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diff --git a/old/63805-0.txt b/old/63805-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 23010fc..0000000 --- a/old/63805-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5710 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Old Sports and Sportsmen, by John Randall - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Old Sports and Sportsmen - or, the Willey Country - - -Author: John Randall - - - -Release Date: November 18, 2020 [eBook #63805] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD SPORTS AND SPORTSMEN*** - - -Transcribed from the 1873 Bunny and Evans edition by David Price. - - [Picture: Portrait of Lord Forester] - - - - - - OLD SPORTS AND - SPORTSMEN - - - Or, the Willey Country - - * * * * * - - WITH SKETCHES OF SQUIRE FORESTER - - AND HIS WHIPPER-IN - - TOM MOODY - - (“You all knew Tom Moody the Whipper-in well”). - - * * * * * - - BY JOHN RANDALL, F.G.S. - AUTHOR OF “THE SEVERN VALLEY,” ETC. - - * * * * * - - LONDON: - VIRTUE & CO., 26, IVY LANE - - SALOP: BUNNY and EVANS; and RANDALL, - BOOKSELLER, MADELEY - 1873 - - * * * * * - - LONDON - PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., - CITY ROAD. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -IT is too much to expect that these pages will altogether escape -criticism; my object will have been gained, however, if I have succeeded -in collecting and placing intelligibly before the reader such noticeable -facts as are interesting matters of local history. Should it appear that -there has been imported into the work too many details touching the -earlier features of the country, the little that is generally known on -the subject, the close connection of cause and effect, and the influences -the old forests may have had in perpetuating a love of sport among some -members of a family whose name appears to have been derived from pursuits -connected therewith, must be my excuse. Dr. Arnold once remarked upon -the close connection existing between nature and mankind, and how each in -turn is affected by the other, whilst a living writer, and a deeper -thinker, has gone still further, in saying that “He is great who is what -he is from nature.” Of course it is not intended to claim greatness for -Squire Forester in the sense in which the word is ordinarily used, or -qualities, even, differing very much from those bearing the impress of -the common mould of humanity; but simply that he was what he was from -nature, from pre-disposition, and from living at the time he did. Also, -that he was in many respects a fair representative of the squirearchy of -the period, of a class of squires in whom we recognise features -discoverable in those in the enjoyment of the same natural vigour in our -own day, but who may have chosen different fields for its development. - -It did not appear to come within the scope of the work to enter to the -same extent upon the doings of other sportsmen of Squire Forester’s time, -or to dilate upon those of gentlemen who subsequently distinguished -themselves. It would have required many additional pages, for instance, -to have done justice to the exploits of the first Lord Forester; or to -those of the present right honourable proprietor of Willey, who upon -retiring from the mastership of the Belvoir hounds was presented with a -massive piece of plate, representing an incident which happened in -connection with the Hunt. Of both Nimrod has written in the highest -terms. The names of several whose deeds the same felicitous writer has -described in connection with Shropshire will occur to the reader, as Mr. -Stubbs, of Beckbury; Mr. Childe, of Kinlet; Mr. Boycott, of Rudge—who -succeeded Sir Bellingham Graham on his giving up the Shifnal country; -Lord Wenlock; Squire Corbett, and the Squire of Halston; names which, as -Colonel Apperley has very justly said, will never be forgotten by the -sporting world. As the reader will perceive, I have simply acted upon -the principle laid down in the “Natural History of Selborne” by the Rev. -Gilbert White, who says, “If the stationary men would pay some attention -to the district in which they reside, and would publish their thoughts -respecting the objects that surround them, from such materials might be -drawn the most complete county history.” This advice influenced me in -undertaking the “Severn Valley,” and I have endeavoured to keep the same -in view now, by utilising the materials, and by using the best means at -command for bringing together facts such as may serve to illustrate them, -and which may not be unlooked for in a work of the kind. - -Since the old Forest Periods, and since old Squire Forester’s day even, -the manners and the customs of the nation have changed; but the old love -of sport discoverable in our ancestors, and inherited more or less by -them from theirs, remains as a link connecting past generations with the -present. - -It matters not, it appears to me, whether either the writer or the reader -indulges himself in such sports or not, he may be equally willing to -recall the “Olden Time,” with its instances of rough and ready pluck and -daring, and to listen to an old song, made by an aged pate, - - “Of a fine old English gentleman who had a great estate.” - -Shropshire and the surrounding counties during the past century had, as -we all know, many old English gentlemen with large estates, who kept up -their brave old houses at pretty liberal rates; but few probably -exercised the virtue of hospitality more, or came nearer to the true type -of the country gentleman of the period than the hearty old Willey Squire. -Differ as we may in our views of the chase, we must admit that such -amusements served to relieve the monotony of country life, and to make -time pass pleasantly, which but for horses and hounds, and the -opportunities they afforded of intercourse with neighbours, must have -hung heavily on a country gentleman’s hands a hundred years ago. - -It is, moreover, it appears to me, to this love of sport, in one form or -another, that we of this generation are indebted for those grand old -woods which now delight the eye, and which it would have been a calamity -to have lost. The green fertility of fields answering with laughing -plenty to human industry is truly pleasing; but now that blue-bells, and -violets, foxgloves and primroses are being driven from the hedgerows, and -these themselves are fast disappearing before the advances of -agricultural science, it is gratifying to think that there are wastes and -wilds where weeds may still resort—where the perfumes of flowers, the -songs of birds, and the music of the breeze may be enjoyed. That the -love of nature which the out-door exercises of our ancestors did so much -to foster and perpetuate still survives is evident. How often, for -instance, among dwellers in towns does the weary spirit pant for the -fields, that it may wing its flight with the lark through the gushing -sunshine, and join in the melody that goes pealing through the fretted -cathedral of the woods, whilst caged by the demands of the hour, or kept -prisoner by the shop, the counter, or the machine? Spring, with its -regenerating influences, may wake the clods of the valley into life, may -wreathe the black twigs with their garb of green and white, and give to -the trees their livery; but men who should read the lessons they teach -know nothing of the rejoicings that gladden the glades and make merry the -woods. Nevertheless, proof positive that the love of nature—scourged, -crushed, and overlaid, it may be, with anxious cares for existence—never -dies out may be found in customs still lingering among us. In the -blackest iron districts, where the surface is one great ink-blotch, where -clouds of dust and columns of smoke obscure the day, where scoria heaps, -smouldering fires, and never-ceasing flames give a scorched aspect to the -scene, the quickening influences that renew creation are felt, teaching -men—ignorant as Wordsworth’s “Peter Bell”—to take part in the festival of -the year. When the sap has risen in the tree when the south wind stirs -the young leaves, and the mechanism of the woods is in motion, when the -blackbird has taken his place in the bush, and the thrush has perched -itself upon the spray, in the month of pelting showers and laughing -sunshine, when the first note of the cuckoo is heard from the ash in the -hedge-row or the wild cherry in the woods, an old custom still proclaims -a holiday in honour of his arrival. When the last lingering feature of -winter has vanished; when brooks, no longer hoarse, sink their voices to -a tinkling sweetness, flooding mead and dingle with their music; when the -merry, merry month, although no longer celebrated for its floral shows -and games as formerly, arrives, the May-bush may be seen over the door of -the village smithy and on the heads of horses on the road. - -It would have been of little use passing acts of Parliament, like the one -which has just become law, for the preservation of members of the -feathered tribes, if their native woods had not been preserved to us by -sportsmen. To have lost our woods would have been to have lost the -spring and summer residences of migratory birds: to have lost the laugh -of the woodpecker, the songs of the blackbird and the thrush, the -woodlark’s thrilling melody, and the nightingale’s inimitable notes, to -say nothing of those faint soothing shadowings which steal upon one from -these leafy labyrinths of nature. As some one taking deeper views has -said:— - - “There lie around - Thy daily walk great store of beauteous things, - Each in its separate place most fair, and all - Of many parts disposed most skilfully, - Making in combination wonderful - An individual of a higher kind; - And that again in order ranging well - With its own fellows, till thou rise at length - Up to the majesty of this grand world;— - Hard task, and seldom reached by mortal souls, - For frequent intermission and neglect - Of close communion with the humblest things; - But in rare moments, whether memory - Hold compact with invention, or the door - Of heaven hath been a little pushed aside, - Methinks I can remember, after hours - Of unpremeditated thought in woods.” - - - - -CONTENTS. - - PAGE - CHAPTER I. - THE MARSH AND FOREST PERIODS. -The Hawk an Acquisition to Sportsmen—Hawk aeries—Hawks 8 -according to Degrees—Brook and other kinds of -Hawking—Hawking and Hunting—A Shropshire Historian’s charge -against the Conqueror—Bishops and their Clergy as much -given to the Sport as Laymen—The Rector of Madeley—The -Merrie Days, &c. - CHAPTER II. - MORFE FOREST. -Morfe Forest one of the Five Royal Forests of 17 -Shropshire—Its History and Associations—Early British, -Roman, Danish, and Norman Mementoes—Legends and Historical -Incidents—Forest Wastes—Old Names—Hermitage Hill—Stanmore -Grove—Essex Fall—Foresters—Old Forest Lodge, &c. - CHAPTER III. - ROYAL CHASE OF SHIRLOT. -Royal Chase of Shirlot—Extent—Places 31 -disafforested—Hayes—Foresters—Hunting Lodge—Priors of -Wenlock—Curious Tenures—Encroachments upon Woods by -Iron-making Operations—Animals that have -disappeared—Reaction due to a love of Sport—What the -Country would have lost—“The Merrie Greenwood”—Old Forest -Trees, &c. - CHAPTER IV. - THE WREKIN FOREST AND THE FORESTERS. -The Wrekin Forest and the Foresters—Hermit of Mount St. 54 -Gilbert—Poachers upon the King’s Preserves—Extent of the -Forest—Haye of Wellington—Robert -Forester—Perquisites—Hunting Matches—Singular Grant to John -Forester—Sir Walter Scott’s Anthony Forster a Member of the -Shropshire Forester Family—Anthony Forster Lord of the -Manor of Little Wenlock, and related to the Foresters of -Sutton and Bridgnorth—Anthony Foster altogether a different -Character to what Sir Walter Scott represents him - CHAPTER V. - WILLEY. -Willey, Close Neighbour to the Royal Chase of 70 -Shirlot—Etymology of the Name—Domesday—The Willileys—The -Lacons—The Welds and the Foresters—The Old Hall—Cumnor Hall -as described by Sir Walter Scott—Everything Old and -Quaint—How Willey came into possession of the Foresters - CHAPTER VI. - THE WILLEY SQUIRE. -The Willey Squire—Instincts and Tendencies—Atmosphere of 77 -the times favourable for their development—Thackeray’s -Opinion—Style of Hunting—Dawn of the Golden Age of the -Sport, &c. - CHAPTER VII. - THE WILLEY KENNELS. -The Willey Kennels—Colonel Apperley on Hunting a hundred 83 -years ago—Character of the Hounds—Portraits of -Favourites—Original Letters - CHAPTER VIII. - THE WILLEY LONG RUNS. -The Willey Long Runs—Dibdin’s fifty miles no figure of 93 -speech—From the Wrekin to the Clee—The Squire’s -Breakfast—Phœbe Higgs—Doggrel Ditties—Old Tinker—Moody’s -Horse falls dead—Run by Moonlight - CHAPTER IX. - BACHELOR’S HALL. -Its Quaint Interior—An Old Friend’s Memory—Crabbe’s Peter 102 -at Ilford Hall—Singular Time-pieces—A Meet at Hangster’s -Gate—Jolly Doings—Dibdin at Dinner—Broseley Pipes—Parson -Stephens in his Shirt—The Parson’s Song - CHAPTER X. - THE WILLEY RECTOR AND OTHER OF THE SQUIRE’S FRIENDS. -The Squire’s Friends and the Rector more fully 113 -drawn—Turner—Wilkinson—Harris—The Rev. Michael Pye -Stephens—His Relationship to the Squire—In the Commission -of the Peace—The Parson and the Poacher—A Fox-hunting -Christening - CHAPTER XI. - THE WILLEY WHIPPER-IN. -The Willey Whipper-in—Tom’s Start in Life—His Pluck and 124 -Perseverance—Up hill and down dale—Adventures with the -Buff-coloured Chaise—His own Wild Favourite—His Drinking -Horn—Who-who-hoop—Good Temper—Never Married—Hangster’s -Gate—Old Coaches—Tom gone to Earth—Three View Halloos at -the Grave—Old Boots - CHAPTER XII. - SUCCESS OF THE SONG. -Dibdin’s Song—Dibdin and the Squire good fellows well 140 -met—Moody a character after Dibdin’s own heart—The Squire’s -Gift—Incledon—The Shropshire Fox-hunters on the Stage at -Drury Lane - CHAPTER XIII. - THE WILLEY SQUIRE MEMBER FOR WENLOCK. -The Willey Squire recognises the duty of his position, and 147 -becomes Member for Wenlock—Addison’s View of Whig Jockeys -and Tory Fox-hunters—State of Parties—Pitt in -Power—“Fiddle-Faddle”—Local Improvements—The Squire Mayor -of Wenlock—The Mace now carried before the Chief Magistrate - CHAPTER XV. - THE SQUIRE AND HIS VOLUNTEERS. -The Squire and his Volunteers—Community of Feeling—Threats 154 -of Invasion—“We’ll follow the Squire to Hell, if -necessary”—The Squire’s Speech—His Birthday—His Letter to -the _Shrewsbury Chronicle_—Second Corps—Boney and -Beacons—The Squire in a Rage—The Duke of York and Prince of -Orange come down - CHAPTER XV. - THE WILLEY SQUIRE AMONG HIS NEIGHBOURS. -The Squire among his Neighbours—Sir Roger de 173 -Coverley—Anecdotes—Gentlemen nearest the fire in the Lower -Regions—Food Riots—The Squire quells the Mob—His Virtues -and his Failings—Influences of the Times—His career draws -to a close—His wish for Old Friends and Servants to follow -him to the Grave—To be buried in the dusk of the -evening—His Favourite Horse to be shot—His estates left to -his cousin, Cecil Weld, the First Lord Forester—New Hunting -Song -Appendix 189 -Index 201 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - PAGE -LORD FORESTER _Frontispiece_ -THE VALLEY OF THE SEVERN 1 -TRAINED FALCON 8 -HOODED FALCON 9 -MORFE FOREST 17 -STAG 17 -BOAR HUNT IN MORFE FOREST 21 -FALLOW DEER 31 -DEER LEAP 36 -CHAPTER HOUSE OF WENLOCK PRIORY 38 -WATERFALL 44 -FOREST SCENERY 46 -LADY OAK AT CRESSAGE 50 -THE BADGER 53 -GROUP OF DEER 54 -NEEDLE’S EYE 56 -DEER AND YOUNG 59 -ATCHAM CHURCH 62 -RICHARD FORESTER’S OLD MANSION 65 -WILLEY OLD HALL 70 -THE OLD SQUIRE 77 -FAVOURITE DOGS 83 -PORTRAIT OF A FOX-HOUND 93 -BUILDWAS ABBEY 100 -MOODY’S HORN, TRENCHER, CAP, SADDLE, &c. 122 -GONE TO EARTH 122 -A MEET AT HANGSTER’S GATE 140 -THE FIRST IRON BRIDGE 147 -VIEW OF BRIDGNORTH 154 -WILLEY CHURCH 173 - - - -INTRODUCTION. - - - [Picture: Valley of the Severn, near Willey] - -A SIMPLE reading of the history of the earth is sufficient to show that -hunting is as old as the hills—not figuratively, but literally; and that -the hunter and the hunted, one furnished with weapons of attack, and the -other with means of defence, have existed from the earliest periods of -creation to the present. That is, the strong have mastered the weak, and -in some instances have fallen side by side, as we see by their remains. -In the economy of Nature, the process of decay appears to have been the -exception, rather than the rule; with beak or tooth, or deadly claw, the -strong having struck down the less defended in a never-ending arena. -What a hunting field, in one sense, the Old World must have been, when -creatures of strange and undefined natures infested the uncertain limits -of the elements, and what encounters must have taken place in the ooze -and mud periods, when monsters, enormous in stature and stretch of wing, -were the implacable hunters of the air, the water, and the slime! Nor -can the inhabitants of the earth, the water, and the air, taking the term -in its broad rather than in its technical sense, be said to be less -hunters now, or less equipped with deadly weapons. Some have -supernumerary teeth to supply the loss of such as might get broken in the -fray. One strikes down its prey at a blow, another impales its victims -on thorns, and a third slays by poison. Some hunt in company, from what -would seem to be a very love of sport—as crows and smaller birds give -chase to the owl, apparently rejoicing in his embarrassment, at break of -day. - -We need but refer to those remotely removed stages of human life -illustrated by drift beds, bone caves, and shell heaps—to those primitive -weapons which distinguished the lowest level of the Stone Age, weapons -which every year are being brought to light by thousands—to give the -_genus homo_ a place among the hunters; indeed one of the strongest -incentives which helped on Pre-historic Man from one level to the other -through the long night of the darkest ages, appears to have been that -which such a pursuit supplied. To obtain the skins of animals wilder -than himself he entered upon a scramble with the wolf, the bear, and the -hyena. Driven by instinct or necessity to supply wants the whole -creation felt, his utmost ingenuity was put forth in the chase; and in -process of time we find him having recourse to the inventive arts to -enable him to carry out his designs. On the borders of lakes or on river -banks, in caverns deep-seated amid primeval forest solitudes, he -fashioned harpoons and arrow-heads of shell, horn, or bone, with which to -repulse the attack of prowlers around his retreat and to arrest the -flight of the swiftest beast he required for food; and when he emerged -from the dark night which Science has as yet but partially penetrated, -when he had succeeded in pressing the horse and the dog into his service, -and when the cultivation of the soil even had removed him above the -claims of hunger, he appears equally to have indulged the -passion—probably for the gratification it gave and the advantages it -brought in promoting that tide of full health from which is derived the -pleasing consciousness of existence. - -Tradition, no less than archæology and the physical history of the -country itself, lead us to suppose that when those oscillations of level -ceased which led to the present distribution of land and water, one-third -of the face of the country was covered with wood and another with -uncultivated moor, and that marsh lands were extensive. Remains dug up -in the valley of the Severn, and others along the wide stretch of country -drained by its tributaries, together with those disinterred from the bog -and the marsh, show that animals, like plants, once indigenous, have at -comparatively recent periods become as extinct as Dodos in the Mauritius. -Old British names in various parts of the country, particularly along the -valley of the Severn, exist to show that the beaver once built its house -by the stream, that the badger burrowed in its banks, and that the eagle -and the falcon reared their young on the rocks above. At the same time, -evidence exists to show that the bear and the boar ranged the forests as -late as the conquest of England by the Normans, whilst the red deer, the -egret and the crane, the bittern and the bustard, remained to a period -almost within living memory. - -River loams, river gravels, lake beds, and cave breccias, disclose hooks -and spears, and sometimes fragments of nets, which show that hunting and -fishing were practised by the primitive dwellers along river plains and -valleys. - -The situations of abbeys, priories, and other monastic piles, the ruins -of which here and there are seen along the banks of rivers, and the -records the heads of these houses have left behind them, lead us to -suppose that those who reared and those who occupied them were alive to -the advantages the neighbourhood of good fisheries supplied. Some of the -_vivaries_ or fish-pools, and meres even, which once afforded abundant -supplies, no longer exist, their sites being now green fields; but -indications of their former presence are distinct, whilst the positions -of weirs on the Severn, the rights of which their owners zealously -guarded, may still be pointed out. Sometimes they were subjects of -litigation, as with the canons of Lilleshall, who claimed rights of -fishing in the Severn at Bridgnorth, and who obtained a bull from Pope -Honorius confirming them in their rights. In 1160 the Abbot of Salop, -with the consent of his chapter, is found granting to Philip Fitz-Stephen -and his heirs the fishery of Sutton (piscarium de Sutana), and lands near -the said fishery. These monks also had fisheries at Binnal, a few miles -from Willey; and it is well known that they introduced into our rivers -several varieties of fish not previously common thereto, but which now -afford sport to the angler. - -Fishing, it is true, may have been followed more as a remunerative -exercise by some members of these religious houses, still it did not fail -to commend itself as an attractive art and a harmless recreation -congenial to a spirit of contemplation and reflection to many -distinguished ecclesiastics. That the Severn of that day abounded in -fish much more than at present is shown by Bishop Lyttleton, who takes -some pains to describe it at Arley, and who explains the construction of -the coracle and its uses in fishing, the only difference between it both -then and now, and that of early British times, being that the latter was -covered with a horse’s hide. - -A jury, empannelled for the purpose of estimating the value of Arley -manor upon the death of one of its proprietors, gave the yearly rental of -its fishery at 6_s._ 8_d._,—a large sum in comparison with the value of -sixty acres of land, stated to have been 10_s._, or with the rent of a -ferry, which was put down at sixpence. There must have been fine fishing -then. Trout were plentiful, so were salmon; there were no locks or -artificial weirs to obstruct the attempts of fish—still true to the -instinct of their ancestors—to beat the tide in an upward summer -excursion in the direction of its source. The document states that the -part of the river so valued “abounded in fish.” - - * * * * * - - NOTE.—The Bishop of Worcester, by his regulations for the Priory of - Little Malvern, in 1323, enjoins the prior not to fish in the stew set - apart from ancient times _for the recreation of the sick_, unless - manifest utility, to be approved by the Chapter, should sanction it; in - which case he was, at a fit opportunity, to replace the fish which he - caught. - - We fancy it is not difficult to recognise a growing feeling against - that separation of religion, recreation, and health which unfortunately - now exists, and in favour of re-uniting the three; and we are persuaded - that the sooner this takes place the better for the nation. - - - - -CHAPTER I. -THE MARSH AND FOREST PERIODS. - - -Early Features of the Country—The Hawk an acquisition to Sportsmen—Hawk -aeries—Hawks according to Degrees—Brook and other kinds of -Hawking—Hawking and Hunting—A Shropshire Historian’s Charge against the -Conqueror—Bishops and their Clergy as much given to the Sport as -Laymen—The Rector of Madeley—The Merrie Days, &c. - -[Picture: Trained Falcon] DIVERSIFIED by wood and moor, by lake and sedgy -pool, dense flocks of wild fowl of various kinds at one time afforded a -profusion of winged game; and the keen eye and sharp talons of the hawk -no doubt pointed it out as a desirable acquisition to the sportsman long -ere he succeeded in pressing it into his service; indeed it must have -been a marked advance in the art when he first availed himself of its -instinct. Old records supply materials for judging of the estimation in -which this bird was held by our ancestors, it being not uncommon to find -persons holding tenements or paying fines in lieu of service to the lord -of the fee by rendering a _sore_ sparrow-hawk—a hawk in its first year’s -plumage. Stringent restrictions upon the liberty the old Roman masters -of the country allowed with respect to wild fowl were imposed; the act of -stealing a hawk, and that of taking her eggs, being punishable by -imprisonment for a year and a day. The highborn, with birds bedecked -with hoods of silk, collars of gold, and bells of even weight, but of -different sound, appeared according to their rank—a ger-falcon for a -king, a falcon gentle for a prince, a falcon of the rock for a duke, a -janet for a knight, a merlin for a lady, and a lamere for a squire. From -close-pent manor and high-walled castle, to outspread plain and expansive -lake or river bank, the gentry of the day sought perditch and plover, -heron and wild fowl, many of which the fowling-piece has since driven -from their haunts, and some—as the bustard and the bittern, the egret and -the crane—into extinction. - -Mention is often made of hawk aeries, as at Little Wenlock, and in -connection with districts within the jurisdiction of Shropshire forests, -which seem to have been jealously guarded. The use of the birds, too, -appears to have been very much restricted down to the time that the -forest-charter, enabling all freemen to ply their hawks, was wrung from -King John, when a sport which before had been the pride of the rich -became the privilege of the poor. It was at one time so far a national -pastime that an old writer asserts that “every degree had its peculiar -hawk, from the emperor down to the holy-water clerk.” {10} The sport -seems to have divided itself into field-hawking, pond-hawking, -brook-and-river hawking; into hawking on horseback and hawking on foot. -In foot hawking the sportsman carried a pole, with which to leap the -brook, into which he sometimes fell, as Henry VIII. did upon his head in -the mud, in which he would have been stifled, it is said, had not John -Moody rescued him; whether this Moody was an ancestor of the famous -Whipper-in or not we cannot say. - -Evidence is not altogether wanting to show that during the earlier -history of the Marsh period, the gigantic elk (_Cervus giganteus_), with -his wide-spreading antlers, visited, if he did not inhabit, the flatter -portions of the Willey country; and it is probable that the wild ox -equally afforded a mark for the arrow of the ancient inhabitants of the -district in those remote times, which investigators have distinguished as -the Pile-building, the Stone, and the Bronze periods, when society was in -what has been fittingly called the hunter-state. At any rate, we know -that at later periods the red deer, the goat, and the boar, together with -other “beasts,” were hunted, and that both banks of the Severn resounded -with the deep notes of “veteran hounds.” Of the two pursuits, Prior in -his day remarks, “Hawking comes near to hunting, the one in the ayre as -the other on the earth, a sport as much affected as the other, by some -preferred.” That the chase was the choice pastime of monarchs and nobles -before the Conquest, and the favourite sport of “great and worthy -personages” after, we learn from old authors, who, like William Tivici, -huntsman to Edward I., have written elaborate descriptive works, -supplying details of the modes pursued, and of the kinds of dog which -were used. - -Our Saxon ancestors no doubt brought with them from the great forests of -Germany not only their institutions but the love of sport of their -forefathers, pure and simple. With them the forests appear to have been -open to the people; and, although the Danes imposed restrictions, King -Canute, by his general code of laws, confirmed to his subjects full right -to hunt on their own lands, providing they abstained from the forests, -the pleasures of which he appears to have had no inclination generally to -share with his subjects. He established in each county four chief -foresters, who were gentlemen or thanes, and these had under them four -yeomen, who had care of the vert and venison; whilst under these again -were two officers of still lower rank, who had charge of the vert and -venison in the night, and who did the more servile work. King William -curtailed many of the old forest privileges, and limited the sports of -the people by prohibiting the boar and the hare, which Canute had allowed -to be taken; and so jealous was he of the privileges of the chase that he -is said to have ordained the loss of the eyes as the penalty for killing -a stag. His Norman predilections were such that an old Shropshire -historian, Ordericus Vitalis (born at Atcham), who was at one time -chaplain to the Conqueror, charges him with depopulating whole parishes -that he might satisfy his ardour for hunting. Prince Rufus, who -inherited a love of the chase from his father, is made by a modern author -to reply to a warning given him by saying:— - - “I love the chase, ’tis mimic war, - And the hollow bay of hound; - The heart of the poorest Norman - Beats quicker at the sound.” - -King John stretched the stringent forest laws of the period to the -utmost, till the love of liberty and of sport together, still latent -among the people, compelled him to submit to an express declaration of -their respective rights. By this declaration all lands afforested by -Henry I. or by Richard were to be disafforested, excepting demesne woods -of the crown; and a fine or imprisonment for a year and a day, in case of -default, was to be substituted for loss of life and members. - -To prevent disputes with regard to the king’s forests, it was also agreed -that their limits should be defined by perambulations; but as a check -upon the boldness of offenders in forests and chaces, and warrens, and -upon the disposition of juries to find against those who were appointed -to keep such places, it was deemed necessary on the other hand to give -protection to the keepers. - -Large sums were lavished by kings and nobles on the kennels and -appliances necessary for their diversions. Nor were these costly -establishments confined to the laity. Bishops, abbots, and high -dignitaries of the Church, could match their hounds and hawks against -those of the nobles, and they equally prided themselves upon their skill -in woodcraft. - -That the clergy were as much in favour of these amusements as the laity, -appears from an old Shropshire author, Piers Plowman (Langland), who -satirically gave it as his opinion that they thought more of sport than -of their flocks, excepting at shearing time; and likewise from Chaucer, -who says, “in hunting and riding they are more skilled than in divinity.” -That Richard de Castillon, an early rector of Madeley, was a sportsman -appears from the fact that when Henry III. was in Shrewsbury in -September, 1267, concluding a treaty with Llewellyn, and settling sundry -little differences with the monks and burgesses there, he granted him -license to hunt “in the royal forest of Madeley,” then a portion of that -of the Wrekin. In 1283 also, King Edward permitted the Prior of Wenlock -to have a park at Madeley, to fence out a portion of the forest, and to -form a haia there for his deer. It has been said that Walter, Bishop of -Rochester, was so fond of sport, that at the age of fourscore he made -hunting his sole employment. The Archdeacon of Richmond, at his -initiation to the Priory of Bridlington, is reported to have been -attended by ninety-seven horses, twenty-one dogs, and three hawks. -Walter de Suffield, Bishop of Norwich, bequeathed by will his pack of -hounds to the king; but the Abbot of Tavistock, who had also a pack, was -commanded by his bishop about the same time to break it up. A famous -hunter was the Abbot of Leicester, whose skill in the sport of hare -hunting was so great, that we are told the king himself, his son Edward, -and certain noblemen, paid him an annual pension that they might hunt -with him. Bishop Latimer said: “In my time my poor father was as -diligent to teach me to shoot as to learn me any other thing, and so I -think other men did their children. He taught me how to draw, how to lay -my body in my bow, and not draw with strength of arms as other nations -do;” and