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LETTER VIII.

UR forefathers in this village were no doubt as busy and bustling, and as important, as ourselves: yet have their names and transactions been forgotten from century to century, and have sunk into oblivion; nor has this happened only to the vulgar, but even to men remarkable and famous in their generation. I was led into this train of thinking by finding in my vouchers that Sir Adam Gurdon was an inhabitant of Selborne, and a man of the first rank and property in the parish. By Sir Adam Gurdon I would be understood to mean that leading and accomplished malecontent in the Mountfort faction, who distinguished himself by his daring conduct in the reign of Henry III. The first that we hear of this person in my papers is, that with two others he was bailiff of Alton before the sixteenth of Henry III. viz. about 1231, and then not knighted. Who Gurdon was, and whence he came, does not appear: yet there is reason to suspect that he was originally a mere soldier of fortune, who had raised himself by marrying women of property. The name of Gurdon does not seem to be known in the south; but there is a name so like it in an adjoining kingdom, and which belongs to two or three noble families, that it is probable this remarkable person was a North Briton; and the more so, since the Christian name of Adam is a distinguished one to this day among the family of the Gordons. But, be this as it may, Sir Adam Gurdon has been noticed by all the writers. of English history for his bold disposition and disaffected spirit, in that he not only figured during the successful rebellion of Leicester, but kept up the war after the defeat and death of that baron, intrenching himself in the woods of Hampshire, towards the town of Farnham. After the battle of Evesham, in which Mountfort fell, in the year 1265, Gurdon might not think it safe to return to his house for

fear of a surprise; but cautiously fortified himself amidst the forests and woodlands with which he was so well acquainted. Prince Edward, desirous of putting an end to the troubles which had so long harassed the kingdom, pursued the arch-rebel into his fastnesses; attacked his camp; leaped over the intrenchments; and, singling out Gurdon, ran him down, wounded him, and took him. prisoner.1

1

There is not perhaps in all history a more remarkable instance of command of temper, and magnanimity, than this before us that a young prince, in the moment of victory, when he had the fell adversary of the crown and royal family at his mercy, should be able to withhold his hand from that vengeance which the vanquished so well deserved. A cowardly disposition would have been blinded by resentment: but this gallant heir-apparent saw at once a method of converting a most desperate foe into a lasting friend. He raised the fallen veteran from the ground, he pardoned him, he admitted him into his confidence, and introduced him to the queen, then lying at Guildford, that very evening. This unmerited and unexpected lenity melted the heart of the rugged Gurdon at once; he became in an instant a loyal and useful subject, trusted and employed in matters of moment by Edward when king, and confided in till the day of his death.

LETTER IX.

T has been hinted in a former letter that Sir Adam Gurdon had availed himself by marrying women of property. By my evidences it appears that he had three wives, and probably in the following order: Constantia, Ameria, and Agnes. The first of these ladies, who was the companion of his middle life, seems to have been a person

1 M. Paris, p. 675, and Triveti Annales.-G. W.

of considerable fortune, which she inherited from Thomas Makerel, a gentleman of Selborne, who was either her father or uncle. The second, Ameria, calls herself the quondam wife of Sir Adam, "quæ fui uxor," &c., and talks of her sons under age. Now Gurdon had no son: and beside Agnes in another document says, "Ego Agnes quondam uxor Domini Adæ Gurdon in pura et ligea viduitate mea:" but Gurdon could not leave two widows; and therefore it seems probable that he had been divorced from Ameria, who afterwards married and had sons. By Agnes Sir Adam had a daughter Johanna, who was his heiress, to whom Agnes in her lifetime surrendered part of her jointure:-he had also a bastard son.

Sir Adam seems to have inhabited the house now called Temple, lying about two miles east of the church, which had been the property of Thomas Makerel.

In the year 1262 he petitioned the prior of Selborne in his own name, and that of his wife Constantia only, for leave to build him an oratory in his manor house, " in curia sua." Licenses of this sort were frequently obtained by men of fortune and rank from the bishop of the diocese, the archbishop, and sometimes, as I have seen instances, from the pope; not only for convenience sake, and on account of distance, and the badness of the roads, but as a matter of state and distinction. Why the owner should apply to the prior, in preference to the bishop of the diocese, and how the former became competent to such a grant, I cannot say; but that the priors of Selborne did take that privilege is plain, because some years afterward, in 1280, Prior Richard granted to Henry Waterford and his wife Nichola a license to build an oratory in their court house, "curia sua de Waterford," in which they might celebrate divine service, saving the rights of the mother church of Basynges. Yet all the while the prior of Selborne grants with such reserve and caution, as if in doubt of his power, and leaves Gurdon and his lady answerable in future to the bishop, or his ordinary, or to the vicar for the time being, in case they should infringe the rights of the mother church of Selborne.

The manor house called Temple is at present a single building, running in length from south to north, and has been occupied as a common farm house from time immemorial. The south end is modern, and consists of a brewhouse, and then a kitchen. The middle part is a hall twenty-seven feet in length and nineteen feet in breadth; and has been formerly open to the top; but there is now a floor above it, and also a chimney in the western wall. The roofing consists of strong massive rafter-work ornamented with carved roses.

I have often looked for the lamb and

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flag, the arms of the Knights Templars, without success; but in one corner found a fox with a goose on his back, so coarsely executed that it required some attention to make out the device.

Beyond the hall to the north is a small parlour with a vast heavy stone chimney-piece; and, at the end of all, the chapel or oratory, whose massive thick walls and narrow windows at once bespeak great antiquity. This room is only sixteen feet by sixteen feet eight inches; and full seventeen feet nine inches in height. The ceiling is formed of vast joists, placed only five or six inches apart. Modern delicacy

would not much approve of such a place of worship; for it has at present much more the appearance of a dungeon than of a room fit for the reception of people of condition. The field on which this oratory abuts is still called Chapel Field. The situation of this house is very particular, for it stands upon the immediate verge of a steep abrupt hill.

Not many years since, this place was used for a hop-kiln, and was divided into two stories by a loft, part of which remains at present, and makes it convenient for peat and turf, with which it is stowed.1

LETTER X.

HE Priory at times was much obliged to Gurdon and his family. As Sir Adam began to advance in years he found his mind influenced by the prevailing opinion of the reasonableness and efficacy of prayers for the dead; and therefore, in conjunction with his wife Constantia, in the year 1271, granted to the prior and convent of Selborne all his right and claim to a certain place, placea, called La Pleystow, in the village aforesaid, " in liberam, puram, et perpetuam elemosinam." This Pleystow,' locus ludorum, or play-place, is a level area near the church of about fortyfour yards by thirty-six, and is known now by the name of the Plestor.3

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1 There is not a vestige now remaining of the house described by Gilbert White. But the modern residence, in its whitened walls, slated roof, and squared form (the very reverse of the irregular and picturesque building represented on the opposite page), occupies nearly the same position with its predecessor, and commands the same extensive view over the forest,-ED.

2 In Saxon Plegertop, or Plegrtop; viz. Plegestow, or Plegstow. -G. W.

3 At this juncture probably the vast oak, mentioned p. 5, was planted by the prior, as an ornament to his new acquired market-place. According to this supposition the oak was aged four hundred and thirty-two years when blown down.-G. W.

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