THE 



ANTIQJQITIES 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 j 1 

 but we may safely conclude, from circumstances, that it 

 was not unknown to the Romans. Old people remember 

 to have heard their fathers and grandfathers say that, in 

 dry summers and in windy weather, pieces of money were 

 sometimes found round the verge of Woolmer-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 1740 there was little 

 rain ; and the following summer also, 1741, was so un- 

 commonly 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 



1 See Harting's edition of " Selborne," p. 405, note. {R. B. S.] 

 VOL. II. 2 9 2 D 



