Henry of Richmond came out of the field _Historic Sites of Lancashire and Cheshire A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive.

the throne of a nation bleeding at every pore, and the leading nobles

of which had been swept away. He was not ungrateful. One of his first

acts was to seize the estates of the adherents of the fallen Richard.

With them he was able to reward his faithful followers, and the

originally great possessions of the Stanleys became swollen by enormous

grants out of the Yorkists' confiscated lands. The Leghs of Lyme fared

but indifferently in comparison; at all events, there is no evidence

of Sir Peter having come out of that struggle with any addition to his

territorial possessions. On the 14th of January following the houses

of York and Lancaster were united by the marriage of the King with

Elizabeth of York, and on the 20th of September, with almost undue

punctuality, the popular wish was realised in the birth of a Prince--a

bud from the peaceful grafting of the White Rose upon the Red--for whom

Lord Stanley, or rather Lord Derby, for he had then been elevated to

the earldom, was one of the two sponsors.

But the partiality for the house of York was not yet extinguished among

the men of Lancashire and Cheshire. As Lord Bacon says, the memory of

the ill-fated Richard "lay like lees at the bottom of their hearts, and

would come up if the vessel was but stirred;" it was not long before a

spirit of resistance began to manifest itself, and Henry found himself

threatened with the loss of his ill-gotten sovereignty from a source as

unexpected as it was deemed contemptible. In 1487 a youth appeared in

Ireland calling himself Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, but whose

real name was Lambert Simnel. He was proclaimed as Edward VI., and the

Duchess of Burgundy, favouring the imposture, sent over from Flanders

an experienced captain, Martin Swartz, with two thousand men to his

aid. In the "merry month of May" they landed on the barren island of

Fouldrey, and took possession of the castle--the Peel of Fouldrey, as

it was called--a fortress commanding the entrance to Morecambe Bay,

which had been built by the monks of Furness as a retreat from the

ravages of the Scots. Thence they marched southwards through Yorkshire

into Nottinghamshire, where they were joined by Lord Lovel. Henry,

with his usual promptitude, hastened to give the insurgents battle;

Sir Peter Legh, who had again buckled on his armour, served under

the banner of the King, and bravely bore his part in the battle of

Stokefield, near Newark, where, on the 6th of June, the two armies

were put in array against each other. The issue was quickly decided,

and resulted in the complete overthrow of the insurgents, one half of

whom were slaughtered. This appears to have been the last military

exploit in which Sir Peter Legh had any share. The sword was returned

to the scabbard, never again to be unsheathed, the remainder of his

days being passed in more peaceful pursuits. It is not unlikely that

his abandonment of the profession of arms thus early--for he was only

in his thirty-second year when the battle at Stokefield was fought--was

caused by the death of his wife, which occurred on the 7th May, 1491,

at Bewgenet, a small village in Sussex, where she appears to have been

staying, and where her body was buried.

Though wealth and honours were not lavished on Sir Peter Legh in the

way they had been on the Stanleys, yet the services he had rendered at

Stokefield and elsewhere were not allowed to go entirely unrequited,

though it must be admitted that his reward came somewhat late. By

letters patent, dated at Lancaster, 3rd March, 20 Henry VII. (1505), he

was, in consideration of services he had rendered to the King, as the

grant states, appointed successor to the Earl of Derby in the important

and lucrative office of seneschal or steward of Blackburnshire,

including Tottington, Rochdale, and Clitheroe, within the county of

Lancaster--a vast tract of country embracing within its limits the

forests of Blackburnshire and Bowland. These forests or chases were

extensive wastes inhabited by the roe, the stag, and the wolf, and

also the wild ox, which latter is said to have been imported into

these northern wilds from the Forest of Blackley, on the confines of

Manchester. According to popular tradition, the wild cattle which

still constitute one of the peculiarities of Lyme date their existence

there from the time that Sir Peter Legh held the seneschalship of

Blackburnshire, having, it is said, been conveyed by him from the

Lancashire forests to his chase at Lyme.

Sir Peter continued in his office for a period of six years, and with

the exception of an occasional lawsuit, when he was supposed to have

exceeded his powers, he appears to have discharged the duties of his

office to the general satisfaction of both sovereign and subject. In

1511 he resigned his post, the reason for which will hereafter appear.

