests : —In Berks, Surrey, and Wilts, Windsor Forest; in Essex, Waltham Forest ; in Gloucestershire, the Forest of Dean ; in Hampshire, Bere Forest, New Forest, and the Forest of Woolmer and Aliceholt ; in Northamptonshire, Rockingham,Whittle wood, and Salcey Forests; in Nottingham shire, Sherwood Forest; in Oxfordshire, Whichwood Forest.
There has arisen incidentally out of the proper duties of the department of Woods and Forests, since it was united with the Board of Public Works, the im portant office of providing public walks and access to the national buildings and collections. This branch of administra tion has only been recognised of late years, and perhaps we owe it to our inter course with the Continent, and especially with France, that it has been at all ac knowledged. Twenty years ago Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens were the only public places of recreation open to the crowded and hard-worked population of London; since then, beside the im provements in those two places, and the formation of new streets and squares in those parts of the metropolis of which the land either belongs to the crown or has been purchased by parliament for public improvements, there have been opened the large gardens of St. James's Park and the Regent's Park; Primrose Hill, at the north of the Regent's Park, and a large piece of land at the north-east end of London, called Victoria Park,' have been purchased for public convenience. - The palace and grounds of Hampton Court have been repaired and ornamented, and have been thrown open gratuitously to the public, and the collection of pic tures has been arranged : for all this the nation is indebted to the department of Woods and Forests.