Page:The child's pictorial history of England; (IA childspictorialh00corn).pdf/73

 monks brought over plenty of seeds and roots to sow or plant in gardens here.

2. The Normans built stone castles, and strong houses of timber, with upper stories, so that their dwellings, in general, were higher and more substantial than those of the Saxons; and one great improvement was that they had chimneys; but their furniture was as rough and clumsy as the furniture used in the Saxon times, and their way of living was almost the same, except that they did not care so much about feasting, but preferred spending their time in hunting, hawking, and fighting in sport, for pastime.

3. I should here tell you that William the Conqueror made the first game laws, and very severe they were, and very hard upon the poor people, who used to be at liberty to kill game in the forests; but, after these new laws, they dared not so much as take even a hare or partridge in their own fields.

4. It was not only the English, who were forbidden to hunt on the royal domains, but the Normans also, unless they had special leave to do so; and, if any one was bold enough to kill a deer in the king's forests, he was punished in the most cruel manner, by having his eyes put out, or his hands cut off.