octo solidos et quatuor denarios." Here we see that Selborne was a royal manor; and that Editha, the queen of Edward the Confessor, had been lady of that manor; and was succeeded in it by the Conqueror ; and that it had a church. Beside these, many circumstances concur to prove it to have been a Saxon village; such as the name of the place itself1, the names of many fields, and some families, with a variety of words in husbandry and common life, still subsisting among the country people.

What probably first drew the attention of the Saxons to this spot was the beautiful spring or fountain called

'Selesburne, Seleburne, Selburn, Selbourn, Selborne, and Selborn, as it has been variously spelt at different periods, is of Saxon derivation; for Sel signifies great, and burn torrens, a brook or rivulet: so that the name seems to be derived from the great perennial stream that breaks out at the upper end of the village. Sel also signifies "bonus, item, fœcundus, fertilis. Sel-zapr-run: fœcunda graminis clausura; fertile pascuum. Abiit tamen apud nonnullos in nomen proprium. Inde pratum quoddam apud Godelming in agro Surriensi hodie vocatur Sal-gars-ton."-Lye's Saxon Dictionary, in the Supplement, by Mr. Manning.

2 Thus the name of Aldred signifies all-reverend, and that of Kemp means a soldier. Thus we have a church-litton, or enclosure for dead bodies, and not a church-yard: there is also a Culver-croft near the Grange-farm, being the enclosure where the priory pigeon-house stood, from culver, a pigeon. Again there are three steep pastures in this parish called the Lithe, from Hlithe, clivus. The wicker-work that binds and fastens down a hedge on the top is called ether, from ether a hedge. When the good women call their hogs they cry sic, sic *, not knowing that sic is Saxon, or rather Celtic, for a hog. Coppice or brushwood our countrymen call rise, from hris, frondes; and talk of a load of rise. Within the author's memory the Saxon plurals, housen and peason, were in common use. But it would be endless to instance in every circumstance he that wishes for more specimens must frequent a farmer's kitchen. I have therefore selected some words to show how familiar the Saxon dialect was to this district, since in more than seven hundred years it is far from being obliterated.

Zika, porcus, apud Lacones; un Porceau chez les Lacèdemoniens: ce mot a sans doute esté pris des Celtes, qui disoent sic, pour marquer un porceau. Encore aujour❜huy quand les Bretons chassent ces animaux, ils ne disent point autrement, que sic, sic. Antiquité de la Nation et de la Langue des Celtes, par Pezron.

Well-head3, which induced them to build by the banks of that perennial current; for ancient settlers loved to reside by brooks and rivulets, where they could dip for their water without the trouble and expense of digging wells and of drawing.

It remains still unsettled among the antiquaries at what time tracts of land were first appropriated to the chase alone for the amusement of the sovereign. Whether our Saxon monarchs had any royal forests does not, I believe, appear on record; but the Constitutiones de Foresta of Canute, the Dane, are come down to us. We shall not therefore pretend to say whether Wolmer Forest existed as a royal domain before the conquest. If it did not, we may suppose it was laid out by some of our earliest Norman kings, who were exceedingly attached to the pleasures of the chase, and resided much at Winchester, which lies at a moderate distance from this district. The Plantagenet princes seem to have been pleased with Wolmer; for tradition says that King John resided just upon the verge, at Ward le ham, on a regular and remarkable mount, still called King John's Hill, and Lodge Hill; and Edward III. had a chapel in his park, or enclosure, at Kingsley. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Richard, Duke of York, say my evidences, were both, in their turns, wardens of Wolmer Forest; which seems to have served for an appointment for the younger princes of the royal family, as it may again.

I have intentionally mentioned Edward III. and the Dukes Humphrey and Richard, before King Edward II. because I have reserved, for the entertainment of my readers, a pleasant anecdote respecting that prince, with which I shall close this letter.

As Edward II. was hunting on Wolmer Forest,

3 Well-head signifies spring-head, and not a deep pit from whence we draw water. For particulars about which see Letter I. to Mr. Pennant.

