SELBORNE SOCIETY NOTICES 
37 
Subscriptions. —The Council has pleasure in acknowledging suh.scriplions 
of more than 5s. from Ihe following members: Mrs. Hrightwen, F.Z.S., 
F.E.S., £$ ; Miss Ellen S. Lomer, £2 ; Miss C. Alston, £i is, ; J. S. Budget!, 
Esq., £1 IS. ; Miss A. Garrett, £i is. ; Mrs. Annie Jones, £i is. ; Miss E. 
Nicholl, £i Is.; the Hon. Walter Rothschild, £i is. ; C. Surgey, Esq., £i is. ; 
W. J. Carver, Esq., £i ; Mrs. Hubbard, £i ; Mrs. S. D. Lomer, £i ; Sliss L. 
.Marshall, £1 ; Mrs. Robinson, los. 6d. ; Cosmo Blore, Esq., lOs. ; Miss Brodrici:, 
los. ; F. S. Clayton, Esq., los. ; R. Evans, Esq., los. ; A. J. Evelegh, Esq., 
los. ; A. J. Hall, Esq., 10s. ; Claude Leatham, Esq., los. ; W. W. Maw, Esq., 
10s. ; G. B. Milne Redhead, Esq., los. ; Miss Ellen Shadwell, los. : R. F. 
Sturge, Esq., los. ; Mrs. Turle, los. ; C. W. Ware, Esq., los. ; A. Culshaw, 
Esq., 7s. 6d. ; Rev. E. F. Russell, 7s. 6d. ; W. I’ercival Westell, Esq., 7s. 6d. ; 
C. Michael Hall, Esq., 6s. ; North Middlesex Junior Branch, 6s. 
Library. — The Honorary Librarian will attend at 20, Hanover Square, 
from 6 p.m. to 6.30 p.m., on the evenings when the Publications Committee 
meets (at present on each second Monday in the month), for the purpose of issuing 
books to members. The regulations and a first list of books contained in the 
Library will be found on page 40. 
The Honorary Librarian has pleasure in announcing the following gifts to 
the Library of the Society : “ Birds by Land and Sea,” by J. Maclair Boraston, 
given by the Editor ; Album of Photographs taken at the Field (^ub Rambles, 
given by J. .Shaw Crompton, Esq., R.I. 
SELBORNE SATURDAY AFTERNOONS. 
fannary, 14. Gray’s Itm. — Bright sun, and wind with an edge like a razor, 
greeted the fifty Selbornians as they assembled outside the chapel in Gray’s Inn 
Square. Here they were met by ^Ir. M. D. Severn, the Inn’s Librarian, who 
very kindly acted as guide. Crossing to the Gardens, laid out by P'rancis Bacon 
at considerable cost nearly three centuries ago, rooks were seen perched in the 
trees, and noisily discussing parochial affairs and possibly, too, the coming nest- 
ing. The pride of the Inn are these dusky sentinels, themselves the depository of 
so much bird tradition. Bacon is credited with having planted the old Catalpa 
tree, which was duly inspected, but as readers of Nature Notes are already 
aware, from researches conducted by the Editor, there is every reason to dis- 
believe the statement. 
The chapel, Mr. Severn e.xplained, stood on the site where once had 
worshipped the Grays of Wilton, long before Gray’s Inn became an Inn of Court. 
There is no relic of those far-off days save references in the records to a litigious 
chaplain in 1400 and in Tudor times to one ‘‘Sir Jeffery the Priest,” who 
received 4 13s. 4d. a year for ‘‘ Keepinge of the clocke.” With Henry VIII., 
the chapel’s holy vessels disappeared ; with Mary they were replaced, to vanish 
again when Elizabeth became queen. Benchers were accommodating, since 
they seem to have loyally observed the religious mutation. There were curious 
incidents in those times. One member of the Inn made involuntary acquaintance 
with the Tower for not attending Divine Service, while in 1694, the chapel clerk, 
having a grudge against some of the Benchers, locked them in their pews and 
temporarily decamped with the key. In 1623, for some reason or other, it was 
ordered that “ woemen are barde the chappell att sermons.” There was a 
restoration in 1698, but the chapel was transformed into the present edifice 
eleven years ago, when some Tudor windows, previously covered with plaster, and 
a holy-water stoup were discovered. The present east window is quite modern 
and commemorates Becket, Whitgift, Laud and Juxon, the last three having been 
members of the Inn. 
Mr. Severn’s address in the Hall was one of singular interest. The building 
was completed in 1560, and cost about ;^4,ooo of our money. Its roof and screen 
are superb, and there is some old glass, though it is much damaged. Curious 
were the ancient customs disclosed by Mr. Severn’s remarks. In Elizabeth’s reign 
the students used to be aroused by my Lord Berkeley and other quondam John 
Peels on their way with horns and hounds to hunt in adjacent fields. Then the 
students and city apprentices quarrelled, and no doubt thwacked and banged one 
another in regulation manner. All members of the Inn slept in it, and 
