LEGEND OF THE VILLE AU ROI. Although this story is known to everyone, and is to be found in all the local histories and guide books, no collection of Guernsey folk-lore can be considered perfect without it. It is just one of those stories that are calculated to make a profound impression on the popular mind, as showing the special interposition of Providence in preserving a poor and innocent man from the effects of a false accusation, and in causing the nefarious designs of a rich and unprincipled oppressor to fall back with just retribution on his own head. [Illustration: “Old Manor, Ville au Roi.”] Whether the story be founded on an occurrence which did actually take place in this island, whether it originated elsewhere, or whether it be a pure invention, it is now impossible to determine.[122] The name of the principal personage in the tale--Gaultier de la Salle--is to be found at the head of the lists of Bailiffs of Guernsey, with the date 1284, but no written evidence has yet been adduced to prove that anyone of the name ever held that office. There is, however, proof of a certain kind that a person bearing this name did exist at some period of the fourteenth century, for, in a manuscript list of Bailiffs, which appears to have been compiled about the year 1650, the writer, who seems careful not to place any on record for whom he cannot produce documentary evidence, appends this note to the name of John Le Marchant, Bailiff from 1359 to 1383:--“J’en ay lettre de 1370 concernant la veuve Gaultier de la Salle.” That no document is known to exist in which this name appears is no proof that Gaultier de la Salle did not hold the office. Previously to the reign of Edward I. it appears to have been the custom for the Warder or Governor of the island to appoint an officer with the title of Bailiff, who combined the functions of Lieutenant-Governor, chief magistrate, and Receiver of the Crown Revenues, and who was generally changed annually. The names of many of these dignitaries have been preserved, but there are still several blanks to be filled up, and it is not impossible that the name of Gaultier de la Salle may some day or other be found as holding this important charge, although probably at a later date than that usually assigned to him--1284.