THE 



ANTIQUITIES 



OF 



SELBORNE. 



LETTER I. 



IT is reasonable to suppose that in remote ages this woody 

 and mountainous district was inhabited only by bears and 

 wolves. Whether the Britons ever thought it worthy their 

 attention, is not in our power to determine ; but we may 

 safely conclude, from circumstances, that it was not unknown 

 to the Romans. Old people remember to have heard their 

 fathers and grandfathers say that, in dry summers and in 

 w r indy weather, pieces of money were sometimes found round 

 the verge of Wolmer-pond; and tradition had inspired the 

 foresters with a notion that the bottom of that lake contained 

 great stores of treasure. During the spring and summer of 

 1740 there was little rain; and the following summer also, 

 1741, was so uncommonly dry, that many springs and ponds 

 failed, and this lake in particular whose bed became as dusty 

 as the surrounding heaths and wastes. This favourable junc- 

 ture induced some of the forest-cottagers to begin a search, 

 which was attended with such success, that all the labourers 

 in the neighbourhood flocked to the spot, and with spades and 