the good bishop exclaims with the enthusiasm of a patriot, “It -is a gift of God that He hath given us to excel all other nations withal; -it hath been God’s instrument whereby He hath given us many victories -over our enemies.” - -Such were the “merrie days,” when the kennels of the country gentry -contained all sorts of dogs, and their halls all sorts of skins, when the -otter and the badger were not uncommon along the banks of Shropshire -streams, and ere the fox had taken first rank on the sportsman’s list. -An old “Treatise on the Craft of Hunting” first gives the hare, the -herte, the wulf, and the wild boar. The author then goes on to say— - - “But there ben other beastes five of the chase; - The buck the first, the second is the doe, - The fox the third, which hath ever hard grace, - The fourth the martyn, and the last the roe.” - - - - -CHAPTER II. -MORFE FOREST. - - -Morfe one of the Five Royal Forests of Shropshire—Its History and -Associations—Early British, Roman, Danish, and Norman Mementoes—Legends -and Historical Incidents—Forest Wastes—Old Names—Hermitage Hill—Stanmore -Grove—Essex Fall—Foresters—Old Forest Lodge, &c. - -THE hunting ground of the Willey country embraced the sites of five royal -forests, the growth of earlier ages than those planted by the Normans, -alluded to by Ordericus Vitalis. In some instances they were the growth -of wide areas offering favourable conditions of soil for the production -of timber, as in the case of that of Morfe. In others they were the -result probably of the existence of hilly districts so sterile as to -offer few inducements to cultivate them, as in the case of Shirlot, the -Stiperstones, the Wrekin, and of the Clee Hills. Some of these have -histories running side by side with that of the nation, and associations -closely linked with the names of heroic men and famous sportsmen. Morfe -Forest, which was separated from that of Shirlot by the Severn, along -which it ran a considerable distance in the direction of its tributary -the Worf, is rich in traditions of the rarest kind, the Briton, the -Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Norman, having in succession left mementoes of -their presence. Here, as Mr. Eyton in his invaluable work on the -“Antiquities of Shropshire” says,—“Patriotism, civilisation, military -science, patient industry, adventurous barbarism, superstition, chivalry, -and religion have each played a part.” - - [Picture: Morfe Forest] - - [Picture: Stag] - -The ancient British tumuli examined and described more than one hundred -and thirty years ago by the Rev. Mr. Stackhouse have been levelled by the -plough, but “the Walls” at Chesterton, and the evidence the name of -Stratford supplies as to Roman occupation, to which Mr. Eyton refers, as -well as the rude fortifications of Burf Castle, constructed by the Danes -when they came to recruit after being out-manœuvred by Alfred on the -Thames, remain. At Quatford, a mile and a half west, on three sides of a -rock overhanging the Severn, near to Danesford, are trenches cut out of -the solid sandstone which, whether Danish or Norman, or in part both, -shewed by the vast number of wild boar and red deer remains disclosed a -few years ago the success with which the chase had here at one time been -pursued. - -Within the forest were four manors, the continuous estate in Saxon times -of Algar, Earl of Mercia, which after the Conquest were granted in their -integrity to the first Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, and which in 1086 were -held wholly in demesne by his son Hugh. The predilections of the first -Norman Earl of Shrewsbury for this vast forest, lying between those of -Kinver, Wyre, and Shirlot,—the whole of which wide wooded district seems -to have been comprehended under the old British name of _Coed_—are shown -by the fact that he built his famous’ castle on the Severn close by, and -founded there his collegiate church, the stones of which remain to attest -its erection by a Norman founder. The legend relating to the erection of -the church seems so well to bear out the supposition that Morfe was the -favourite hunting ground of the earl that, although frequently quoted, it -may not be out of place to give it. In substance it is this:— - -In 1082, Sir Roger married for his second wife a daughter of Sir Ebrard -de Pusey, one of the chief nobles of France. On coming over to England -to join her husband a storm arose which threatened the destruction of the -vessel when, wearied with much watching, a priest who accompanied her -fell asleep and had a vision, in which it was said:—“If thy lady would -wish to save herself and her attendants from the present danger of the -sea, let her make a vow to God and faithfully promise to build a church -in honour of the blessed Mary Magdalene, on the spot where she may first -happen to meet her husband in England, especially where groweth a hollow -oak, and where the wild swine have shelter.” The legend adds that upon -awaking the priest informed his lady, who took the prescribed vow; that -the storm ceased, that the ship arrived safely in port, that the lady met -the earl hunting the boar where an old hollow oak stood, and that at her -request, and in fulfilment of her vow, Sir Roger built and endowed the -church at Quatford, which a few years ago only was taken down and -rebuilt. - - [Picture: Boar Hunt in Morfe Forest] - -On the high ground a little above the church there are still several -trees whose gnarled and knotted trunks have borne the brunt of many -centuries, two of which are supposed to have sprung from the remains of -the one mentioned in the legend. - -Not only legends, but traditions, and some historical incidents, as those -brought to light by the Forest Rolls, afford now and then an insight of -the sporting kind of life led within the boundary and jurisdiction of the -forest and upon its outskirts. The bow being not only the chief weapon -of sport but of war, those with a greater revenue from land than one -hundred pence were at one time not only permitted but compelled to have -in their possession bows and arrows, but, to prevent those living within -the precincts of the forest killing the king’s deer, the arrows were to -be rounded. These were sometimes sharpened, and disputes arose between -their owners, the dwellers in the villages, and the overseers of the -forest, the more fruitful source of grievance being with the commoners, -who, claiming pasturage for their cows and their horses, often became -poachers. On one occasion a kid being wounded by an arrow at Atterley, -on the Willey side of the Severn, and the culprit not being forthcoming, -a whole district is in _misericordiâ_, under the ban of the fierce Forest -Laws of the period. On another occasion a stag enters the postern gate -of the Castle of Bridgnorth, and the vision of venison within reach -proving too strong for the Castellan, he is entrapped, and litigation -ensues. Sometimes the stout foresters and sturdy guardians of the -castle, and burgesses of the town, indulge in friendly trials of skill at -quarter-staff or archery, or in a wrestling match for a cross-bow, a ram, -or a “red gold ring.” In Ritson’s “Robin Hood” we read:— - - “By a bridge was a wrastling, - And there taryed was he: - And there was all the best yemen - Of all the west countrey. - A full fayre game there was set up, - A white bull up y-pight, - A great courser with saddle and brydle - With gold burnished full bryght; - A payre of gloves, a red golde ringe, - A pipe of wyne good fay: - What man bereth him best I wis, - The prize shall bear away.” - -In 1292, a wrestling match at a festive gathering on Bernard’s Hill takes -place, when from ill blood arising from an old feud a dispute ensues, and -a forester named Simon de Leyre quarrels with Robert de Turbevill, a -canon of St. Mary’s, Bridgnorth, over a greyhound, which the latter, -contrary to the regulations of the courts, had brought within the forest; -and a jury of foresters, verderers, and regarders, in pursuance of the -king’s writ, is empowered to try the case. The evidence adduced shows -that the foresters were to blame, the verdict come to being that the men -of Brug, although at the wrestling match with bows and arrows, were in no -way chargeable with the assault upon the forester. “They had been -indicted for trespass,” the jurors said, “not under any inquest taken on -the matter, but by one Corbett’s suggestion to the Justice of the Forest; -they had been attacked and imprisoned under the warrant of the said -Justice, Corbett’s grudge being that two men of Brug had once promised -him a cask of wine, a present in which the corporate body refused to -join.” Corbett was pronounced by the jurors “a malevolent and a procurer -of evil.” - -To correct evils like these the “ordinatio” of Edward I. was introduced, -containing many beneficial regulations, and stating that proceedings had -been taken in the forest by one or two foresters or verderers to extort -money, also providing that all trespassers in the forest of green hue and -of hunting shall be presented by the foresters at the next Swainmote -before foresters, verderers, and other officers. In the same year the -king confirmed the great charter of liberties of the forest. - -Various official reports of this Chace, drawn up from time to time, show -how the great forest of Morfe gradually diminished, as the vills of -Worfield and Claverley, and other settlements, extended within its -limits, causing waste and destruction at various times of timber. During -the Barons’ War the bosc of Claverley was further damaged, it was said, -“by many goats frequenting the cover;” it suffered also from waste by the -Earl of Chester, who sold from it 1,700 oak trees. Other wastes are -recorded, as those caused by cutting down timber “for the Castle of -Bridgnorth,” and “for enclosing the vill before it was fortified by a -wall.” The report further states that “there were few beasts,” because -“they were destroyed in the time of war, and in the time when the liberty -of the forest was conceded.” By degrees, from one cause or another, and -by one means or another, this, the “favourite chace of English kings and -Norman earls,” which, so late as 1808, consisted of upwards of 3,820 -acres, disappeared, leaving about the names of places it once enclosed an -air of quaint antiquity, the very mention of some of which may be -interesting. Among them are Bowman’s Hill, Bowman’s Pit, and Warrener’s -Dead Fall—names carrying back the mind to times when bowmen were the -reliance of English leaders in battles fought on the borders, and before -strongholds like the Castle of Bridgnorth. Gatacre, and Gatacre Hall, -suggest a passing notice of a family which witnessed many such -encounters, and which remained associated with a manor here from the -reign of Edward the Confessor to the time when Earl Derby sought shelter -as a fugitive after the Battle of Worcester. As Camden describes it, the -old hall must have been a fitting residence truly for a steward of the -forest. It had, in the middle of each side and centre, immense oak -trees, hewn nearly square, set with their heads on large stones, and -their roots uppermost, from which a few rafters formed a complete arched -roof. - -The Hermitage, with its caves hewn out of the solid sand rock, by the -road which led through the forest in the direction of Worfield, meets us -with the tradition that here the brother of King Athelstan came seeking -retirement from the world, and ended his days within sight of the queenly -Severn. Besides tradition, however, evidence exists to shew that this -eremetical cave, of Saxon origin, under the patronage of the crown, was -occupied by successive hermits, each being ushered to the cell with royal -seal and patent, in the same way as a dean, constable, or sheriff was -introduced to his office; as in the case of John Oxindon (Edward III., -1328), Andrew Corbrigg (Edward III., 1333), Edmund de la Marc (Edward -III., 1335), and Roger Boughton (Edward III., 1346). From the frequency -of the presentations, it would appear either that these hermits must have -been near the termination of their pilgrimage when they were inducted, or -that confinement to a damp cell did not agree with them: indeed, no one -looking at the place itself would consider it was a desirable one to live -in. - -Other names not less significant of the former features of the country -occur, as Stoneydale, Copy Foot, Sandy Burrow, Quatford Wyches, and Hill -House Flat,—where the remains of an old forest oak may still be seen. In -addition to these we find Briery Hurst, Rushmoor Hill, Spring Valley, -Stanmore Grove, and Essex Fall, the latter being at the head of a ravine, -half concealed by wood, where tradition alleges the Earl of Essex, -grandson of the Earl who founded St. James’s, a refuge, a little lower -down, for sick and suffering pilgrims, which had unusual forest -privileges allowed by royal owners, was killed whilst hunting. Here too, -higher up on the hill, may still be seen the remains of the old Forest -Lodge, which, with its picturesque scenes, must have been associated with -the visits of many a noble steward and forest-ranger. Many a hunter of -the stag and wild boar has on the walls of this old Lodge hung up his -horn and spear, as he sought rest and refreshment for the night. - -The names of some of the stewards and other officers of the forest are -preserved, together with their tenures and other privileges. By an -inquisition in the reign of Henry III., it was found that Robert, son of -Nicholas, and others were seized of “Morffe Bosc.” {28} In the 13 Hen. -IV., “Worfield had common of pasture in Morffe.” Besides many tenures -(enumerated in Duke’s “Antiquities of Shropshire,” p. 52), dependent upon -the forest, the kings (when these tenures were grown useless and -obsolete) appointed stewards and rangers to take care of the woods and -the deer; in the 19 Rich. II., Richard Chelmswick was forester for life: -in the 1 Henry IV., John Bruyn was forester; and in the 26th Henry IV., -the stewardships of the forest of Morfe and Shirlot were granted to John -Hampton, Esq., and his heirs. Again, we find 9 Henry VII., rot. 28, -George Earl of Shrewsbury, was steward and ranger for life, with a fee of -4_d._ per day. Orig. 6 Edward VI., William Gatacre de Gatacre, in com. -Salop, had a lease of twenty-one years of the stewardship; and in the -20th Elizabeth, George Bromley had a lease of twenty-one years of the -stewardship, at a rent of 6_s._ 8_d._, et de incremento, 12_d._; and 36 -Elizabeth, George Powle, Gent., was steward, with a fee of 4_d._ per day. - -One of the descendants of George Earl of Shrewsbury sold at no very -distant period the old Lodge and some land to the Stokes family of -Roughton, and the property is still in their possession. The remains of -the old Lodge were then more extensive, but they were afterwards pulled -down, with the exception of that portion which still goes by the name. -As we have said, these places have about them interesting forest -associations, reminding us that early sportsmen here met to enjoy the -pleasures of the chase, with a success sometimes told by red-deer bones -and wild-boar tusks, dug from some old ditch or trench. Where the -plough-share now cleaves the sandy soil, the wild-boar roamed at will; -where fat kine feed in pastures green, stout oaks grew, and red-deer -leaped; where the Albrighton red-coats with yelping hounds now meet, the -ringing laugh of lords and ladies, of bishops and their clergy, hunting -higher game, was heard. Then, as good old Scott has said,— - - “In the lofty arched hall - Was spread the gorgeous festival, - Then rose the riot and the din - Above, beneath, without, within, - For from its lofty balcony, - Rang trumpet, shawm and psaltery. - Their clanging bowls old warriors quaff’d, - Loudly they spoke and loudly laugh’d, - Whisper’d young knights in tones more mild, - To ladies fair, and ladies smiled. - The hooded hawks, high perch’d on beam, - The clamour join’d with whistling scream, - And flapped their wings and shook their bells, - In concert with the stag-hounds’ yells.” - - - - -CHAPTER III. -ROYAL CHASE OF SHIRLOT. - - -Afforestation of Shirlot—Extent—Places -Disafforested—Hayes—Foresters—Hunting Lodges—Sporting Priors—Old -Tenures—Encroachments upon Woods by Iron-making Operations—Animals that -have Disappeared—Reaction due to a Love of Sport—What the Country would -have lost—“The Merrie Greenwood”—Remarkable old Forest Trees, &c. - - “Where with puffed cheek the belted hunter blows - His wreathed bugle horn.” - -MR. EYTON thinks the afforestation of Shirlot was probably suggested by -its proximity to the Morville and Chetton manors, where Saxon kings and -Mercian earls had their respective demesnes, and that Henry I. and his -successors, in visiting the Castle of Bridgnorth, or as guests of the -Prior of Wenlock, had obvious reasons for perpetuating there the -exclusive rights of a Royal chace. Although Shirlot Forest was separated -from that of Morfe by the Severn, its jurisdiction extended across the -river to Apley, and embraced places lying along the right bank of the -river, in the direction of Cressage. Bridgnorth with its surroundings -was not taken out of its jurisdiction or thrown open by perambulation -till 1301, when it was disafforested, together with Eardington, Much -Wenlock, Broseley, and other places. The extent and ancient jurisdiction -of this forest may be estimated by the number of places taken from it at -this date, as Benthall, Buildwas, Barrow, Belswardine, Shineton, -Posenall, Walton, Willey, Atterley, the Dean, the Bold, Linley, Caughley, -Little Caughley, Rowton, Sweyney, Appeleye (the only vill eastward of -Severn), Colemore, Stanley, Rucroft, Medewegrene, Cantreyne, Simon de -Severn’s messuage (now Severn Hall), Northleye, Astley Abbot’s Manor, La -Dunfowe (Dunwall), La Rode (now Rhodes), Kinsedeleye (now Kinslow), -Tasley, Crofte, Haleygton (Horton, near Morville), Aldenham, the Bosc of -the Earl of Arundel within the bounds of the forest of Schyrlet, which is -called Wiles Wode (_i.e._ Earl’s Wood), Aston Aer, Momerfield (Morville), -Lee, Underdone, Walton (all three near Morville), Upton (now Upton -Cresset), Meadowley, Stapeley, Criddon, Midteleton (Middleton Scriven), -the Bosc of the Prior of Wenlock, called Lythewode, half the vill of -Neuton (Newton near Bold), Faintree, Chetton, Walkes Batch (Wallsbatch, -near Chetton), Hollycott, Hapesford (now Harpswood), Westwood (near -Harpswood), Oldbury, a messuage at the More (the Moor Ridding), a -messuage at La Cnolle (now Knowle Sands), and the Bosc which is called -Ongeres. - - [Picture: Fallow deer] - -The ancient extent of the forest must have been about twelve miles by -five. The names of the places mentioned to which the limits of the chace -are traced are so different in many instances from the present that it -may be of interest to give a few of them. From Yapenacres Merwey the -boundary was to go up to the Raveneshok (Ravens’ Oak), thence straight to -the Brenallegrene, near the Coleherth (Coal Hearth) going up by the -Fendeshok (Friends’ Oak) to the Dernewhite-ford. Thence upwards to the -Nethercoumbesheved; and so straight through the Middlecoumbesheved, and -then down to Caldewall. Then down through the Lynde to the Mer Elyn. -Thence down to Dubledaneslegh, and then up by a certain watercourse to -the Pirle; and so up to Wichardesok; and so to the Pundefold; and so down -by the Shepewey to the Holeweeuen, and then up by a certain fence to -Adame’s Hale (Adam’s Hall), and thus by the assarts which John de -Haldenham (Aldenham) holds at a rent of the king to the corner of -Mokeleyes Rowe (Muckley Row); and thence down to Yapenacres Merwey, where -the first land-mark of the Haye begins. There was also, it was said, a -certain bosc which the King still held in the same forest, called -Benthlegh Haye (Bentley Haye). - -In addition to this Haye there was the Haye of Shirlot, opposite to which -a portion of the forest in the fifth of Henry III.’s reign was ordered to -be assarted, which consisted in grubbing up the roots so as to render the -ground fit for tillage. - -In connection with these Hayes, generally a staff of foresters, -verderers, rangers, stewards, and regarders was kept up; and forest -courts were also held at stated times (in the forest of the Clee every -six weeks), at which questions and privileges connected with the forest -were considered. Philip de Baggesour, Forester of the Fee in the king’s -free Haye of Schyrlet in 1255, in the Inquisition of Hundreds, is said to -have under him “two foresters, who give him 20_s._ per annum for holding -their office, and to make a levy on oats in Lent, and on wheat in -autumn.” “The aforesaid Philip,” it is said, “hath now in the said Haye -of Windfalls as much as seven trees, and likewise all trees which are -wind-fallen, the jurors know not by what warrant except by ancient -tenure.” These privileged officers had good pickings, evidently by means -of their various time-sanctioned customs, and jolly lives no doubt they -led. - -In the forty-second of Henry III. Hammond le Strange was steward of this -forest, and in the second of Edward I. the king’s forester is said to -have given the sheriff of the county notice that he was to convey all the -venison killed in the forests of Salop, and deliver it at Westminster to -the king’s larder, for the use of the king’s palace. According to the -same record, the profits that were made of the oaks that were fallen were -to be applied to the building of a vessel for the king. In the -nineteenth of Richard II., Richard Chelmswick was appointed forester for -life; and in the twenty-sixth of Henry III. the stewardship both of the -forests of Morfe and of Shirlot was granted to John Hampton and his -heirs. - -Some of the chief foresters also held Willey, and probably resided there; -at any rate it is not improbable that a building which bears marks of -extreme antiquity, between Barrow and Broseley, called the Lodge Farm, -was once the hunting lodge. It has underneath strongly arched and -extensive cellaring, which seems to be older than portions of the -superstructure, and which may have held the essentials for feasts, for -which sportsmen of all times have been famous. Near the lodge, too, is -the _Dear-Loape_, or Deer Leap, a little valley through which once -evidently ran a considerable stream, and near which the soil is still -black, wet, and boggy. A deer leap, dear loape, or _saltory_, was a -pitfall—a contrivance common during the forest periods, generally at the -edge of the chace, for taking deer, and often granted by charter as a -privilege—as that, for instance, on the edge of Cank, or Cannock Chace. -Sometimes these pitfalls, dug for the purpose of taking game, were used -by poachers, who drove the deer into them. It is, therefore, easy to -understand why the forest lodge should be near, as a protection. It was -usually one of the articles of inquiry at the Swainmote Court whether -“any man have any great close within three miles of the forest that have -any saltories, or great gaps called deer loapes, to receive deer into -them when they be in chasing, and when they are in them they cannot get -out again.” - - [Picture: Deer Leap] - -Among sportsmen of these forest periods we must not omit to notice the -Priors of the ancient Abbey of Wenlock. The heads of such wealthy -establishments by no means confined themselves within the limits of the -chapter-house. They were no mere cloistered monks, devoted to book and -candle, but jolly livers, gaily dressed, and waited upon by -well-appointed servants; like the Abbot of Buildwas, who had for his -vassal the Lord of Buildwas Parva, who held land under him on condition -that he and his wife should place the first dish on the abbot’s table on -Christmas Day, and ride with him any whither within the four seas at the -abbot’s charge. They had huntsmen and hounds, and one can imagine their -sporting visitation rounds among their churches, the chanting of priests, -the deep-mouthed baying of dogs, early matins, and the huntsman’s bugle -horn harmoniously blending in the neighbourhood of the forest. Hugh -Montgomery in his day gave to the abbey a tithe of the venison which he -took in its woods, and in 1190 we find the Prior of Wenlock giving twenty -merks to the king that he may “have the Wood of Shirlott to himself, -exempt from view of foresters, and taken out of the Regard.” As we have -already shown, the priors had a park at Madeley, they had one at -Oxenbold, and they also had privileges over woods adjoining the forest of -the Clees, where the Cliffords exercised rights ordinarily belonging to -royal proprietors, and where their foresters carried things with such a -high hand, and so frequently got into trouble with those of the priors, -that the latter were glad to accept an arrangement, come to after much -litigation in 1232, by which they were to have a tenth beast only of -those taken in their own woods at Stoke and Ditton, and of those started -in their demesne boscs, and taken elsewhere. These boscs appear to have -been woodland patches connecting the long line of forest stretching along -the flanks of the Clee Hills with that on the high ground of Shirlot and, -as in the case of others even much further removed, their ownership was -exceedingly limited. One of the complaints against Clifford’s foresters -was, that they would not suffer the priors’ men to keep at Ditton Priors -and Stoke St. Milburgh any dogs not _expedited_, or mutilated in their -feet, nor pasture for their goats. - - [Picture: Chapter House of Wenlock Priory] - -Imbert, one of these priors, was chosen as one of the Commissioners for -concluding a truce with David ap Llewellyn in July, 1244. He was -subsequently heavily fined for trespasses for assarting, or grubbing up -the roots of trees, in forest lands at Willey, Broseley, Coalbrookdale, -Madeley, and other places, the charge for trespass amounting to the large -sum of £126 13_s._ 4_d._ - -A survey of the Haye of Shirlot, made by four knights of the county, -pursuant to a royal writ in October 21, 1235, sets forth “its custody -good as regards oak trees and underwood, except that great deliveries -have been made by order of the king to the Abbeys of Salop and Bildewas, -to the Priory of Wenlock, and to the Castle of Brug, for the repairs of -buildings, &c.” - -Some curious tenures existed within the jurisdiction of this forest, one -of which it may be worth while deviating from our present purpose to -notice, as it affords an insight into the early iron manufacturing -operations which, at a later period, led to the destruction of forest -trees, but, at the same time, to the development of the mineral wealth of -the district within and bordering upon the forest. Of its origin nothing -is known; but it is supposed to have arisen out of some kingly peril or -other forest incident connected with the chase. It consisted in this, -that the tenant of the king at the More held his land upon the condition -that he appeared yearly in the Exchequer with a hazel rod of a year’s -growth and a cubit’s length, and two knives. The treasurer and barons -being present, the tenant was to attempt to sever the rod with one of the -knives, so that it bent or broke. The other knife was to do the same -work at one stroke, and to be given up to the king’s chamberlain for -royal use. {41} - -That iron was manufactured at a very early period in the heart of the -forests of Shirlot and the Clees, is shown by Leland, who informs us that -in his day there were blow-shops upon the Brown Clee Hills in Shropshire, -where iron ores were exposed upon the hill sides, and where, from the -fact that wood was required for smelting, it is only reasonable to look -for them. Historical records and monastic writings, as well as old -tenures, traditions, and heaps of slag, tell us that iron had been -manufactured in the midst of these woods from very remote periods. As -far back as 1250, a notice occurs of a right of road granted by Philip de -Benthall, Lord of Benthall, to the monks of Buildwas, over all his -estate, for the carriage of stone, coal, and timber; and in an old work -in the Deer Leap, very primitive wooden shovels, and wheels flanged and -cut out of the solid block, and apparently designed to bear heavy -weights, were found a short time since, which are now in possession of -Mr. Thursfield, of Barrow, together with an iron axletree and some brass -sockets, two of which have on them “P. B.,” being the initials of Philip -Benthall, or Philip Burnel, it is supposed, the latter having succeeded -the former. At Linley, and the Smithies, traces of old forges occur; so -that there is good reason for supposing that knives and other articles of -iron may have been manufactured in the district from a very early period. -Among the assets, for instance, of the Priory of Wenlock, in the year -1541–2, is a mine of ironstone, at Shirlot, fermed for £2 6_s._ 1_d._ per -annum; and a forge, described as an Ierne Smythee, or a smith’s place, in -Shirlot, rented at £12 8_s._ Another forge produced £2 13_s._ 4_d._ per -annum; and the produce of some other mineral, probably coal, was £5 3_s._ -10_d._ These large rents for those days show the advance made in turning -to account the mineral wealth of the district, and the superior value of -mines compared with trees, or mere surface produce. - -Wherever powerful streams came down precipitous channels, little forges -with clanging hammers were heard reverberating through the woods as early -as the reigns of the Tudors. Their sites now are— - - “Downy banks damask’d with flowers:” - -but they reveal the havoc made of the timber by cutting and burning it -for charcoal down to the reign of Elizabeth, when an act was passed to -restrict the use for such purposes. - -These iron-making and mining operations caused the forest to be -intersected by roads and tramways, as old maps and reports of the forest -shew us; so that few beasts, except those passing between their more -secluded haunts, were to be found there; and, as the stragglers preferred -the tender vegetation the garden of the cottager afforded, even these -were sometimes noosed, or shot with bows and arrows, which made no noise. - - [Picture: Waterfall] - -To such an extent had destruction of timber in this and other forests in -the country been carried, that it was feared that in the event of a -foreign war sufficient timber could not be found for the use of the navy. -A reaction, however, set in: wealthy landowners set themselves to work to -remedy the evil by planting and preserving trees, especially the oak; and -many of the woods and plantations which gladden the eye of the traveller -in passing through the country, and which afford good sport to the -Wheatland and Albrighton packs, were the result. - -To this indigenous and deep-rooted love of sport we are therefore -indebted, to a very great extent, for those beautiful woods which adorn -the Willey country and many other portions of the kingdom. But for our -woods and the “creeping things” they shelter, we should have imperfect -conceptions of those earlier phases of the island:— - - “When stalked the bison from his shaggy lair, - Thousands of years before the silent air - Was pierced by whizzing shafts of hunters keen.” - -The country would have been wanting in subjects such as Creswick, with -faithful expressions of foliage and knowledge of the play of light and -shade, has depicted. It would have lost the text-work of those -characteristics Constable revelled in, and those Harding gave us in his -oaks. We should have lost subjects for the poet as well as for the -painter; for the ballad literature of the country is redolent of sights -and sounds associated therewith. To come down from the earliest times. -How the old Druids reverenced them! how the compilers of that surprising -survey of the country we find in Domesday noted all details concerning -them! what joyous allusions Chaucer, Spenser, and later writers make to -them! what peculiar charms the “merry green-wood” and the deep forest -glades had for the imagination of the people! Hence the popular sympathy -expressed by means of tales and traditions in connection with Sherwood’s -sylvan shade, and the many editions of the song of the bold outlaw, and -of the adventures contained therein. Even the utilitarian philosopher -and the ultra radical, fleeing from the stifling atmosphere of the town, -and diving for an hour or so into some paternal wood, is inclined, we -fancy, to sponge from his memory the bitter things he has said of the -owners and of that aristocratic class who usually value and guard them as -they do their picture galleries. Thanks to such as these, there is now -scarcely a run in the Willey country but brings the sportsman face to -face with vestiges of some sylvan memorial Nature or man has planted -along the hill and valley sides, memorials renewed again and again, as -winter after winter rends the red leaves from the trees: and the man who -has not made a pilgrimage, for sport or otherwise, through these -far-reaching sylvan slopes along the valley of the Severn, stretching -almost uninterruptedly for seven or eight miles, or through some similar -wooded tract, witnessing the sheltered inequalities of the surface, -varied by rocky glens and rushy pools—the winter haunt of snipe and -woodcock—has missed much that might afford him the highest interest. -Here and there, on indurated soils along the valley sides, opportunities -occur of studying the manner in which trees of several centuries’ growth -send their gnarled and massive roots in between the rocks in search of -nourishment, for firmness, or to resist storms that shake branches little -inferior to the parent stem. Few places probably have finer old hollies -and yew-trees indigenous to the soil, relieving the monotony of the -general grey by their sombre green—trees rooted where they grew six or -eight centuries since, and carrying back the mind to the time of Harold -and the bowmen days of Robin Hood. - - [Picture: Forest scenery] - -Spoonhill, a very well-known covert of the Wheatland Hunt, was a slip of -woodland as early as a perambulation in 1356, when it was recorded to lie -outside the forest, its boundary on the Shirlot side being marked by a -famous oak called Kinsok, “which stood on the king’s highway between -Weston and Wenlock.” - -The Larden and Lutwyche woods for many years have been famous for foxes. -The late M. Benson, Esq., told us that a fox had for several seasons made -his home securely in a tree near his house, he having taken care to keep -his secret. The woods, too, on the opposite side of the ridge, rarely -fail to furnish a fox; and it is difficult to imagine a finer spot than -Smallman’s Leap, {49a} or Ipikin’s Rock, on the “Hill Top,” presents for -viewing a run over Hughley and Kenley, or between there and Hope Bowdler. -Near Lutwyche is a thick entangled wood, called Mog Forest; and in the -old door of the Church of Easthope, {49b} near, is a large iron ring, -which is conjectured to have been placed there for outlaws of the forest -who sought sanctuary or freedom from arrest to take hold of. Now and -then, in wandering over the sites of these former forests, we come upon -traditions of great trees, sometimes upon an aged tree itself, “bald with -antiquity,” telling of parent forest tracts, like the Lady Oak at -Cressage, which formerly stood in the public highway, and suffered much -from gipsies and other vagabonds lighting fires in its hollow trunk, but -which is now propped, cramped, and cared for, with as much concern as the -Druids were wont to show to similar trees. A young tree, too, sprung -from an acorn from the old one, has grown up within its hollow trunk, and -now mingles its foliage with that of the parent. - - [Picture: Lady Oak] - -There are a few fine old trees near Willey, supposed to be fragmentary -forest remains. One is a patriarchal-looking ash in the public road at -Barrow; another is an oak near the Dean; it is one of which the present -noble owner of Willey shows the greatest pride and care. There are also -two noble trees at Shipton and Larden; the one at the latter place being -a fine beech, the branches of which, when tipped with foliage, have a -circumference of 35 yards. A magnificent oak, recently cut down in Corve -Dale, contained 300 cubic feet of timber, and was 18 feet in -circumference. This, however, was a sapling compared with that king of -forest trees which Loudon describes as having been cut down in Willey -Park. It spread 114 feet, and had a trunk 9 feet in diameter, exclusive -of the bark. It contained 24 cords of yard wood, 11½ cords of four-feet -wood, 252 park palings, six feet long, 1 load of cooper’s wood, 16½ tons -of timber in all the boughs; 28 tons of timber in the body, and this -besides fagots and boughs that had dropped off:— - - “What tales, if there be tongues in trees, - Those giant oaks could tell, - Of beings born and buried here; - Tales of the peasant and the peer, - Tales of the bridal and the bier - The welcome and farewell.” - -The old oak forests and chestnut groves which supplied the sturdy -framework for the half-timbered houses of our ancestors, the rafters for -their churches, and the beams for their cathedrals, are gone; and the -mischief is, not only that we have lost former forests, but that our -present woods every year are growing less, that much of that shrubby -foliage which within our own recollection divided the fields, forming -little copses in which a Morland would have revelled, have had to give -way to agricultural improvements, and the objects of sport they sheltered -have disappeared. The badger lingered to the beginning of the present -century along the rocks of Benthall and Apley; and the otter, which still -haunts portions of the Severn and its more secluded tributaries, and -occasionally affords sport in some parts of the country higher up, was -far from being rare. On the left bank of the Severn are the -“Brock-holes,” or badger-holes, whilst near to it are the “Fox-holes,” -where tradition alleges foxes a generation or two ago to have been -numerous enough to have been a nuisance; and the same remark may apply to -the “Fox-holes” at Benthall. As the district became more cultivated and -the country more populated, the range of these animals became more and -more circumscribed, and the cherished sports of our forefathers came to -form the staple topics of neighbours’ oft-told tales. - -Within our own recollection the badger was to be found at Benthall Edge; -but he had two enemies—the fox, who sometimes took possession of his den -and drove him from the place, and the miners of Broseley and Benthall, -who were usually great dog-fanciers, and who were accustomed to steal -forth as the moon rose above the horizon, and intercept him as he left -his long winding excavation among the rocks, in order to make sport for -them at their annual wakes. - - [Picture: The Badger] - - [Picture: Group of deer] - - - - -CHAPTER IV. -THE WREKIN FOREST AND THE FORESTERS. - - -The Wrekin Forest—Hermit of Mount St. Gilbert—Poachers upon the King’s -Preserves—Extent of the Forest—Haye of Wellington—Robert -Forester—Perquisites—Hunting Matches—Singular Grant to John Forester—Sir -Walter Scott’s Tony Foster a Member of the Shropshire Forester -Family—Anthony Foster Lord of the Manor of Little Wenlock—The Foresters -of Sutton and Bridgnorth—Anthony Foster altogether a different Character -from what Sir Walter Scott represents him. - - “I am clad in youthful green, I other colours scorn, - My silken bauldrick bears my bugle or my horn, - Which, setting to my lips, I wind so loud and shrill, - As makes the echoes shout from every neighbouring hill; - My dog-hook at my belt, to which my thong is tied, - My sheaf of arrows by, my wood-knife by my side, - My cross-bow in my hand, my gaffle on my rack, - To bend it when I please, or if I list to slack; - My hound then in my thong, I, by the woodman’s art, - Forecast where I may lodge the goodly hie-palm’d hart, - To view the grazing herds, so sundry times I use, - Where by the loftiest head I knew my deer to choose; - And to unherd him, then I gallop o’er the ground, - Upon my well-breathed nag, to cheer my learning hound. - Some time I pitch my toils the deer alive to take, - Some time I like the cry the deep-mouthed kennel make; - Then underneath my horse I stalk my game to strike, - And with a single dog to hunt or hurt him as I like.” - - DRAYTON. - -IT is important, to the completion of our sketch of the earlier features -of the country, that we cross the Severn and say a word or two respecting -the forest of the Wrekin, of which the early ancestors of the present -Willey family had charge. This famous hill must then have formed a -feature quite as conspicuous in the landscape as it does at present. As -it stood out above the wide-spreading forest that surrounded it, it must -have looked like a barren island amid a waving sea of green. From its -position and outline too, it appears to have been selected during the -struggles which took place along the borders as a military fortress, -judging from the entrenchments near its summit, and the tumuli both here -and in the valley at its foot, where numbers of broken weapons have been -found. At a later period it is spoken of as Mount St. Gilbert, in -honour, it is said, of a recluse to whom the Gilbertine monks ascribe -their origin. Whether the saint fixed his abode in the cleft called the -Needle’s Eye (which tradition alleges to have been made at the -Crucifixion), or on some other part of the hill, there is no evidence to -show; but that there was a hermitage there at one time, and that whilst -the woods around were stocked with game, is clear. It is charitable to -suppose, however, that the good man who pitched his tent so high above -his fellows abstained from such tempting luxuries, that on his wooden -trencher no king’s venison smoked, and that fare more becoming gown and -girdle contented him; so at least it must have been reported to Henry -III., who, to give the hermit, Nicholas de Denton by name, “greater -leisure for holy exercises, and to support him during his life, so long -as he should be a hermit on the aforesaid mountain,” granted six quarters -of corn, to be paid by the Sheriff of Shropshire, out of the issues of -Pendleston Mill, near Bridgnorth. - - [Picture: Needle’s Eye] - -That there were, however, poachers upon the king’s preserves appears from -a criminal prosecution recorded on the Forest Roll of 1209, to the effect -that four of the county sergeants found venison in the house of Hugh le -Scot, who took asylum in a church, and, refusing to quit, “there lived a -month,” but afterwards “escaped in woman’s clothes.” - -Certain sales of forest land made by Henry II. near the Wrekin, and -entered on the Forest Roll of 1180, together with the assessments and -perambulations of later periods, afford some idea of the extent of this -forest, which, from the Severn and the limits of Shrewsbury, swept round -by Tibberton and Chetwynd to the east, and included Lilleshall, St. -George’s, Dawley, Shifnal, Kemberton, and Madeley on the south. From the -“Survey of Shropshire Forests” in 1235, it appears that the following -woods were subject to its jurisdiction: Leegomery, Wrockwardine Wood, -Eyton-on-the-Weald Moors, Lilleshall, Sheriffhales, the Lizard, -Stirchley, and Great Dawley. A later perambulation fixed the bounds of -the royal preserve, or Haye of Wellington, in which two burnings of lime -for the use of the crown are recorded, as well as the fact that three -hundred oak-trees were consumed in the operation. - -Hugh Forester, and Robert the Forester, are spoken of as tenants of the -crown in connection with this Haye; and it is an interesting coincidence -that the land originally granted by one of the Norman earls, or by King -Henry I., for the custody of this Haye, which included what is now called -Hay Gate, is still in possession of the present noble owner of Willey. -It seems singular, however, that in the “Arundel Rolls” of 1255, it -should be described as a _pourpresture_, for which eighteen pence per -acre was paid to the king, as being held by the said Robert Forester -towards the custody of the Wellington Haia. - - [Picture: Deer and young] - -Among the perquisites which the said Robert Forester was allowed, as -Keeper of the Haye, all dead wood and windfalls are mentioned, unless -more than five oak-trees were blown down at a time, in which case they -went to the king. The Haye is spoken of here as an “imparkment,” which -agrees with the descriptions of Chaucer and other old writers, who speak -of a Haia as a place paled in, or enclosed, into which deer or other game -were driven, as they now drive deer in North America, or elephants in -India, and of grants of land made to those whose especial duty it was to -drive the deer with their troop of followers from all parts of a wide -circle into such enclosure for slaughter. The following description of -deer-hunting in the seventeenth century by Taylor, the Water Poet, as he -is called, will enable us to understand the plan pursued by the Norman -sportsmen:— - - “Five or six hundred men do rise early in the morning, and they do - disperse themselves divers ways; and seven, eight, or ten miles’ - compass, they do bring or chase in the deer in many herds (two, - three, or four hundred in a herd) to such a place as the noblemen - shall appoint them; then, when the day is come, the lords and - gentlemen of their companies do ride or go to the said places, - sometimes wandering up to the middle through bourns, and rivers; and - then, they being come to the place, do lie down on the ground till - those foresaid scouts, which are called the Tinkheldt, do bring down - the deer. Then, after we had stayed three hours or there abouts, we - might perceive the deer appear on the hills round about us (their - heads making a show like a wood), which being followed close by the - Tinkheldt, are chased down into the valley where we lay; then all the - valley on each side being waylaid with a hundred couple of strong - Irish greyhounds, they are let loose as occasion serves upon the herd - of deer, that with dogs, guns, arrows, dirks, and daggers, in the - space of two hours fourscore fat deer were slain.” - -Hunting matches were sometimes made in these forests, and one, embittered -by some family feud respecting a fishery, terminated in the death of a -bold and ancient knight, an event recorded upon a stone covering his -remains in the quaint and truly ancient church at Atcham. - - “The bugle sounds, ’tis Berwick’s lord - O’er Wrekin drives the deer; - That hunting match—that fatal feud— - Drew many a widow’s tear. - - “With deep-mouthed talbe to rouse the game - His generous bosom warms, - Till furious foemen check the chase - And dare the din of arms. - - “Then fell the high-born Malveysin, - His limbs besmeared with gore; - No more his trusty bow shall twang, - His bugle blow no more. - - “Whilst Ridware mourns her last brave son - In arms untimely slain, - With kindred grief she here records - The last of Berwick’s train.” - - [Picture: Atcham Church] - -Robert Forester appears to have had charge not only of the Haye of the -Wrekin, but also of that of Morfe, for both of which he is represented as -answering at the Assizes in February, 1262, for the eight years then -past. A Robert Forester is also described as one chosen with the -sheriff, the chief forester, and verderers of Shropshire in 1242, to try -the question touching the _expeditation_ of dogs on the estates of the -Lilleshall Abbey, and his seal still remains attached to the juror’s -return now in possession of the Sutherland family at Trentham. - -A Roger de Wellington, whom Mr. Eyton calls Roger le Forester the second, -is also described as one of six royal foresters-of-the-fee, who, on June -6th, 1300, met to assist at the great perambulation of Shropshire -forests. He was admitted a burgess of Shrewsbury in 1319. John -Forester, his son and heir, it is supposed, was baptised at Wellington, -and attained his majority in 1335; {63} and a John Forester—a lineal -descendant of his—obtained the singular grant, now at Willey, from Henry -VIII., privileging him to wear his hat in the royal presence. After the -usual formalities the grant proceeds:—“Know all men, our officers, -ministers, &c. Forasmuch as we be credibly informed that our trusty and -well-beloved John Foster, of Wellington, in the county of Salop, -Gentilman, for certain diseases and infirmities which he has on his hede, -cannot consequently, without great danger and jeopardy, be discovered of -the same. Whereupon we, in consideration thereof, by these presents, -licenced hym from henceforth to use and were his bonet on his said hede,” -&c. - -It will be observed that in this grant the name occurs in its abridged -form as Foster, and in the Sheriffs of Shropshire and many old documents -it is variously spelt as Forester, Forster, and Foster, a circumstance -which during the progress of the present work suggested an inquiry, the -result of which—mainly through the researches of a painstaking friend—may -add weight and interest to the archæological lore previously collected in -connection with the family. It appears, for instance, that the Anthony -Foster of Sir Walter Scott’s “Kenilworth” was descended from the -Foresters of Wellington; that he held the manor of Little Wenlock and -other property in Shropshire in 1545; that the Richard Forester or -Forster who built the interesting half-timbered mansion, {64} still -standing in the Cartway, Bridgnorth, where Bishop Percy, the author of -“Percy’s Reliques,” was born, was also a member; and that Anne, the -daughter of this Richard Forester or Forster, was married in 1575 at -Sutton Maddock to William Baxter, the antiquary, mentioned by the Rev. -George Bellet at page 183 of the “Antiquities of Bridgnorth.” Mr. -Bellet, speaking of another mansion of the Foresters at Bridgnorth, says, -“One could wish, as a mere matter of curiosity, that a remarkable -building, called ‘Forester’s Folly,’ had been amongst those which escaped -the fire; for it was built by Richard Forester, the private secretary of -no less famous a person than Bishop Bonner, and bore the above -appellation most likely on account of the cost of its erection.” William -Baxter, who, it will be seen, was a descendant of the Foresters, has an -interesting passage in his life referring to the circumstance. {66} - - [Picture: Richard Forester’s Old Mansion] - -We believe that the Forester pedigree in the MS. collection of Shropshire -pedigrees, now in possession of Sidney Stedman Smith, Esq., compiled by -that careful and painstaking genealogist the late Mr. Hardwick, fully -confirms this, and shows that the Foresters of Watling Street, the -Foresters or Forsters of Sutton Maddock, and the Forsters or Fosters of -Evelith Manor were the same family. The arms, like the names, differ; -but all have the hunter’s horn stringed; and if any doubt existed as to -the identity of the families, it is still further removed by a little -work entitled “An Inquiry concerning the death of Amy Robsart,” by S. J. -Pettigrew, F.R.S., F.S.A. Mr. Pettigrew says: “Anthony Forster was the -fourth son of Richard Forster, of Evelith, in Shropshire, by Mary, -daughter of Sir Thomas Gresley, of an ancient family. The Anthony -Forster of Sir Walter Scott’s novel is supposed to have been born about -1510; and a relative, Thomas, was the prior of an ecclesiastical -establishment at Wombridge, the warden of Tong, and the vicar of Idsall, -as appears by his altar-tomb in Shifnal Church. He is conjectured to -have attended to the early education of Anthony, whose after-connection -with Berks is accounted for by the fact that he married somewhere between -1530 and 1540 a Berkshire lady, Ann, daughter of Reginald Williams, -eldest son of Sir John Williams. He purchased Cumnor Place, in Berks, of -William Owen, son of Dr. G. Owen, physician to Henry VIII. He was not, -therefore, as Sir Walter Scott alleges, a tenant of the Earl of -Leicester, to whom, however, he left Cumnor Place by will at his death in -1572.” It is gratifying to find that Mr. Pettigrew, in his “Inquiry,” -shows how groundless was the charge built up by Sir Walter Scott against -the Earl of Leicester; and, what is still more to our purpose, that he -completely clears the character of Anthony Forster, who was supposed to -have been the agent in the foul deed, of the imputation, and shows him to -have been quite a different character to that represented by this -distinguished writer. This, indeed, may be inferred from the fact that -Anthony Forster not only enjoyed the confidence of his neighbours, but so -grew in favour with the people of Abingdon that he acceded in 1570 to the -representation of that borough, and continued to represent it till he -died; also, from the inscription on his tomb, which is as follows:— - - “Anthonius Forster, generis generosa propago, - Cumneræ Dominus Barcheriensis erat; - Armiger, Armigero prognatus patre Ricardo, - Qui quondam Iphlethæ Salopiensis erat. - Quatuor ex isto fluxerunt stemmate nati, - Ex isto Antonius stemmate quartus erat. - Mente sagax, animo præcellens, corpore promptus; - Eloquii dulcis, ore disertus erat. - In factis probitas fuit, in sermonte venustas, - In vultu gravitas, religione fides; - In patriam pietas, in egenos grata voluntas, - Accedunt reliquis annumeranda bonis: - Sic quod cuncta rapit, rapuit non omnia Lethum, - Sed quæ Mors rapuit, vivida fama dedit.” - -Then follow these laudatory verses:— - - “Argute resonas Citharæ prætendere chordas, - Novit et Aonia concrepuisse lyra. - Gaudebat terræ teneras defigere plantas, - Et mira pulchras construere arte domos. - Composita varias lingua formare loquelas, - Doctus et edocta scribere multa manu.” - -Cleared of the slanders which had been so unjustly heaped upon his -memory, one can welcome Anthony Forster, the Squire of Cumnor, as a -member of the same distinguished family from which the Willey Squire and -the present ennobled house of Willey are descended. {69} But before -introducing the Squire, it is fitting to say something of Willey itself. - - - - -CHAPTER V. -WILLEY. - - -Willey, close Neighbour to the Royal Chace of Shirlot—Etymology of the -Name—Domesday—The Willileys—The Lacons—The Welds and the Foresters—Willey -Old Hall—Cumnor Hall as described by Sir Walter Scott—Everything Old and -Quaint—How Willey came into possession of the Foresters. - - “’Bove the foliage of the wood - An antique mansion might you then espy, - Such as in the days of our forefathers stood, - Carved with device of quaintest imagery.” - - [Picture: Willey Old Hall] - -TO commence with its earlier phase, it was clear that Willey would be -close neighbour to the Royal Chace of Shirlot, and that it must have been -about the centre of the wooded country previously described. The name is -said to be of Saxon origin; and in wattle and dab and wicker-work times, -when an osier-bed was probably equal in value to a vineyard, the place -might have been as the word seems to suggest, one where willows grew, -seeing that various osiers, esteemed by basket makers, coopers, and -turners, still flourish along the stream winding past it to the Severn. -The name is therefore redolent of the olden time, and is one of those old -word-pictures which so often occur to indicate the earlier features of -the country. Under its agricultural Saxon holders, however, Willey so -grew in value and importance that when the Conquest was complete, and -King William’s generals were settling down to enjoy the good things the -Saxons had provided, and as Byron has it— - - “Manors - Were their reward for following Billy’s banners,” - -Willey fell to the lot of a Norman, named Turold, who, as he held twelve -other manors, considerately permitted the Saxon owner to continue in -possession under him. Domesday says: “The same Turold holds Willey, and -Hunnit (holds it) of him.” “Here is half a hide geldable. Here is -arable land sufficient for ii ox teams. Here those ox teams are, -together with ii villains, and ii boors. Its value is v shillings.” At -the death of Hunnit the manor passed to a family which took its name from -the place; and considerable additions resulted from the marriage of one, -Warner de Williley, with the heiress of Roger Fitz Odo, of Kenley. -Warner de Williley appears to have been a person of some consequence, -from the fact that he was appointed to make inquiry concerning certain -encroachments upon the royal forests of Shropshire; but an act of -oppression and treachery, in which his wife had taken a part, against one -of his own vassals, whose land he coveted, caused him to be committed to -prison. Several successive owners of Willey were overseers of Shirlot -Forest; and Nicholas, son and heir of Warner, was sued for inattention to -his duties; an under tenant also, profiting probably by the laxity of his -lord, at a later period was charged and found guilty of taking a stag -from the king’s preserves, on Sunday, June 6th, 1253. Andrew de Williley -joined Mountford against King Edward, and fell August 4th, 1265, in the -battle of Evesham; in consequence of which act of disloyalty the property -was forfeited to the crown, and the priors of Wenlock, who already had -the seigniory usual to feudal lords, availing themselves of the -opportunity, managed so to increase their power that a subsequent tenant, -as shown by the Register at Willey, came to Wenlock (1388), and “before -many witnesses did homage and fealty,” and acknowledged himself to hold -the place of the lord prior by carrying his frock to parliament. They -succeeded too, after several suits, in establishing their rights to the -advowson of the Church, founded and endowed by the lords of the place. - -By the middle of the 16th century Willey had passed to the hands of the -old Catholic family of the Lacons, one of whom, Sir Roland, held it in -1561, together with Kinlet; and from them it passed to Sir John Weld, who -is mentioned as of Willey in 1666. He married the daughter of Sir George -Whitmore, and his son, George Weld, sat for the county with William -Forester, who married the daughter of the Earl of Salisbury, and voted -with him in favour of the succession of the House of Hanover. - -Who among the former feudal owners of Willey built the old hall, is a -question which neither history nor tradition serves to solve. Portions -of the basement of the old buildings seem to indicate former structures -still more ancient, like spurs of some primitive rock cropping up into a -subsequent formation. Contrasted with the handsome modern freestone -mansion occupied by the Right Hon. Lord Forester close by, the remains -shown in our engraving look like a stranded wreck, past which centuries -of English life have gone sweeping by. Some of the walls are three feet -in thickness, and the buttressed chimneys, and small-paned windows—“set -deep in the grey old tower”—make it a fair type of country mansions and a -realisation of ideas such as the mind associates with the homes of the -early owners of Willey. - -Although occupying a slight eminence, it really nestles in the hollow, -and in its buff-coloured livery it stands pleasingly relieved by the high -ground of Shirlot and its woods beyond. In looking upon its quaint -gables, shafts, and chimneys, one feels that when it was complete it must -have had something of the poetry of ancient art about it. Its -irregularities of outline must have fitted in, as it were, with the -undulating landscape, with which its walls are now tinted into harmony, -by brown and yellow lichens. There was nothing assuming or pretentious -about it; it was content to stand close neighbour to the public old coach -road, which came winding by from Bridgnorth to Wenlock, and passed -beneath the arch which now connects the high-walled gardens with the -shaded walk leading to its modern neighbour, the present mansion of the -Foresters. - -Sir Walter Scott, in his description of Cumnor Place, speaks of woods -closely adjacent, full of large trees, and in particular of ancient and -mighty oaks, which stretched their giant arms over the high wall -surrounding the demesne, thus giving it a secluded and monastic -appearance. He describes its formal walks and avenues as in part choked -up with grass, and interrupted by billets, and piles of brushwood, and he -tells us of the old-fashioned gateway in the outer wall, and of the door -formed of two huge oaken leaves, thickly studded with nails—like the gate -of an old town. This picture of the approaches to the old mansion where -Anthony Foster lived was no doubt a more faithful representation than the -one he gave of the character of the man himself. At any rate, it is one -which would in many respects apply to old Willey Hall and its -surroundings at the time to which the great novelist refers. Everything -was old and old-fashioned, even as its owners prided themselves it should -be, and as grey as time and an uninterrupted growth of lichens in a -congenial atmosphere could make it. Hollies, yews, and junipers were to -be seen in the grounds, and outside were oaks and other aged trees, -scathed by lightning’s bolt and winter’s blast. Here and there stood a -few monarchs of the old forest in groups, each group a brotherhood -sublime, carrying the thoughts back to the days when “from glade to -glade, through wild copse and tangled dell, the wild deer bounded.” -Trees, buildings, loose stones that had fallen, and still lay where they -fell, were mossed with a hoar antiquity. Everything in fact seemed to -say that the place had a history of its own, and that it could tell a -tale of the olden time. - -From the lawn and grounds adjoining a path led to the flower-gardens, -intersected by gravel walks and grassy terraces, where a sun-dial stood, -and where fountains, fed by copious supplies from unfailing springs on -the high grounds of Shirlot, threw silvery showers above the shadows of -the trees into the sunlight. - -Willey, augmented by tracts of Shirlot, which was finally disafforested -and apportioned two centuries since, came into possession of the -Foresters by the marriage of Brook Forester, of Dothill Park, with -Elizabeth, only surviving child and heiress of George Weld, of Willey; -and George Forester, “the Squire of Willey,” was the fruit of that -marriage. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. -THE WILLEY SQUIRE. - - -Squire Forester—His Instincts and Tendencies—Atmosphere of the Times -favourable for their Development—Thackeray’s Opinion—Style of -Hunting—Dawn of the Golden Age of Fox-hunting, &c. - -IT will be seen that around Willey and Willey Hall, associations crowd -which serve to make the place a household word and Squire Forester a man -of mark with modern sportsmen and future Nimrods, at any rate if we -consent to regard the Squire’s characteristics as outcrops of the -instincts of an ancient stock. Descended from an ancestry so associated -with forest sports and pursuits, he was like a moving plant which -receives its nourishment from the air, and he lived chiefly through his -senses. He was waylaid, as it were, on life’s path by hereditary -tendencies, and his career was chequered by indulgences which, read in -the light of the present day, look different from what they then did, -when at court and in the country there were many to keep him in -countenance. At any rate, Squire Forester lived in what may be called -the dawn of the golden age of fox-hunting. We say dawn, because although -Lord Arundel kept a pack of hounds some time between 1690 and 1700, and -Sir John Tyrwhitt and Charles Pelham, Esq., did so in 1713, yet as Lord -Wilton, in his “Sports and Pursuits of the English” states, the first -real pack of foxhounds was established in the West of England about 1730. -It was a period when, for various reasons, a reaction in favour of the -manly sports of England’s earlier days had set in, one being the -discovery that those distinguished for such sports were they who assisted -most in winning on the battle-fields of the Continent the victories which -made the British arms so renowned. Then, as now, it was found that they -led to the development of the physical frame—sometimes to the removal of -absolute maladies, and supplied the raw material of manliness out of -which heroes are made—a view which the Duke of Wellington in some measure -confirmed by the remark that the best officers he had under him during -the Peninsular War were those whom he discovered to be bold riders to -hounds. Lord Wilton, in his book just quoted, goes still further, by -contending that “the greatness and glory of Great Britain are in no -slight degree attributable to her national sports and pastimes.” - -That such sports contributed to the jollity and rollicking fun which -distinguished the time in which Squire Forester lived, there can be -little doubt. In his “Four Georges,” Thackeray gives it as his opinion, -that “the England of our ancestors was a merrier England than the island -we inhabit,” and that the people, high and low, amused themselves very -much more. “One hundred and twenty years ago,” he says, “every town had -its fair, and every village its wake. The old poets have sung a hundred -jolly ditties about great cudgel playings, famous grinnings through -horse-collars, great Maypole meetings, and morris-dances. The girls used -to run races, clad in very light attire; and the kind gentry and good -parsons thought no shame in looking on.” He adds, “I have calculated the -manner in which statesmen and persons of condition passed their time; and -what with drinking and dining, and supping and cards, wonder how they -managed to get through their business at all.” That they did manage to -work, and to get through a considerable amount of it, is quite clear; and -probably they did so with all the more ease in consequence of the -amusement which often came first, as in the case of “Naughty idle Bobby,” -as Clive was called when a boy; and not less so in that of Pitt, who did -so much to develop that spirit of patriotism of which we boast. It was a -remark of Addison, that “those who have searched most into human nature -observe that nothing so much shows the nobleness of the soul as that its -felicity consists in action;” and that “every man has such an active -principle in him that he will find out something to employ himself upon -in whatever place or state he is posted.” - - [Picture: The Old Squire] - -Those familiar with the _Spectator_ will remember that he represents -himself to have become so enamoured of the chase, that in his letters -from the country he says: “I intend to hunt twice a week during my stay -with Sir Roger, and shall prescribe the moderate use of this exercise to -all my country friends as the best kind of physic for mending a bad -constitution and preserving a good one.” He concludes with the following -quotation from Dryden:— - - “The first physicians by debauch were made; - Excess began, and sloth sustains the trade: - By chase our long-liv’d fathers earned their food; - Toil strung their arms and purified their blood.” - -But a country squire of Mr. Forester’s day even more pithily and quaintly -expresses himself as to the advantages to be derived from out-door -sports:—“Those useful hours that our fathers employed on horseback in the -fields,” he says, “are lost to their posterity between a stinking pair of -sheets. Balls and operas, assemblies and masquerades, so exhaust the -spirits of the puny creatures over-night, that yawning and chocolate are -the main labours and entertainments of the morning. The important -affairs of barber, milliner, perfumer, and looking-glass, are their -employ till the call to dinner, and the bottle or gaming table demand the -tedious hours that intervene before the return of the evening -assignations. What wonder, then, if such busy, trifling, effeminate -mortals are heard to swear they have no notion of venturing their bodies -out-of-doors in the cold air in the morning? I have laughed heartily to -see such delicate smock-faced animals judiciously interrupting their -pinches of snuff with dull jokes upon fox-hunters; and foppishly -declaiming against an art they know no more of than they do of Greek. It -cannot be expected they should speak well of a toil they dare not -undertake; or that the fine things should be fit to work without doors, -which are of the taylor’s creation.