508 ANTIQUITIES 



Et liceat eidem priori et ballis suis ponere se in seisinam in 

 hujusmodi catall. incasibus pdcis sine disturbacone ballivor. 

 dni reg. quorumcunque. 



" Item clam, quod licet aliqua libtatum p dnm regem con- 

 cessar. pcessu temporis quocunq ; casu contingente usi non 

 fuerint, nlominus postea eadm libtate uti possit. Et pdcms 

 prior quesitus p justic. quo warranto clamat omn. terr. et 

 ten. sua in Seleburne, Norton, Basynges, Basyngestoke, & 

 Nattele, que prior domus pdte huit & tenuit X mo die April 

 anno regni dni Hen. reg. pavi dni reg. nue XVIII. immppm 

 esse quieta de vasto et regardo, et visu forestarior. et viri- 

 darior. regardator. et omnium ininistrorum foreste." &c. &c. 

 Chapter House, Westminster. 



LETTER XXVI. 



HOUGH 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 



