20 



THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



some time in Southampton in a house which formerly 

 stood on the site of Castle-square. This was about 

 1808. Mr. Adams was greatly interested in what he 

 saw of Southampton, and in the view from the site of 

 Castle-square. As he is a friend of the Longfellow 

 family, he amply repaid the little attention I was able 

 to show him by much information he gave me about 

 his personal acquaintance with Longfellow, the poet. 

 I took him tv the birthplace of Isaac Watts, where 

 Mr. Harman showed him over the house. Since his 

 return to America, Mr. Oscar Fay Adams has written 

 to me to say that he could settle the question as to 

 where Jane Austen went to church in Southampton, 

 if I could tell him which church Dr. Mant was rector 

 of in October, 1808. This was a very easy question, 

 for it is well known that Dr. Mant was at that time 

 rector of All Saints', so that the author of " Pride and 

 Prejudice," " Sense and Sensibility," &c , must at 

 that time have been an attendant at the parish church 

 of All Saints. T. W. SHORE. 



It may be of interest to add here the notes on Miss 

 Austen given by the Rev. F. W. Tho\-ts, M.A., in his 

 " History of Esse or Ashe, Hampshire" (London : W. 

 Clowes and Sons, 1889) : 



At the same time that Miss Mitford's grandfather, 

 Dr. Russell, was Rector of Ashe, the parents of Jane 

 Austen resided in the immediate neighbourhood; so 

 the parents of two popular female writers must have 

 been intimately acquainted with each other. Mr. 

 and Mrs. George Austen resided first at Deane, but 

 removed in 1771 to Steventon, which was their 

 residence for about 30 years. Jane Austen was born 

 on December 16, 1775, at the Parsonage House of 

 Steventon. We, who know nothing but a level, well- 

 kept road, can hardly realise what the roads in this 

 country were in 1771. I quote from the memoirs of 

 Jane Austen, written by her nephew, Rev. J. E. 

 Austen Leigh, Vicar of Bray, Berks : 



When the Austen family removed from Deane to Steven- 

 ton, in 1771, the road was a mere cart track, so cut up by 

 deep ruts as to be impassable for a light carriage. Mr. 

 Austen, who was not then in strong health, performed the 

 short journey on a feather bed, placed upon some soft 

 articles of furniture, in the waggon which held their house- 

 hold goods. In those days it was not unusual to set men 

 to work with shovel and pickaxe to fill up ruts and holes 

 in roads, seldom used by carriages, on such special 

 occasions as a funeral or a wedding. Among the most 

 valuable neighbours of the Austens were Mr. and Mrs. 

 Lel'roy and their famil) - . He was rector of the adjoining 

 parish of Ashe. Jane Austen wrote a poem to Mrs. 

 Lefroy's memory. This was Rev. Isaac Peter George 

 Lefroy. Jane Austen's eldest brother, James, succeeded 

 to the Rectory of Steventon, and his daughter, Jane Anna 

 Elizabeth, became afterwards the wife of Rev. Benjamin 

 Lefroy, Rector of Ashe. She died in 1872. 



REMARKABLE TREES IN AMPFIELD WOOD. 



In Ampfield Wood, near Romsey, not far from the 

 Knapp Hill entrance, there are two trees growing 



together and inosculating in a remarkable manner. 

 One of them is a beech, the other an ash, the former 

 being considerably the larger. The diameter of their 

 trunks may perhaps be three and two feet respectively ; 

 this, however, is only a rough eye estimate. The 

 beech is a fairly well-formed tree with numerous 

 branches, and thickly foliaged in summer. The ash, 

 on the other hand, is a good deal bent, and though 

 tall is rather deficient in foliage. The most curious 

 feature about the trees is the way in which the ash is 

 deformed by huge swellings where it comes in contact 

 with its neighbour. There are three specially 

 notable tumours, one of which nearly encircles a 

 branch of the beech in its relentless grip. I asked a 

 man who was employed in clearing the road near the 

 spot whether the trees had any particular name. 

 He was not aware that they had, nor had he heard 

 of any legends connected with them. A small holly 

 bush springs from one ot the inmost interstices 

 between the roots of the beech, while ivy has also 

 begun to climb up it. Thus there are four different 

 arboreal growths in the most intimate association. 



J. T. K. 

 i 



KXOTTS OF HURSLEY. 



Were they in any way connected with the Knott 

 family of Whitchurch, who had a grant of arms in 

 1632 ? Where can I find a pedigree of this family ? 

 How were the3 T connected with the Series ? M. 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 

 From the meteorological register, made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office, Southampton, under the direction of Col. Sir 

 Chas. Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S., R.E. Lat. 50 

 54' 50" N. ; long. i 24' o" W. ; height above sea, 84 feet. 

 Observers Sergt. T. Chambers, R.E.,and Mr. J. T. Cook. 



Means. 



30-438 



[Tl.o 



"Black bulb in vacuo. 



