XXIV.] OF SELBORNE. 229 



appear. Tbe bishop says that he had been obliged to remove 

 some priors for mal-administration : but it is not well explained 

 how that could be the case with any, unless with Sharp ; because 

 all the others, chosen during his episcopate, died in their office, 

 viz. Morton and Fairwise ; Berne only excepted, who relinquished 

 twice voluntarily, and was moreover approved of by Wainfleet 

 as a person of integrity. But the way to show what ineffectual 

 pains the bishop took, and what difficulties he met with, will be 

 to quote the words of the libel of his proctor, Eadulphus Lang- 

 ley, who appeared for the bishop in the process of the impro- 

 priation of the Priory of Selborne. The extract is taken from 

 an attested copy. 



"Item that the said bishop dicto prioratui et personis 

 ejusdem pie compatiens, sollicitudines pastorales, labores, et 

 diligentias gravissimas quam plurimas, tarn per se quam per 

 suos, pro reformatione premissorum impendebat : et aliquando 

 illius loci prioribus, propter malam et inutilem administrationem, 

 et dispensationem bonorum predicti prioratus, suis demeritis 

 exigentibus, amotis ; alios priores in quorum circumspectione et 

 diligentia confidebat, prefecit : quos tamen male se habuisse ac 

 inutiliter administrare, et administrasse, usque ad presentia 

 tempora post debitam investigationem, &c. invenit." So that he 

 despaired, with all his care, " statum ejusdem reparare vel 

 restaurare : et considerata temporis malicia, et preteritis 

 timendo, et conjecturando futura, de aliqua bona et sancta 

 religione ejusdem ordinis, &c. juxta piam intentionem primevi 

 fundatoris ibidem habend. desperatur." 



William Wainfleet, Bishop of Winchester, founded his college 

 of St. Mary Magdalen, in the university of Oxford, in or about 

 the year 1459 ; but the revenues proving insufficient for so large 

 and noble an establishment, the college supplicated the founder 

 to augment its income by putting it in possession of the estates 

 belonging to the Priory of Selborne, now become a deserted 

 convent, without canons or prior. The president and fellows 

 state the circumstances of their numerous institution and scanty 

 provision, and the ruinous and perverted condition of the Priory. 

 The bishop appoints commissaries to inquire into the state of the 

 said monastery ; and, if found expedient, to confirm the appropria- 



