OF SELBORNE. 415 
The lower part of the village next the Grange, in which is a 
pond and a ftream, is well known by the name of Gyactous-fireety 
an appellation not at all underftood. There is a lake in Surrey^ 
near Chobham, called alfo Gracious-pond: and another, If we miftake 
not, near Hedleigh, in the county of Hants. This flrange deno- 
mination we do not at all comprehend, and conclude that it may 
be a corruption from fome Saxon word, itfelf perhaps forgotten. 
It has been obferved already, that Bifliop Tanner was mifhaken 
when he refers to an evidence of Dodfworth " Be mercatu et peri a 
de Selebtirne.'" Selhorne never had a chartered fair ; the prcfent 
fair was fet up fince the year 16S1, by a fet of jovial fellows, who 
had found in an old almanack that there had been a fair here in 
former days on the firPc of JuguJI ; and were defirous to revive fo 
joyous a feftival. Againft this innovation the vicar fet his face, and 
perfifted in crying it down, as the probable occafion of much in- 
temperance. However the fair prevailed ; but was altered to the 
twenty-ninth of becaufe the former day often interfered with 
wheat-harvefl. On that day it ftill continues to be held, and is be- 
come an ufeful mart for cows and calves. Mod of the lower 
houfe-keepers brew beer againft this holiday, which is dutied by 
the excifeman; and their becoming vifluallers for the day without 
a licenfe is overlooked. 
Monafteries enjoyed all forts of conveniencies within tlir^mfelves. 
Thus at the Priory, a low and molft fituation, there were ponds 
and ftews for their filli : at the fame place alfo, and at the Grange 
'^in Culver-croft, there were dove-houfes ; and on the hill oppofite 
to the Grange the prior had a warren, as the names of The Coney- 
crofts and Coney-croft Hanger plainly teftify 
' Culver, as has been obfei-ved before, is Saxon for a pigeon. 
^ A warren was an ufual appendage to a manor » 
lii 
Nothing 
