OF SELBORNE 347 



LETTER XXVI 



THOUGH the evidences and documents of the Priory and 

 parish of Selborne are now at an end, yet, as the author 

 has still several things to say respecting the present state of 

 that convent and its Grange, and other matters, he does 

 not see how he can acquit himself of the subject without 

 trespassing again on the patience of the reader by adding 

 one supplementary letter. 



No sooner did the Priory (perhaps much out of repair 

 at the time) become an appendage to the college, but it 

 must at once have tended to swift decay. Magdalen College 

 wanted now only two chambers for the chantry priest and 

 his assistant ; and therefore had no occasion for the hall, 

 dormitory, and other spacious apartments belonging to so 

 large a foundation. The roofs neglected, would soon 

 become the possession of daws and owls ; and, being rotted 

 and decayed by the weather, would fall in upon the floors ; 

 so that all parts must have hastened to speedy dilapidation 

 and a scene of broken ruins. Three full centuries have 

 now passed since the dissolution ; a series of years that 

 would craze the stoutest edifices. But, besides the slow 

 hand of time, many circumstances have contributed to 

 level this venerable structure with the ground ; of which 

 nothing now remains but one piece of a wall of about ten 

 feet long, and as many feet high, which probably was part 

 of an out-house. As early as the latter end of the reign 

 of Hen. VII. we find that a farm-house and two barns 

 were built to the south of the Priory, and undoubtedly 

 out of its materials. Avarice again has much contributed 

 to the overthrow of this stately pile, as long as the tenants 

 could make money of its stones or timbers. Wantonness, 

 no doubt, has had a share in the demolition ; for boys love 

 to destroy what men venerate and admire. A remarkable 

 instance of this propensity the writer can give from his 

 own knowledge. When a schoolboy, more than fifty 

 years ago, he was eye-witness, perhaps a party concerned, 



