ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE 
261 
vasto et regardo, et visu forestarior. et viridarior. regardator. et 
omnium ministrorum foreste/' &c. &c. — Chaptei- House, Westminster. 
LETTEE XXYL 
Though tlie 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 now passed since the dissolution — a series of years 
that would craze the stoutest edifices. But, besides the slow hand of 
time, many circumstances have contributed to level this venerable 
structure with the ground ; of which nothing now remains but one 
piece of wall of about ten feet long, and as many feet high, which 
probably was a part of an outhouse. As early as the latter end of the 
