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, entrenching 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 harrassed the kingdom, pursued the arch-rebel into his fastnesses; attacked his camp; leaped over the entrenchments; and, singling out Gurdon, ran him down, wounded him, and took him prisoner.*

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.

IT has been hinted in a former letter that Sir Adam Gurdon had

M. Paris, p. 675, & Triveti Annale.

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 quondamn 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 life-time 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 at 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 brew-house, 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. For the outside I refer the reader to the plate, in which Mr. Grimm has represented it with his usual accuracy. 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.

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 aforesaid, "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.†

It continues still, as it was in old times, to be the scene of recreation for the youths and children of the neighbourhood; and impresses an idea on the mind that this village, even in Saxon times, could not be the most abject of places, when the inhabitants thought proper to assign so spacious a spot for the sports and amusements of its young people.

As soon as the prior became possessed of this piece of ground, he procured a charter for a market§ from king Henry III. and began to erect houses and stalls, "seldas," around it. From this period Selborne became a market town: but how long it enjoyed that privilege does not appear. At the same time Gurdon reserved to himself, and his heirs, a way through the said Plestor

In Saxon Plezertop or plegrrop; viz. Plegestow, or Plegstow.

† 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 432 years when blown down.

For more circumstances respecting the Plestor, see Letter II. to Mr. Pennant.

Bishop Tanner, in his Notitia Monastica, has made a mistake respecting the market and fair at Selborne for in his references to Dodsworth, cart 54 Hen. III. m. 3. he says, "De mercatu, et feria de Seleburn." But this reference is wrong; for, instead of Seleburn, it proves that the place there meant was Lekeborne, or Legeborne, in the county of Lincoln. This error was copied from the index of the Cat. MSS. Angl. It does not appear that there ever was a chartered fair at Selborne. For several particulars respecting the present fair at Selborne see Letter XXVI. of these Antiquities.

to a tenement and some crofts at the upper end, abutting on the south corner of the church-yard. This was, in old days, the manorial house of the street manor, though now a poor cottage; and is known at present by the modern name of Elliot's. Sir Adam also did, for the health of his own soul, and that of his wife Constantia, their predecessors and successors, grant to the priors and canons quiet possession of all the tenements and gardens, "curtillagia," which they had built and laid out on the lands in Selborne, on which he and his vassals, "homines,” had undoubted right of common: and moreover did grant to the convent the full privilege of that right of common; and empowered the religious to build tenements and make gardens along the king's highway in the village of Selborne.

From circumstances put together it appears that the above were the first grants obtained by the Priory in the village of Selborne, after it had subsisted about thirty-nine years: moreover they explain the nature of the mixed manor still remaining in and about the village, where one field or tenement shall belong to Magdalen-college in the university of Oxford, and the next to Norton Powlet, esq. of Rotherfield house; and so down the whole street. The case was, that the whole was once the property of Gurdon, till he made his grants to the convent; since which some belongs to the successors of Gurdon in the manor, and some to the college; and this is the occasion of the strange jumble of property. It is remarkable that the tenement and crofts which Sir Adam reserved at the time of granting the Plestor should still remain a part of the Gurdon-manor, though so desirable an addition to the vicarage that is not as yet possessed of one inch of glebe at home: but of late, viz. in January 1785, Magdalencollege purchased that little estate, which is life-holding, in reversion, for the generous purpose of bestowing it, and its lands, being twelve acres (three of which abut on the church-yard and vicarage-garden) as an improvement hereafter to the living, and an eligible advantage to future incumbents.

The year after Gurdon had bestowed the Plestor on the Priory, viz. in 1272, Henry III. king of England died, and was succeeded by his son Edward. This magnanimous prince continued his regard for Sir Adam, whom he esteemed as a brave man, and made him warden, "custos," of the forest of Wolmer.* Though

Since the letters respecting Wolmer-forest and Ayles-holt, from p. 14 to 26, were printed, the author has been favoured with the following extracts :

In the "Act of Resumption, 1 Hen. VII." it was provided, that it be not prejudicial to "Harry