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. -THE WILLEY KENNELS. - - -The Willey Kennels—Colonel Apperley on Hunting a Hundred Years -ago—Character of the Hounds—Portraits of Favourites—Original -Letters—Style. - - “Tantivy! the huntsman he starts for the chase, - In good humour as fresh as the morn, - While health and hilarity beam from his face, - At the sound of the mellow-toned horn.” - -THE style of hunting in vogue in Squire Forester’s day was, in the -opinion of authorities on the subject, even more favourable to the -development of bodily strength and endurance than now. The late Mr. -Thursfield, of Barrow, was wont to say that it was no unusual thing to -see Moody taking the hounds to cover before daylight in a morning. The -Squire himself, like most other sportsmen of the period, was an early -man. - - [Picture: Childers, Pilot, and Pigmy] - -Col. Apperley says: “With our forefathers, when the roost-cock sounded -his clarion, they sounded their horn, throwing off the pack so soon as -they could distinguish a stile from a gate, or, in other words, so soon -as they could see to ride to the hounds. Then it was that the hare was -hunted to her form by the trail, and the fox to his kennel by the drag. -Slow as this system would be deemed, it was a grand treat to the real -sportsman. What, in the language of the chase, is called the -‘tender-nosed hound,’ had an opportunity of displaying itself to the -inexpressible delight of his master; and to the field—that is, to the -sportsmen who joined in the diversion—the pleasures of the day were -enhanced by the moments of anticipation produced by the drag. As the -scent grew warmer, the certainty of finding was confirmed; the music of -the pack increased; and the game being up, away went the hounds in a -crash. Both trail and drag are at present but little thought of. Hounds -merely draw over ground most likely to hold the game they are in quest -of, and thus, in a great measure, rely upon chance for coming across it; -for if a challenge be heard, it can only be inferred that a fox has been -on foot in the night—the scent being seldom sufficient to carry the -hounds up to his kennel. Advantages, however, as far as sport is -concerned, attend the present hour of meeting in the field, independently -of the misery of riding many miles in the dark, which sportsmen in the -early part of the last century were obliged to do. The game, when it is -now aroused, is in a better state to encounter the great speed of modern -hounds; having had time to digest the food it has partaken of in the -night previous to its being stirred. But it is only since the great -increase of hares and foxes that the aid of the trail and drag could be -dispensed with without the frequent recurrence of blank days, which now -seldom happen. Compared with the luxurious ease with which the modern -sportsman is conveyed to the field—either lolling in his chaise and four, -or galloping along at the rate of twenty miles an hour on a -hundred-guinea hack—the situation of his predecessor was all but -distressing. In proportion to the distance he had to ride by starlight -were his hours of rest broken in upon, and exclusive of the time that -operation might consume another serious one was to be provided for—this -was the filling his hair with powder and pomatum until it could hold no -more, and forming it into a well-formed knot, or club, as it was called, -by his valet, which cost commonly a good hour’s work. The protecting mud -boots, the cantering hack, the second horse in the field, were luxuries -unknown to him. His well-soiled buckskins, and brown-topped boots, would -have cut an indifferent figure in the presence of a modern connoisseur by -a Leicestershire cover side.” “Notwithstanding all this, however,” he -adds, “we are inclined strongly to suspect that, out of a given number of -gentlemen taking the field with hounds, the proportion of really -scientific sportsmen may have been in favour of the olden times.” - -The Willey Kennels were within easy reach of the Hall, between Willey and -Shirlot, where the pleasant stream before alluded to goes murmuring on -its way through the Smithies to the Severn. But in order to save his -dogs unnecessary exertion there were others on the opposite, or Wrekin, -side of the river— - - “Hounds stout and healthy, - Earths well stopped, and foxes plenty,” - -being mottoes of the period. The dogs were of the “heavy painstaking -breed” that “stooped to their work.” How, it was said, - - “Can the fox-hound ever tell, - Unless by pains he takes to smell, - Where Reynard’s gone?” - -Experience taught the Squire the importance of a principle now more -generally acted upon, that of selecting the qualities required in the -hounds he bred from; and by this means he obtained developments of -swiftness and scent that made his pack one good horses only of that day -could keep up with. He prided himself much upon the blood of his best -hounds, knew every one he had by name, and was familiar with its -pedigree. Portraits of four of his favourites were painted on canvas and -hung in the hall, with lines beneath expressive of their qualities, and -the dates at which the paintings were made. The Right Hon. Lord Forester -takes great care of these, as showing in what way the best dogs of that -day differed from those of the present; and through his kindness we have -been enabled to get drawings made, of which his lordship was pleased to -approve, and we fancy there is no better judge living. - -Three of these are shown in our engraving at the head of this chapter. - -Pigmy, the bitch in the group nearest to the fox, is said to have been -the smallest hound then known. Underneath the portrait are the following -lines:— - - “Behold in miniature the foxhound keen, - Thro’ rough and smooth a better ne’er was seen; - As champion here the beauteous Pigmy stands, - She challenges the globe, both home and foreign lands.” - - 1773. - -The one the farthest from the fox, is a white dog, Pilot; and underneath -the painting is the following:— - - “Pilot rewards his master Rowley’s care, - And swift as lightning skims the transient air; - Famed for the chase, from cover always first, - His tongue and sterne proclaimed an arrant burst.” - - 1774. - -The dog in front, with his head thrown up, is Childers; and underneath -the picture are these lines:— - - “Sportsmen look up, old Childers’ picture view, - His virtues many were, his failings few; - Reynard with dread oft heard his awful name, - And grateful Musters thus rewards his fame.” - - 1772. - -The following letters from Mr. Forester to Walter Stubbs, Esq., of -Beckbury, afterwards of Stratford-on-Avon, where he became distinguished -in connection with the Warwickshire Hunt, show how particular he was in -his selection. It would seem that whilst admiring the Duke of Grafton’s -hounds, which under the celebrated Tom Rose (“Honest old Tom,” as he was -called), who used to say, “a man must breed his pack to suit his -country,” gained some celebrity, he not unnaturally preferred his own. -We give exact copies of two of his letters, they are so characteristic of -the man. In all the letters we have seen he began with a considerable -margin at the side of the paper, but always filled up the space with a -postscript:— - - “WILLEY HALL, March 15, 1795. - - “DEAR SIR, - - “I beg leave to return you my hearty thanks for your civility in - sending your servant to Apley with three couple of my hounds that run - into your’s ye other day. Could I have returned compliment in - sending ye three couple, that were missing from you, I should have - been happy in ye discharge of that duty, so incumbent on every good - sportsman. I hear you are fond of the Duke of Grafton’s hounds. - It’s a sort I have ever admired, and have received favours from his - Grace in that line, having been acquainted together from our infancy - up; and on course, most likely to procure no very bad sort from his - Grace’s own hands. I have sent you (as a present) a little bitch of - ye Grafton kind, which I call Whymsy, lately taken up from quarters, - and coming towards a year old. She’s rather under size for me, or - otherwise I see not her fault. She’s, in my opinion, _a true - Non-Pareil_. Your acceptance of her from me _now_, and any other - hound of ye Grafton sort, that may come in near her size, will afford - me singular satisfaction; as I make it a rule that no man who shows - me civility shall find me wanting in making a proper return. - - “I am, dear sir, - - “Your obliged and very humble servant, - - “G. FORESTER. - - “P.S.—Next year Whymsy will be completely fit for entrance, but - rather too young for _this_. The Duke’s hounds rather run small - enough for this country. I see no other defect in them. They are - invincibly stout, and perfectly just in every point that constitutes - your real true fox hound.” - - * * * * * - - “WILLEY, April 19, 1795. - - “DEAR SIR, - - “Per bearer I send you yr couple of bitches I promised you. The - largest is near a year old, the lesser about half a one, and if she - be permitted to walk about your house this summer, will make you a - clever bitch; further, she’s of Grace Grafton’s kind, as her father - was got by his Grace’s Voucher, and bred by Mr. Pelham. Blood - undeniable, _at a certainty_. As to yr dam of her, she’s of my old - sort, and a bitch of blood and merit. The other bitch I bred also, - _to ye test_ of my judgment, from a dog of Pelham’s. I call her - handsome in my eye, and not far off _being a beauty_. Her dam was - got by Noel’s famous Maltster, out of a daughter of Mr. Corbet, of - Sundorn, named Trojan. I wish you luck and success with your hounds, - and when I can serve you _to effect_, at any time, you may rely on my - faithful remembrance of you. - - “I remain, dear sir, - - “Your very humble servant, - - “G. FORESTER. - - “P.S.—The largest bitch is named Musick, the lesser is named Gaudy. - - “P.S.—We have had good sport lately; and _one particular_ run we had, - upon Monday last, of two hours and one quarter (from scent to view), - without one single interruption of any kind whatever.” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. -THE WILLEY LONG RUNS. - - -The Willey Long Runs—Dibdin’s Fifty Miles no Figure of Speech—From the -Clee Hills to the Wrekin—The Squire’s Breakfast—Phœbe Higgs—Doggrel -Ditties—Old Tinker—Moody’s Horse falls Dead—Run by Moonlight. - - “Ye that remember well old Savory’s call, - With pleasure view’d her, as she pleased you all; - In distant countries still her fame resounds, - The huntsmen’s glory and the pride of hounds.” - - 1773. - - [Picture: Savory] - -THE portrait at the head of this chapter is from a carefully drawn copy -of a painting at Willey of a favourite hound of the Squire’s, just a -hundred years ago. - -Dibdin, in his song of Tom Moody, speaks of “a country well known to him -fifty miles round;” and this was no mere figure of speech, as the hunting -ground of the Willey Squire extended over the greater part of the forest -lands we have described. There were fewer packs of hounds in Shropshire -then, and the Squire had a clear field extending from the Clee Hills to -the Needle’s Eye on the Wrekin, through which, on one remarkable -occasion, the hounds are reported to have followed their fox. The Squire -sometimes went beyond these notable landmarks, the day never appearing to -be too long for him. - -Four o’clock on a hunting morning usually found him preparing the inner -man with a breakfast of underdone beef, with eggs beaten up in brandy to -fill the interstices; and thus fortified he was ready for a fifty miles -run. He was what Nimrod would have called, “a good rough rider” over the -stiff Shropshire clays, and he generally managed to keep up with the best -to the last; - - “Nicking and craning he deemed a crime, - And nobody rode harder perhaps in his time.” - -He could scarcely “Top a flight of rails,” “Skim ridge and furrow,” or, -charge a fence, however, with Phœbe Higgs, who sometimes accompanied him. - -Phœbe, who was a complete Diana, and would take hazardous leaps, -beckoning Mr. Forester to follow her extraordinary feats, led the Squire -to wager heavy sums that in leaping she would beat any woman in England. -With Phœbe and Moody, and a few choice spirits of the same stamp on a -scent, there was no telling to what point between the two extremities of -the Severn it might carry them. They might turn-up some few miles from -its source or its estuary, and not be heard of at Willey for a week. One -long persevering run into Radnorshire, in which a few plucky riders -continued the pace for some distance and then left the field to the -Squire and Moody, with one or two others, who kept the heads of their -favourites in the direction Reynard was leading, passed into a tradition; -but the brush appears not to have been fairly won, a gamekeeper having -sent a shot through the leg of the “varmint” as he saw him taking shelter -in a churchyard—an event commemorated in some doggrel lines still -current. - -Very romantic tales are told of long runs by a superannuated servant of -the Foresters, old Simkiss, who had them from his father; but we forbear -troubling the reader with more than an outline of one of these, that of -Old Tinker. Old Tinker was the name of a fox, with more than the usual -cunning of his species, that had often proved more than a match for the -hounds; and one morning the Squire, having made up his mind for a run, -repaired to Tickwood, where this fox was put up. On hearing the dogs in -full cry the Squire vowed he would “Follow the devil this time to hell’s -doors but he would catch him.” Reynard, it appears, went off in the -direction of the Clee Hills; but took a turn, and made for Thatcher’s -Coppice; from there to the Titterstone Hill, and then back to Tickwood, -where the hounds again ousted him, and over the same ground again. On -arriving at the Brown Clee Hills the huntsman’s horse was so blown that -he took Moody’s, sending Tom with his own to the nearest inn to get -spiced ale and a feed. By this time the fox was on his way back, and the -horse on which Tom was seated no sooner heard the horn sounding than he -dashed away and joined in the chase. Ten couples of fresh hounds were -now set loose at the kennels in Willey Hollow, and these again turned the -fox in the direction of Aldenham, but all besides Moody were now far -behind, and his horse fell dead beneath him. The dogs, too, had had -enough; they refused to go further, and Old Tinker once more beat his -pursuers, but only to die in a drain on the Aldenham estate, where he was -found a week afterwards. - - “A braver choice of dauntless spirits never - Dash’d after hound,” - -it is said, and to commemorate one of the good things of this kind, a -long home-spun ditty was wont to be sung in public-houses by tenants on -the estate, the first few lines of which were as follows:— - - “Salopians every one, - Of high and low degree, - Who take delight in fox-hunting, - Come listen unto me. - - “A story true I’ll tell to you - Concerning of a fox, - How they hunted him on Tickwood side - O’er Benthall Edge and rocks. - - “Says Reynard, ‘I’ll take you o’er to Willey Park - Above there, for when we fairly get aground - I value neither huntsmen all - Nor Squire Forester’s best hound. - - “‘I know your dogs are stout and good, - That they’ll run me like the wind! - But I’ll tread lightly on the land, - And leave no scent behind.’” - -Other verses describe the hunt, and Reynard, on being run to earth, -asking for quarter on condition that - - “He will both promise and fulfil, - Neither ducks nor geese to kill, - Nor lambs upon the hill;” - -and how bold Ranter, with little faith in his promise, “seized him by the -neck and refused to let him go.” It is one of many specimens of a like -kind still current among old people. An old man, speaking of Mr. Stubbs, -for whom, he remarked, the day was never too long, and who at its close -would sometimes urge his brother sportsmen to draw for a fresh fox, with -the reminder that there was a moon to kill by, said, - - “One of the rummiest things my father, who hunted with the Squire, - told me, was a run by moonlight. I’m not sure, but I think Mr. - Dansey, Mr. Childe, and Mr. Stubbs, if not Mr. Meynell, were at the - Hall. They came sometimes, and sometimes the Squire visited them. - Howsomeever, there were three or four couples of fresh hounds at the - kennels, and it was proposed to have an after-dinner run. They dined - early, and, as nigh as I can tell, it was three o’clock when they - left the Hall, after the Beggarlybrook fox. Mind that was a fox, - that was—he was. He was a dark brown one, and a cunning beggar too, - that always got off at the edge of a wood, by running first along a - wall and then leaping part of the way down an old coal pit, which had - run in at the sides. Well, they placed three couples of hounds near - to this place in readiness, and the hark-in having been given, the - gorse soon began to shake, and a hound or two were seen outside, and - amongst them old Pilot, who now and then took a turn outside, and - turned in, lashing his stern, and giving the right token. ‘Have at - him!’ shouted one; ‘Get ready!’ said another; ‘Hold hard a bit, we - shall have him, for a hundred!’ shouted the Squire. Then comes a - tally-ho, said my father, and off they go; every hound out of cover, - sterns up, carrying a beautiful head, and horses all in a straight - line along the open, with the scent breast high. Reynard making - straight for the tongue of the coppice, finds himself circumvented, - and fresh hounds being let loose, he makes for Wenlock Walton as - though he was going to give ’em an airing on the hill-top. - - “‘But, headed and foiled, his first point he forsook, - And merrily led them a dance o’er the brook.’ - - “Some lime burners coming from work turned him, and, leaving Wenlock - on the left, he made for Tickwood. It was now getting dark, and the - ground being awkward, one or two were down. The Squire swore he - would have the varmint out of Tickwood; and the hounds working well, - and old Trumpeter’s tongue being heard on the lower side, one - challenged the other, and they soon got into line in the hollow, the - fox leading. Stragglers got to the scent, and off they went by the - burnt houses, where the Squire’s horse rolled over into a sand-pit. - The fox made for the Severn, but turned in the direction of Buildwas, - and was run into in the moonlight, among the ivied ruins of the - Abbey.” - - [Picture: Buildwas Abbey] - - - - -CHAPTER IX. -BACHELOR’S HALL. - - -Its quaint Interior—An Old Friend’s Memory—Crabbe’s Peter at Ilford -Hall—Singular Time-pieces—A Meet at Hangster’s Gate—Jolly Doings—Dibdin -at Dinner—Broseley Pipes—Parson Stephens in his Shirt—The Parson’s Song. - -WE have already described the exterior of the Hall and its approaches. -In the interior of the building the same air of antiquity reigned. Its -capacious chimney-pieces, and rooms wainscoted with oak to the ceiling, -are familiar from the descriptions of an old friend, whose memory was -still fresh and green as regards events and scenes of the time when the -Hall stood entire, and who when a boy was not an unfrequent visitor. -Like Crabbe’s Peter among the rooms and galleries of Ilford Hall, - - “His vast delight was mixed with equal awe, - There was such magic in the things he saw; - Portraits he passed, admiring, but with pain - Turned from some objects, nor would look again.” - -Against the walls were grim old portraits of the Squire’s predecessors of -the Weld and Forester lines, with stiff-starched frills, large vests, and -small round hats of Henry VII.’s time; others of the fashions of earlier -periods by distinguished painters, together with later productions of the -pencil by less famous artists, representing dogs, cattle, and favourite -horses. In the great hall were horns and antlers, and other trophies of -the chase, ancient guns which had done good execution in their time, a -bustard, and rare species of birds of a like kind. Here and there were -ancient time-pieces, singular in construction and quaint in contrivance, -one of which, on striking the hours of noon and midnight, set in motion -figures with trumpets and various other instruments, which gave forth -their appropriate sounds. A great lamp—hoisted to its place by a thick -rope—lighted up that portion of the hall into which opened the doors of -the dining and other rooms, and from which a staircase led to the -gallery. - -A meet in the neighbourhood of Willey was usually well attended: first, -because of the certainty of good sport; secondly, because such sport was -often preceded, or often followed by receptions at the Hall, so famous -for its cheer. Jolly were the doings on these occasions; songs were -sung, racy tales were told, old October ale flowed freely, and the jovial -merits and household virtues of Willey were fully up to the mark of the -good old times. The Squire usually dined about four o’clock, and his -guests occasionally came booted and spurred, ready for the hunt the -following day, and rarely left the festive board ’neath the hospitable -roof of the Squire until they mounted their coursers in the court-yard. - -Dibdin, from materials gathered on the spot, has, in his own happy -manner, drawn representations of these gatherings. His portraits of -horses and dogs, and his description of the social habits of the Squire -and his friends are faithfully set forth in his song of “Bachelor’s -Hall:”— - - “To Bachelor’s Hall we good fellows invite - To partake of the chase which makes up our delight, - We’ve spirits like fire, and of health such a stock, - That our pulse strikes the seconds as true as a clock. - Did you see us you’d swear that we mount with a grace, - That Diana had dubb’d some new gods of the chase. - Hark away! hark away! all nature looks gay, - And Aurora with smiles ushers in the bright day. - - “Dick Thickset came mounted upon a fine black, - A finer fleet gelding ne’er hunter did back; - Tom Trig rode a bay full of mettle and bone, - And gaily Bob Buckson rode on a roan; - But the horse of all horses that rivalled the day - Was the Squire’s Neck-or-Nothing, and that was a grey. - Hark away! &c. - - “Then for hounds there was Nimble who well would climb rocks, - And Cocknose a good one at finding a fox; - Little Plunge, like a mole, who would ferret and search, - And beetle-brow’d Hawk’s Eye so dead at a lurch: - Young Sly-looks that scents the strong breeze from the south, - And Musical Echo with his deep mouth. - Hark away! &c. - - “Our horses, thus all of the very best blood, - ’Tis not likely you’d easily find such a stud; - Then for foxhounds, our opinion for thousands we’ll back, - That all England throughout can’t produce such a pack. - Thus having described you our dogs, horses, and crew, - Away we set off, for our fox is in view. - Hark away! &c. - - “Sly Reynard’s brought home, while the horn sounds the call, - And now you’re all welcome to Bachelor’s Hall; - The savoury sirloin gracefully smokes on the board, - And Bacchus pours wine from his sacred hoard. - Come on, then, do honour to this jovial place, - And enjoy the sweet pleasures that have sprung from the chase. - Hark away! hark away! while our spirits are gay, - Let us drink to the joys of next meeting day.” - -On the occasion of Dibdin’s visit there were at the Hall more than the -usual local notables, and Parson Stephens was amongst them. As a treat -intended specially for Dibdin, the second course at dinner consisted of -Severn fish, such as we no longer have in the river. There were eels -cooked in various ways, flounders, perch, trout, carp, grayling, pike, -and at the head of the table that king of Severn fish, a salmon. - -_Dibdin_: “This is a treat, Squire, and I can readily understand now why -the Severn should be called the ‘Queen of Rivers;’ it certainly deserves -the distinction for its fish, if for nothing else.” - -_Mr. Forester_: “Do you know, Dibdin, that fellow Jessop, the engineer, -set on by those Gloucester fellows, wants to put thirteen or fourteen -bars or weirs in the river between here and Gloucester; why, it would -shut out every fish worth eating.” - -“What could be his object?” asked Dibdin. - -“Oh, he believes, like Brindley, that rivers were made to feed canals -with, and his backers—the Gloucester gentlemen, and the Stafford and -Worcester Canal Company—say, to make the river navigable at all seasons -up to Coalbrookdale; but my belief is that it is intended to crush what -bit of trade there yet remains on the river here, and to give them a -monopoly in the carrying trade, for our bargemen would be taxed, whilst -their carriers would be free, or nearly so.” - -“We beat them, though,” said Mr. Pritchard. - -“So we did,” added the Squire, “but we had a hard job: begad, I thought -our watermen had pretty well primed me when I went up to see Pitt on the -subject; but I had not been with him five minutes before I found he knew -far more about the river than I did: - - “‘I am no orator, as Brutus is, - But, as you know me all, a plain and honest man.’” - -_Several voices_: “Bravo, Squire.” - -_To Stephens_: “Will you take a flounder?—‘flat as a flounder,’ they say. -I know you have a sympathy with flats, if not a liking for them.” - -“The Broseley colliers made a flat of him when they dragged his own pond -for the fish he was so grateful for,” said Hinton. - -The laugh went against the parson, who somehow missed his share of a -venison pasty, which was a favourite of his. He had been helped to a -slice from a haunch which stood in the centre of the table, and had had a -cut out of a saddle of mutton at one end, but he missed his favourite -dish. - -“Is it true,” inquired Dibdin, looking round at roast, and boiled, and -pasties, “what we hear in London, that there is very considerable -_scarcity_ and _distress_ in the country?”