Page:White - The natural history of Selborne, and the naturalist's calendar, 1879.djvu/330

308 live in or within five miles of the said parish; and on failure of any such, then under the direction of the vicar of Selbourn for the time being; but still to the uses above-named." With this sum was purchased, of Thomas Turville, of Hawkeley, in the county of Southampton, yeoman, and Hannah his wife, two closes of freehold land, commonly called Collier's, containing, by estimation, eleven acres, lying in Hawkeley aforesaid. These closes are let at this time, 1785, on lease, at the rate of three pounds by the year.

This vicar also gave by will two hundred pounds towards the repairs of the highways* in the parish of Selborne. That sum was carefully and judiciously laid out in the summer of the year 1730, by his son John White, who made a solid and firm causey from Rood Green, all down Honey Lane, to a farm called Oak Woods, where the sandy soil begins. This miry and gulfy lane was chosen as worthy of repair, because it leads to the forest, and thence through the Holt to the town of Farnham in Surrey, the only market in those days for men who had wheat to sell in this neighbourhood. This causey was so deeply bedded with stone, so properly raised above the level of the soil, and so well drained, that it has, in some degree, withstood fifty-four years of neglect and abuse; and might, with moderate attention, be rendered a solid and comfortable road. The space from Rood Green to Oak Woods measures about three-quarters of a mile.

In 1727, William Henry Cane, B.D., became vicar, and, among several alterations and repairs, new-built the back front of the vicarage-house.

On February 1st, 1740, Duncombe Bristowe, D.D., was instituted to this living. What benefactions this vicar bestowed on the parish will be best explained by the following passages from his will:—"Item, I hereby give and beaqueath to the minister and church-wardens of the parish of Selbourn, in the county of Southampton, a mahogany table, which I have ordered to be made for the celebration of the Holy Communion; and also the