410 ANTIQUITIES 



LETTER III. 



ROM the silence of Domesday respecting 

 churches, it has been supposed that few 

 villages had any at the time when that 

 record was taken ; but Selborne, we sec, 

 enjoyed the benefit of one : hence we may 

 conclude that this place was in no abject state, even at that 

 very distant period. How many fabrics have succeeded 

 each other since the days of Eadfredrus the presbyter, we 

 cannot pretend to say; our business leads us to a descrip- 

 tion of the present edifice, in which we shall be circum- 

 stantial. 



Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, 

 consists of three aisles, and measures fifty-four feet in length 

 by forty-seven in breadth, being almost as broad as it is 

 long. The present building has no pretensions to anti- 

 quity; and is, as I suppose, of no earlier date than the 

 beginning of the reign of Henry VII. It is perfectly plain 

 and unadorned, without painted glass, carved work, sculp- 

 ture, or tracery. But when I say it has no claim to anti- 

 quity, I would mean to be understood of the fabric in 

 general; for the pillars which support the roof are un- 

 doubtedly old, being of that low, squat, thick order, usually 

 called Saxon. These, I should imagine, upheld the roof 

 of a former church, which, falling into decay, was rebuilt on 

 those massy props, because their strength had preserved 

 them from the injuries of time. 1 Upon these rest blunt 

 Gothic arches, such as prevailed in the reign above-men- 



1 In the same manner, to compare great things with small, did Wyke- 

 ham, when he new built the cathedral at Winchester, from the tower 

 westward, apply to his purpose the old piers or pillars of Bishop Walke- 

 lin's church, by blending Saxon and Gothic architecture together. See 

 Lowth's "Life of Wykeham." G. W. 