—(general laughter). This -brought up questions of political economy, excess of population, -stock-jobbing, usury, gentlemen taking their money out of the country and -aping Frenchified, stick-frog fashions on their return. The latter was a -favourite subject with the Squire, who could not see, he said, what -amusement a gentleman could find out of the country equal to foxhunting, -and gave him an opportunity of introducing his favourite theory of taxing -heavily those who did so. The discussion had lasted over the fifth -course, when more potent liquors were put upon the table, together with -Broseley pipes. The production of the latter was a temptation Stephens -could not resist of telling the story of the Squire purchasing a box, for -which he paid a high price, in London, and finding, on showing them to -one of his tenants, as models, that they were made upon his own estate. -The laugh went against the Squire, who gave indication, by a merry -twinkle in his eye, that he would take an opportunity of being quits. -Discussions ensued upon the virtues and evils of tobacco, and the refusal -of Parliament to allow a census to be taken; one of the guests expressing -a belief, founded upon a statement put forth by a Dr. Price, that the -population of England and Wales was under five millions, or less, in -fact, than it was in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. “Which,” added the -Squire, “is not correct, according to poor-law and other statistics -produced before Parliament, which show that there are from three to four -births to one death.” - -_Mr. Whitmore_: “I can readily believe that this is true in your parishes -of Willey and Barrow, Forester, where a certain person’s amours, like -Jupiter’s, are too numerous to mention.” (Laughter, in which the Squire -joined.) - -_Mr. Forester_: “A truce to statistics and politics, let us have Larry -Palmer, our local Incledon, in to sing us some of Dibdin’s songs.” -(General approbation.) - -And Larry, who was blind, and who was purposely kept in ignorance of -Dibdin being present, then gave in succession several of what Incledon -called his “sheet-anchors,” including “The Quaker,” “My Trim-built -Wherry,” “Tom Bowling,” &c., with an effect and force which made the -author exclaim that he never heard greater justice done to his -compositions, and led to an exhibition of feeling which made the old hall -ring again. - -Dibdin’s health was next given, with high eulogiums as to the effect of -his animating effusions on the loyalty, valour, and patriotism which at -that time blazed so intensely in the bosom of the British tar. - -Dibdin, in acknowledging the toast, related incidents he had himself -several times witnessed at sea; and how deeply indebted he felt to men -like Incledon and others, adding that the inspiration which moved him was -strongly in his mind from his earliest remembrance. It lay, he said, a -quiet hidden spark which, for a time, found nothing hard enough to vivify -it; but which, coming in contact with proper materials, expanded. - -“Tell Dibdin of Old Tinker,” cried Childe, of Kinlet. - -The tale of Old Tinker was given, the last bit of court scandal -discussed, and some tales told of the King, with whom Mr. Forester was on -terms of friendship, and the festivities of the evening had extended into -the small hours of the morning, when, during a brief pause in the general -mirth, a tremendous crash was heard, and the Squire rushing out to see -what was the matter, met one of the servants, who said the sound came -from the larder, whither Mr. Forester repaired. Looking in, he saw -Stephens _in his shirt_, and, with presence of mind, he turned the key, -and went back to his company to consider how he should turn the incident -to account. - -It appears that Stephens had been several hours in bed, when, waking up -from his first sleep, he fancied he should like a dip into the venison -pie, and forthwith had gone down into the larder, where, in searching for -the pie, he knocked down the dish, with one or two more. The Squire was -not long in making up his mind how he should turn the matter to account; -he declared that it was time to retire, but before doing so, he said, -they must have a country dance, and insisted upon the whole household -being roused to take part in it. There was no resisting the wishes of -the host; the whole of the house assembled, and formed sides for a dance -in the hall, through which Stephens must necessarily pass in going to his -room. Whilst this was taking place Mr. Forester slipped the key into the -door, and going behind Stephens, unkennelled his fox, making the parson -run the gauntlet, in his shirt, amid an indescribable scene of merriment -and confusion! - -The very Rev. Dr. Stephens had paid for his nocturnal escapade, one would -have thought, sufficiently to satisfy the most exacting. But the Squire -and his guests, just ripe for fun, insisted that he should dress and come -down into the dining-room to finish the night. The further penalty, too, -was inflicted of making him join in the chorus of the old song, sung with -boundless approbation by one of the company, beginning— - - “A parson once had a remarkable foible - Of loving good liquor far more than his Bible; - His neighbours all said he was much less perplext - In handling a tankard than in handling a text. - Derry down, down, down, derry down.” - -The gist of which lies in the parson’s reply to his wife, who, when the -pigs set his ale running, and he stormed and swore, reminded him of his -laudation of the patience of Job, whereupon he denies the application, -with the remark— - - “Job never had such a cask in his life.” - - “The hunting in the Cheviot,” - -now called “Chevy Chase,” succeeded, and the night closed with Dibdin -singing his last new song, to music of his own composing, with a jolly, -rollicking chorus by the whole company. - - - - -CHAPTER X. -THE WILLEY RECTOR, AND OTHER OF THE SQUIRE’S FRIENDS. - - -The Squire’s Friends and the Willey Rector more fully -drawn—Turner—Wilkinson—Harris—The Rev. Michael Pye Stephens—His -Relationship to the Squire—In the Commission of the Peace—The Parson and -the Poacher—A Fox-hunting Christening. - -BESIDES professional sportsmen who were wont to make the Willey -roof-trees echo with their shouts, the Squire usually assembled round his -table, on Sundays, the leading men of the neighbourhood, each of some -special note or importance in his own district, who formed at Willey a -sort of local parliament. Among these were brother magistrates, tenants, -and members of the clerical, legal, and medical professions. Thomas -Turner, a county magistrate, and the chairman of a court of equity, to -establish which the Squire assisted him in obtaining an Act of -Parliament, to whom was dedicated a sermon delivered before the justices -of the peace by the Rev. L. Booker, LL.D., was one of these. Mr. Turner -carried on the now famous Caughley works, where he succeeded in -producing, by means of English and French workmen, china of superior -merit, which, like the old Wedgwood productions, is now highly prized by -connoisseurs. He was the first producer of the “willow pattern,” still -so much in demand, and his general knowledge gave him great influence. -The Squire paid occasional visits to his elegant chateau at Caughley, and -gave him one of the two portraits of himself which he had painted, a -picture now in possession of the widow of Mr. Turner’s son, George, of -Scarborough, in which the Squire is represented—as in our engraving—in -his scarlet hunting coat, with a fox’s brush in his hand—a facsimile of -the one from which our woodcut is taken. Another, but only an occasional -visitor at the Hall, was John Wilkinson, “the Father of the Iron Trade,” -as he is now called, who then lived at Broseley, and who was one of the -most remarkable men of the past century. He was for some years a tenant -of the Squire, and carried on the Willey furnaces. He was also a friend -of Boulton and Watt, and was the first who succeeded in boring their -cylinders even all through; he was the first, too, who taught the French -the art of boring cannon from the solid. He built and launched at Willey -Wharf the first iron barge—the precursor of all iron vessels on the -Thames and Tyne, and of the Great Eastern, as well as of our modern -iron-clads. Mr. Harries of Benthall, Mr. Hinton of Wenlock, Mr. Bryan of -The Tuckies, and Mr. John Cox Morris, farmer of Willey, who took the -first silver cup given by the Agricultural Society of Shropshire for the -best cultivated farm, and who had still further distinguished himself in -the estimation of sportsmen by a remarkable feat of horsemanship for a -large amount, were among those who visited the Squire. - -But a more frequent guest at the Hall and at the covert-side was the -Willey Rector, the Rev. Michael Pye Stephens, whose family was related to -that of the Welds, through the Slaneys. The Rector was therefore, as -already shown, on familiar terms with the Squire, and the more so as he -was able to tell a good tale and sing a good song. The rural clergy a -century ago were great acquisitions at the tables of country squires, and -were not unfrequently among the most enthusiastic lovers of the chase. -It was by no means an uncommon thing, forty years ago, to see the horse -of the late Rector of Stockton, brother to the Squire of Apley, waiting -for him at the church door at Bonnigale, which living he also held, that -he might start immediately service was over for Melton Mowbray. His -clerk, too, old Littlehales, who to more secular professions added that -of village tailor, has often told how his master, being sorely in need of -a pair of hunting breeches for Melton, undertook to close the church one -Sunday in order to give him the opportunity of making them, with the -remark, “Oh, d—n the church, you stop at home and make the breeches.” -But the Rector of Willey was by no means so enthusiastic as a sportsman. -He was not the - - “Clerical fop, half jockey and half clerk, - The tandem-driving Tommy of a town, - Disclaiming book, omniscient of a horse, - Impatient till September comes again, - Eloquent only of the pretty girl - With whom he danced last night!” - -Neither did he resemble those more bilious members of the profession of -modern times— - - “Who spit their puny spite on harmless recreation.” - -On the contrary, he held what it may be difficult to gainsay, that -amusements calculated to strengthen the frame and to improve the health, -if fitting for a gentleman, were not unfitting for a clergyman. His -presence, at any rate, was welcomed by neighbouring squires in the field, -as “Hark in! Hark in! Hark! Yoi over boys!” sounded merrily on the -morning air; and as he sat mounted on the Squire’s thorough-bred it would -have been difficult to have detected anything of the divine; the -clerico-waistcoat and black single-breasted outer garment having given -place to more fitting garb. Fond of field sports himself, he willingly -associated with his neighbours and joined in their pastimes and -amusements. A man who was a frequent guest at the Hall, who received -letters from the Squire when in London, and who would take a long pipe -now and then between his lips, and moisten his clay from a pewter tankard -round a clean-scoured table in a road-side inn, was naturally of -considerable importance in his own immediate district. - -The Rector of Willey had, we believe, been brought up to the legal -profession, he had also a smattering knowledge of medicine, which enabled -him to render at times service to his parishioners, who called him Dr. -Stephens. He was in the commission of the peace, too, for the borough; -and so completely did the characters combine—so perfectly did law and -divinity dove-tail into each other—that he might have been taken as a -personification of either. - - “Mild were his doctrines, and not one discourse - But gained in softness what it lost in force.” - -Without stinginess he partook of the good things heaven to man supplies; -he was “full fed;” his face shone with good-humour, and he was as fond of -a joke as of the Squire’s old port. As a justice of the peace he was no -regarder of persons, providing they equally brought grist to his mill; he -had no objection to litigants smoothing the way to a decision by -presents, such as a piece of pork, a pork pie, or a dish of fish; once or -twice, however, he found the fish to have been caught the previous night -out of his own pond. Next to a weakness for fish was one for -knee-breeches and top-boots, which in the course of much riding required -frequent renewal; and, ’tis said, that seated in his judicial chair, he -has had the satisfaction of seeing a pair of new chalked tops projecting -alike from plaintiff’s and defendant’s pockets. In which case, with -spectacles raised and head thrown back, as though to look above the petty -details of the plaint, after sundry hums and haws, with inquiries after -the crops between, and each one telling some news about his neighbour, he -would find the evidence on both sides equally balanced and suggest a -compromise! A good tale is told of the justice wanting a hare for a -friend, and employing a notorious poacher to procure one. The man -brought it in a bag. “You’ve brought a hare, then?” “I have, Mr. -Stephens, and a fine one too,” replied the other, as he turned it out, -puss flying round the room, and over the table amongst the papers like a -mad thing. “Kill her! kill her!” shouted Stephens. “No, by G—,” replied -the poacher, who knew that by doing so he would bring himself within the -law, “you kill her; I’ve had enough trouble to catch her.” After two or -three runs the justice succeeded in hitting her on the head with a ruler, -and thus brought himself within the power of the poacher. - -The parson was sometimes out of temper, and then he swore, but this was -not often; still his friends were wont to joke him on the following -domestic little incident:—His services were suddenly in demand on one -occasion when, a full clerical costume being required, he found his bands -not ready, and he set to work to iron them himself. He was going on -swimmingly as he thought, and had only left the iron to go to the bottom -of the stairs, with a “D—n you, madam,” to his wife, who had not yet come -down; “d—n you, I can do without you,” when, on returning, he found his -bands scorched and discoloured. - -A foxhunter’s christening in which the Willey Rector played a part on one -occasion is too good to lose. He was the guest of Squire B—t, a -well-known foxhunter, who at one time hunted the Shifnal country with his -own hounds. A very jovial company from that side had assembled, and it -was determined to celebrate a new arrival in the Squire’s family, and to -take advantage of the presence of the parson to christen the little -stranger. The thing was soon settled, and Stephens proceeded in due form -with the ceremony necessary to give to the fair-haired innocent a name by -which it should be known to the world. The conversation of the company -had of course been upon their favourite sport, a good many bottles of -fine sherry and crusty old port had been drunk, and under their -influence, it was settled that one of the company should give the child a -name in which it should be baptized, let it be what it would. Stephens -having taken the child in his hands, in due form asked the name; it was -given immediately as Foxhunting Moll B—t! With this name the little -innocent grew up, and finally became the wife of Squire H—s; with this -name she of course signed all legal documents—first, as Foxhunting Moll -B—t, and, secondly, as Foxhunting Moll H—s. - - - - -CHAPTER, XI. -THE WILLEY WHIPPER-IN. - - -The Willey Whipper-in—Tom’s Start in Life—His Pluck and Perseverance—Up -Hill and down Dale—Adventures with the Buff-coloured Chaise—His own Wild -Favourite—His Drinking-horn—Who-who-hoop—Good Temper—Never -Married—Hangster’s Gate—Old Coaches—Tom Gone to Earth—Three View Halloos -at the Grave—Old Boots. - - * * * * * - - “The huntsman’s self relented to a grin, - And rated him almost a whipper-in.” - - [Picture: Moody’s Horn, Trencher, Cap, Saddle, &c.] - -TOM MOODY never rose above his post of whipper-in, but he had the honour -of being at the top of his profession; and before proceeding further with -our sketch of Squire Forester it may be well to dwell for a time upon -this well-known character, whom Dibdin immortalised in his song, so -familiar to all sportsmen. He was in fact, in many respects, what Mr. -Forester had made him: Nature supplied the material, and Squire Forester -did the rest. Tom had the advantage of entering the Squire’s service -when a youth. Like most boys of that period, he had been thrown a good -deal upon his own resources, a state of things not unfavourable to a -development of self-reliance, and a degree of humble heroism, such as -made life wholesome. Tom had no opportunities of obtaining a -national-school education, nor of carrying away the prize now sometimes -awarded to the best behaved lad in the village. But in the unorganized -school of common intercourse, common suffering, and interest, was -developed a pluck and daring which led him to perform a feat on the bare -back of a crop-eared cob that gave birth to the after events of his life. -It appears that he was apprenticed to a Mr. Adams, a maltster, who had -sent him to deliver malt at the Hall. On his return he was seen by the -Squire trying his horse at a gate, and repeating the attempt till he -compelled him to leap it. It is said that— - - “He who excels in what we prize, - Appears a hero in our eyes.” - - [Picture: Gone to earth] - -And Squire Forester, struck by his pluck and perseverance, made up his -mind to secure him. He sent to his master to ask if he were willing to -give him up, adding that he would like to see him at the Hall. The -message alarmed the mother, who was a widow, for, knowing her son’s -froward nature, she at once imagined Tom had got into trouble. On -learning the true state of the case, however, and thinking she saw the -way open to Tom’s promotion, she consented to the change in his -condition. His master, too, agreed to give him up, and Tom was -transferred to the Willey stables, where, from his good nature and other -agreeable qualities, he became a favourite, and from his daring courage -quite a sort of little hero. It was Tom’s duty to go on errands from the -Hall, and once outside the park, feeling he had his liberty, he did not -fail to make use of opportunities for displaying his skill. In riding, -it was generally up hill and down dale, at neck-or-nothing speed, -stopping neither for gate nor hedge—his horse tearing away at a rate -which would have given him three or four somersaults at a slip. He -seldom turned his horse’s head if he could help it, and if he went down -he was soon up again. Extraordinary tales are told of Tom’s adventures -with the Squire’s buff-coloured chaise, in taking company from the Hall, -and in fetching visitors from Shifnal, then the nearest place to reach a -coach. Having a spite at a pike-keeper, who offended him by not opening -the gate quick enough, “Tom tanselled his hide,” and resolved the next -time he went that way not to trouble him. Driving up to the gate, he -gave a spring, and touching his horse on the flanks, went straight over -without starting a stitch or breaking a buckle. On another occasion he -tried the same trick, but failed; the horse went clean over, but the gig -caught the top rail, and Tom was thrown on his back. “That just sarves -yo right,” said the pike-keeper. “So it does, and now we are quits,” -added Tom; and they were friends ever after. This, however, did not -prevent Tom trying it again; not that he wanted to defraud the pike-man, -whom he generally paid another time, but for “the fun of the thing.” -Indeed, with his old wild favourite, with or without the buff-coloured -gig, there were no risks he was not prepared to run. “Ay, ay, sir,” said -one of our aged informants, “you should have seen him on his horse, a -mad, wild animal no one but Tom could ride. He could ride him though, -with his eyes shut, savage as he was, and on a good road he would pass -milestones as the clock measured minutes; but give him the green meadows, -and Lord how I have seen him whip along the turf!” “He was like a winged -Mercury, making light both of stone walls and five-feet six-inch gates. -He was a regular centaur, for he and his horse seemed one,” said another. -“I cannot tell you the height of his horse,” said a third, “but he was a -big un; whilst Tom himself was a little one, and he used to be on -horse-back all day long. If he got into the saddle in a morning he -rarely left it till night.” - -In giving the qualifications necessary for one aspiring to the post of -whipper-in, a well-known authority on sporting subjects has laid it down -that he should be light (not too young), with a quick eye and still -quicker ear, and that he should be—what in fact he generally is—fond of -the sport, or he seldom succeeds in his profession. Now Moody, or Muddy, -as his name was pronounced, answered to these conditions. - - “His conversation had no other course - Than that presented to his simple view - Of what concerned his saddle, groom, or horse; - Beyond this theme he little cared or knew: - Tell him of beauty and harmonious sounds, - He’d show his mare, and talk about his hounds.” - -He was what was called _Foxy_ all over—in his language, dress, and -associations. He wore a pin with a knob, something smaller than a -tea-saucer, of Caughley china, with the head of a fox upon it; and -everything nearest his person, so far as he could manage it, had -something to put him in mind of his favourite sport. His bed-room walls -were hung with sporting prints, and on his mantelpiece were more -substantial trophies of the hunt—as the brush of some remarkable victim -of the pack, his boots and spurs, &c. His famous drinking-horn, which we -have engraved together with his trencher in the trophy at the head of -this chapter, was equally embellished with a representation of a hunt, -very elaborately carved with the point of a pen-knife. At the top is a -wind-mill, and below a number of horsemen and a lady, well mounted, in -full chase, and with hounds in full cry after a fox, which is seen on the -lower part of the horn. A fox’s brush forms the finis. The date upon -the horn, which in size and shape resembles those in use in the mansions -of the gentry in past centuries when hospitality was dispensed in their -halls with such a free and generous hand, is 1663. It is a relic still -treasured by members of the Wheatland Hunt, who look back to the time -when the shrill voice of Moody cheered the pack over the heavy -Wheatlands; and together with his cap, of which we also give a -representation, is often made to do duty at annual social gatherings. - -Tom was a small eight or nine stone man, with roundish face, marked with -small pox, and a pair of eyes that twinkled with good humour. He -possessed great strength as well as courage and resolution, and displayed -an equanimity of temper which made him many friends. The huntsman was -John Sewell, and under him he performed his duties in a way so -satisfactory to his master and all who hunted with him, as to be deemed -the best whipper-in in England. None, it was said, could bring up the -tail end of a pack, or sustain the burst of a long chase, and be in at -the death with every hound well up, like Tom. His plan was to allow his -hounds their own cast without lifting, unless they showed wildness; and -if young hounds dwelt on a stale drag behind the pack he whipped them on -to those on the right line. He never aspired to be more than “a -serving-man;” he wished, however, to be considered “a good whipper-in,” -and his fame as such spread through the country. There was not a spark -of envy in his composition, and he was one of the happiest fellows in the -universe. The lessons he seemed to have learnt, and which appeared to -have sunk deepest into his unsophisticated nature, were those of being -honest and of ordering himself “lowly and reverently towards his -betters,” for whom he had a reverence which grew profound if they -happened to have added to their qualifications of being good sportsmen -that of being “_Parliament_ men.” - -Tom’s voice was something extraordinary, and on one occasion when he had -fallen into an old pit shaft, which had given way on the sides, and could -not get out, it saved him. His halloo to the dogs brought him -assistance, and he was extricated. It was capable of wonderful -modulations, and to hear him rehearse the sports of the day in the big -roomy servants’ kitchen at the Hall, and give his tally-ho, or -who-who-hoop, was considered a treat. On one occasion, when Tom was in -better trim than usual, the old housekeeper is said to have remarked, -“La! Tom, you have given the who-who-hoop, as you call it, so very loud -and strong to-day that you have set the cups and saucers a dancing;” to -which a gentleman, who had purposely placed himself within hearing, -replied, “I am not at all surprised—his voice is music itself. I am -astonished and delighted, and hardly know how to praise it enough. I -never heard anything so attractive and inspiring before in the whole -course of my life; its tones are as fine and mellow as a French horn.” - -When Squire Forester gave up hunting, the hounds went to Aldenham, as -trencher hounds; the farmers of the district agreeing to keep them. They -were collected the night before the hunt, fed after a day’s sport, and -dismissed at a crack of the whip, each dog going off to the farm at which -he was kept. But it was a great trial to Tom to see them depart; and he -begged to be allowed to keep an old favourite, with which he might often -have been seen sunning himself in the yard. He continued with his master -from first to last, with the exception of the short time he lived with -Mr. Corbet, when the Sundorne roof-trees were wont to ring to the toast -of “Old Trojan,” and when the elder Sebright was his fellow-whip. - -Like the old Squire, Tom never married, although, like his master, he had -a leaning towards the softer sex, and spent much of his time in the -company of his lady friends. One he made his banker, and the presents -made to him might have amounted to something considerable if he had taken -care of them. In lodging them in safe keeping he usually begged that -they might be let out to him a shilling a time; but he made so many calls -and pleaded so earnestly and availingly for more, and was so constant a -visitor at Hangster’s Gate, that the stock never was very large. Indeed -he was on familiar terms with “Chalk Farm,” as the score behind the -ale-house door was termed; still he never liked getting into debt, and it -was always a relief to his mind to see the sponge applied to the score. - -Tom was a great gun at this little way-side inn, which was altogether a -primitive institution of the kind even at that period, but which was -afterwards swept away when the present Hall was built. It then stood on -the old road from Bridgnorth to Wenlock, which came winding past the -Hall; and in the old coaching days was a well-known hostelry and a -favourite tippling shop for local notables, among whom were old Scale, -the Barrow schoolmaster and parish clerk; the Cartwrights and Crumps, of -Broseley; and a few local farmers. One attraction was the old coach, -which called there and brought newspapers, and still later news in -troubled times when battles, sieges, and the movements of armies were the -chief topics of conversation. Neither coachmen nor travellers ever -appeared to hurry, but would wait to communicate the news, particularly -in the pig killing season, when a pork pie and a jug of ale would be -sufficient to keep the coach a good half hour if need be. We speak of -course of “The time when George III. was king,” before “His Majesty’s -Mail” became an important institution, and when one old man in a scarlet -coat, with a face that lost nothing by reflection therewith—excepting -that a slight tinge of purple was visible—who had many more calling -places than post offices on the road, carried pistols in his holsters, -and brought all the letters and newspapers Willey, Wenlock, Broseley, -Benthall, Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, and some other places then required; -and these, even, took the whole day to distribute. Although the -lumbering old vehicle was constantly tumbling over on going down slight -declivities, it was a great institution of the period; it was— - - “Hurrah for the old stage coach, - Be it never so worn and rusty! - Hurrah for the smooth high road, - Be it glaring, and scorching, and dusty! - - “Hurrah for the snug little inn, - At the sign of the Plough and Harrow, - And the frothy juice of the dangling hop, - That tickles your spinal marrow.” - -It was a great treat to travellers, who would sometimes get off the coach -and order a chaise to be sent for them from Bridgnorth or Wenlock, to -stop and listen to Tom relating the incidents of a day’s sport, and a -still greater treat to witness his acting, to hear his tally-ho, his -who-who-hoop, or to hear him strike up— - - “A southerly wind and a cloudy sky - Proclaim a hunting morning.” - -Another favourite country song just then was the following, which has -been attributed to Bishop Still, called— - - THE JUG OF ALE. - - “As I was sitting one afternoon - Of a pleasant day in the month of June, - I heard a thrush sing down the vale, - And the tune he sang was ‘the jug of ale,’ - And the tune he sang was the jug of ale. - - “The white sheet bleaches on the hedge, - And it sets my wisdom teeth on edge, - When dry with telling your pedlar’s tale, - Your only comfort’s a jug of ale, - Your only comfort’s a jug of ale. - - “I jog along the footpath way, - For a merry heart goes all the day; - But at night, whoever may flout and rail, - I sit down with my friend, the jug of ale, - With my good old friend, the jug of ale. - - “Whether the sweet or sour of the year, - I tramp and tramp though the gallows be near. - Oh, while I’ve a shilling I will not fail - To drown my cares in a jug of ale, - Drown my cares in a jug of ale!” - -To which old Amen, as the parish clerk was called, in order to be -orthodox, would add from the same convivial prelate’s farce-comedy of -“Gammer Gurton’s Needle:”— - - “I cannot eat but little meat - My stomach is not good; - But sure I think that I can drink - With him that wears a hood.” - -A pleasant cheerful glass or two, Tom was wont to say, would hurt nobody, -and he could toss off a horn or two of “October” without moving a muscle -or winking an eye. His constitution was as sound as a roach; and whilst -he could get up early and sniff the fragrant gale, they did not appear to -tell. But he had a spark in his throat, as he said, and he indulged in -such frequent libations to extinguish it, that, towards the end of the -year 1796, he was well nigh worn out. After a while, finding himself -becoming weak, and feeling that his end was approaching, he expressed a -desire to see his old master, who at once gratified the wish of the -sufferer, and, without thinking that his end was so near, inquired what -he wanted. “I have,” said Tom, “one request to make, and it is the last -favour I shall crave.” “Well,” said the Squire, “what is it, Tom?” “My -time here won’t be long,” Tom added; “and when I am dead I wish to be -buried at Barrow, under the yew tree, in the churchyard there, and to be -carried to the grave by six earth-stoppers; my old horse, with my whip, -boots, spurs, and cap, slung on each side of the saddle, and the brush of -the last fox when I was up at the death, at the side of the forelock, and -two couples of old hounds to follow me to the grave as mourners. When I -am laid in the grave let three halloos be given over me; and then, if I -don’t lift up my head, you may fairly conclude that Tom Moody’s dead.” -The old whipper-in expired shortly afterwards, and his request was -carried out to the letter, as the following characteristic letter from -the Squire to his friend Chambers, describing the circumstances, will -show:— - - “DEAR CHAMBERS, - - “On Tuesday last died poor Tom Moody, as good for rough and smooth as - ever entered Wildmans Wood. He died brave and honest, as he - lived—beloved by all, hated by none that ever knew him. I took his - own orders as to his will, funeral, and every other thing that could - be thought of. He died sensible and fully collected as ever man - died—in short, died game to the last; for when he could hardly - swallow, the poor old lad took the farewell glass for success to - fox-bunting, and his poor old master (as he termed it), for ever. I - am sole executor, and the bulk of his fortune he left to - me—six-and-twenty shillings, real and _bonâ fide_ sterling cash, free - from all incumbrance, after every debt discharged to a farthing. - Noble deeds for Tom, you’d say. The poor old ladies at the Ring of - Bells are to have a knot each in remembrance of the poor old lad. - - “Salop paper will show the whole ceremony of his burial, but for fear - you should not see that paper, I send it to you, as under:— - - “‘Sportsmen, attend.—On Tuesday, 29th inst., was buried at Barrow, - near Wenlock, Salop, Thomas Moody, the well-known whipper-in to G. - Forester, Esq.’s fox-hounds for twenty years. He was carried to the - grave by a proper number of earth-stoppers, and attended by many - other sporting friends, who heartily mourned for him.’ - - “Directly after the corpse followed his old favourite horse (which he - always called his ‘Old Soul’), thus accoutred: carrying his last - fox’s brush in the front of his bridle, with his cap, whip, boots, - spurs, and girdle, across his saddle. The ceremony being over, he - (by his own desire), had three clear rattling view haloos o’er his - grave; and thus ended the career of poor Tom, who lived and died an - honest fellow, but alas! a very wet one. - - “I hope you and your family are well, and you’ll believe me, much - yours, - - “G. FORESTER. - - “WILLEY, Dec. 5, 1796.” - -We need add nothing to the description the Squire gave of the way in -which Tom’s last wishes were carried out, and shall merely remark that -the old fellow kept on his livery to the last, and that he died in his -boots, which were for some time kept as relics—a circumstance which leads -us to appropriate the following lines, which appeared a few years ago in -the _Sporting Magazine_:— - - “You have ofttimes indulged in a sneer - At the old pair of boots I’ve kept year after year, - And I promised to tell you (when ‘funning’ last night) - The reasons I have thus to keep them in sight. - - “Those boots were Tom Moody’s (a better ne’er strode - A hunter or hack, in the field—on the road— - None more true to his friend, or his bottle when full, - In short, you may call him a thorough John Bull). - - “Now this world you must own’s a strange compound of fate, - (A kind of tee-to-turn resembling of late) - Where hope promised joy _there_ will sorrow be found, - And the vessel best trimm’d is oft soonest aground. - - “I’ve come in for my share of ‘Take-up’ and ‘Put-down,’ - And that rogue, Disappointment, oft makes me look brown, - And then (you may sneer and look wise if you will) - From those old pair of boots I can comfort distil. - - “I but cast my eyes on them and old Willey Hall - Is before me again, with its ivy-crown’d wall, - Its brook of soft murmurs—its rook-laden trees, - The gilt vane on its dovecot swung round by the breeze. - - “I see its old owner descend from the door, - I feel his warm grasp as I felt it of yore; - Whilst old servants crowd round—as they once us’d to do, - And their old smiles of welcome beam on me anew. - - “I am in the old bedroom that looks on the lawn, - The old cock is crowing to herald the dawn; - There! old Jerry is rapping, and hark how he hoots, - ‘’Tis past five o’clock, Tom, and here are your boots.’ - - “I am in the old homestead, and here comes ‘old Jack,’ - And old Stephens has help’d Master George to his back; - Whilst old _Childers_, old _Pilot_, and little _Blue-boar_ - Lead the merry-tongued hounds through the old kennel door. - - “I’m by the old wood, and I hear the old cry— - ‘Od’s rat ye dogs—wind him! Hi! Nimble, lad, hi!’ - I see the old fox steal away through the gap, - Whilst old Jack cheers the hounds with his old velvet cap. - - “I’m seated again by my old grandad’s chair, - Around me old friends and before me old fare; - Every guest is a sportsman, and scarlet his suit, - And each leg ’neath the table is cas’d in a boot. - - “I hear the old toasts and the old songs again, - ‘_Old Maiden_’—‘_Tom Moody_’—‘_Poor Jack_’—‘_Honest Ben_;’ - I drink the old wine, and I hear the old call— - ‘Clean glasses, fresh bottles, and _pipes_ for us all.’” - - - - -CHAPTER XII. -SUCCESS OF THE SONG. - - -Dibdin’s Song—Dibdin and the Squire good fellows well met—Moody a -Character after Dibdin’s own heart—The Squire’s Gift—Incledon—The -Shropshire Fox-hunters on the Stage at Drury Lane. - -THE reader will have perceived that George Forester and Charles Dibdin -were good fellows well met, and that no two men were ever better fitted -to appreciate each other. Like the popular monarch of the time, each -prided himself upon being a Briton; each admired every new distinguishing -trait of nationality, and gloried in any special development of national -pluck and daring. No one more than Mr. Forester was ready to endorse -that charming bit of history Dibdin gave of his native land in his song -of “The snug little Island,” or would join more heartily in the chorus:— - - “Search the globe round, none can be found - So happy as this little island.” - - [Picture: A meet at Hangster’s gate] - -No one could have done its geography or have painted the features of its -inhabitants in fewer words or stronger colours. We use the word stronger -rather than brighter, remembering that Dibdin drew his heroes redolent of -tar, of rum, and tobacco. He had the knack of seizing upon broad -national characteristics, and, like a true artist, of bringing them -prominently into the foreground by means of such simple accessories as -seemed to give them force and effect. - -In the Willey whipper-in Dibdin found the same unsophisticated bit of -primitive nature cropping up which he so successfully brought out in his -portraits of salt-water heroes; he found the same spirit differently -manifested; for had Moody served in the cock-pit, the gun-room, on deck, -or at the windlass, he would have been a “Ben Backstay” or a “Poor -Jack”—from that singleness of aim and daring which actuated him. How -clearly Dibdin set forth this sentiment in that stanza of the song of -“Poor Jack,” in which the sailor, commenting upon the sermon of the -chaplain, draws this conclusion:— - - “D’ye mind me, a sailor should be, every inch, - All as one as a piece of a ship; - And, with her, brave the world without off’ring to flinch, - From the moment the anchor’s a-trip. - As to me, in all weathers, all times, tides, and ends, - Nought’s a trouble from duty that springs; - My heart is my Poll’s, and my rhino my friend’s, - And as for my life, ’tis my King’s.” - -The country was indebted to this faculty of rhyming for much of that -daring and devotion to its interests which distinguished soldiers and -sailors at that remarkable period. Dibdin’s songs, as he, with pride, -was wont to say, were “the solace of sailors on long voyages, in storms, -and in battles.” His “Tom Moody” illustrated the same pluck and daring -which under the vicissitudes and peculiarities of the times—had it been -Tom’s fortune to have served under Drake or Blake, Howe, Jervis, or -Nelson—would equally have supplied materials for a stave. - -From the letter of the Squire the reader will see how truthfully the -great English Beranger, as he has been called, adhered to the -circumstances in his song:— - - “You all knew Tom Moody, the whipper-in, well. - The bell that’s done tolling was honest Tom’s knell; - A more able sportsman ne’er followed a hound - Through a country well known to him fifty miles round. - No hound ever open’d with Tom near a wood, - But he’d challenge the tone, and could tell if it were good; - And all with attention would eagerly mark, - When he cheer’d up the pack, ‘Hark! to Rockwood, hark! hark! - Hie!—wind him! and cross him! Now, Rattler, boy! Hark!’ - - “Six crafty earth-stoppers, in hunter’s green drest, - Supported poor Tom to an earth made for rest. - His horse, which he styled his ‘Old Soul,’ next appear’d, - On whose forehead the brush of his last fox was rear’d: - Whip, cap, boots, and spurs, in a trophy were bound, - And here and there followed an old straggling hound. - Ah! no more at his voice yonder vales will they trace! - Nor the welkin resound his burst in the chase! - With high over! Now press him! Tally-ho! Tally-ho! - - “Thus Tom spoke his friends ere he gave up his breath: - ‘Since I see you’re resolved to be in at the death, - One favour bestow—’tis the last I shall crave, - Give a rattling view-halloo thrice over my grave; - And unless at that warning I lift up my head, - My boys, you may fairly conclude I am dead!’ - Honest Tom was obeyed, and the shout rent the sky, - For every one joined in the tally-ho cry! - Tally-ho! Hark forward! Tally-ho! Tally-ho!” - -On leaving Willey, Mr. Forester asked Dibdin what he could do to -discharge the obligation he felt himself under for his services; the -great ballad writer, whom Pitt pensioned, replied “Nothing;” he had been -so well treated that he could not accept anything. Finding artifice -necessary, Mr. Forester asked him if he would deliver a letter for him -personally at his banker’s on his arrival in London. Of course Dibdin -consented, and on doing so he found it was an order to pay him £100! - -When the song first came out Charles Incledon, by the “human voice -divine,” was drawing vast audiences at Drury Lane Theatre. On -play-bills, in largest type, forming the most attractive morceaux of the -bill of fare, this song, varied by others of Dibdin’s composing, would be -seen; and when he was first announced to sing it, a few fox-hunting -friends of the Squire went to London to hear it. Taking up their -positions in the pit, they were all attention as the inimitable singer -rolled out, with that full volume of voice which at once delighted and -astounded his audience, the verse commencing:— - - “You all knew Tom Moody the whipper-in well.” - -But the great singer did not succeed to the satisfaction of the small -knot of Shropshire fox-hunters in the “tally-ho chorus.” Detecting the -technical defect which practical experience in the field alone could -supply, they jumped upon the stage, and gave the audience a specimen of -what Shropshire lungs could do. - -The song soon became popular. It seized at once upon the sporting mind, -and upon the mind of the country generally. The London publishers took -it up, and gave it with the music, together with woodcuts and -lithographic illustrations, and it soon found a ready sale. But the -illustrations were untruthful. The church was altogether a fancy sketch, -exceedingly unlike the quaint old simple structure still standing. A -print published by Wolstenholme, in 1832, contains a very faithful -representation of the church on the northern side, with the grave, and a -large gathering of sportsmen and spectators, at the moment the “view -halloo” is supposed to have been given. It is altogether spiritedly -drawn and well coloured, and makes a pleasing subject; but the view is -taken on the wrong side of the church, the artist having evidently chosen -this, the northern side, because of the distance and middle distance, and -in order to make a taking picture. The view has this advantage, however, -it shows the Clee Hills in the distance. Tom’s grave is covered by a -simple slab, containing the following inscription, - - TOM MOODY, - BURIED NOV. 19TH, 1796, - -and is on the opposite side, near the old porch, and chief entrance to -the church. - -In the full-page engraving, representing a meet near “Hangster’s Gate,” a -famous “fixture” in the old Squire’s time, the assembled sportsmen are -supposed to be startled by the re-appearance of Tom upon the ground of -his former exploits. It is the belief of some that when a corpse is laid -in the grave an angel gives notice of the coming of two examiners. The -dead person is then made to undergo the ordeal before two spirits of -terrible appearance. Whether this was the faith of Tom’s friends or not -we cannot say, but Tom was supposed to have been anything but satisfied -with his quarters or his company, and to have returned to visit the -Willey Woods. The picture presents a group of sportsmen and hounds -beneath the trees, and attention is directed towards the spectre, an old -decayed stump. The following lines refer to the tradition:— - - “See the shade of Tom Moody, you all have known well, - To our sports now returning, not liking to dwell - In a region where pleasure’s not found in the chase, - So Tom’s just returned to view his old place. - No sooner the hounds leave the kennel to try, - Than his spirit appears to join in the cry; - Now all with attention, his signal well mark, - For see his hand’s up for the cry of Hark! Hark! - Then cheer him, and mark him, Tally-ho! Boys! Tally-ho!” - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. -THE WILLEY SQUIRE MEMBER FOR WENLOCK. - - -The Willey Squire recognises the Duties of his Position, and becomes -Member for Wenlock—Addison’s View of Whig Jockeys and Tory -Fox-hunters—State of Parties—Pitt in Power—“Fiddle-Faddle”—Local -Improvements—The Squire Mayor of Wenlock—The Mace now carried before the -Chief Magistrate. - -THERE is an old English maxim that “too much of anything is good for -nothing;” the obvious meaning being that a man should not addict himself -over much to any one pursuit; and it is only justice to the Willey Squire -that it should be fully understood that whilst passionately fond of the -pleasures of the chase, he was not unmindful of the duties of his -position. Willey was the centre of the sporting country we have -described; but it was also contiguous to a district remarkable for its -manufacturing activity—for its iron works, its pot works, and its brick -works, the proprietors of which, no less than the agricultural portion of -the population, felt that they had an interest in questions of -legislation. Mr. Forester considered that whatever concerned his -neighbourhood and his country concerned him, and his influence and -popularity in the borough led to his taking upon himself the duty of -representing it in Parliament. There was about the temper of the times -something more suited to the temperament of a country gentleman than at -present, and a member of Parliament was less bound to his constituents. -His duties as a representative sat much more lightly, whilst the -pugnacious elements of the nation generally were such that when Mr. -Forester entered upon public life there was nearly as much excitement in -the House of Commons—and not unlike in kind—as was to be found in the -cockpit or the hunting-field. - -As long as Mr. Forester could remember, parties had been as sharply -defined as at present, and men were as industriously taught to believe -that whatever ranged itself under one form of faith was praiseworthy, -whilst everything on the other side was to be condemned. Addison, in his -usually happy style, had already described this state of things in the -_Spectator_, where he says:— - - “This humour fills the country with several periodical meetings of - Whig jockeys and Tory fox-hunters; not to mention the innumerable - curses, frowns, and whispers it produces at a quarter sessions. . . . - In all our journey from London to this house we did not so much as - bait at a Whig inn; or if by chance the coachman stopped at a wrong - place, one of Sir Roger’s servants would ride up to his master full - speed, and whisper to him that the master of the house was against - such an one in the last election. This often betrayed us into hard - beds and bad cheer, for we were not so inquisitive about the inn as - the innkeeper; and, provided our landlord’s principles were sound, - did not take any notice of the staleness of the provisions.” - -So that Whig and Tory had even then long been names representing those -principles by which the Constitution was balanced, names representing -those popular and monarchical ingredients which it was supposed assured -liberty and order, progress and stability. But about the commencement of -Mr. Forester’s parliamentary career parties had been in a great measure -broken up into sections, if not into factions—into Pelhamites, -Cobhamites, Foxites, Pittites, and Wilkites—the questions uppermost being -place, power, and distinction, ministry and opposition—the Ins and the -Outs. The Ins, when Whigs, pretty much as now, adopted Tory principles, -and Tories in opposition appealed to popular favour for support; indeed -from the fall of Walpole to the American war, as now, there were few -statesmen who were not by turns the colleagues and the adversaries, the -friends and the foes of their contemporaries. The general pulse, it is -true, beat more feverishly, and men went to Parliament or into battle as -readily as to the hunting-field—for the excitement of the thing. To -epitomise, mighty armies, such as Europe had not seen since the days of -Marlborough, were moving in every direction. Four hundred and fifty-two -thousand men were gathering to crush the Prince of a German state, with -one hundred and fifty thousand men in the field to encounter them. The -English and Hanoverian army, under the Duke of Cumberland, was relied -upon to prevent the French attacking Prussia, with whom we had formed an -alliance. England felt an intense interest in the struggle, and bets -were made as to the result. Mr. Forester was returned to the new -Parliament, which met in December, 1757, in time, we believe, to vote for -the subsidy of £670,000 asked for by the king for his “good brother and -ally,” the King of Prussia. A minister like Pitt, who was then inspiring -the people with his spirit, and raising the martial ardour of the nation -to a pitch it had never known before, who drew such pictures of England’s -power and pluck as to cause the French envoy to jump out of the window, -was a man after the Squire’s own heart, and he gave him his hearty “aye,” -to subsidy after subsidy. As a contemporary satirist wrote:— - - “No more they make a fiddle-faddle - About a Hessian horse or saddle. - No more of continental measures; - No more of wasting British treasures. - Ten millions, and a vote of credit. - ’Tis right. He can’t be wrong who did it.” - -Mr. Forester gave way to Cecil Forester, a few months prior to the -marriage of the King to the Princess Charlotte; but was returned again, -in 1768, with Sir Henry Bridgeman, and sat till 1774, during what has -been called the “Unreported Parliament.” He was returned in October of -the same year with the same gentleman. He was also returned to the new -Parliament in 1780, succeeding Mr. Whitmore, who, having been returned -for Wenlock and Bridgnorth, elected to sit for the latter; and he sat -till 1784. Sir H. Bridgeman and John Simpson, Esq., were then returned, -and sat till the following year; when Mr. Simpson accepted the Chiltern -Hundreds, and Mr. Forester, being again solicited to represent the -interests of the borough, was returned, and continued to sit until the -sixteenth Parliament of Great Britain, having nearly completed its full -term of seven years, was dissolved, soon after its prorogation in June, -1790. - - [Picture: The First Iron Bridge] - -It is not our intention to comment upon the votes given by the Squire in -his place in Parliament during the thirty years he sat in the House; -suffice it to say, that we believe he gave an honest support to measures -which came before the country, and that he was neither bought nor bribed, -as many members of that period were. He was active in getting the -sanction of Parliament for local improvements, for the construction of a -towing-path along the Severn, and for the present handsome iron -bridge—the first of its kind—over it, to connect the districts of -Broseley and Madeley. On retiring from the office of chief magistrate of -the borough, which he filled for some years, he presented to the -corporation the handsome mace now in use, which bears the following -inscription:— - - “The gift of George Forester of Willey, Esq., to the Bailiff, - Burgesses, and Commonalty of the Borough of Wenlock, as a token of - his high esteem and regard for the attachment and respect they - manifested towards him during the many years he represented the - borough in Parliament, and served the office of Chief Magistrate and - Justice thereof.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. -THE SQUIRE AND HIS VOLUNTEERS. - - -The Squire and the Wenlock Volunteers—Community of Feeling—Threats of -Invasion—“We’ll follow the Squire to Hell if necessary”—The Squire’s -Speech—His Birthday—His Letter to the _Shrewsbury Chronicle_—Second -Corps—Boney and Beacons—The Squire in a Rage—The Duke of York and Prince -of Orange came down. - - * * * * * - - “Not once or twice, in our rough island story, - The path of duty was the way to glory.” - - [Picture: Bridgnorth] - -WE fancy there was a greater community of feeling in Squire Forester’s -day than now, and that whether indulging in sport or in doing earnest -work, men acted more together. Differences of wealth caused less -differences of caste, of speech, and of habit; men of different classes -saw more of each other and were more together; consequently there was -more cohesion of the particles of which society is composed, and, if the -term be admissible, the several grades were more interpenetrated by -agencies which served to make them one. Gentlemen were content with the -good old English sports and pastimes of the period, and these caused them -to live on their own estates, surrounded by and in the presence of those -whom modern refinements serve to separate; and their dependants therefore -were more alive to those reciprocal, neighbourly, and social duties out -of which patriotism springs. They might not have been better or wiser, -but they appear to have approached nearer to that state of society when -every citizen considered himself to be so closely identified with the -nation as to feel bound to bear arms against an invading enemy, and, as -far as possible, to avert a danger. Never was the rivalry of England and -France more vehement. Emboldened by successes, the French began to think -themselves all but invincible, and burned to meet in mortal combat their -ancient enemies, whilst our countrymen, equally defiant, and with -recollections of former glory, sought no less an opportunity of measuring -their strength with the veteran armies of their rivals. The embers of -former passions yet lay smouldering when the French Minister of Marine -talked of making a descent on England, and of destroying the Government; -a threat calculated to influence the feelings of old sportsmen like -Squire Forester, who nourished a love of country, whose souls throbbed -with the same national feeling, and who were equally ready to respond to -a call to maintain the sacredness of their homes, or to risk their lives -in their defence. Oneyers and Moneyers—men “whose words upon ’change -would go much further than their blows in battle,” as Falstaff says, came -forward, if for nothing else, as examples to others. On both banks of -the Severn men looked upon the Squire as a sort of local centre, and as -the head of a district, as a leader whom they would follow—as one old -tradesman said—to hell, if necessary. A general meeting was called at -the Guildhall, Wenlock, and a still more enthusiastic gathering took -place at Willey. Mr. Forester never did things by halves, and what he -did he did at once. He was not much at speech-making, but he had that -ready wit and happy knack of going to the point and hitting the nail on -the head in good round Saxon, that told amazingly with his old foxhunting -friends. - -“Gentlemen,” he said, “you know very well that I have retired from the -representation of the borough. I did so in the belief that I had -discharged, as long as need be, those public duties I owe to my -neighbours; and in the hope that I should be permitted henceforth to -enjoy the pleasures of retirement. I parted with my hounds, and gave up -hunting; but here I am, continually on horseback, hunting up men all -round the Wrekin! The movement is general, and differences of feeling -are subsiding into one for the defence of the nation. Whigs and Tories -stand together in the ranks; and as I told the Lord-Lieutenant the other -day, we must have not less than four or five thousand men in uniform, -equipped, every Jack-rag of ’em, without a farthing cost to the country. -(Applause.) There are some dastardly devils who run with the hare, but -hang with the hounds, damn ’em (laughter); whose patriotism, by G—d, -hangs by such a small strand that I believe the first success of the -enemies of the country would sever it. They are a lot of damnation -Jacobins, all of ’em, whining black-hearted devils, with distorted -intellects, who profess to perceive no danger. And, by G—d, the more -plain it is, the less they see it. It is, as I say, put an owl into -daylight, stick a candle on each side of him, and the more light the poor -devil has the less he sees.” (Cries of “Bravo, hurrah for the Squire.”) -In conclusion he called upon the lawyer, the ironmaster, the pot maker, -the artisan, and the labourer to drill, and prepare for defending their -hearths and homes; they had property to defend, shops that might be -plundered, houses that might be burned, or children to save from being -brained, and wives or daughters to protect from treatment which sometimes -prevailed in time of war. - -As a result of his exertions, a strong and efficient company was formed, -called “The Wenlock Loyal Volunteers.” The Squire was major, and he -spared neither money nor trouble in rendering it efficient. He always -gave the members a dinner on the 4th of June, the birthday of George -III., who had won his admiration and devotion by his boldness as a -fox-hunter, no less than by his daring proposal, during the riots of -1780, to ride at the head of his guards into the midst of the fires of -the capital. On New Year’s Day, that being the birthday of Major -Forester, the officers and men invariably dined together in honour of -their commander. The corps were disbanded, we believe, in 1802, for we -find in a cutting from a Shrewsbury paper of the 12th of January, 1803, -that about that time a subscription was entered into for the purchase of -a handsome punch-bowl. The newspaper states that - - “On New Year’s Day, 1803, the members of the late corps of Wenlock - Loyal Volunteers, commanded by Major Forester, dined at the Raven - Inn, Much Wenlock, in honour of their much-respected major’s - birthday, when the evening was spent with that cheerful hilarity and - orderly conduct which always characterised this respectable corps, - when embodied for the service of their king and country. In the - morning of the day the officers, deputed by the whole corps, waited - on the Major, at Willey, and presented him, in an appropriate speech, - with a most elegant bowl, of one hundred guineas value, engraved with - his arms, and the following inscription, which the Major was pleased - to accept, and returned a suitable answer:—‘To George Forester, of - Willey, Esq., Major Commandant of the Wenlock Loyal Volunteers, for - his sedulous attention and unbounded liberality to his corps, raised - and disciplined under his command without any expense to Government, - and rendered essentially serviceable during times of unprecedented - difficulty and danger; this humble token of their gratitude and - esteem is most respectfully presented to him by his truly faithful - and very obedient servants, - - “‘THE WENLOCK VOLUNTEERS. - - “‘Major Forester.’” - -The following reply appeared in the same paper the succeeding week:— - - “Major Forester, seeing an account in the Shrewsbury papers relative - to the business which occurred at Willey upon New Year’s Day last, - between him and his late corps of Wenlock Volunteers, presumes to - trouble the public eye with his answer thereto, thinking it an - unbounded duty of gratitude and respect owing to his late corps, to - return them (as their late commander) his most explicit public - thanks, as well as his most grateful and most sincere - acknowledgments, for the high honour lately conferred upon him, by - their kind present of a silver bowl, value one hundred guineas. - Major Forester’s unwearied attention, as well as his liberality to - his late corps, were ever looked upon by him as a part of his duty, - in order to make some compensation to a body of distinguished - respectable yeomanry, who had so much the interest and welfare of him - and their country at heart, that he plainly perceived himself, and so - must every other intelligent spectator on the ground at the time of - exercise, that they only waited impatiently for the word to put the - order into execution directly; but with such regularity as their - commander required and ever had cheerfully granted to him. A return - of mutual regard between the major and his late corps was all he - wished for, and he is now more fully convinced, by this public mark - of favour, of their real esteem and steady friendship. He therefore - hopes they will (to a man) give him credit when he not only assures - them of his future constant sincerity and unabated affection, but - further take his word when he likewise promises them that his - gratitude and faithful remembrance of the Wenlock Loyal Volunteers - shall never cease but with the last period of his worldly existence. - - “WILLEY, 12th Jan., 1803.” - -Soon after the first corps of volunteers was disbanded, the Squire was -entertaining his guests with the toast— - - “God save the king, and bless the land - In plenty, song, and peace; - And grant henceforth that foul debates - ’Twixt noblemen may cease—” - -when he received a letter from London, stating that at an audience given -to Cornwallis, the First Consul was very gracious; that he inquired after -the health of the king, and “spoke of the British nation in terms of -great respect, intimating that as long as they remained friends there -would be no interruption to the peace of Europe.” - -One of the guests added— - - “And that I think’s a reason fair to drink and fill again.” - -It was clear to all, however, who looked beneath the surface, that the -peace was a hollow truce, and that good grounds existed for timidity, if -not for fear, respecting a descent upon our shores: - - “Sometimes the vulgar see and judge aright.” - -Month by month, week by week, clouds were gathering upon a sky which the -Peace of Amiens failed to clear. - -The First Consul declared against English commerce, and preparations on a -gigantic scale were being made by the construction of vessels on the -opposite shores of the Channel for invasion. - -The public spirit in France was invoked; the spirit of this country was -also aroused, and vigorous efforts were made by Parliament and the people -to maintain the inviolability of our shores. Newspaper denunciations -excited the ire of the First Consul, who demanded of the English -Government that it should restrict their power. A recriminatory war of -words, of loud and fierce defiances, influenced the temper of the people -on each side of the Channel, and it again became evident that differences -existed which could only be settled by the sword. In a conversation with -Lord Whitworth, Napoleon was reported to have said:—“A descent upon your -coasts is the only means of offence I possess; and that I am determined -to attempt, and to put myself at its head. But can you suppose that, -after having gained the height on which I stand, I would risk my life and -reputation in so hazardous an undertaking, unless compelled to it by -absolute necessity. I know that the probability is that I myself, and -the greatest part of the expedition, will go to the bottom. There are a -hundred chances to one against me; but I am determined to make the -attempt; and such is the disposition of the troops that army after army -will be found ready to engage in the enterprise.” This conversation took -place on the 21st of February, 1803; and such were the energetic measures -taken by the English Government and people, that on the 25th of March, -independent of the militia, 80,000 strong, which were called out at that -date, and the regular army of 130,000 already voted, the House of -Commons, on June 28th, agreed to the very unusual step of raising 50,000 -men additional, by drafting, in the proportion of 34,000 for England, -10,000 for Ireland, and 6,000 for Scotland, which it was calculated would -raise the regular troops in Great Britain to 112,000 men, besides a large -surplus force for offensive operations. In addition to this a bill was -brought in shortly afterwards to enable the king to call out the levy _en -masse_ to repel the invasion of the enemy, and empowering the -lord-lieutenants of the several counties to enrol all the men in the -kingdom, between seventeen and fifty-five years of age, to be divided -into regiments according to their several ages and professions: those -persons to be exempt who were members of any volunteer corps approved of -by his Majesty. Such was the state of public feeling generally that the -king was enabled to review, in Hyde Park, sixty battalions of volunteers, -127,000 men, besides cavalry, all equipped at their own expense. The -population of the country at the time was but a little over ten millions, -about a third of what it is at present; yet such was the zeal and -enthusiasm that in a few weeks 300,000 men were enrolled, armed, and -disciplined, in the different parts of the kingdom. - -The movement embraced all classes and professions. It was successful in -providing a powerful reserve of trained men to strengthen the ranks and -to supply the vacancies of the regular army, thus contributing in a -remarkable manner to produce a patriotic ardour and feeling among the -people, and laying the foundation of that spirit which enabled Great -Britain at length to appear as principal in the contest, and to beat down -the power of France, even where hitherto she had obtained unexampled -success. - -Thus, after the first Wenlock Loyal Volunteers were disbanded, Squire -Forester found but little respite; he and the Willey fox-hunters again -felt it their duty to come forward and enroll themselves in the Second -Wenlock Royal Volunteers. - - “Design whate’er we will, - There is a fate which overrules us still.” - -No man was better fitted to undertake the task; no one knew better how - - “By winning words to conquer willing hearts, - And make persuasion do the work of fear.” - -And, mainly through his exertions, an able corps was formed, consisting -of a company and a half at Much Wenlock, a company and a half at -Broseley, and half a company at Little Wenlock; altogether forming a -battalion of 280 men. For the county altogether there were raised 940 -cavalry, 5,022 infantry; rank and file, 5,852. Mr. Harries, of Benthall; -Mr. Turner, of Caughley; Mr. Pritchard and Mr. Onions, of Broseley; -Messrs. W. and R. Anstice, of Madeley Wood and Coalport; Mr. Collins, Mr. -Jeffries, and Mr. Hinton, of Wenlock; and others, were among the officers -and leading members. The uniform was handsome, the coat being scarlet, -turned up with yellow, the trousers and waistcoat white, and the hat a -cube, with white and red feathers for the grenadiers, and green ones for -the light company. The old hall once more resounded with martial music, -the clang of arms, and patriotic songs; drums and fifes, clarionets and -bugles, were piled up with guns and accoutrements in the form of -trophies, above the massive chimney-piece, putting the deer-horns, the -foxes’ heads, and the old cabinets of oak—black as ebony—out of -countenance by their gaudy colouring. People became as familiar with the -music of military bands as with the sound of church bells; both were -heard together on Sundays, the days generally selected for drill, for -heavy taxes were laid on, and people had to work hard to pay them, which -they did willingly. The Squire had the women on his side, and he worked -upon the men through the women. There was open house at Willey, and no -baron of olden time dealt out hospitality more willingly or more -liberally. The Squire was here, there, and everywhere, visiting -neighbouring squires, giving or receiving information, stirring up the -gentry, and frightening country people out of their wits. _Boney_ became -more terrible than _bogy_, both to children and grown-up persons; and the -more vague the notion of invasion to Shropshire inlanders, the more -horrible the evils to be dreaded. The clergy preached about Bonaparte -out of the Revelations; conjurers and “wise-men,” greater authorities -even then than the clergy, saw a connection between Bonaparte and the -strange lights which every one had seen in the heavens! The popular -notion was that “Boney” was an undefined, horrible monster, who had a -sheep dressed every morning for breakfast, who required an ox for his -dinner, and had six little English children cooked—when he could get -them—for supper! At the name of “Boney” naughty children were -frightened, and a false alarm of his coming and landing often made -grown-up men turn pale. - - “This way and that the anxious mind is torn.” - -The impulse was in proportion to the alarm; the determination raised was -spirited and praiseworthy. Stout hearts constituted an _impromptu_ -force, daily advancing in organization, with arms and accoutrements, -ready to march with knapsacks to any point where numbers might be -required. Once or twice, when a company received orders to march, as to -Bridgnorth, for instance, an alarm was created among wives, daughters, -and sweethearts, that they were about to join the battalion for active -service, and stories are told of leave-takings and weepings on such -occasions. Beacons were erected, and bonfires prepared on the highest -points of the country round, as being the quickest means of transmitting -news of the approach of an enemy. Of these watch-fire signals, Macaulay -says:— - - “On and on, without a horse untired, they hounded still - All night from tower to tower, they sprang from hill to hill, - Till the proud peak unfurled the flag o’er Derwent’s rocky dales,— - Till like volcanoes flared to heaven the stormy hills of Wales,— - Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern’s lonely height,— - Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin’s crest of light— - Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Elsig’s stately fane, - And tower and hamlet rose in arms o’er all the boundless plain.” - -Within a mile of Willey Hall a tenant of Squire Forester, and, as we have -seen, an occasional guest—John Wilkinson, “the great ironmaster”—was -urging his men day and night to push the manufacture of shot, shell, -howitzers, and guns, which Mr. Forester believed were for the government -of the country, but many of which were designed for its enemies. Night -and day heavy hammers were thundering, day and night the “great blast” -was blowing. He was well known to the French government and French -engineers, having erected the first steam engine there in 1785, for which -he was highly complimented by the Duke d’Angouleme, M. Bertrand, and -others, and treated to a grand banquet, given to him on the 14th of -January, 1786, at the Hôtel de Ville. Arthur Young, in his travels in -France, tells us that until this well-known English manufacturer arrived -the French knew nothing of the art of casting cannon from the solid, and -then boring them. When Wilkinson returned to England, he continued to -send guns after war had been declared. This clandestine proceeding came -to the knowledge of Squire Forester, who swore, and roared like a caged -lion. Here was the Squire, who boasted of his loyalty to good King -George, having the minerals of his estate worked up into guns for those -wretched French, whom he detested. He declared he would hunt Wilkinson -out of the country; but the latter took care to keep out of his way. - -The exposure ended in a seizure being made. But Wilkinson, a -money-getting, unprincipled fellow, finding he could not send guns -openly, sent best gun-iron in rude blocks, with a pretence that they were -for ballast for shipping, but which, like some of his water-pipes, were -used for making guns. His warehouse was at Willey Wharf, on the Severn, -by which they were sent, when there was sufficient water, in barges, -which took them out into the British Channel, and round the coast to -French cruisers; and it was at this wharf he built his first famous iron -barge. The proprietors of the Calcutts furnaces, at which young -Cochrane, afterwards Earl Dundonald—one of the last of our old “Sea -Lions”—spent some time, when a boy, with his father, Lord Dundonald, -{171} were also casting and boring guns; but, in consequence of refusing -to fee Government servants at Woolwich, the manufacturers had a number of -them thrown upon their hands, which they sold to a firm at Rotherham, and -which found their way to India, where they were recognised by old workmen -in the army, who captured them during the Sikh war. At the same time -cannon which burst, and did almost as much damage to the English as to -their enemies, were palmed off upon the nation. - -Mr. Forester wrote to the Duke of York, who came down, accompanied by the -Prince of Orange, to examine the guns for himself; and a number of 18 and -32-pounders were fired in honour of the event. Others were subjected to -various tests, to the entire satisfaction of the visitors. - -At this period the Willey country presented a spectacle altogether -unparalleled in Mr. Forester’s experience; his entire sympathy and that -of his fox-hunting friends was enlisted in the warlike movements -everywhere going forward, for the standards of the Wenlock and Morfe -Volunteers now drew around them men of all classes. Farmers allowed -their ploughs to stand still in the furrows, that the peasant might hurry -with the artisan, musket on shoulder, to his rallying point in the fields -near Wenlock, Broseley, or Bridgnorth. Whigs and Tories stood beside -each other in the Volunteer ranks, heart-burnings and divisions as to -principles and policy were for the time forgotten, and the Squire, -although now unable to take the same active part he formerly did, -contributed materially by his presence and advice to the zeal and -alacrity which distinguished his neighbours. