-that, whatever might be.the Occafionof Ken’s firft fall, the fuble‘-
.quent ones feem to have been defigned. The (bullion appears
to have been an artful fellow, and to. have feen the king’s foible;
;which furnifhes :an early fpecitnen of that his-eafy foftilefs and'
facility of temper, óf which the infamous Gavejton took fitch advantages,
as brought innumerable calamities on the nation, and
involved the prince at laft in misfortunes and fufferings toode.-
plorable to be mentioned without horror and amazement.
L E T T E R III.
F rom the filence of Dmefiay refpediing churches, it has been-
fqppofed that few villages had any at the time when that record
was taken; but Selbfirne, we fee, enjoyed, the benefit of one:
hence we.may conclude, that this place was. in no abjeófc ftate even
at that very diftapt period. How many fabrics have fucceedcd
each other fince the days of Radfredrus. the tyeftyter, we cannot
pretend to fay; our bufinefs leads us to a defcription of the present
edifice, in which we lhall be circumftantial.
Our church, which was dedicated'to the Virgin Mary, confifts
of three ailes, and meafures fifty-four feet in length by forty-
feven in breadth, being aimoft a.s broad as.it is. long. The ,pre-
ferit hu-ilding-has no-pretenfions to antiquity; and is, as: I fuppofe,
óf no earlier date 1 than, the beginning- of the-reign of Henry VII.
. 2 It