24 



THE NATURAL HISTORY 



[LETT, 



of cattle, can render this meer so remarkable as the great 

 quantity of coins that were found in its bed about forty 

 years ago. 1 



1 The circumstances under which these coins were discovered are thus 

 related in the author's " Antiquities of Selborne : " " In the very dry 

 summers of 1740 and 41, the bed of this lake became as dry and dusty a* 

 the surrounding heath ; and some of the forest cottagers, remembering 

 stories of coins found by their fathers and grandfathers, began to search 

 also, and with great success ; they found great heaps of coin, one lying on 

 the other, as shot there out of a bag, many of them in good preservation. 

 They consisted solely of Roman copper coin in hundreds, and some medals 

 of the Lower Empire. The neighbouring gentry and clergy chose what they 

 liked, and some dozens fell to the author, chiefly of Marcus Aurelius and 

 the Empress Faustina. Those of Faustina were in high relief, exhibiting 

 agreeable features, and the medals of a paler colour than the coins." 



,.,, 



THE OLD MILL 



