2i6 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



each. These we should not hesitate to say are coeval with 

 the present church : and especially as it is to be observed 

 that, at their ends, they are ornamented with carved, blunt 

 gothic niches, exactly correspondent to the arches of the 

 church, and to a niche in the south wall. The fourth aile 

 also has a row of these benches ; but some are decayed 

 through age, and the rest much disguised by modern 

 alterations. 



At the upper end of this aile, and running out to the 

 north, stands a transept, known by the name of the North 

 Chancel, measuring twenty-one feet from south to north, 

 and nineteen feet from east to west : this was intended, 

 no doubt, as a private chantry : and was also, till of late, 

 divided off by a gothic framework of timber. In its north 

 wall, under a very blunt gothic arch, lies perhaps the 

 founder of this edifice, which, from the shape of its arch, 

 may be deemed no older than the latter end of the reign 

 of Henry VII. The tomb was examined some years ago, 

 but contained nothing except the skull and thigh-bones of 

 a large tall man, and the bones of a youth or woman, 

 lying in a very irregular manner, without any escutcheon 

 or other token to ascertain the names or rank of the 

 deceased. The grave was very shallow, and lined with 

 stone at the bottom and on the sides. 



From the east wall project four stone brackets, which I 

 conclude supported images and crucifixes. In the great 

 thick pilaster, jutting out between this transept and the 

 chancel, there is a very sharp gothic niche, of older date 

 than the present chantry or church. But the chief pieces 

 of antiquity are two narrow stone coffin-lids, which com- 

 pose part of the floor, and lie from west to east, with the 

 very narrow ends eastward : these belong to remote times ; 

 and, if originally placed here, which I doubt, must have 

 been part of the pavement of an older transept. At present 

 there are no coffins under them, whence I conclude they 

 have been removed to this place from some part of a 

 former church. One of these lids is so eaten by time, that 

 no sculpture can be discovered upon it ; or, perhaps, it may 



