OF SELBORNE 9 



on, at the end of the pit, where the soil is dug out for 

 manure, I have occasionally observed them of large 

 dimensions, perhaps fourteen or sixteen inches in diameter. 

 But as these did not consist of firm stone, but were 

 formed of a kind of terra lapidosa^ or hardened clay, as 

 soon as they were exposed to the rains and frost they 

 mouldered away. These seemed as if they were a very 

 recent production. In the chalk-pit, at the north-west 

 end of The Hanger, large nautili are sometimes observed. 

 In the very thickest strata of our freestone, and at 

 considerable depths, well-diggers often find large scallops 

 or pectines, having both shells deeply striated, and ridged 

 and furrowed alternately. They are highly impregnated 

 with, if not wholly composed of, the stone of the quarry. 



LETTER IV 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE 



As in a former letter the freestone of this place has been 

 only mentioned incidentally, I shall here become more 

 particular. 



This stone is in great request for hearth-stones and the 

 beds of ovens : and in lining of lime-kilns it turns to good 

 account ; for the workmen use sandy loam instead of 

 mortar ; the sand of which fluxes,^ and runs by the intense 

 heat, and so cases over the whole face of the kiln with a 

 strong vitrified coat like glass, that it is well preserved 

 from injuries of weather, and endures thirty or forty years. 

 When chiseled smooth, it makes elegant fronts for houses, 

 equal in colour and grain to the Bath stone ; and superior 

 in one respect, that, when seasoned, it does not scale. 

 Decent chimney-pieces are worked from it of much closer 



^ There may probably be also in the chalk itself that is burnt for lime 

 a proportion of sand : for few chalks are so pure as to have none. 



