ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 301 



The day of the arrival of this tuneable peal was observed as a 

 high festival by the village, and rendered more joyous, by an 

 order from the donor, that the treble bell should be fixed bottom 

 upward in the ground and filled with punch, of which all present 

 were permitted to partake. 



The porch of the church, to the south, is modern, and would 

 not be worthy attention did it not shelter a fine sharp Gothic 

 doorway. This is undoubtedly much older than the present fabric ; 

 and, being found in good preservation, was worked into the wall, 

 and is the grand entrance into the church ; nor are the folding- 

 doors to be passed over in silence ; since, from their thick and 

 clumsy structure, and the rude flourished- work of their hinges, 

 they may possibly be as ancient as the doorway itself. 



The whole roof of the south aisle, and the south side of the roof 

 of the middle aisle, is covered with oaken shingles instead of tiles, 

 on account of their lightness, which favours the ancient and crazy 

 timber-frame. And, indeed, the consideration of accidents by 

 fire excepted, this sort of roofing is much more eligible than tiles. 

 For shingles well seasoned, and cleft from quartered timber, never 

 warp, nor let in drifting snow ; nor do they shiver with frost ; nor 

 are they liable to be blown off, like tiles ; but, when nailed down 

 ast for a long period, as experience has shown us in this place, 

 where those that face to the north are known to have endured, 

 untouched, by undoubted tradition, for more than a century. 



Considering the size of the church, and the extent of the parish, 

 the churchyard is very scanty ; and especially as all wish to be 

 buried on the south side, which is become such a mass of mortality 

 that no person can be there interred without disturbing or dis- 

 placing the bones of his ancestors. There is reason to suppose 

 that it once was larger, and extended to what is now the vicarage 

 court and garden ; because many human bones have been dug up 

 in those parts several yards without the present limits. At the 

 east end are a few graves ; yet none till very lately on the north 

 side ; but, as two or three families of best repute have begun to 

 bury in that quarter, prejudice may wear out by degrees, and their 

 example be followed by the rest of the neighbourhood. 



In speaking of the church, I have all along talked of the east and 



