328 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 



no claim to antiquity, I would mean to be understood of the 

 fabric in general ; for the pillars which support the roof, are un- 

 doubtedly old, being of that low, squat, thick order, usually 

 called Saxon. These, I should imagine, upheld the roof of a 

 former church, which, falling into decay, was rebuilt on those 

 massy props, because their strength had preserved them from 

 the injuries of time.* Upon these rest blunt gothic arches, such 

 as prevailed in the reign above mentioned, and by which, as a 

 criterion, we would prove the date of the building. 



At the bottom of the south aisle, between the west and south 

 doors, stands the font, which is deep and capacious, and consists 

 of three massy round stones, piled one on another, without the 

 least ornament or sculpture : the cavity at the top is lined with 

 lead, and has a pipe at bottom to convey off the water after the 

 sacred ceremony is performed. 



The east end of the south aisle is called the South Chancel, 

 and, till within these thirty years, was divided off by old carved 

 gothic frame-work of timber, having been a private chantry. In 

 this opinion we are more confirmed by observing two gothic 

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

 the south, near which there probably stood images and altars. 



In the middle aisle there is nothing remarkable : but I re- 

 member when its beams were hung with garlands in honour of 

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

 of Faringdon, which is the next parish, many garlands 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 

 churchwarden 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- 



* In the same manner, to compare great things with small, did Wykeham, when he new-built 

 the cathedral at Winchester, from the tower westward, apply to his purpose the old piers or 

 pillars of Bishop Walkelin's church, by blending Saxoti and Gothic architecture together. See 

 Lowth's Life of Wykeham. 



t Virgin garlands were originally formed of real flowers, and garlands so made are alluded to 

 by our old dramatists and "metre-ballad-mongers." Garlands of the description given by Mr. 

 White are still common among the peasantry of the mountains of Craven in Yorkshire and 

 Westmoreland. 



