OF SELBORNE. 373 



which had been of old leased out upon lives, but have been 

 freed of late by their present lord, as fast as those lives have 

 dropped. 



Selborne seems to have derived much of it's prosperity from 

 the near neighbourhood of the Priory. For monasteries were 

 of considerable advantage to places where they had their 

 sites and estates, by causing great resort, by procuring mar- 

 kets and fairs, by freeing them from the cruel oppression of 

 forest-laws, and by letting their lands at easy rates. But, as 

 soon as the convent was suppressed, the town which it had 

 occasioned began to decline, and the market was less fre- 

 quented ; the rough and sequestered situation gave a check 

 to resort, and the neglected roads rendered it less and less 

 accessible. 



That it had been a considerable place for size formerly 

 appears from the largeness of the church, which much exceeds 

 those of the neighbouring villages ; by the ancient extent of 

 the burying ground, which, from human bones occasionally dug 

 up, is found to have been much encroached upon ; by giving 

 a name to the hundred ; by the old foundations and orna- 

 mented stones, and tracery of windows that have been dis- 

 covered on the north-east side of the village ; and by the many 

 vestiges of disused fish-ponds still to be seen around it. For 

 ponds and stews were multiplied in the times of popery, that 

 the affluent might enjoy some variety at their tables on fast 

 days ; therefore the more they abounded the better probably 

 was the condition of the inhabitants. 



More Particulars respecting the Old Family Tortoise, omitted 

 in the Natural History. 



BECAUSE we call this creature an abject reptile, we are too 

 apt to undervalue his abilities, and depreciate his powers of 

 instinct. Yet he is, as Mr. Pope says of his lord, 



" Much too wise to walk into a well : " 



