II!.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



161 



Gothic niches within the space, the one in the east wall and 

 the other i:i the south, near which there probably stood images 

 and altars. 



In the middle aisle there is nothing remarkable : but I 

 remember when its beams were hung with garlands in honour 

 of young women of the parish, reputed to have died virgins ; 

 and recollect to have seen the clerk's wife cutting, in white 

 paper, the resemblances of gloves, and ribbons to be twisted into 

 knots and roses, to decorate these memorials of chastity. In 

 the chnrch of Faringdon, wliich is the next parish, many gar- 

 lands of this sort, still remain. 



The north aisle is narrow and low, with a sloping ceiling, 

 reaching within eight or nine feet of the floor. It had originally 

 a flat roof covered with lead, till, within a century past, a 

 clmrchwarden stripping off the lead, in order, as he said, to 

 have it mended, sold it to a plumber, and ran away with the 

 money. This aisle has no door, for an obvious reason ; because 

 the north side of the churchyard, being surrounded by the 

 vicarage garden, affords no path to that side of the church. 

 Nothing can be more irregular than the pews of this church, 

 which are of all dimensions and heights, being patched up 

 according to the fancy of the owners : but whoever nicely 

 examines them will find that the middle aisle had, on each 

 side, a regular row of benches of solid oak, all alike, with a 

 low back-board to each. These we should not hesitate to say 

 are coeval with the present church : and especially as it is to 

 be observed that, at their ends, they are ornamented with 

 carved blunt Gothic niches, exactly correspondent to the arches 

 of the church, to a niche in the south wall. The south aisle 

 also has a row of these benches, but some are decayed through 

 age, and the rest much disgxiised by modern alterations. 



At the upper end of this aisle, and running out to the north, 

 stands a transept, known by the name of the North Chancel, 

 measuring twenty-one feet from south to north, and nineteen 

 feet from east to west : this was intended, no doubt, as a private 

 chantry ; and was also, till of late, divided off by a Gothic frame- 

 work of timber. In its north wall, under a very blunt Gothic arch 

 lies perhaps the founder of this edifice, which, from the shape 



VOL. II. Y 



