466 
THE ANTIQUITIES 
LETT. 
anecdote respecting that prince, with which I shall close this 
letter. 
As Edward 11. was hunting in.AVolmer 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 : hut, 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 that his easy softness and facility of temper, of 
which the infamous Gaveston took such advantages as brought 
innumerable calamities on the nation, and involved the prince 
at last in 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 Eadfredrus the pres- 
byter, we cannot pretend to say; our business leads us to 
a description of the present edifice, in which we shall be 
circumstantial. 
Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, consists 
of three aisles, and measures fifty-four feet in length by forty- 
1 " Item, paid at the lodge at Wolmer, when the king was stag-hunting 
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, 
