THE ANTIQUITIES OF 

 SELBORNE 



LETTER I 



IT is reasonable to suppose that in remote ages this woody 

 and mountainous district was inhabited only by bears and 

 wolves. Whether the Britons ever thought it worthy 

 their attention, is not in our power to determine; but 

 we may safely conclude, from circumstances, that it was 

 not unknown to the Romans. Old people remember 

 to have heard their fathers and grandfathers say that, 

 in dry summers and in windy weather, pieces of money 

 were sometimes found round the verge of Wolmer- 

 pond ; and tradition had inspired the foresters with a 

 notion that the bottom of that lake contained great stores 

 of treasure. During the spring and summer of 1740 

 there was little rain ; and the following summer also, 1741, 

 was so uncommonly dry, that many springs and ponds 

 failed, and this lake in particular whose bed became as 

 dusty as the surrounding heaths and wastes. This favour- 

 able juncture induced some of the forest-cottagers to begin 

 a search, which was attended with such success, that 

 all the labourers in the neighbourhood flocked to the 

 spot, and with spades and hoes turned up great part of 

 that large area. Instead of pots of coins, as they expected, 

 they found great heaps, the one lying on the other, as 

 if shot out of a bag ; many of which were in good pre- 

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