248 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



that my evidences 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 em- 

 ployed 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 documents from the 

 priory mention but one Sir Adam Gurdon, who had no son 

 lawfully begotten ; and in the next, we are to recollect that 

 he must have probably been a man of uncommon vigour, 

 both of mind and body, since no one unsupported by 

 such accomplishments could have engaged in such ad- 

 ventures, or could have borne up against the difficulties 

 which he sometimes must have encountered, and, more- 

 over, we have modern instances of persons that have 

 maintained their abilities for near that period. 



Were we to suppose Gurdon to be only twenty years of 

 age in 1232, in 1295 he would be eighty-three : after which 

 advanced 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. 

 Gurdorfs seal had for it's device a man, with an 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." x 



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 of her sons, though said to be all under 

 age, makes a grant for ever of some lands down by the 

 stream at Durton ; and also of her right of the common of 

 Durton itself. 2 Johanna, the daughter and heiress of Sir 



1 From the collection of Thomas Martin, Esq., in the " Antiquarian Repertory," 

 p. 109, No. XXXI. [G. W.] 



2 Durton, now called Dorton, is still a common for the copyholders of 

 Selborne manor. [G. W.] 