He was then verging upon sixty, and had been a widower twenty years;

his sons had all attained to man's estate, and his only daughter had

been suitably mated, her husband being Lawrence, son and heir of Sir

John Warren, of Poynton. He seems, therefore, to have had a desire to

withdraw from the more active duties of life, and to spend his few

remaining years in peaceful quietude. The year which followed his

wife's death was that in which her brother, Thomas Savage, was made

Bishop of Rochester, from which see he was subsequently translated

to London, whence he was elevated to the Archbishopric of York, and

doubtless his brother-in-law's advice and counsel would be sought. Be

that as it may, Sir Peter Legh determined upon entering the Church, and

took orders, thenceforward describing himself as "knight and priest,"

and about the same time he set about the foundation of a chantry chapel

upon his estate at Lyme--the present church at Disley. The time was

one of much religious energy and life, notwithstanding that the faith

might be in a dim lantern and obscured by not a few superstitions and

scandals, but it must not be assumed that the only object of Sir Peter

Legh's foundation was that prayers might be offered for the dead by

the officiating priest. The place was removed from the mother church,

which at some seasons would be almost inaccessible, especially to the

aged and infirm; it would seem therefore to have been intended more as

a kind of oratory or domestic chapel appurtenant to his manor house,

and available for the neighbouring population, who would thus have

some of the ministrations of religion if not all the public means of

grace carried almost to their own doors. In the erection of it he took

counsel with the parsons of Wilmslow, Prestwich, and Gawsworth, and

also with Mr. Brygges, the master of Sir John Percival's Grammar School

at Macclesfield, then just founded; but curiously enough no mention is

made of the parson of Stockport, in whose parish it was to be situate,

and who would claim sacerdotal superiority. Sir Peter died before his

work was completed, but prior to his decease he bound his son by solemn

promises to finish the work he had begun. His idea seems to have been

to found a kind of Ecclesiastical College, with three priests and two

deacons, but unfortunately he did not define the exact character of the

foundation he contemplated, and the omission gave rise to protracted

litigation and much ill-feeling between the executors under his will

and his son and successor. It was of little consequence, however, for

within a very few years the Act was passed for the suppression of the

minor religious houses, and Sir Peter Legh's chantry chapel at Disley

shared the common fate, the various lands and tenements belonging to it

being seized into the hands of the King's Commissioners.

Sir Peter, who must have begun to feel the weight of years upon him,

made his will in 1521, but omitted to name his executors. In the

following year he executed two other wills, the latest of which, dated

December 1, 1522, has been printed by Mr. Earwaker from the original

in the muniments at Lyme, and is interesting from the very specific

directions given respecting his funeral, the ceremonies to be observed

at it, the monument to be erected over his remains, and especially the

adorning of it "wt a pictor aftr me and my wieff and or Armes," all

which his executors carefully observed. Two years after the execution

of his last will he is said to have erected the structure known as

Lyme Cage, the precursor of the present building, the precise purpose

of which it is difficult to define, unless it was intended as a stand

from which the ladies of Lyme might, without fatigue, enjoy the

pleasures of the chase. About the same time, too, he is found helping

in the work of rebuilding the tower of Lyme Church, and inviting the

"contributions of all pious persons," without whose help, so the appeal

declares, "the parish was not able to finish the work." His death

occurred at Lyme, August 11th, 1527, at the ripe age of seventy-two,

and in accordance with his testamentary instructions his body was

removed for burial by the side of his ancestors in the old church at

Winwick, where a sepulchral brass, with the "pictors" of himself and

his wife, was placed to his memory, which still remains in a tolerable

state of preservation, and which is more than usually interesting on

account of the peculiar character of his effigy. He is represented in

the plate-armour of the period, with a sword upon his side, and wearing

the spurs of knighthood; whilst over the armour of the soldier is

represented the chasuble and other vestments of the ecclesiastic. His

head is bare, with a tonsured crown denoting his priestly office. His

hands are uplifted, though not closed, and between them is a shield

of six quarterings. By his side is the effigy of his wife, habited

in a long robe, and wearing a headdress with lappets that depend on

each side; a girdle encircles her waist, and the hands are uplifted

as if in supplication. At their feet are graven the figures of their

several children, and there is also this inscription in black-letter

characters:--

ORATE PRO AIAB' PROVI VIRI, DNI PETRI LEGH, MILITIS, HIC TUMULATI,

ET DNÆ ELENE, UX. EJUS, FILIE JOHIS SAVAGE, MILITIS, CUJUS QUID

ELENE CORPUS SEPELITR. APUD BEWGENETT 17° DIE MENSIS MAIJ, ANNO

DOMINI MILLESIMO CCCCLXXXXJ. IDEMQ. PETRUS, POST IPIUS ELENÆ MORTEM

I. SACERDOTEM CANONICE, CONSECRAT OBIIT APUD LYME I. HANLEY XI. DIE

AUGUSTI AO. DI MVCXXVIJ.

