ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 261 



vasto et regardo, et visu forestarior. et viridarior. regardator. et 

 omnium ministrorum foreste," &c. &c. Chapter House, Westminster. 



PRIORY FARM HOUSE. 



LETTEE 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 its 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 dilapidation 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 wall of about ten feet long, and as many feet high, which 

 probably was a part of an outhouse. As early as the latter end of the 



