THE 



ANTIQUITIES 



OF 



SELBORNE. 



LETTER I. 



IT is reasonable to suppose that in remote ages this woody and 

 mountainous district was inhabited only by bears and wolves. 

 Whether the Britons ever thought it worthy their attention, is 

 not in our power to determine ; but we may safely conclude, 

 from circumstances, that it was not unknown to the Romans. 

 Old people remember to have heard their fathers and grand- 

 fathers say that, in dry summers and in windy weather, pieces 

 of money were sometimes found round the verge of Wolmer-pond ; 

 and tradition had inspired the foresters with a notion that the 

 bottom of that lake contained great stores of treasure. During 

 the spring and summer of 1 740 there was little rain ; and the 

 following summer also, 1741, was so uncommonly dry, that 

 many springs and ponds failed, and this lake in particular, whose 

 bed became as dusty as the surrounding heaths and wastes. 

 This favourable juncture induced some of the forest -cottagers 

 to begin a search, which was attended with such success, that 

 all the labourers in the neighbourhood flocked to the spot, and 

 with spades and hoes turned up great part of that large area. 

 Instead of pots of coins, as they expected, they found great heaps, 

 the one lying on the other, as if shot out of a bag ; many of 

 which were in good preservation. Silver and gold these in- 

 quirers expected to find ; but their discoveries consisted solely 



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