OF SELBOENE 247 



Sacred to the memory 



of the Rev^. ANDREW ETTY, B. D. 



23 Years Vicar of this parish : 



In whose character 



The conjugal, the parental, and the sacerdotal virtues 



were so happily combined 



as to deserve the imitation of mankind. 



And if in any particular he followed more invariably 



the steps of his blessed Master, 



It was in his humility. 



His parishioners, 



especially the sick and necessitous, 



as long as any traces of his memory shall remain, 



must lament his death. 



To perpetuate such an example, this stone is erected ; 



as while living he was a preacher of righteousness, 



so, by it, he being dead yet speaketh. 



He died April 8*. 1784. Aged 66 years.' 



1 [It was not until long after the Antiquities of Selborne was written, that any 

 knowledge of ecclesiastical architecture became general ; and the account of Selborne 

 church in the text is a remarkable proof of the ignorance which at that time prevailed 

 both with regard to the principles of church-building, and the details in which those 

 principles were developed. The church at Selborne still retains a large portion of 

 the original structure, and exhibits an interesting and consistent example of the 

 architecture of the period of its erection, which is sufficiently marked to preclude 

 any considerable error. The arches, the pillars with their iDases and capitals, the 

 windows which remain, and other details, point to the close of the 12th or the 

 beginning of the 13th century, and the reign of Henry III. as the true date of the 

 present structure, which is therefore of the Early English period, just as the Norman 

 style was becoming extinct. I can find no traces of an earlier building remaining, 

 although it is very clear that at the time when Domesday book was composed there 

 was a church here. 



The pillars of the nave are of that simple and massive form which belongs to 

 the transition from the Norman to the Early English style. The base of the pillars 

 is a simple square plinth with round mouldings, on which rests the massive body of 

 the pillar, the diameter of which is 2 ft. 7 in. , and its height from base to capital 

 5 ft. 7 in. The capital is square, plain and bold ; and from it springs a nearly 

 equilateral pointed arch of 10 ft. span. There is still remaining in the south wall 

 to the west of the doorway a single well-proportioned lancet window ; and there is 

 a double one of nearly similar proportions in the west wall. The south aisle termin- 

 ates eastward in what was a chapel, dedicated probably to the tutelar saint of the 

 church, with a fine well-proportioned triplet window, to the left of which is a 

 handsome niche, which doubtless contained a figure of the saint ; and on its base 

 is a neat strip of diaper-work. In the south wall of this chantry is a piscina be- 

 longing to the altar of the chapel. Of this piscina Gilbert White makes the curious 

 mistake of supposing that it formerly held a statue of some saint. Although all 

 traces of a screen separating this chancel from the aisle have long since disappeared, 

 yet its boundary is very clearly indicated by a stone step which raises it a few inches 

 above the level of the aisle. The string-course, extending along the east, south, 

 and west walls of the south aisle, is simple and very perfect. The mouldings of 

 the south doorway are very beautiful and nearly perfect. The door itself is solid, 

 and the hinges of a good but not elaborate pattern. The north transept, described 

 in the text, is evidently more recent than the body of the church. Of the four 

 brackets mentioned, three are similar in form, the centre one being placed higher 

 than the others. These certainly supported figures. The fourth bracket has no 

 relation to the others, is placed nearer to the chancel, and is of ruder form. In 



