158 THE ANTIQUITIES [LETT. 



anecdote respecting that prince, with which I shall close this 

 letter. 



As Edward II. was hunting in Wolmer Forest, Morris Ken, 

 of the kitchen, fell from his horse several times ; at which 

 accidents the king laughed immoderately : and, when the chase 

 was over, ordered him twenty shillings ; 1 an enormous sum for 

 those days ! Proper allowances ought to be made for the youth 

 of this monarch, whose spirits also, we may suppose, were much 

 exhilarated by the sport of the day : but, at the same time, it 

 is reasonable to remark that, whatever might be the occasion 

 of Ken's first fall, the subsequent ones seem to have been 

 designed. The scullion appears to have been an artful fellow, 

 and to have seen the king's foible ; which furnishes an early 

 specimen that his easy softness and facility of temper, of 

 which the infamous Gaveston took such advantages as brought 

 innumerable calamities on the nation, and involved the prince 

 at last in misfortunes and sufferings too deplorable to be 

 mentioned without horror and amazement. 



LETTER III. 



FROM the silence of Domesday respecting churches, it has been 

 supposed that few villages had any at the time when that record 

 was taken ; but Selborne, we see, enjoyed the benefit of one : 

 hence we may conclude that this place was in no abject state 

 even at that very distant period. How many fabrics have 

 succeeded each other since the days of Eadfredrus the pres- 

 byter, we cannot pretend to say; our business leads us to 

 a description of the present edifice, in which we shall be 

 circumstantial. 



Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, consists 

 of three aisles, and measures fifty-four feet in length by forty- 



1 " Item, paid at the lodge at Wolmer, when the king was stag-hunting 

 there, to Morris Ken, of the kitchen, because he rode before the king and 

 often fell from his horse, at which the king laughed exceedingly a gift, by 

 command, of twenty shillings." A MS. in possession of Thomas Astle, Esq., 

 containing the private expenses of Edward II. 



