14 of that year he writes, “To Epsom, by eight o’clock, to the well; where much company.  And to the towne to the King’s Head; and hear that my Lord Buckhurst and Nelly (Gwynne) are lodged at the next house, and Sir Charles Sedley with them:  and keep a merry house.”  This house, next to the “King’s Head,” is still standing.  A little further along the street is the large red-brick building known to-day as Waterloo House.  It was built about the year 1680, and was then known as the New Inn.  The old banqueting-hall it contains is divided up now, for the building is converted into shops.

Durdans, the residence of Lord Rosebery, is about ten minutes’ walk from the High Street.  One can see the house and grounds from the narrow lane leading to the downs.

[Illustration:  High street, Epsom.

Showing one of the famous inns which flourished in the seventeenth century.]

EPPING FOREST

=How to get there.=—­From Liverpool Street or Fenchurch Street. 
  Great Eastern Railway.
=Nearest Station.=—­Theydon Bois.  Other stations near the forest
  are Chingford, Loughton, and Epping.
=Distance from London.=—­15 miles. =Average Time.=—­1 hour.  Quickest train, 38 minutes.

                    1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=—­Single 2s. 8d. 1s. 11d. 1s. 3-1/2d. 
          Return 3s. 9d. 2s. 11d. 1s. 11d.

Those who wish to ramble through Epping Forest off the beaten paths should carry a compass and a map, so that they do not merely keep in one section of the forest, and thus miss some of the tracts which are quite distinct in character to others.  The best days during the summer for having the glades to one’s self are Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, but during the winter the whole place is left to the keepers and the feathered inhabitants of the forest.  During spring and autumn one also finds that the grassy walks are left almost entirely alone, and at these periods the forest is at its very best.  Those who have only visited it in the height of summer, when the foliage is perhaps drooping a little, when the birds are not singing, and when there are traces of more than one picnic party, have no idea of the true beauty of the forest.  A herd of deer are allowed to breed in the wilder and less frequented portions if the forest, and these add much to the charm of some of the umbrageous by-paths when one suddenly disturbs a quietly grazing group.  Queen Elizabeth’s hunting lodge, which adjoins the Forest Hotel at Chingford, is a restored three-storied and much gabled building, constructed of plastered brickwork and framed with oak.  It seems that the building originally had no roof, but merely an open platform, from which one could obtain a good comprehensive view of any sport going on in the vicinity.  The lodge has now been made the home of a museum of objects of antiquity discovered in the forest.  The special