The parish of Kingsley lies between, and divides Wolmer Forest from Ayles Holt Forest.-See Letter IX. to Mr. Pennant.

Morris Ken, of the kitchen, fell from his horse several times; at which accidents the king laughed immoderately and, when the chase was over, ordered him twenty shillings5; an enormous sum for those days! Proper allowances ought to be made for the youth of this monarch, whose spirits also, we may suppose, were much exhilarated by the sport of the day: but, at the same time, it is reasonable to remark that, whatever might be the occasion of Ken's first fall, the subsequent ones seem to have been designed. The scullion appears to have been an artful fellow, and to have seen the king's foible; which furnishes an early specimen of that his easy softness and facility of temper, of which the infamous Gaveston took such advantages, as brought innumerable calamities on the nation, and involved the prince at last in misfortunes and sufferings too deplorable to be mentioned without horror and amazement.

LETTER III.

FROM the silence of Domesday respecting churches, it has been supposed that few villages had any at the time when that record was taken; but Selborne, we see, enjoyed the benefit of one: hence we may conclude, that this place was in no abject state even at that very distant period. How many fabrics have succeeded each other since the days of Radfredrus the presbyter, we cannot pretend to say; our business leads us to a description of the present edifice, in which we shall be circumstantial.

Our church, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, consists of three aisles, and measures fifty-four feet in

5 "Item, paid at the lodge at Wolmer, when the king was stag-hunting there, to Morris Ken, of the kitchen, because he rode before the king and often fell from his horse, at which the king laughed exceedingly—a gift, by command, of twenty shillings."-A MS. in possession of Thomas Astle, Esq. containing the private expenses of Edward II.

length by forty-seven in breadth, being almost as broad as it is long. The present building has no pretensions to antiquity; and is, as I suppose, of no earlier date

than the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. It is perfectly plain and unadorned, without painted glass, carved work, sculpture, or tracery. But when I say it has no claim to antiquity, I would mean to be understood of the fabric in general; for the pillars which support the roof are undoubtedly old, being of that low, squat, thick order, usually called Saxon. These, I should imagine, upheld the roof of a former church, which, falling into decay, was rebuilt on those massy props, because their strength had preserved them from the injuries of time1. Upon these rest blunt Gothic arches, such as prevailed in the reign above-mentioned, and by which, as a criterion, we would prove the date of the building.

In the same manner, to compare great things with small, did Wykeham, when he new built the cathedral at Winchester, from the tower westward, apply to his purpose the old piers or pillars of Bishop Walkelin's church, by blending Saxon and Gothic architecture together.-See Lowth's Life of Wykeham.

At the bottom of the south aisle, between the west and south doors, stands the font, which is deep and capacious, and consists of three massy round stones, piled one on another, without the least ornament or sculpture: the cavity at the top is lined with lead, and has a pipe at bottom to convey off the water after the sacred ceremony is performed.

The east end of the south aisle is called the South Chancel, and, till within these thirty years, was divided off by an old carved Gothic frame work of timber, [the line of which may still be traced in a beam of partition between the pews,] having been a private chantry. In this opinion we are more confirmed by observing two Gothic niches within the space, the one in the east wall and the other in the south, near which there probably stood images and altars: [but these niches are in a different style of arch, and were probably not formed at the same time.]

In the middle aisle there is nothing remarkable: but I remember when its beams were hung with garlands in honour of young women of the parish, reputed to have died virgins, and recollect to have seen the clerk's wife cutting, in white paper, the resemblances of gloves, and ribbons to be twisted into knots and roses, to decorate these memorials of chastity. In the church of Faringdon, which is the next parish, many garlands of this sort still remain. [The pulpit is placed at the eastern end of the middle aisle. At the western end is an organ loft and organ: the latter being a gift of the Rev. William Cobbold, the present vicar, to his parishioners.]

The north aisle is narrow and low, with a sloping ceiling, reaching within nine or ten feet of the floor. It had originally a flat roof covered with lead, till, within a century past, a churchwarden stripping off the lead, in order, as he said, to have it mended, sold it to a plumber, and ran away with the money. This aisle has no door, for an obvious reason; because the north