37o 



ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 





PRIORY FARM HOUSE, 



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 apart- 

 ments 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 



