OF S E L B O R N E. 
421 
LETTER XXVI. 
Though the evidences and documents of the Priory and parifh of 
Selborne are now at an end, yet, as the author has ftili feveral things 
to fay refpefting the prefent ftate of that convent and it's Grange, 
and other matters, he does not fee how he can acquit himfelfof the 
fubje(fl without trefpaffing again on the patience of the reader by 
adding one fupplementary letter. 
No fooner did the Priory (perhaps much out of repair at the 
time) become, an appendage to the college, but it muft at once 
have tended to fwift decay. Magdalen College wanted now only two 
chambers for the chantry prieft and his afliftant ; and therefore 
had no occafion for the hall, dormitory, and other fpacious apart- 
ments belonging to fo large a foundation. The roofs negleded, 
would foon become the polleffion of daws and owls ; and, being 
rotted and decayed by the weather, would fall in upon the floors ; 
fo that all parts muft have haftened to fpeedy dilapidation and a 
fcene of broken ruins. Three full centuries have now pafTed fince 
the diffolution ; a feries of years that would craze the ftouteft 
edifices. But, befides the flow hand of time, many circumftanccs 
have contributed to level this venerable flrufture with the ground ; 
of which nothing now remains but one piece of a wall of about ten 
feet long, and as many feet high, which probably was part of an 
out-houfe. As early as the latter end of the reign of Hen. VII. 
w« 
