LETTER XXVI 



THOUGH the evidences and documents of the Priory and 

 parish of Selborne are now at an end, yet as the author has 

 still several things to say respecting the present state of 

 that convent and it's Grange, and other matters, he does not 

 see how he can acquit himself of the subject without 

 trespassing again on the patience of the reader by adding 

 one supplementary letter. 



No sooner did the Priory (perhaps much out of repair 

 at the time) become an appendage to the college, but it 

 must at once have tended to swift decay. Magdalen College 

 wanted now only two chambers for the chantry priest and 

 his assistant ; and therefore had no occasion for the hall, 

 dormitory, and other spacious apartments belonging to 

 so large a foundation. The roofs neglected, would soon 

 become the possession of daws and owls ; and, being 

 rotted and decayed by the weather, would fall in upon the 

 floors, so that all parts must have hastened to speedy dilapi- 

 dation and a scene of broken ruins. Three full centuries 

 have now passed since the dissolution ; a series of years 

 that would craze the stoutest edifices. But, besides the 

 slow hand of time, many circumstances have contributed 

 to level this venerable structure with the ground ; of which 

 nothing now remains but one piece of a wall of about 

 ten feet long, and as many feet high, which probably was 

 a part of an out-house. As early as the latter end of the 

 reign of Hen. VII., we find that a farm-house and two 

 barns were built to the south of the Priory, and un- 

 doubtedly out of it's materials. Avarice again has much 



contributed to the overthrow of this stately pile, as long as 



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