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THE 
ANTIQ^UITIES 
O F 
S E L B O R N E. 
LETTER I. 
IT is reafonable to fvippofe that in remote sgcs this woody and 
mountainous diftridt was inhabited only by bears and wolves. 
Whether the Britons ever thought it worthy their attention, is not 
in our power to determine ; but we may fafely conclude, from 
circumftances, that it was not unknov/n to the Romans. Old people 
remember to have heard their fathers and grandfathers fay that, 
in dry fumniers and in windy weather, pieces of money were iomc- 
times found round the verge oi IFoolmer-pond; and tradition had 
infpired the forefbers with a notion that the bottom of that lake 
contained great ftores of treafure. During the fpi'ing and funimer 
of 
