This Chapel, through neglect of the repairs, is now in ruins. It is said to have been stripped of its covering of lead in the Civil Wars, to make ball for the use of the besiegers of Basing-house, which stood in the neighbourhood of this chapel. Whether any of the balls, made of the lead of this chapel, molested the celebrated Dr. Fuller, a chaplain in the king's army, who was at the very time writing his "Worthies of England" at Basing House, we know not; but he complained of the noise of the thundering cannon disturbing his studies. He himself escaped unhurt, but we are informed that six priests on the king's side were among the slain. Others have affirmed that the Chapel was tiled, and About the that they remembered when it was so. year 1692, there was some design of repairing it, the compiler of these pages being in possession of a letter written on the occasion, from which the following extract is taken; and which may serve to show the state in which it then was; "Sir John Mill hath been told that the repaire of the Chapell and covering the tower or staire-case will cost 20£. I would desire you to view the Staire-case and see what it will cost to putt on a rooff, and to tyle it before Sir John comes to towne. He intends to make the towne beare a part in the charge because of burying in the Chapell-yard. I thought it might be done for 12£. Totford, March 1st, -92. Tho. Smith." When we speak of the circumstances which, in later times at least, have combined to bring this beautiful edifice to its present ruinous state, we ought not to omit mentioning, that boyish exploits of wantonness have con tributed some share. Men, who recollect what they were in youthful days, will not be surprized at this. And that in the present instance the charge is not brought without some evidence, one of the delinquents, who afterwards became the celebrated author of the "Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne," shall make his own confession: There is in that work the following curious passage, which seems to imply that the Reverend Gilbert White, (as well as some other learned men), was brought up at Holy Ghost Chapel School, "Wantonness," says he, "no doubt, has had a share in the demolition of the Priory of Selborne; for boys love to destroy what men venerate and admire. A remarkable instance of this propensity the writer can give from his own knowledge. When a school-boy, more than fifty years ago, he was eye-witness, perhaps a party concerned, in the undermining a portion of that fine old ruin at the north end of Basingstoke town, well known by the name of Holy Ghost Chapel. Very providentially the vast fragment, which those thoughtless little engineers endeavoured to sap, did not give way so soon as might have been expected; but it fell the night following, and with such violence that it shook the very ground, and awakening the inhabitants of the neighbouring cottages, made them start up in their beds as if they had felt an earthquake. The motive for this dangerous enterprize does not so readily appear: perhaps the more danger, the more honour, thought the boys; and the notion of doing some mischief gave a zest to the enterprize. As Dryden says, upon another occasion, "It look'd so like a sin, it pleas'd the more.' Lord Sandes, the Founder, is said to have been buried here, having by his testament bearing date 8th of Dec. 32d Henry VIII., (being then Lord Chamberlain of the King's Household) bequeathed his body to be buried in the Chapel of the Holy Ghost at Basingstoke. He departed this life in 1542. After the sale of the Vine, the ancient seat of the Sandys, in the year 1654, Mottisfont became the principal seat of the family; in whose possession it continued till about the year 1700, when Edwyn the last male heir, dying without issue, the estates were divided among his six sisters, and Mottisfont fell to the share of Margaret, who had married Sir John Mill, Bart. of Tatchbury, in Hampshire; from whom the present possessor is descended. † Edwyn is said to have been buried in the vault of his ancestors in the Holy Ghost Chapel. If there was ever any monument erected (as probably there was) for the first Lord Sandes, it is now buried in the rubbish. There are still some memorials of the family to be traced amidst the venerable ruins. The Cross, the Garter, the Crest, the arms of Bray, &c. &c. may be met with by the There is a tomb-stone half-raised heraldic antiquary. White's History, &c. of Selborne, p. 492. Brayley and Britton's Beauties of England and Wales, Vol. VI. p. 228 C by the searching hand of curiosity, which has on it the crest of the family; which is thought to have been placed there to the memory of the last Baron. What a melancholy picture of the vanity of human honours! While we muse amidst these trophies of desolating time, and all-subduing death, we are reminded of that fine stanza of Gray's Elegy, written in a country churchyard; The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. The ancient family of the Cufaudes had a vault also in this Chapel. This was not only a very ancient, but very honourable family, intermarrying with some of the highest houses in the kingdom. Their mansion house went by their own name of Cufaud (now called Cuffell*) and was situated near the Vine. The family is now extinct, and the estate belongs to William Chute, esq. the possessor of the Vine, one of whose ancestors purchased it. There is preserved at the Vine, hanging up in the study, a beautiful illuminated pedigree of these Cufaudes, discovered by accident some time since, stopping the broken casement of a cottage at Basingstoke. Also among the portraits is a Nun, said to be one of the family of Cufaude. The following inscription, part of which still remains on a broken stone near the ruins of the Chapel, deserves to be rescued from oblivion. * In Milner's Map of Hampshire, published 1791, it is spelt Cufford, In pious Memory of Simeon Cufaud of Cufaud in Hampshire 500 years the possession & Habitation of Gentlemen of that name his Predecessors by Marie Grand Child to Sir Rich. Poole Knygt. of the Garter Cosen German to K. Hen. 7 and to Margaret Countesse of Salis bury Daughter to George Duke of Clarence Mo ther to his Father Alexander Cufaud Esquier Extracted from the Royall Blood of the Plantage nets who was a man for Exemplar Vertue & Patience in Grievous Crosses and who always lived Religiously. He dyed the 4 of Sep. 1619 Aged 36 years. And of Francis his wife Daughter of that Learned and Five Sonnes the Deare Pledges of their Greatnes with a modest eye looke upon thy Destiny here lyes Charactered your lives |