SELBORNE. xiii 
clumps, which give great richness to the vista that presents itself 
in the long Lith. This Lith, as seen from the village, is very 
rich and beautiful, but one feels an incompleteness about it, 
inasmuch as it presents no prominent object to which all this 
beauty is subservient, and thus impresses one with the melan- 
choly idea of a very fine assemblage of natural beauties wasting 
"their sweetness on the desert air/' There is not even a bit 
of water visible, though that might be easily obtained by ju- 
diciously damming up the Bourne ; and ponds of moderate 
dimensions in such places, if properly kept, are proved to repay 
fully the ground which they occupy. There are some ponds of 
considerable dimensions, and not uninteresting for their aquatic 
plants and the aquatic birds that resort to them, but they are 
concealed in the woods and do not tell in the scenery of the long 
Lith. Further down there are some reaches of the Bourne, 
which might throw a little liveliness into the picture, but they 
do not come into the general view. 
In former times, when the Priory was in the full bloom of its 
architecture, and in the full enjoyment of that feasting and 
fox-hunting for which its inhabitants were celebrated, it is im- 
possible to judge how much of pictorial interest its gray towers 
and turrets may have given to the scene ; but, the rich seclu- 
sion of the long " lith " remains as evidence of the exquisite taste 
which guided Peter de la Roche in the choice of a situation for 
his priory. 
The home lands of the priory now compose an extensive and 
valuable farm, the farm buildings standing nearly but not exactly 
on the site of the ancient edifice, though in point of beauty the 
spot chosen by the monks is preferable, lying very sweetly on the 
bank of the Bourne, so as to have given a beautiful exposure to the 
western or great entrance of the building. Not one stone of that 
building remains upon another, though many have been dug out 
of the ground ; and stone coflEns, bones, a few coins, and other 
articles of small value have also been obtained. The stones have 
been used for building purposes ; and the bones and rich mould, 
quite regardless of all peril from the ghosts of the monks, have 
been mingled with more modern and less holy matters, for the 
carnal purpose of increasing the productiveness of the land. 
Fragments of old stained glass windows, in leaden tracery, and 
remarkable for the thickness of the glass, though its colours have 
