332 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 



pass by a door at the west end of the middle aisle into the belfry. 

 'Ihis room is part of a handsome square embattled tower of 

 forty-five feet in height, and of much more modern date than the 

 church ; but old enough to have needed a thorough repair in 

 1781, when it was neatly stuccoed at a considerable expense, by 

 a set of workmen who were employed on it for the greatest part 

 of the summer. The old bells, three in number, loud and out of 

 tune, were taken down in 1735, and cast into four; to which Sir 

 Simeon Stuart, the grandfather of the present baronet, added a 

 fifth at his own expense : and, bestowing it in the name of his 

 favourite daughter Mrs. Mary Stuart, caused it to be cast with 

 the following motto round it : 



" Clara puella dedit, dixitque mihi esto Maria: 

 Illius et laudes nomen ad astra sono." 



The day of the arrival of this tuneable peal was observed as a 

 high festival by the village, and rendered more joyous, by an 

 order from the donor, that the treble-bell should be fixed bottom 

 upward in the ground, and filled with punch, of which all present 

 were permitted to partake. 



The porch of the church, to the south, is modern, and would 

 not be worthy attention did it not shelter a fine sharp gothic 

 door-way. This is undoubtedly much older than the present 

 fabric ; and being found in good preservation, was worked into 

 the wall, and is the grand entrance into the church : nor are the 

 folding-doors to be passed over in silence ; since, from their thick 

 and clumsy structure, and the rude flourished work of their 

 hinges, they may possibly be as ancient as the do or- way itself. 



The whole roof of the south aisle, and the south-side of the 

 roof of the middle aisle, are covered with oaken shingles instead 

 of tiles, on account of their lightness, which favours the ancient 

 and crazy timber-frame. And indeed, the consideration of acci- 

 dents by fire excepted, this sort of roofing is much more eligible 

 than tiles. For shingles well seasoned, and cleft from quartered 

 timber, never warp, nor let in drifting snow ; nor do they shiver 

 with frost ; nor are they liable to be blown off, like tiles ; but 

 when well nailed down, last for a long period, as experience has 

 shown us in this place, where those that face to the north are 

 known to have endured, untouched, by undoubted tradition for 

 more than a century. 



Considering the size of the church, and the extent of the parish, 

 the church-yard is very scanty ; and especially as all wish to be 



