The year of his birth was the year of the South Sea
Bubble. When he was a year old the great Duke of Marlborough died. His
eighth birthday fell in the year which closed the eyes of Sir Isaac
Newton. He was twenty-five in the "forty-five," when Prince Charles
Edward held Edinburgh after Preston Pans. He saw the change in the
calendar, the conquest of India by Clive, the victory and death of
Wolfe at Quebec the annexation of Canada, the death of Chatham, the
loss of the American Colonies, the French Revolution. And how little
all this meant to him!
But anything connected with Selborne interested him, and he wrote of
and studied its "antiquities" as well as its "natural history." Nor
were these antiquities so negligible as one might think. In his day the
church was still an interesting building, and he has left us an
interesting account of it. But he does not forget to tell us, too, of
the Augustinian Priory of Selborne, that was founded in 1233 and stood
to the east of the village, the way to it lying through his beloved
Long Lythe, and the site of which is now occupied by Priory Farm, a few
ruins remaining.
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