OF SELBORNE 317 



by freeing them from the cruel oppression of forest-laws, and by 

 letting their lands at easy rates. But, as soon as the convent was 

 suppressed, the town which it had occasioned began to decline, 

 and the market was less frequented ; the rough and sequestered 

 situation gave a check to resort, and the neglected roads rendered 

 it less and less accessible. 



That it had been a considerable place for size formerly appears 

 from the largeness of the church, which much exceeds those of 

 the neighbouring villages ; by the ancient extent of the burying 

 ground, which, from human bones occasionally dug up, is found 

 to have been much encroached upon ; by giving a name to the 

 hundred ; by the old foundations and ornamented stones, and 

 tracery of windows that have been discovered on the north-east 

 side of the village ; and by the many vestiges of disused fish- 

 ponds still to be seen around it. For ponds and stews were 

 multiplied in the times of popery, that the affluent might enjoy 

 some variety at their tables on fast days ; therefore the more 

 they abounded the better probably was the condition of the 

 inhabitants. 



[The Appendix (pp. 431-468 in orig.), giving in Latin a number of papers relating 

 to the Priory of Selborne, is not reprinted here. Bell's and Buckland's editions 

 contain an Appendix by the late Lord Selborne on the Romano-British Antiquities 

 of Selborne.] 



