520 ANTIQUITIES 



Morris Ken, of the kitchen, fell from his horse several 

 times; at \vhich accidents the king laughed immode- 

 rately : and, when the chase was over, ordered him 

 twenty shillings 5 ; an enormous sura for those days! 

 Proper allowances ought to be made for the youth of 

 this monarch, whose spirits also, we may suppose, were 

 much exhilarated by the sport of the day : but, at the 

 same time, it is reasonable to remark that, whatever 

 might be the occasion of Ken's first fall, the subsequent 

 ones seem to have been designed. The scullion appears 

 to have been an artful fellow, and to have seen the 

 king's foible; which furnishes an early specimen of 

 that his easy softness and facility of temper, of which 

 the infamous Gaveston took such advantages, as brought 

 innumerable calamities on the nation, and involved the 

 prince at last in misfortunes and sufferings too deplora- 

 ble to be mentioned without horror and amazement. 



LETTER III. 



FROM the silence of Domesday respecting churches, it 

 has been supposed that few villages had any at the 

 time when that record was taken ; but Selborne, we see, 

 enjoyed the benefit of one: hence we may conclude, 

 that this place was in no abject state even at that very 

 distant period. How many fabrics have succeeded each 

 other since the days of Radfredrus the presbyter, we 

 cannot pretend to say ; our business leads us to a 

 description of the present edifice, in which we shall be 

 circumstantial. 



Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, 

 consists of three aisles, and measures fifty-four feet in 



5 "Item, paid at the lodge at Wolmer, when the king was stag-hunt- 

 ing there, to Morris Ken, of the kitchen, because he rode before the king 

 and often fell from his horse, at which the king laughed exceedingly a 

 gift, by command, of twenty shillings." A MS. in possession of Thomas 

 Astle, Esq. containing the private expenses of Edward II. 



