ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE. 
329 
side of the church-yard, being surrounded by the vicarage-gar- 
den, affords no path to that side of the church. Nothing can 
be more irregular than the pews of this church, which are of all 
dimensions and heights, being patched up according to the fancy 
of the owners : but whoever nicely examines them will find that 
the middle aisle had, on each side, a regular row of benches of 
solid oak, all alike, with a low back-board to each. These we 
should not hesitate to say are coeval with the present church : 
and especially as it is to be observed that, at their ends, they 
are ornamented with carved blunt gothic niches, exactly corre- 
spondent to the arches of the church, and to a niche in the south 
wall. The south aisle also has a row of these benches ; but some 
are decayed through age, and the rest much disguised by modern 
alterations. 
At the upper end of this aisle, and running out to the north, 
stands a transept, known by the name of the North Chancel, 
measuring twenty-one feet from south to north, and nineteen 
feet from east to west : this was intended, no doubt, as a private 
chantry; and was also, till of late, divided off by a gothic frame- 
work of timber. In its north wall, under a very blunt gothic 
arch, lies perhaps the founder of this edifice, which, from the 
shape of its arch, may be deemed no older than the latter end of 
the reign of Henry VII. The tomb was examined some years 
ago, but contained nothing except the scull and thigh-bones of 
a large tall man, and the bones of a youth or woman, lying in a 
very irregular manner, without any escutcheon or other token to 
ascertain the names or rank of the deceased. The grave was very 
shallow, and lin^d with stone at the bottom and on the sides. 
From the east wall project four stone brackets, which I con- 
clude supported images and crucifixes. In the great thick pilaster, 
jutting out between this transept and the chancel, there is a very 
sharp gothic niche, of older date than the present chantry or 
church. But the chief pieces of antiquity are two narrow stone 
coffin-lids, which compose part of the floor, and lie from west to 
east, with the very narrow ends eastward : these belong to re- 
mote times ; and, if originally placed here, which I doubt, must 
have been part of the pavement of an older transept. At present 
there are no coffins under them, whence I conclude they have 
been removed to this place from some part of a former church. 
One of these lids is so eaten by time, that no sculpture can be 
discovered upon it ; or, perhaps, it may be the wrong side upper- 