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. -THE WILLEY SQUIRE AMONG HIS NEIGHBOURS. - - -The Squire among his Neighbours—Roger de Coverley—Anecdotes—Gentlemen -nearest the Fire in the Lower Regions—Food Riots—The Squire quells the -Mob—His Virtues and his Failings—Influences of the Times—His Career draws -to a Close—His wish for Old Friends and Servants to follow him to the -Grave—That he may be buried in the Dusk of Evening—His Favourite Horse to -be shot—His Estates to go to his Cousin, Cecil Weld, the First Lord -Forester. - -LIKE Addison’s Sir Roger de Coverley, the Willey Squire lived a father -among his tenants, a friend among his neighbours, and a good master -amongst his servants, who seldom changed. He feasted the rich, and did -not forget the poor, but allowed them considerable privileges on the -estate; and there are a few old people—it is true there are but few—who -remember interviews they had with the Squire when going to gather -bilberries in the park, or when sent on some errand to the Hall. An old -man, who brightened up at the mention of the Squire’s name, said, -“Remember him, I think I do; he intended that I should do so. I was sent -by my mother to the Hall for barm, when, seeing an old man in the yard, -and little thinking it was the Squire, I said, ‘Sirrah, is there going to -be any stir here to-day?’ ‘Aye, lad,’ says he, ‘come in, and see;’ and -danged if he didn’t get the horse-whip and stir me round the kitchen, -where he pretended to flog me, laughing the while ready to split his -sides. He gave me a rare blow out though, and my mother found -half-a-crown at the bottom of the jug when she poured out the barm.” -“Did you ever hear of his being worsted by the sweep?” said another. “He -was generally a match for most, but the sweep was too much for him. The -Squire had been out, and, being caught in a storm, he called at a -public-house to shelter. Seeing that it was Mr. Forester, the customers -made way for him to sit next the fire, and whilst he was drying himself a -sweep came to the door, and looked in; but, seeing the Squire, he was -making off again. ‘Hollo,’ said Mr. Forester, ‘what news from the lower -region?’ ‘Oh,’ replied the sweep, ‘things are going on there, Squire, -much as they are here—the _gentlemen are nearest the fire_!’” A third of -our informants remarked: “He was one of the old sort, but a right ’un. -Why, when there was a bad harvest, and no work for men, after one of them -war times, and the colliers were rioting and going to break open the -shops, to tear down the flour mill, and do other damage, the old Squire -was the only man that could stop them—he had such influence with the -people. The poor never wanted a friend whilst old George Forester lived. -There were plenty of broken victuals to be had for the fetching, a -tankard of right good ale, with bread and cheese, or cold mutton, for all -comers.” - - [Picture: Willey Church] - -The years 1774–1782 were periods of local gloom and distress, when -haggard hunger and ignorant force banded together to trample down the -safeguards of civil rights, and armed ruffians took the initiative in -violent scrambles for food. The cavalry were called out, and fierce -battles were fought in the iron districts, where the rioters sometimes -took refuge on cinder heaps, which supplied them with sharp cutting -missiles. In 1795 the colliers and iron-workers being in a state of -commotion, were only prevented from rising by assurances that gentlemen -of property were disposed to contribute liberally to their relief, and -thousands of bushels of Indian corn were obtained by the Squire and -others from Liverpool to add to the grain procurable in the neighbourhood -to meet immediate necessities. A meeting of gentlemen, farmers, millers, -and tradesmen was held at the Tontine Hotel, on the 9th of July in that -year, to consider the state of things arising out of the scarcity of corn -and the dearness of all other provisions, at which a committee was formed -for the immediate collection of contributions and the purchase of grain -at a reduction of one-fourth, or 9_s._ for 12_s._ Mr. Forester at once -gave notice to all his tenants to deliver wheat to the committee at -12_s._, whilst he himself gave £105, and agreed to advance £700 more, to -be repaid from the produce of the corn sold at a reduced price. Such -were the wants of the district, the murmurs of the inhabitants, and the -distinctions made between those who were considered benefactors, and -others who were not, that fear was entertained of a general uprising; and -application was made to Mr. Forester, both as a friend and a magistrate. -He assumed more the character of the former, and his presence acted like -magic upon the rough miners, who by his kindness and tact were at once -put into good humour. Having brought waggons of coal, drawn with ropes, -for sale, the first thing the Squire did was to purchase the coal: he -then bought up all the butter in the market, and purchased all the bread -in the town, he emptied the butchers’ shops in the same way, and advised -the men to go home with the provisions he gave them. - -We are quite aware that it might be said that Squire Forester was not a -model for imitation; and it might be replied that no man ever was, -altogether, even for men of his own time, much less for those of one or -two generations removed, always excepting Him whose name should never be -uttered lightly, and in whom the human and divine were combined. He had -sufficient inherent good qualities, however, to make half a dozen -ordinary modern country gentlemen popular; still his one failing, shared -among the same number, might no less damn them in the eyes of society. - -Some would, no doubt, have liked Dibdin’s heroes better if he had been -less truthful, by making the language more agreeable to the ear, by -substituting, as one writer has said, “dear me” for “damme,” and lemonade -for grog; but such critics are what Dibdin himself called “lubbers” and -“swabs.” In the same way, some would be for toning down the characters -of Squire Forester and Parson Stephens; but this would be a mistake: an -artist might as well smooth over with vegetation every out-cropping rock -he finds in his foreground. We might say a great deal more about the old -Squire, and the Willey Rector too, but there is no reason why we should -say less. If we err, we err with the best and gravest writers of -history, who, without fear or favour, wrote of things as they found them; -and those who are familiar with the writings of men of the past—such as -the Sixth Satire of Juvenal, will admit that men like Squire Forester -were examples of modesty. Men of all grades, every day, are brought in -contact with much that might more strongly be objected to in the public -Press; and there is no reason why the veil should not be raised in order -that we may view the past as it really was. - -The fact is, the Squire found the atmosphere of the times congenial to -his temperament. A very popular Shropshire rake and play writer, -Wycherley, had done much to lower the tone of morality by representing -peccadilloes, not as something which the violence of passion may excuse, -but as accomplishments worthy of gentlemen,—his “Country Wife” and “Plain -Dealer” being examples. Congreve followed in his wake, with his “Old -Bachelor,” which may be judged by its apothegm:— - - “What rugged ways attend the noon of life; - Our sun declines, and with what anxious strife, - What pain, we tug that galling load—a wife!” - -A fair estimate of the looseness of the time may be formed from another -representation:— - - “The miracle to-day is, that we find - A lover true, not that a woman’s kind;” - -and from the fact that even Pope, in his “Epistle to a Lady,” out of his -mature experience could write— - - “Men some to business, some to pleasure take, - But every woman is at heart a rake.” - -The Squire had been jilted, and breathing such an atmosphere, no wonder -he cast lingering looks to the time - - “Ere one to one was cursedly confined,” - -or that he never married. It is fortunate he did not, for Venus herself, -we fancy, could not have kept him by her side. His amours were -notorious, and some of his mistresses were rare specimens of rustic -beauty. Two daring spirits who followed the hounds were regular Dianas -in their way, and he spent much of his time in the rural little cottages -of these and others which were dotted over the estate at no great -distance from the Hall. As rare Ben Jonson has it:— - - “When some one peculiar quality - Doth so possess a man that it doth draw - All his effects, his spirits, and his powers, - In their confluction all to run one way, - This may be truly said to be a humour.” - -Such a humour the old Squire had. Towards the last he found that some of -his mistresses gave him a good deal of trouble; for in carrying out his -desire to leave them comfortably provided for, his best intentions -created jealousy, and he found it difficult to adjust their claims as -regarded matters of income, Phœbe Higgs, who survived the Squire many -years, and lived in a cottage with land attached, on the Willey side of -the Shirlot, being the most clamorous. She set out one night with the -intention of shooting the Squire, but was unnerved by her favourite -monkey, who had stealthily gone on before, and jumped unobserved on her -shoulder as she opened a gate. On another occasion she succeeded in -surprising the Squire by forcing her way into his room and pointing a -loaded pistol at him across the table, vowing she would shoot him unless -he promised to make the sum left for her maintenance equal to that of -Miss Cal—t. He had his children educated; they frequently visited at the -Hall, and some married well. He speaks of them as his children and -grandchildren in his letters, and manifested the greatest anxiety that -everything should be done that could be done, by provisions in his will -for those he was about to leave behind him. Indeed the same -characteristics which gave a colouring to his life distinguished him to -the last; and if the old fires burnt less brightly, the same inner sense -and outward manifestations were evident in all he did. - -One thing which troubled him was the chancel of Barrow Church, as will be -seen by the following characteristic letter to his agent, Mr. Pritchard, -asking him to procure a legal opinion about certain encroachments upon -what he conceived to be his rights, and those of the parishioners:— - - “DEAR SIR,— - - “You must remember Parson Jones has oft been talking to me about the - pews put up, unfairly, I think, in the chancel of Barrow church. The - whole of the chancel is mine as patron, and I am always obliged to do - all the repairs to it, whenever wanted. There is a little small pew - in it of very ancient date, besides these other two; in this, I - suppose, it is intended to thrust poor me, the patron, into; humble - and meek, and deprived of every comfort on my own spot, the chancel. - The parson, you know, has been saucy on the occasion, as you know all - black Toms are, and therefore I’ll now know my power from Mr. Mytton, - and set the matter straight somehow or other. I can safely swear at - this minute a dozen people of this parish (crowd as they will) can’t - receive the Sacrament together, and therefore, instead of there being - pews of any kind therein, there ought to be none at all, but a free - unencumbered chancel at this hour. Rather than be as it is, I’ll be - at the expense of pulling the present chancel down, rebuilding and - enlarging it, so as to make all convenient and clever, before I’ll - suffer these encroachments attended with every insult upon earth. - Surely upon a representation to the bishop that the present chancel - is much too small, and that the patron, at his own expense, wishes to - enlarge it, I cannot think but it will be comply’d with. If this is - not Mr. Mytton’s opinion as the best way, what is? and how am I to - manage these encroaches? - - “Yours ever, - — - - “P.S.—If the old chancel is taken down, I’ll take care that no pew - shall stand in the new one. Mr. Mytton will properly turn this in - his mind, and I’ll then face the old kit of them boldly. The old pew - I spoke of, besides the other two in the chancel (mean and dirty as - it is to a degree), yet the parson wants to let, if he does not do so - now, to any person that comes to church, no matter who, so long as he - gets the cash. It’s so small no one can sit with bended knees in it; - and, in short, the whole chancel is not more than one-half as big as - the little room I am now seated in; which must apparently show you, - and, on your representation, Mr. Mytton likewise, how much too small - it must be for so large a parish as Barrow, and with the addition of - three pews—one very large indeed, the next to hold two or three - people abreast, and the latter about three sideways, always standing, - and totally unable to kneel in the least comfort.” - -Years were beginning to tell upon the old sportsman, reminding him that -his career was drawing to a close, and he appeared to apprehend the truth -Sir Thomas Brown embodied in the remark, that every hour adds to the -current arithmetic, which scarce stands one moment; and since “the -longest sun sets at right declensions,” he looked forward to that setting -and made arrangements accordingly, which were in perfect keeping with the -character of the man. He felt that his day was done, that night was -coming on; and it was his wish that those who knew him best should be -those chosen to attend his funeral, that his domestics and servants who -had experienced his kindness should carry him to the tomb. And let it be -when the sun goes down, when the work of the day is done; let each have a -guinea, that he may meet his neighbour afterwards and talk over, if he -likes, the merits and demerits of his old master, as none—next to his -Maker—know them better. The provisions in the will of the old Squire, in -which he left his estates to his cousin Cecil, afterwards Lord Forester, -father of the present Right Hon. Lord Forester, made about five years -before his death, were evidently made in this spirit. - -He became ill at one of his cottages on Shirlot, was taken home, attended -by Dr. Thursfield (grandfather of the present Greville Thursfield, M.D.), -and died whilst the doctor was still with him, on the 13th of July, 1811, -in the seventy-third year of his age. - - * * * * * - - EXTRACTS _from the last Will and Testament_ (_dated the_ 3_rd_ _day - of November_, 1805) _of George Forester_, _late of Willey_, _in the - County of Salop_, _Esquire_. - - “I desire that all my just debts and funeral expenses, and the - charges of proving this my Will, may be paid and discharged by my - Executors hereinafter named, with all convenient speed after my - decease, and that my body may be interred in a grave near the - Communion table in the Parish Church of Willey aforesaid, or as near - thereto as may be, in a plain and decent manner. And it is my Will - that eight of my Servants or Workmen be employed as Bearers of my - body to the grave, to each of whom I bequeath the sum of One Guinea, - and I desire my Cousin Cecil Forester, of Ross Hall, in the County of - Salop, Esquire, Member of Parliament for the Town and Liberties of - Wenlock, in the same County, the eldest son of my late uncle, Colonel - Cecil Forester, deceased, to fix upon and appoint six of those of my - friends and companions in the neighbourhood of Willey aforesaid, whom - he knew to have been intimate with, and respected by, me, to be - Bearers of the Pall at my funeral, and I request that my body may be - carried to its burial-place in the dusk of the evening. - - “And I do hereby direct that my chestnut horse, commonly called the - Aldenham horse, shall be shot as soon as conveniently may be after my - decease by two persons, one of whom to fire first, and the other to - wait in reserve and fire immediately afterwards, so that he may be - put to death as expeditiously as possible, and I direct that he shall - afterwards be buried with his hide on, and that a flat stone without - inscription shall be placed over him. And I do hereby request my - Cousin Cecil Forester and the said John Pritchard, as soon as - conveniently may be after my decease, to look over and inspect the - letters, papers, and writings belonging to me at the time of my - decease, and such of them as they shall deem to be useless I desire - them to destroy.” - -His wishes, we need scarcely say, were carried out to the letter. He was -buried by torchlight in the family vault in Willey Church, beneath the -family pew, to which the steps shown in our engraving lead. Founded and -endowed by the lords of Willey at some remote period, this venerable -edifice has remained, with the exception of its chancel, the same as we -see it, for many generations past. It stands within the shadow of the -Old Hall, and might from its appearance have formed the text of Gray’s -ivy-mantled tower, where - - “The moping owl does to the moon complain;” - -being covered with a luxuriant growth of this clinging evergreen to the -very top. Standing beneath, and peering through the Norman-looking -windows, which admit but a sober light, glimpses are obtained of costly -monuments with the names and titles of patrons whose escutcheons are -visible against the wall. The Squire’s tomb remains uninscribed; but in -1821 Cecil Weld, the first Lord Forester, erected a marble tablet near, -with the simple record—“To the memory of my late cousin and benefactor, -George Forester, Esq., Willey Park, May 10, 1821.” - - - - -THE SQUIRE’S CHESTNUT MARE. - - - A NEW HUNTING SONG. - - _Written for the present Work by_ J. P. DOUGLAS, ESQ. - - AWAY we go! my mare and I, - Over fallow and lea: - She’s carried me twenty years or nigh— - The best of friends are we. - With steady stride she sweeps along, - The old Squire on her back: - While echoes far, earth’s sweetest sound, - The music of the pack. - Ah! how they stare, both high and low, - To see the “Willey chestnut” go. - - Full many a time, from dewy morn - Until the day was done, - We’ve follow’d the huntsman’s ringing horn, - Proud of a gallant run. - Well in the front, my mare and I— - A good ’un to lead is she; - For’ard, hark for’ard! still the cry— - In at the death are we. - My brave old mare—when I’m laid low - Shall never another master know. - - The sailor fondly loves his ship, - The gallant loves his lass; - The toper drains with fever’d lip, - His deep, full-bottom’d glass. - Away! such hollow joys I scorn, - But give to me, I pray, - The cry of the hounds, the sounding horn, - For’ard! hark, hark away! - And this our burial chant shall be, - For the chestnut mare shall die with me! - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -A.—_Page_ 10. - - -STRUTT, quoting from the book of St. Alban’s the sort of birds assigned -to the different ranks of persons, places them in the following order:— - -The eagle, the vulture, and the melona for an emperor. -The ger-falcon and the tercel of the ger-falcon for a king. -The falcon gentle and the tercel gentle for a prince. -The falcon of the rock for a duke. -The falcon peregrine for an earl. -The bastard for a baron. -The sacre and the sacret for a knight. -The lanere and the laneret for an esquire. -The marlyon for a lady. -The hobby for a young man. -The gos-hawk for a yeoman. -The tercel for a poor man. -The sparrow-hawk for a priest. -The musket for a holy-water clerk. -The kesterel for a knave or a servant. - -Of some of the later and milder measures taken to protect the hawk, it -may be remarked that the 5th of Elizabeth, c. 21, enacts that if any -person shall unlawfully take any hawks, or their eggs, out of the woods -or ground of any person, and be thereof convicted at the assizes or -sessions on indictment, bill or information at the suit of the king, or -of the party, he shall be imprisoned three months, and pay treble -damages, and after the expiration of three months shall find sureties for -his good abearing for seven years, or remain in prison till he doth, § 3. - -The last statute concerning _falconry_ (except a clause in 7 Jac. c. 11, -which limits the time of hawking at pheasants and partridges) is that of -the 23rd Eliz. c. 10, which enacts that if any manner of person shall -hawk in another man’s corn after it is eared, and before it is shocked, -and be therefore convicted at the assizes, sessions, or leet, he shall -pay 40_s._ to the owner, and if not paid within ten days he shall be -imprisoned for a month. - - - -B.—_Page_ 41. - - -Mr. Eyton, to whose learned and valuable work on the “Antiquities of -Shropshire” the author again acknowledges his obligations, as all who -follow that painstaking writer must do, with regard to the holding at the -More, says, “The earliest notice of this tenure which occurs in the Roll -of Shropshire Sergeantries, is dated 13th of John, 1211, and merely says -that Richard de Medler holds one virgate of land, and renders for the -same annually, at the Feast of St. Michael, two knives (knifeulos). A -second contemporary roll supplies the place of payment, viz., the -Exchequer; a third writes the name, Richard le Mener. In 1245 Nicholas -de More is said to pay at the Exchequer two knives (cultellos)—one good, -the other very bad—for certain land which he holds of the King in capite -in More. In 1255 the Stottesden Jurors report that Nicholas de Medler -holds one virgate in More, in capite of the Lord King, rendering at the -Exchequer two knives, one of which ought to cut a hazel rod, and he does -no other service for the said land. In that of 1274 Jurors of the same -Hundred say at length that Nicholas de la More holds one virgate in that -vill of the Lord King, in capite, by sergeantry, of taking two knives to -the King’s Exchequer, at the feast of St. Michael in each year, so that -he ought to cut a hazel rod with one knife, so that the knife should bend -(plicare) with the stroke; and again, to cut a rod with the other knife. -The record of 1284 describes Nicholas de la More as holding three parts -of a virgate and two moors, by sergeantry, &c. The Jurors of Oct. 1292 -say that William de la More, of Erdington, holds one virgate in the More, -by sergeantry of taking two knives to the King’s Exchequer on the morrow -of St. Michael, and to cut with the same knives two hazel rods.” - - - -C—_Page_ 49. - - -This bold projecting rock is called, from Major Thomas, “Smallman’s -Leap,” from a tradition that the major, a staunch Royalist, being -surprised by a party of Cromwell’s horse, was singly and hotly pursued -over Westwood, where, finding all hope of escape at an end, he turned -from the road, hurried his horse into a full gallop to the edge of the -precipice, and went over. The horse was killed by falling on the trees -beneath, but the major escaped, and secreted himself in the woods. -Certain historical facts, showing that the family long resided here, -appear to give a colouring to this tradition. Thus, in the reign of -Henry III. (57th year) William Smallman had a lease from John Lord of -Brockton par Shipton, Corvedale, of 17½ acres of land, with a sytche, -called Woolsytche, and two parcels of meadow in the fields of Brockton. -John Smallman possessed by lease and grant, from Thomas de la Lake, 30 -acres of land in the fields of Larden par Shipton, for twenty years from -the feast of St. Michael, living 4th Edward II. (1310) 41st Edward III. -(1367), Richard Smallman, of Shipton, granted to Roger Powke, of -Brockton, all his lands and tenements in the township and fields of -Shipton, as fully as was contained in an original deed. Witnesses—John -de Galford, Sir Roger Mon (Chaplain), Henry de Stanwy, John Tyklewardyne -(Ticklarton), of Stanton, John de Gurre of the same, with others. 1st -Henry VI. (1422), John Smallman was intrusted with the collection of the -subsidies of taxes payable to the Crown within the franchise of Wenlock. -Thomas Smallman, of Elton, co. Harford, and Inner Temple, -barrister-at-law, afterwards a Welsh judge, purchased the manor of -Wilderhope, Stanway, and the teg and estates, and had a numerous grant of -arms, 5th October, 1589. Major Thomas Smallman, a staunch royalist, born -1624, compounded for his estate £140. - -Underneath this bold projecting headland, sometimes called “Ipikin’s -Rock,” is Ipikin’s Cave, an excavation very difficult of approach, where -tradition alleges a bold outlaw long concealed himself and his horse, and -from which he issued to make some predatory excursion. - -The term _hope_, both as a prefix and termination, is of such frequent -occurrence here that it is only natural to suppose that it has some -special signification; and looking at the positions of Prest_hope_, -East_hope_, Millic_hope_, Middle_hope_, Wilder_hope_, _Hope_say, and -_Hope_ Bowdler, that signification appears to be a recess, or place -remote between the hills. Easthope is a rural little village about two -miles beyond Ipikin’s Rock, pleasantly situated in one of these long -natural troughs which follow the direction of Wenlock Edge. - -It appears to have been within the Long Forest, and is mentioned in -Domesday as being held in Saxon times by Eruni and Uluric; it was -afterwards held by Edric de Esthop, and others of the same name. There -was a church here as early as 1240, and in the graveyard, between two -ancient yews, are two tombs, without either date or inscription, in which -two monks connected with the Abbey of Wenlock are supposed to have been -interred. - -Near Easthope, and about midway between Larden Hall and Lutwyche Hall, is -an enclosure comprising about eight acres, or an encampment, forming -nearly an entire circle, surrounded by inner and outer fosses. The -internal slope of the inner wall is 12 feet, and externally 25, while the -crest of the parapet is 6 feet broad. The relief of the second vallum -rises 10 feet from the fosse, and is about 12 feet across its parapet. -There is also a second ditch, but it is almost obliterated. It is -supposed to have been a military post, forming an important link in the -chain of British entrenchments which stretched throughout this portion of -the county. Near it a mound resembling a tumulus was opened some years -since by the Rev. R. More and T. Mytton, Esq., and in or near which a -British urn of baked clay was discovered, on another occasion, while -making a drain. - - - -D.—_Page_ 66. - - - “Proavus meus Richardus de isto matrimonio susceptus uxorem habuit - Annam Richardi dicti Forestarii filiam qui quidem Richardus filius - erat natu minor prænobilis familiæ Forestariorum (olim Regiorum - Vigorniensis saltûs custodum) et famoso Episcopo Bonnero a-Secritis - Hic Suttanum Madoci incolebat, et egregias ædes posuit in urbicula - dicta Brugge, sive ad Pontem vel hodie dictas Forestarii Dementiam,” - - - -E.