THE ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE 237 



gloves of one penny value to the prior and canons, to be 

 given annually by the said Richard ; and to quit all claim 

 to the said lands in reversion, provided the prior and 

 canons would engage annually to pay to the king, through 

 the hands of his bailiffs of Aulton, ten shillings at four 

 quarterly payments, " pro omnibus serviciis, consuetudini- 

 bus, exactionibus, et demandis." 



This Jo. de Venur was a man of property at Oakhanger, 

 and lived probably at the spot now called Chapel-farm. 

 The grant bears date the iyth year of the reign of Henry 

 III. (viz. 1233). 



It would be tedious to enumerate every little grant for 

 lands or tenements that might be produced from my 

 vouchers. I shall therefore pass over all such for the 

 present, and conclude this letter with a remark that must 

 strike every thinking person with some degree of wonder. 

 No sooner had a monastic institution got a footing, but the 

 neighbourhood began to to be touched with a secret and 

 religious awe. Every person round was desirous to 

 promote so good a work ; and either by sale, by grant, or 

 by gift in reversion, was ambitious of appearing a bene- 

 factor. They who had not lands to spare gave roads to ac- 

 commodate the infant foundation. The religious were not 

 backward in- keeping up this pious propensity, which they 

 observed so readily influenced the breasts of men. Thus 

 did the more opulent monasteries add house to house, and 

 field to field, and by degrees manor to manor : till at last 

 " there was no place left ; " but every district around 

 became appropriated to the purposes of their founders, and 

 every precinct was drawn into the vortex. 



