OF SELBORNE 269 



LETTER IV 



We have now taken leave of the inside of the church, and 

 shall pass by a door at the west end of the middle aisle 

 into the belfry. This room is part of a handsome square 

 embattled tower of forty-five feet in height, and of much 

 more modern date than the church ; but old enough to 

 have needed a thorough repair in 1 7 8 1 , when it was neatly 

 stuccoed at a considerable expense, by a set of workmen 

 who were employed on it for the greatest part of the 

 summer. The old bells, three in number, loud and out of 

 tune, were taken down in 1735, and cast into four; to 

 which Sir Simeon Stuart, the grandfather of the present 

 baronet, added a fifth at his own expense : and, bestowing 

 it in the name of his favourite daughter Mrs. Mary Stuart, 

 caused it to be cast with the following motto round it : 



" Clara puella dedit, dixitque mihi esto Maria : 

 Illius et laudes nomen ad astra sono." 



The day of the arrival of this tuneable peal was observed 

 as an high festival by the village, and rendered more 

 joyous, by an order from the donor, that the treble-bell 

 should be fixed bottom upward in the ground, and filled 

 with punch, of which all present were permitted to partake. 



The porch of the church, to the south, is modern, and 

 would not be worthy attention did it not shelter a fine 

 sharp gothic door-way. This is undoubtedly much older 

 than the present fabric ; and being found in good pre- 

 servation, was worked into the wall, and is the grand 

 entrance into the church : nor are the folding-doors to be 

 passed over in silence ; since, from their thick and clumsy 

 structure, and the rude flourished-work of their hinges, 

 they may possibly be as ancient as the door-way itself. 



The whole roof of the south aisle, and the south-side of 

 the roof of the middle aisle, is covered with oaken shingles 

 instead of tiles, on account of their lightness, which favours 

 the ancient and crazv-timber-frame. And indeed, the 



