264 WHITE 



NOTES 



1 See "Godwin de Praesulibus Angliae." Folio. London, 1743, p. 217. 

 G. W. 



2 The institution at Selborne was a priory of black canons of the order 

 of St. Augustine, called also canons regular. Regular canons were such as 

 lived in a conventual manner under one roof, had a common refectory and 

 dormitory, and were bound by vows to observe the rules and statutes of their 

 order : in fine, they were a kind of religious, whose discipline was less rigid 

 than the monks. The chief rule of these canons was that of St. Augustine, 

 who was constituted bishop of Hippo, A.D. 395 ; but they were not brought 

 into England till after the conquest ; and seem not to have obtained the 

 appellation of Augustine canons till some years after. Their habit was a 

 long black cassock, with a white rochet over it ; and over that a black cloak 

 and hood. The monks were always shaved ; but these canons wore their 

 hair and beards, and caps on their heads. There were of these canons, and 

 women of the same order called Canonesses, about 175 houses. G. W. 



8 The custom of affixing dates to deeds was not become general in the 

 reign of Henry III. G. W. 



LETTER VIII 



OUR 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 gen- 

 eration. I was led into this train of thinking by rinding 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 malcontent 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 six- 

 teenth 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, 



