OF SELBORNE 263 



As Edward II. was hunting on Wolmer-forest, Morris 

 Ken, of the kitchen, fell from his horse several times ; at 

 which accidents the king laughed immoderately • and when 

 the chase was over, ordered him twenty shillings ;^ an 

 enormous sum for those days ! Proper allowances ought 

 to be made for the youth of this monarch, whose spirits 

 also, we may suppose, were much exhilarated by the sport 

 of the day : but, at the same time, it is reasonable to 

 remark that, whatever might be the occasion of Ken's 

 first fall, the subsequent ones seem to have been designed. 

 The scullion appears to have been an artful fellow, and 

 to have seen the king's foible ; which furnishes an 

 early specimen of that his easy softness and faciUty of 

 temper, of which the infamous Gaveston took such 

 advantages, as brought innumerable calamities on the 

 nation, and involved the prince at last in such misfortunes 

 and sufferings too deplorable to be mentioned without 

 horror and amazement. 



LETTER III 



From 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 see, 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 Radfredus the presbyter, we cannot pretend to 

 say ; our business leads us to a description of the present 

 edifice, in which we shall be circumstantial. 



1 " Item, paid at the lodge at Wolmer, when the king was stag-hunt- 

 ing there, to Morris Ken, of the kitchen, because he rode before 

 the king and often fell from his horse, at which the king laughed 

 exceedingly — a gift, by command, of twenty shillings." — A MS. in 

 possession of Thomas Astle, esq., containing the private expenses of 

 Edward II. 



