; June 1681. This living was now in fuch low eftimation in
Magdalen-college that it descended to a junior fellow, Gilbert White*
M. A. who was inftituted to it in the thirty-firft year of his age.
At his firft coming he ceiled the chancel, and alfo floored and
wainfcoted the parlour and hall, which before were paved with
ftone, and had naked walls; he enlarged the kitchen and brewhoufe.
and dug a cellar and well: he alfo built a large new barn in the:
lower yard, removed the hovels in the front court, which he laid
put in walks and borders; and entirely planned the back garden,
before a rude field with a ftooe-pit in the midft of it. By his will
he gave apd bequeathed || the fum of forty pounds to be laid
*? out m the rnoft neceffary repairs of the church; that is, in
“ ftrengthening and fecuring fuch parts as feem decaying and
“ dangerous,” With this fum two large buttrelfes were eceded
to fupport the. eaft end of the fouth wall of the church ; and th©
gable-end wall of the weft end of the fouth aile was new built
from the ground.
By his will, alfo he gave “ One hundred pounds to be laid
“ out pn lands ; the: yearly rents whereof fliall be employed in
“ teaching the poor children of Selboum parifli to read and write,
“ and lay their prayers and catecbifin, and to few and knitt
“ and, be under the- direcftipn of bis executrix as long as (he
“ lives:; and, after her, under the diredtion of fuch of his
“ children apd. their iflue, as fliall live in or within five miles
“ of the faid parifli: and on failure of any fuch, then under the
<£ diredtion of the vicar of Selfrauru, for the time being; but ftill
“ to the ufes. above-named.’’ With this fum was purchafed, of
Thomas Turville, of Hauukdey, the county of Southampton., yeoman,
and Hannah his wife, ru/a dofes of freehold land, commonly- called
Collier’s, containing, by eftimation, eleven acres, lying in Hawkelty
v. aforefaid,
aforefaid. Thefe doffes are let at this time, 1785, on leafe, at the
fate of three pounds tty the year.
This vicar alfo gave by will two hundred pounds towards die
repairs of the highways" in the parilhr of Selborne. That fum was
Carefully and judicioufly laid Out in the fummer of the j’ear 1730,
try his fön John White, who made a folid and firm caufey from
HoOd-green, all down Honey-lane, to a farm called Oak-Woods, where
the landy foil begins. This miry and gulfy lane was chofen as
Worthy of repair, becaufe it leads to the foreft, and thertce through
the Holt to the town of Farnham in Surrey, the only market in
thofe days for men who had wheat to fell in this neighbourhood.
This caufey was fo deeply bedded with ftone, fo properly raifed
above the l i r a of the foil, and fo well drained, that it has, in
fome degree, whhftood fifty-four years of negled and abtrfe; and
might, with moderate attention, be rendered a folid and comfortable
road. The fpace from Rood-green to Oak-woods meafures about
three quarters of a mile.
In 1727, William Henry Cane, B. D. became vicar; and, among
feveral alterations and repairs, new-built the back front of the
vicarage-houfe.
On February 1, 1740, Duncombe Brfiowe, D. D. was inftituted to
this living. What benefactions this vicar bellowed on the parifli
will be bell explained by the following palläges from his w ill:—
“ Item, I hereby give and bequeath to the minilter and church*
“ wardens of the parilh of Selboum, in the county of Southampton,
'* a mahogany table, which I have ordered to be made for the
celebration of the Holy Communion; and alfo the fum of
“ •* Such legacies were very common in former times, before any effefhial laws were
** made for the repairs of highways," Sir John Cullum's Hawfted. p. i j .
U U 2 “ thirty