—PEDIGREE OF THE FORESTER FAMILY, _Page_ 69. - - -In his “Sheriffs of Shropshire,” Mr. Blakeway in speaking of the Forester -family, says: “They were originally Foresters, an office much coveted by -our ancestors, which latter seems probable, from the fact, that on the -Pipe Rolls of 1214, Hugh Forester accounts for a hundred merks that he -may hold the bailiwick of the forest of Salopscire, as his father held it -before him.” King John, however, remits thirty merks of the payment in -consequence of Hugh having taken to wife the niece of John l’Estrange, at -_His Majesty’s request_. It does not seem clear, however, that Hugh, the -son of Robert, can be traced to have been in the direct line of the -Willey family, he having been ancestor to Roger, son of John, the first -of the king’s six foresters. The other, Robert de Wellington, the late -Mr. George Morris, in his “Genealogies of the Principal Landed -Proprietors,” now in the possession of T. C. Eyton, Esq., to whose -kindness we are indebted for this extract, says was the earliest person -that can certainly be called ancestor of the present family of Forester. -His sergeantry is described as the custody of the King’s Hay of Eyton, of -which, and several adjoining manors, Peter de Eyton, lineal ancestor of -the present Thomas Campbell Eyton, of Eyton, and grandson of Robert de -Eyton, who gave the whole of the Buttery estate to Shrewsbury Abbey, was -the lord. - -Thomas, a son of Robert Forester of Wellington, in the Hundred Rolls, in -1254, is said by the king’s justices itinerant to hold half a virgate of -the king to keep the Hay of Wellington. Roger le Forester of Wellington, -who succeeded Robert, appears to have died 1277–8, and to have left two -sons, Robert and Roger. Robert had property in Wellington and the -Bailiwick of the forest of the Wrekin, and is supposed to have succeeded -his father, whom he did not long survive, having died the year following, -1278–9. Roger his brother succeeded to his possession, and held also the -Hay of Wellington, of which he died seized in 1284–5. Robert, the -Forester of Wellington, Mr. Blakeway says, occurs in the Hundred Roll of -Bradford in 1287, and is shown to have held the Hay of Wellington till -1292–3, when Roger, son of Roger, proving himself of age, paid the king -one merk as a relief for his lands in Wellington, held by sergeantry, to -keep Wellington Hay, in the forest of the Wrekin, &c. This is the Roger -de Wellington before-mentioned, as one of King Edward’s foresters by fee, -recorded in his Great Charter of the forests of Salopssier, in the -perambulation of 1300. He died 1331. - -John le Forester, as John, son and heir of Roger le Forester de Welynton, -succeeded to the property, and proved himself of age in the reign of -Edward III., 1335. With John de Eyton he attested a grant in Wellington, -and died 24th of Edward III., 1350. - -William le Forester succeeded his father, John, in 1377, and died 19th of -Richard II., 1395. - -In 1397 Roger Forester de Wellington is described as holding Wellington -Hay and Chace. He died in 1402. - -Roger, his son and heir, was in 1416 appointed keeper of the same haia by -the Duchess of Norfolk and the Lady Bergavenny, sisters and co-heiresses -of the great Thomas Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel. - -His son and successor, John, died 5th of Edward IV. 1465, seized of the -lands, &c., in Wellington, and the custody of the forest of the Wrekin. -He had two sons, William and John, also a son Richard; and William, son -of the above, appears to have been the father of another John, the former -John having died without issue. John, in 1506, witnesses a deed of -Thomas Cresset, as John Forester the younger; he married Joice Upton, the -heiress of Philip Upton, of Upton under Haymond, and obtained the estate -of that place, which is still inherited by his descendants. - -This John Forester first resided in Watling Street, where his ancestors -for several generations had lived, in the old timbered mansion, now -occupied by Dr. Cranage, but he afterwards removed to Easthope, whilst -his son William resided at Upton; and Richard Forester, alias Forster of -Sutton Maddock, secretary to Bishop Bonner, who built the old mansion in -Bridgnorth, called “Forester’s Folly,” which was burnt down during the -siege of the castle, when the high town became a heap of ruins, appears -to have been a son of John Forester, of Easthope; and Anthony Forester or -Foster of Sir Walter Scott’s novel, who was born about 1510, was a son of -his. - -In the 34th of Henry VIII., 1542–3, Thomas Foster and Elizabeth his wife, -account in the Exchequer for several temporalities in connection with the -monastery of St. Peter’s, Shrewsbury. Sir William Forester, KB., married -Lady Mary Cecil, daughter of James, third Earl of Salisbury. He was a -staunch Protestant, and represented the county with George Weld, as -previously stated, with whom he voted in favour of the succession of the -House of Hanover, and the family came into possession of the Willey -estates by the marriage of Brook Forester of Dothill Park, with one of -the Welds, the famous George Forester, the Willey Squire, being the fruit -of that marriage. George Forester left the whole of his estates to his -cousin, Cecil Forester, of Ross Hall, who was allowed by George the -Fourth, whose personal friendship he had been permitted to enjoy for many -years, to add the name of Weld in 1821. Cecil Weld Forester, Esq., was -ennobled the same year by George the Fourth, who, when Prince of Wales, -honoured him with a visit at Ross Hall. He married Catherine, daughter -of His Grace the fourth Duke of Rutland, and was not less renowned than -his cousin, as a sportsman. His eagerness for the chase was happily -characterised by the late Mr. Meynell, who used to say, “First out of -cover came Cecil Forester, next the fox, and then my hounds.” A famous -leap of his, thirty feet across a stream, on his famous horse Bernardo, -has been recorded in some lines now at Willey which accompany the -portrait of the horse. He is supposed to have been one of the first who -instituted the present system of hard riding to hounds, and a horse known -to have been ridden by him, it is said, would at any time fetch £20 more -than the ordinary price. Speaking of the classic proportions of a horse, -and the perfection of the art of riding in connection with his lordship -as a sportsman, Colonel Apperley, remarked some years ago, “Unless a man -sits gracefully on his horse, and handles him well, that fine effect is -lost. As the poet says, he would be incorporated with the brave beast, -and such does Lord Forester appear to be. His eye to a country is also -remarkably quick, and his knowledge of Leicestershire has given him no -small advantage. On one occasion he disregarded the good old English -custom of ‘looking before you leap,’ and landed in the middle of a deep -pool. ‘Hold on,’ a countryman who saw him, shouted to others coming in -the same direction. ‘Hold your tongue—say nothing, we shall have it full -in a minute,’ said Lord Forester.” The Colonel added, “In consequence of -residing in Shropshire, a country which has been so long famous for its -breed of horses, he has a good opportunity of mounting himself well. He -always insisted on the necessity of lengthy shoulders, good fetlocks, -well formed hind legs and open feet; and knowing better than to confound -strength and size, his horses seldom exceeded fifteen hands. On anything -relating to a hunter his authority has long been considered classic, and -if Forester said so it was enough. Lord Forester will always stand -pre-eminent in the field, whilst in private life he is a very friendly -man, and has ever adhered to those principles of honour and integrity -which characterise the gentleman.” He died on the 23rd of May, 1828, in -his 61st year. He had, as we have said, ten children, the gallant Frank -Forester, as Colonel Apperley styles him, being one. The oldest was the -present Right Hon. J. G. W. Forester, whose popularity in connection with -the Belvoir Hunt is so well known. - -His lordship, whose portrait we give at the commencement of this work, -and who is now in the 73rd year of his age, has added very much to the -Willey estates, both by purchase and by improvements, and is very much -esteemed by his tenantry. - -The Right Hon. General Forester, who succeeded his brother in the -representation of Wenlock, has sat for the borough for forty-five years, -and is now the Father of the House of Commons. Whether out-door -exercises, associated with the pleasures of the chase, to which the -ancestors of the Foresters have devoted themselves for so many centuries, -have anything to do with it or not we cannot say; but the Foresters are -remarkable for masculine and feminine beauty, and the General has -frequently been spoken of by the press as the best looking man in the -House of Commons. Neither he nor his elder brother, the present Rt. Hon. -Lord Forester, are likely to leave behind them direct issue. The younger -brother, the Hon. and Rev. O. W. W. Forester, has one son, Cecil, who has -several sons to perpetuate the name of Forester, which we hope will long -be associated with Willey. - - - - -INDEX. - - -Abbot of Leicester, 15 - ,, Salop, 6 - „ Tavistock, 15 -Addison, 80 -Albrighton red-coats, 30 -Aldenham, 32 -Alfred, 19 -Algar, 19 -Apley, 32 -Apperley, Col., 84 -Arrows, 22 -Atterley, 22, 32 - - * * * * * - -Bachelors’ Hall, 104 -Badger, 52 -Barons’ War, 25 -Barrow, 32 -Battle of Worcester, 26 -Baxter, 65 -Beacons, 168 -Beaver, 4 -Bellet’s, Rev. George, Antiquities of Bridgnorth, 66 -Belswardine, 32 -Benson, M., Esq., 48 -Benthall, 32 -Benthall Edge, 53 -Bernard’s Hill, 23 -Bishop Bonner, 66 - ,, Percy, 65 -Bittern, 5 -Black Toms, 182 -Bold, 32 -Boney, 167 -Bowman’s Hill, 26 -Bow, the weapon of sport and of war, 22 -Brock-holes, 52 -Broseley, 32, 40 -Brown Clee, 96 -Brug, 40 -Buck, 16 -Buildwas, 100 - - * * * * * - -Cantreyne, 32 -Castellan, 23 -Castillon, 14 -Cask of wine, 24 -Castle, 22 -Caughley, 32 -Chace of Shirlot, 31 -Chaucer, 46 -Chesterton, 18 -Chester, Earl of, 25 -Chetton, 31 -Childers, 88 -Christmas Day, 38 -Claverley, 25 -Clee Hills, 39 -Cliffords, 40 -Coalbrookdale, 40 -Coed, 19 -Colemore, 32 -Collars of gold, 9 -Constable, 45 -Coracle, 6 -Corbett, 24 -Corve Dale, 51 -Cox Morris, 115 -Craft of Hunting, 16 -Cressage, 49 -Creswick, 45 - - * * * * * - -D—n the Church, 116 -Danesford, 19 -Dastardly devils, 157 -Dawley, 58 -Dean, 32 -Deer, 31, 36, 37, 39 -Deer Leap, 36 -Dibdin, 141 -Ditton, 39 -Dodos, 4 -Domesday, 71 -Dothill, 65 -Druids, 46, 50 -Drury Lane, 144 -Duke’s Antiquities, 28 -Duke of York, 171 - - * * * * * - -Early features of the country, 8 -Earl of Derby, 26 -Earl Dundonald, 171 -Easthope, 49 -Egret, 5 -Elk, Gigantic, 11 -England, The, of our ancestor, 79 -Evelith, 66 -Eyton, 58 -Eyton, Sir H, 63 -Eyton, T. C, 63 - - * * * * * - -Falcon, 9 -First iron barge, 170 -Fishing a recreation for the sick, 7 -Fishing an attractive art, &c., 6 - „ practised by primitive dwellers, 5 -Forest Lodge, 28 -Forest Roll, 58 -Forester, Brook, 76 - „ George, 76 - ,, Hugh, 58 - „ John, 63 - „ Robert, 58, 60, 63 - „ Roger, 63 - „ Squire, 76 - „ William, 73 -Forester’s Folly, 66 -Forster, Richard, 64 -Foster, Anthony, Lord of the Manor of Little Wenlock, 64 -Foster, Anthony, a different character to what Sir Walter Scott -represents him, 67, 68 -Fox-holes, 52 -Fox-hunters’ Christening, 120 -Fox-hunting Moll, 121 - - * * * * * - -Gammer Gurton’s Needle, 26, 29 -Gatacre, 26 -Gentlemen nearest the fire, 175 -George Earl of Shrewsbury, 29 -Goats, 25 -Grant, singular, to John Forester, 63 - - * * * * * - -Hangster’s Gate, 145 -Harold, 48 -Harpswood, 33 -Hay Gate, 59 -Haye, 60 -Haye of Shirlot, 40 - ,, Wellington, 58 -Hawking, 10 -Hermitage, 26, 27 -Heron, 10 -Hill Top, 49 -Hinton, 115 -Honest old Tom, 89 -Hope Bowdler, 49 -Hughley, 49 -Hugh Montgomery, 39 -Hunting as old as the hills, 1 -Hunting-matches, 61 - - * * * * * - -Imbert, 40 -Incledon, 143 -Ipikin’s Rock, 49 -Iron, 41 - - * * * * * - -Kennels, 86 -King Canute, 12 - „ Edward I., 24 - ,, „ VI., 29 - „ Henry I., 13 - „ „ III. in Shrewsbury, 14 - ,, ,, III., 28 - ,, ,, VII., 29 - „ „ VIII., 10, 63 - „ John, 10 - ,, Richard I., 13 - „ „ II., 28 - „ William I., 12 - - * * * * * - -Lacon, 73 -Lady Oak, 49, 50 -Larden, 48 -Larry Palmer, 109 -Latimer, 15 -Legend, 20 -Leland, 41 -Lilleshall, 5 -Linley, 42 -Little Wenlock, 10 -Lodge Farm, 36 -Long runs, 96 -Lutwyche, 48 - - * * * * * - -Major Forester and his Volunteers, 159 -Marsh and forest periods, 8 -Maypoles, 86 -Merrie days, 16 -Mog Forest, 49 -Moody, 11 -Moody’s Horn, 127 -Morfe Forest, 17 - „ Volunteers, 172 -Morville, 31 -Mount St. Gilbert, 57 -Muckley Row, 34 -Needle’s Eye, 56 - - * * * * * - -Oaks, 51 -Offenders in forests, 14 -Old boots, 138 -Old Hall, 73 - „ Lodge, 29 - „ names, 27 - „ records, 96 - „ style of hunting, 84 - ,, Simkiss, 96 - „ tenures, 41 - ,, Tinker, 96 - „ trees, 50, 55 - „ Trojan, 130 -Ordericus Vitalis, 13, 18 -Original letters, 90, 91 - - * * * * * - -Parson Stephens in his shirt, 111 -Parson Stephens and the poacher, 119 -Pendlestone Mill, 57 -Phœbe Higgs, 95 -Pigmy, 88 -Pilot, 88 -Piers Plowman, 14 -Prince Rufus, 13 - - * * * * * - -Quatford, 21 - - * * * * * - -Red deer, 30 -Robin Hood, 23 -Roger de Montgomery, 21 - - * * * * * - -Savory, 92 -Seabright, 130 -Second Wenlock Loyal Volunteers, 165 -Shade of Tom Moody, 146 -Sherwood, 47 -Shirlot, 34 -Shipton, 51 -Smallman’s Leap, 49 -Smith, Sidney Stedman, Esq., 66 -Smithies, 42 -Sore sparrow-hawk, 9 -Spoonhill, 48 -Sporting priors, 37 -Sporting visitations, 38 -Sportsmen attend, 136 -Squire Forester’s gift to Dibdin, 143 -Squire Forester among his neighbours, 173 -Squire Forester and the rioters, 177 -Squire Forester in Parliament, 151 -Squire Forester not a model for imitation, 177 -Squire Forester notorious for his amours, 180 -Squire Forester, Death of, 185 - ,, „ Extracts from the will of, 185 -Stoke St. Milburgh, 40 -Stubbs, 89 -Sutton Maddock, 65 -Swainmote, 24, 37 -Swine, 20 -Sylvan slopes, 47 - - * * * * * - -Tasley, 32 -Taylor, the water-poet, 60 -Tevici, huntsman to Edward I., 12 -Thursfield, Thomas, 44 - „ William, 84 -Tickwood, 100 -Tom Moody, 122 -Tom Moody’s last request, 135 -Trencher hounds, 130 -Tumuli, 18 -Turner, 114 - - * * * * * - -Venison, 35 -Vivaries, 5 -Volunteers, 158, 166 - - * * * * * - -“Walls,” The, 18 -Wastes, 25 -Weirs, 5 -Welds, The, 73 -Wenlock (Loyal Volunteers), 159 -Wenlock, 38, 152 -Wheatland, 45 -Who-who-hoop, 129 -Wild boar, 29 -Wilkinson, 114 -Willey, 70 - ,, Church, 173, 186 - „ rector, 118 - ,, Wharf, 170 -Williley, 72 -Wilton, 79 -Windfalls, 35 -Woodcraft, 14 -Worf, 18 -Wrekin, 55 - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., CITY ROAD, LONDON. - - - - -ADVERTISEMENTS. - - - _Price One Shilling_. - - * * * * * - - HANDBOOK - - TO THE - - SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY, - - With Twenty-five Illustrations. - - BY J. RANDALL, F.G.S. - - Author of “The Severn Valley,” “Old Sports and Sportsmen,” “Villages - and Village Churches,” &c. - - [Picture: Illustration of from Severn Valley Railway book] - - VIRTUE & CO., 26, IVY LANE, LONDON; - J. RANDALL, MADELEY, SHROPSHIRE. - - * * * * * - - TENT LIFE - - WITH - - ENGLISH GIPSIES IN NORWAY. - - BY HUBERT SMITH, - - Member of the English Alpine Club; Norse Turist Forening; and Fellow - of the Historical Society of Great Britain. - - _With Five full-page Engravings_, _Thirty-one smaller_ - _Illustrations_, _and Map of the Country_, _showing Routes_. - - * * * * * - -The following is a recent Review of the Book:— - - “We do not know any similar kind of work, and we believe that it will - stand alone in the speciality of its interest. - - “In addition to much adventure resulting from a nomadic life in a - foreign country, it contains descriptions of scenery, besides - information which may instruct the philologist. A carefully prepared - map shows the routes and camp grounds of the Author’s nomadic - expedition. - - “The work, in consequence of the death of his late Majesty, Carl XV., - on the 18th Sept., 1872, is dedicated by permission of his present - Majesty, Oscar II., ‘_In Memoriam_.’ - - “The work has clearly been undertaken at considerable cost, and the - scenes of travel described extend over nearly 2,000 miles of sea and - land traversed by the Author with tents, gipsies, animal - commissariat, and baggage, independent of any other shelter or - accommodation than what he took with him. In the course of the - expedition one of the highest waterfalls of Norway was visited, - ‘Morte fos,’ and the highest mountain in Norway, the ‘Galdhossiggen’ - was ascended. The book is cheap at a guinea, being illustrated with - five full-page engravings, all of which are taken from the Author’s - original sketches, or photographs specially obtained for the purpose; - they are beautiful works of Art, and are admirably executed by the - celebrated Mr. Edward Whymper, Author of ‘Scrambles amongst the - Alps.’” - - * * * * * - - LONDON: S. KING & CO., 63, CORNHILL; - AND 72, PATERNOSTER ROW. - - * * * * * - - [Picture: Decorative graphic with letters C S N on it, underneath which - is written Coalport] - - JOHN ROSE & CO., - - _PORCELAIN MANUFACTURERS_, - - COALPORT, SHROPSHIRE. - - _Five minutes’ walk from Coalport Station on the Severn Valley and_ - _Shropshire Union Railways_. - - * * * * * - - MEDAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, 1820. - FIRST CLASS MEDAL, EXHIBITION, 1851. - First Class Medal, Paris Exhibition, 1855. - FIRST CLASS MEDAL, EXHIBITION, 1862. - - * * * * * - -The _Court Journal_, speaking of the productions exhibited by William -Pugh, Esq., May, 1871, says— - - “We do not think that any porcelain productions would equal those of - the Coalport works. The show-case that the owners exhibit - independently, and their manufactures, displayed by various firms, - have, in all instances, the highest merit. We are well aware we - shall be informed that our praise is but a stale echo, as this firm - is renowned of old for producing the finest china, having some - process of blending or applying chemical agencies known only to - themselves, and being celebrated over Europe for the beautiful colour - of the gold—a matter of course of very considerable consequence, as - it is used so bounteously in the ornamentation of china.” - -In an article on the “world’s great show,” as the Viennese were pleased -to call it, the same Journal remarked— - - “We have latterly challenged the continental world to compete with us - and to contend for equality in many branches of manufacture into - which art excellence and refinement of taste enter, and we have - carried off the palm. Neither Sèvres nor Dresden has of late years - compared with the best English productions. There is no doubt of - this; and most especially we might instance as successful rivalry the - progress that the Coalport Works have made. The marked patronage of - Royal circles on the Continent and at home for their productions is, - perhaps, the best proof of the truth of our statement. . . . They - have been especially practical in their catering for the Vienna - Exhibition, and met the foreigner at his weak point rather than - courted rivalry at his strongest. No nation on the Continent can - compete with the French as regards the painting, though Coalport - could and will challenge with every hope of success for the first - place when it comes to the question of rivalry in design, exquisite - form, graceful ornamentation, brilliancy of colour, bright burnish of - gold, and tenderness of glaze in merely decorative porcelain works. - The specimens of this character which are sent will, we are sure, - worthily maintain the reputation of Coalport.” - - * * * * * - -The _Standard_ also, May 23, 1873, in an article on the “Ceramic Art,” -had the following:— - - “Messrs. Daniell have so many good things from Coalport Works that it - would be difficult to present even a brief mention of them all. - There is one beautiful pair of vases in imitation Cashmere ware which - Sir R. Wallace has already purchased, and the same gentleman has also - secured a number of plates delightfully painted by Faugeron with - exotic leaves. Two portrait vases of the Emperor and Empress of - Austria are of old Sèvres shape, the bodies being of turquoise and - gold, and the paintings by Palmere, almost miniatures in their fine - detail. Two gros bleu vases, with raised and chased gold - ornamentation and panels, choicely painted with birds by Randall, are - as elegant as a pair of jardinières, with a cobalt ground and gold - ferns and grasses in relief, butterflies touched up in bright enamel, - toning the otherwise too great richness of the dark gold and blue. - These are only a few of the attractions of one of the finest, though - not largest, cases in the section. Messrs. Pellatt exhibit some - Coalport ware, which is in every respect worthy of the high repute of - that renowned manufactory.” - - * * * * * - - MARBLE AND STONE WORKS, SWAN HILL, SHREWSBURY. - - * * * * * - - R. DODSON - - Respectfully begs to intimate that the Show Rooms contain a large - collection of - - MARBLE, STONE, & ENAMELLED SLATE CHIMNEY PIECES, - - MARBLE AND STONE MURAL MONUMENTS, - - CEMETERY AND CHURCHYARD MEMORIALS, - - FONTS, FOUNTAINS, VASES, SLATE CISTERNS, - &c. &c. &c. - - _Designs forwarded for inspection_; _and communications by letter will_ - _receive immediate attention_. - - * * * * * - - THE COALBROOKDALE CO. - - MANUFACTURERS OF ALL KINDS OF - - BRICKS AND TILES, - - RIDGING, FLOORING, - - FIRE BRICKS, SQUARES, CHIMNEY - TOPS, &c. - - * * * * * - - _PRESSED & MOULDED BRICKS_ - - FOR FACING STRING COURSES, - - And other Architectural Purposes, in Blue, White, - and Red. - - * * * * * - - _ALSO PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL_ - - RADIATING ARCH BRICKS, - - FOR WINDOWS AND OTHER OPENINGS, - IN THE ABOVE COLOURS. - - * * * * * - - FLOWER POTS, BOXES, PENDANTS, - &c. - - * * * * * - - ALL MATERIALS OF THE BEST AND MOST DURABLE DESCRIPTION. - - * * * * * - - CRAVEN, DUNNILL, & CO. - (LIMITED), - - Encaustic & Geometrical Tiles, - - JACKFIELD WORKS, - - NEAR IRONBRIDGE, SHROPSHIRE. - - * * * * * - - PATTERN SHEETS, SPECIAL DESIGNS, AND - ESTIMATES, - - ON APPLICATION TO THE WORKS. - - * * * * * - -Elementary Geological Collections, at 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, to 100 guineas -each, and every requisite to assist those commencing the study of this -interesting branch of Science, a knowledge of which affords so much -pleasure to the traveller in all parts of the world. - -A collection for Five Guineas, to illustrate the recent works on Geology, -by Ansted, Buckland, Lyell, Mantell, Murchison, Page, Phillips, and -others, contains 200 specimens, in a plain Mahogany Cabinet, with five -trays, comprising the following specimens, viz.:— - -MINERALS which are either the components of Rocks, or occasionally -imbedded in them—Quartz, Agate, Chalcedony, Jasper, Garnet, Zeolite, -Hornblende, Augite, Asbestos, Felspar, Mica, Talc, Tourmaline, Spinel, -Zircon, Corundum, Lapis Lazuli, Calcite, Fluor, Selenite, Baryta, -Strontia, Salt, Sulphur, Plumbago, Bitumen, &c. - -NATIVE METALS, or METALLIFEROUS MINERALS; these are found in masses or -beds, in veins, and occasionally in the beds of rivers. Specimens of the -following Metallic Ores are put in the Cabinet:—Iron, Manganese, Lead, -Tin, Zinc, Copper, Antimony, Silver, Gold, Platina, Mercury, Titanium, -&c. - -ROCKS: Granite, Gneiss, Mica-slate, Clay-slate, Porphyry, Serpentine, -Sandstones, Limestones, Basalt, Lavas, &c. - -PALÆOZOIC FOSSILS from the Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, -and Permian Rocks. - -SECONDARY FOSSILS from the Rhætic, Lias, Oolite, Wealden, and Cretaceous -Groups. - -TERTIARY FOSSILS from the Plastic Clay, London Clay, Crag, &c. - -In the more expensive collections some of the specimens are rare, and all -more select. - - JAMES TENNANT, Mineralogist (by Appointment) - to Her Majesty, 149, Strand, London, W.C. - - * * * * * - - THE - OLD HALL SCHOOL, - WELLINGTON, SALOP. - - * * * * * - - RESIDENT MASTERS: - - Principal. - -J. EDWARD CRANAGE, M.A., Ph.D. of the University of Jena; Author of -“Mental Education;” Lecturer to the Society of Arts, &c., &c. - - * * * * * - - Head Master. - - DAVID JOHNSTON, Esq., M.A., Aberdeen. - - Second Master. - - THOMAS WILLIAMS, Esq., B.A., - (In Mathematical Honours) Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. - - Modern Languages Master. - - MONSIEUR VIDAL, of the University of Louvain. - - * * * * * - - TERMS FOR BOARD AND LODGING. - - (EXCLUSIVE OF SCHOOL FEES, FOR WHICH SEE SEPARATE CIRCULAR.) - -PER QUARTER. £ _s._ _d._ -Private pupils above 18 years of age, with separate 42 0 0 -bedroom, horse riding, and other privileges -Ditto, without horse exercise, under 18 26 5 0 -Boarders 12 12 0 -Ditto, under 10 years of age 10 10 0 -Separate bedroom for one boy 5 5 0 -Ditto, for two boys (each) 4 4 0 -Ditto, for three boys (each) 3 3 0 -Washing, according to clothes used, generally 0 15 0 - -DR. CRANAGE’S undeviating aim is to train the boys committed to his care, -not only in mental acquisitions, but in their whole moral and physical -being; believing, that as much pains and unremitting attention are -required for the latter as the former. Attention is given not only to -the studies which the boys pursue, but to their recreation, games, and -amusements—upon the principle that almost every incident affords -materials for improvement, and opportunities for the formation of good -habits. - -His main object in the intellectual culture is to teach the boy to think; -without omitting the positive work and hard study to brace “the nerves of -the mind” for the making of a scholar. - -The system of rewards and punishments is peculiar, with the general -absence of corporal punishment; but the experience of more than -twenty-four years has fully proved its efficiency. - -Above all, his desire is to bring them to Christ as their Saviour, and -then to help them to walk like Christ, as their example. - -Dr. Cranage finds the most wonderful difference in the progress and -conduct of the boys committed to his care according to the measure of -moral support he receives from the parents and guardians of the boys. He -earnestly solicits their hearty and constant co-operation in his anxious -labours. - -The skeleton Report will give a succinct view of the subjects of study. -The aim is to give a thoroughly liberal education, without too exclusive -attention to Latin and Greek. In the study of languages the system of -Arnold is considered admirable, but not perfect; the grammar is therefore -supplied, and iteration and reiteration of declensions, conjugations, and -rules to impress indelibly, by rote even, all the fundamentals are -resorted to. Latin, as the basis of most of the modern European -languages, is considered—even to boys not going to college—very -important; it is deemed also very desirable for _all_ boys to be able to -read the Greek Testament before leaving school. - -Some objects are taught by familiar Lectures only, illustrated by -extensive apparatus; while many other subjects are occasionally thus -exemplified. - -A report of each boy’s improvement and conduct is sent to his parents or -guardians eight times in each year. - -At the end of each year the School is examined by the authority and -direction of the Syndicate appointed by the University of Cambridge, and -a copy of the Report is sent to the parents or guardians of each boy. -There is also an examination at midsummer by the masters of the school on -the work of the previous half-year; a report of which is sent to the -parents. - -The boy’s Reading Room is furnished with good Periodicals and a -well-selected Library. - -There is a well-furnished Laboratory for the study of Chemistry, -Photography, &c.; Dr. Cranage himself instructing in science in the -school. - -A Museum is established for collecting specimens to illustrate natural -history, arts, and sciences, together with articles of virtû and -antiquity—the boys themselves being the principal collectors and -contributors. - -There are three orders of distinction in the school conferred for -proficiency, combined with good conduct:—1st, Holder of a Certificate; -2nd, Palmer, or Holder of the Palm; 3rd, or highest, Grecian. - -The School-house is delightfully situated within a mile of the -railway-station of Wellington; it is well adapted for its purpose, and -fitted up with the necessary appliances. The school-room, reading-room, -dining-room, lavatory, bath-room, and dormitories are spacious, airy, and -convenient; the playgrounds very extensive, and well fitted for healthy -recreation. - -There is a swimming-bath on the grounds. - - * * * * * - - BUNNY AND EVANS - - (LATE J. D. SANDFORD), - - 25, HIGH STREET, SHREWSBURY, - - GENERAL PRINTERS, BOOKSELLERS, - BOOKBINDERS, STATIONERS, - -Beg to inform the Nobility, Gentry, Clergy, and the General Public that -they have every facility for the execution of all orders with which they -may be entrusted with the utmost promptitude and on the most reasonable -terms. - - PRINTING. - -This branch includes the production of Maps and Plans of Estates, &c., in -Lithography; and the Letter-press Printing that of Pamphlets, Sermons, -Reports of Societies, Particulars of Sales, Posters and Handbills, -Billheads, Memorandum Forms, &c. - - STAMPING, - -in colours or plain, in the best London fashion. - - BOOKBINDING, - -plain and ornamental. - - STATIONERY. - -Note Papers from 2s. to 10s. per ream, Envelopes from 4_s._ per 100 -upwards. Ledgers, Journals, and Cash Books in stock, or made to any -pattern. - - * * * * * - - _Bibles_, _Church Services_, _Prayers_, _and devotional books in great_ - _variety_. - - MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS SUPPLIED. - - * * * * * - - URICONIUM. - - Mr. W. Wright’s valuable and comprehensive work on this - ancient Roman city is still on sale at 25_s._ - - * * * * * - - _ESTABLISHED_ 1772. - - * * * * * - - THE - SHREWSBURY CHRONICLE, - AND SHROPSHIRE AND MONTGOMERYSHIRE TIMES. - - THE COUNTY NEWSPAPER, - -And LEADING JOURNAL for Shropshire and North Wales, has the GREATEST -CIRCULATION through a most extensive district and possesses a wide-spread -influence amongst the most important classes of the community. - - * * * * * - - Best Medium for Advertisers. - - * * * * * - - Published every Friday morning by the Proprietor, JOHN WATTON, - at the Offices, St. John’s Hill, Shrewsbury. - - * * * * * - - EDDOWES’S - SHREWSBURY JOURNAL, - AND SALOPIAN JOURNAL, - - (Established 1794.) - - Advertiser for Shropshire and the Principality of Wales. - - Published every Wednesday morning at the Offices, - - MARKET SQUARE. - - PRICE 2d. - - * * * * * - -EDDOWES’S JOURNAL is the only Conservative Paper published in the County -of Salop and is the recognised organ of the CHURCH OF ENGLAND, and the -Constitutional Party in the district. - -It has a guaranteed circulation throughout the county of Salop and the -whole principality of Wales, and also an Advertising patronage amongst -Capitalists, Solicitors, Auctioneers, Merchants, Land Agents, and -Traders, SUPERIOR TO THAT OF ANY OTHER NEWSPAPER published in the -district. It also circulates extensively in the neighbouring Counties, -and will be found at the principal hotels and commercial offices in -London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and other important towns. It -is thus UNQUESTIONABLY THE BEST MEDIUM FOR ADVERTISING, and affords a -safe and widely-spread means of publicity amongst all those classes most -likely to be useful to advertisers. - - _Annual Subscriptions_, _free by post_, 13_s._; _if paid in advance_, - 11_s._ - - * * * * * - - _VALUABLE MEDIUM FOR ADVERTISING_. - - * * * * * - - THE IRONBRIDGE WEEKLY JOURNAL - - AND - - Borough of Wenlock Advertiser, - Published every Saturday. Price One Penny. - - * * * * * - - SCALE OF CHARGES FOR ADVERTISING. - - Not exceeding 24 Words 1s. 0d. - Ditto 40 Words 1s. 6d. - -The Charges above apply to the class of Advertisements enumerated below -and are strictly confined to those that are _paid for in advance_. - -Situations Wanted. Apartments Wanted. Articles Lost. -Situations Vacant. Apartments to Let. Articles Found, &c. - - PUBLISHED AT - JOSEPH SLATER’S STEAM PRINTING OFFICE, - THE MARKET SQUARE, - IRONBRIDGE, SALOP. - - * * * * * - - BRIDGNORTH. - - * * * * * - - CROWN AND ROYAL HOTEL. - FAMILY, COMMERCIAL, AND POSTING HOUSE. - - _Every attention paid to the Comfort and Convenience of Visitors_. - - BILLIARD-ROOM. - - Post Horses and Carriages. Omnibus to and from each - Train, and Refreshment Rooms at Station. - - T. WHITEFOOT, Proprietor. - - N.B.—RAILWAY PARCELS OFFICE. - - * * * * * - - WREKIN HOTEL COMPANY, LIMITED. - WELLINGTON, SALOP. - - * * * * * - - FAMILY AND COMMERCIAL HOTEL. - - * * * * * - - EXTENSIVE LOCK-UP BAIT AND LIVERY STABLES, COACH - HOUSES, LOOSE BOXES, &c. - - Posting in all its Branches—Billiards—Hot and Cold Baths. - - * * * * * - - - - -FOOTNOTES. - - -{10} Appendix A. - -{28} Inquis. Henry III., incerti temporis, Nu. 6, 156. - -{41} For additional particulars respecting this interesting tenure we -refer the reader to the Appendix B. - -{49a} There is a legend that Major Smallman, a staunch royalist, -surprised by some of Cromwell’s troopers, hotly pursued over Presthope, -turned from the road, spurred his horse at full gallop to the edge of the -precipice, and went over. The horse is said to have been killed on the -trees, whilst the Major escaped, and secreted himself in the woods. -Facts and local circumstances concur in giving a colouring to the -tradition, and deeds extant show that the family resided here from the -reign of Henry III. to the time mentioned. See Appendix C. - -{49b} See Appendix. - -{63} In 1390, Sir Humphrey de Eyton, an ancestor of T. C. Eyton, Esq., -of Eyton, was ranger of this forest. - -{64} The Old Hall, which we suppose to have been the old hunting lodge, -the residence of Dr. Cranage, Watling Street, is another interesting -specimen of the residences of the Forester family, and of the style of -building and profusion of wood used therein during the great forest -periods. Dothill, now the residence of R. Groom, Esq., is another of the -old family residences of the Foresters. - -{66} Appendix D. - -{69} For a more complete account of the Forester family, we refer the -reader to the Pedigree given in the Appendix E. - -{171} Lord Dundonald, who lived in the old mansion, still standing, at -the Tuckies, was an excellent chemist, and constructed some ingeniously -contrived ovens, by which he extracted from coal a tar for the use of the -navy, and which also became an article of general commerce. - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD SPORTS AND SPORTSMEN*** - - -******* This file should be named 63805-0.txt or 63805-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/3/8/0/63805 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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