OF SELBORNE 291 



might hang to this appointment, yet there are reasons why 

 it might be highly acceptable ; and, in a few reigns after, it 

 was given to princes of the blood. ^ In old days gentry 

 resided more at home on their estates, and, having fewer 

 resources of elegant in-door amusement, spent most of 

 their leisure hours in the field and the pleasures of the chase. 

 A large domain, therefore, at little more than a mile 

 distance, and well stocked with game, must have been a 

 very eligible acquisition, affording him influence as well as 

 entertainment ; and especially as the manerial house of 

 Temple, by its exalted situation, could command a view of 

 near two-thirds of the forest. 



That Gurdon, who had lived some years the life of an 

 outlaw, and at the head of an army of insurgents, was, for 

 a considerable time, in high rebellion against his sovereign, 

 should have been guilty of some outrages, and should have 

 committed some depredations, is by no means matter of 

 wonder. Accordingly we find a distringas against him, 

 ordering him to restore to the bishop of Winchester some 

 of the temporalities of that see, which he had taken by 

 violence and detained ; viz. some lands in Hocheleye, and 

 a mill.^ By a breve, or writ, from the king he is also 

 enjoined to readmit the bishop of Winchester, and his 

 tenants of the parish and town of Farnham, to pasture 

 their horses, and other larger cattle, "averia," in the forest 

 of Wolmer, as had been the usage from time immemorial. 

 This writ is dated in the tenth year of the reign of Edward, 

 viz. 1282. 



All the king's writs directed to Gurdon are addressed in 

 the following manner : " Edwardus, Dei gratia, &c. dilecto 

 et fideli suo Ade Gurdon salutem " ; and again, " Custodi 

 foreste sue de Wolvemere." 



In the year 1293 a quarrel between the crews of an 



present lord Stavvel, was a lessee of the forests of Aliceholt and Wolmer 

 before brigadier-general Emanuel Scroope Howe. 



^See Letter II. of these Antiquities. 



2 Hocheleye, now spelt Hawkley, is in the hundred of Selborne, and 

 has a mill at this day. 



