THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY & NATURALIST. 



61 



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'' 5o"N. ; long. i 24' o" W. ; height above sea, 84 feet. 

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



* Black bulb in vacuo. 



SELBORNE, PAST AND PRESENT. 



The Rev. J. Vaughan, of Alton, contributes an in- 

 teresting article on " Selborne, Past and Present" to 

 the March number of Murray's Magazine, in which he 

 draws a comparison between the place as it is now 

 and as it was in the time of Gilbert White, a hundred 

 years ago. Mr. Vaughan is a student of nature him- 

 self and a frequent attendant at the meetings of the 

 Hampshire Field Club, of which he is a member, and 

 just at the time that he is leaving to take the living of 

 Portchester, it is well that he should have put on 

 record some ot the results of his observations. It is 

 almost a century since, in 1793, Gilbert White was 

 laid to rest in Selborne churchyard, and this interval 

 of 97 years has effected some changes in the quiet 

 country village, though in other respects time has 

 passed it by unscathed. Mr. Vaughan writes : 



In spite of the inventions of steam, in spite of the enor- 

 mous growth of railroads, in spite of the thousand so-called 

 modern improvements, the village of Selborne is still a 

 very quiet spot, and as picturesque as it is quiet. There 

 is no railway station nearer than five miles, and the post- 

 town is the same distance away. In its outward aspect, 

 and to the ordinary observer, the changes may be but few, 

 The church, though restored, is still the same church 

 where Gilbert White officiated, and where many genera- 

 tions of Selborne villagers have worshipped. The ancient 

 yew-tree, thought by White to be coeval with the church, 

 still throws its shadows over the turf, beneath which the 

 forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The house where White 



lived, though now enlarged, yet contains his study and 

 other rooms, in almost the same condition as he left them 

 The hollow-lanes, perhaps now a little deeper than even 

 " sixteen or eighteen feet beneath the level ol the fields," 

 are still water-courses in winter, and luxuriant with foliage 

 in summer and autumn. The path-way down the Lythe, a 

 secluded valley between the village and the site of the old 

 Priory, remains as still and quiet, as when, in the days 

 before the Reformation, the Augustinian monks wandered 

 along its tiny stream. The Hanger is still covered with 

 beech-trees, " the most lovely," as White said, " of all 

 forest-trees ;" and many of the rarer plants remain. For 

 one hundred years the swallows and other migratory 

 birds have returned every spring, as they most likely have 

 done for thousands of seasons ; the harvest moon has 

 looked calmly down, autumn after autumn, on the sleeping 

 village ; year by year, the grass has grown in the church- 

 yard, and the beech-trees have blossomed on the Hanger, 

 and the wheat has ripened in the fields, since the man who 

 made Selborne famous passed away, and in its main 

 features the parish remains the same. 



But to a naturalist of Gilbert White's observation many 

 changes have occurred. The royal forest of Wolmer, which 

 in the last century was " without one standing tree in the 

 whole extent," is now partly planted and enclosed ; and 

 larch-trees and Scotch-firs flourish, where before was only 

 bracken, and heather and gorse. Bin's Pond, which in 

 White's time was a " considerable lake," has long since 

 been drained ; but the surrounding bogs and pools still 

 afford " a safe and pleasing shelter to teals and snipe," 

 which continue to breed there. 



Changes there are in the animal life of the place. 

 Birds which White met with in abundance are not 

 now to be found there, though it is satisfactory that 

 some uncommon birds in which he took a special 

 interest still frequent their old haunts ; and several 

 are to be seen there now which White does not 

 name at all. So, too, with the plants. Mr. Vaughan 

 naturally expresses a passing regret " that White 

 thought it ' needless work ' to ' enumerate all the 

 plants ' found in the immediate neighbourhood. 

 Such a catalogue would now be of considerable 

 interest to the local botanist." Some of those he 

 does name are still to be found in their old localities ; 

 but some are, unfortunately, extinct. 



In its main outlines the village itself has perhaps but 

 little changed in the last hundred years. The " cart-way " 

 of the "village" deep in mud in winter time has given way 

 to a more modern thoroughfare The church has been 

 thoroughly restored. The irregular pews, " of all 

 dimensions and heights," " patched up according to the 

 fancy of the owners," have been removed, and are replaced 

 by low modern benches. The tomb of the supposed 

 founder of the edifice, in " the north wall of the north 

 chancel," has entirely disappeared. The old barrel organ, 

 with its half-a-dozen tunes, which was in use as late as 

 within the last thirty or forty years, has gone the way of 

 almost all church barrel organs, and a fine-toned modern 

 instrument is played in its stead. The east end chancel 

 window is filled with beautiful painted glass. On the south 

 wall of the chancel is placed a marble tablet in 

 memory of Gilbert White. During the work of restoration 

 several interesting discoveries were made. Beneath the 

 floor of the south chantry two stone coffins, with orna- 

 mented lids, were found, together with a quantity of 

 thirteenth-century tiles, which tend to confirm the state- 

 ment of Gilbert White that the east end of the south aisle 



