OF SELBORNE. 333 



" prior and convent of Selbor-ne, to the amount of one hundred 

 "and ton marks eleven shillings and sixpence ; m and, a few 

 " years before he died, he made a free gift of one hundred 

 " marks to the same Priory : on which account the Prior and 

 " convent voluntarily engaged for the celebration of two 

 " masses a day by two canons of the convent for ten years, 

 " for the bishop's welfare, if he should live so long ; and for 

 "his soul if he should die before the expiration of this 

 "term."" 



At this distance of time it seems matter of great wonder to 

 us how these societies, so nobly endowed, and whose members 

 were exempt by their very institution from every means of 

 personal and family expense, could possibly run in debt 

 without squandering their revenues in a manner incompatible 

 with their function. 



Religious houses might sometimes be distressed in their 

 revenues by fires among their buildings, or large dilapidations 

 from storms, &c. ; but no such accident appears to have be- 

 fallen the Priory at Selborne. Those situate on public roads, 

 or in great towns, where there were shrines of saints, were 

 liable to be intruded on by travellers, devotees, and pilgrims ; 

 and were subject to the importunity of the poor, who swarmed 

 at their gates to partake of doles and broken victuals. Of 

 these disadvantages some convents used to complain, and 

 especially those at Canterbury; but this Priory, from it's 

 sequestered situation, could seldom be subject to either of 

 these inconveniences, and therefore we must attribute it's 

 frequent debts and embarrassments, well endowed as it was, to 

 the bad conduct of it's members, and a general inattention to 

 the interests of the institution. 



m Yet in ten years time we find, by the Notabilis Visitatio, that all 

 their relics, plate, vestments, title-deeds, &c. were in pawn. 

 n LowtJis Life of Wykeham. 



