ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORNE 2/1 



ad expugnationem regni nostri classe maxima et bellatorum 

 copiosa multitudine congregatis, cum quibus regnum nostrum 

 et regni ejusdem incolas hostiliter jam invasurus, linguam 

 Anglicam si concepte iniquitatis proposito detestabili potestas 

 correspondeat, quod Deus avertat omnino de terra delere pro- 

 ponit" Dated 3Oth September, in the year of King Edward's 

 reign xxiii. 8 



The above are the last traces that I can discover of Gurdon's 

 appearing and acting in public. The first notice that my evi- 

 dences give of him is that in 1232, being the i6th of Henry 

 III., he was the king's bailiff, with others, for the town of 

 Alton. Now, from 1232 to 1295 is a space of sixty-three 

 years, a long period for one man to be employed in active life ! 

 Should any one doubt whether all these particulars can relate 

 to one and the same person, I should wish him to attend to the 

 following reasons why they might. In the first place, the docu- 

 ments from the Priory mention but one Sir Adam Gurdon, who 

 had no son lawfully begotten ; and in the next, we are to recol- 

 lect that he must have probably been a man of uncommon 

 vigor, both of mind and body, since no one unsupported by 

 such accomplishments could have engaged in such adventures, 

 or could have borne up against the difficulties which he some- 

 times must have encountered ; and moreover, we have modern 

 instances of persons that have maintained their abilities for 

 near that period. 



Were we to suppose 6urdon to be only twenty years of age 

 in 1232, in 1295 he would be eighty-three; after which ad- 

 vanced period it could not be expected that he should live 

 long. From the silence, therefore, of my evidences, it seems 

 probable that this extraordinary person finished his life in 

 peace, not long after, at his mansion of Temple. Gurdon's 

 seal had for its device a man, with a helmet on his head, 

 drawing a cross-bow ; the legend, "Sigillum Ade de Gurdon ; " 

 his arms were, " Goulis, iii floures argent issant de testes de 

 leopards." 9 



If the stout and unsubmitting spirit of Gurdon could be so 

 much influenced by the belief and superstition of the times, 

 much more might the hearts of his ladies and daughter. And 

 accordingly we find that Ameria, by the consent and advice 



