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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 prisoner1.

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 heirapparent 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.

'M. Paris, p. 675, and Triveti Annales.

LETTER IX.

IT 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 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 Nicholaa 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.

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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 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 hopkiln, 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 stowed1.

There is now not a vestige remaining of the house described by Gilbert White. But the modern residence, in its whitened walls and 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 that extensive view over the forest, which was so advantageous in other times to its warder, and which now delights the spectator by its variety and extent. The grander features of nature have not changed here since Adam Gurdon looked on them, and in the details, as seen from this position, there has probably occurred but little alteration. Another view, equally lovely but less extensive, is obtained from the orchard of Temple, formerly the Chapel Field. In this prospect, and in that from the terrace by the side of the house, a range of view is comprised extending over more than half the compass, and stretching away uninterruptedly for miles over the richest foreground imaginable to the dreary wastes of the Forest, enlivened by its little lakes, and bounded by the high downs that rise in the distance into the clouds.-E. T. B.

LETTER X.

THE 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 afore

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said, "in liberam, puram, et perpetuam elemosinam." This Pleystow', locus ludorum, or play-place, is a level area near the church of about forty-four yards by thirty-six, and is known now by the name of the Plestor°.

In Saxon Plezertop, or Plegrtop; viz. Plegestow, or Plegstow. 2 At this juncture probably the vast oak, mentioned p. 8, 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.

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