Sir Peter Legh had issue five sons and one daughter. His third son,

Galfred or Gowther Legh, who resided at Woodcroft, founded the grammar

school at Winwick; his will bears date "Apryll 14, 1546," and a lengthy

abstract from the original in the registry at York will be found in

the "Lancashire Chantries," edited for the Chetham Society by the late

Canon Raines.

When Sir Peter Legh's body had been peacefully committed to the grave,

and his executors, in accordance with his expressed desire, had

provided the sumptuous tomb with its coverings of "marbull" and its

"pictors in brass," an inquiry was held before the Escheator of the

County of Chester respecting the lands he had held at the time of his

death, and it was then found that Peter Legh was his son and heir, and

of the age of 48. On the 22nd June, 1528, he had writ of livery granted

him of his patrimonial estates, and he then entered upon possession.

The document, which is on the Recognizance Rolls of Chester, is a

lengthy one, and recites several family deeds and settlements, and

gives a clear idea of the extent of the family estates at that time.

Peter Legh had then passed the meridian of life, and had been twice

married. His first wife, Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Gerard, of Bryn,

to whom he had been contracted in marriage by his father in 1487, when

he was only seven years of age, died on the 5th May, 1510, leaving him

two daughters, the eldest of whom, Cicely, had been given in marriage

three years previously to Thomas, son of Sir Thomas Boteler, of Bewsey,

the match having probably been arranged with the hope of putting an end

to the feud that had so long existed between the two families, just

as in the year before the contention of the rival houses of York and

Lancaster had been terminated by the union of the red and white roses;

though if this were the expectation of the promoters of the match their

hopes were doomed to disappointment, for the heads of the houses of

Lyme and Bewsey had still to appeal very frequently to the law courts

for help in the adjustment of their difficulties.

A year or two after the death of his first wife Peter Legh entered

into a marriage with Margaret, daughter of Nicholas Tyldesley, and by

her he had a numerous family--three sons and seven daughters. He is

said to have been afflicted with lameness, the result, it is supposed,

of a wound he had received at Flodden, in 1513, when his kinsman

Christopher Savage, the valiant mayor, and so many of the burgesses

of Macclesfield were numbered among the slain. Possibly the pain and

inconvenience experienced from his lameness had tended to sour his

temper, for he appears to have been of a more than usually litigious

disposition if we may judge from the many occasions in which he figured

in the law courts, sometimes at the instance of his neighbours, often

in connection with the Botelers, and occasionally to answer charges

brought by his father's trustees, who accused him of improperly

receiving and retaining the rents and property belonging to the Chantry

at Disley, which he had founded. How far these last-named accusations

were well founded is not clear. Possibly the religious feelings of the

son were not as intense as those of the sire, and hence the neglect

of a duty on the delegated performance of which the father had partly

rested his hopes of salvation; or it may be that he took a charitable

view of things and believed that his father's faults were not of a

very flagrant or inexpiable character, and therefore not requiring

a continuance of the posthumous invocations he had provided for.

Certain it is that when Peter Legh the younger made his own will in

anticipation of his approaching end, he made provision for the services

of a chaplain who should continue "only for seven years," evidently

believing that that period would be sufficient for his probation in the

purgatorial region.

Peter Legh ended his days at Bradley on the 4th December, 1541, and on

the 24th January following, an inquisition as to his Cheshire estates

was taken at Chester, when his eldest son by his second wife, who also

bore the name of Peter, and was then aged twenty-eight years, was found

to be his heir.

The year in which the battle of Flodden was fought was that in which

Peter Legh the younger first saw the light. In 1518, while still an

infant, for he was only five years of age, he was united in marriage

with his kinswoman, Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Gerard, of Bryn,

the Church's dispensation having been first obtained--a match that

brought him, it may be hoped, more happiness than fell to the lot of

his younger sister, Joan Legh, who when six years old was married

to his wife's brother, the son and heir of Sir Thomas Gerard, from

whom she was afterwards divorced. In May, 1544, two years after he

had entered upon his patrimony, he joined the expedition headed by

the Earl of Hertford to demand the surrender of the infant Queen of

Scotland, whom Henry had intended uniting in marriage with his son, and

in this way securing the union of the two kingdoms. The force marched

upon Edinburgh, which was speedily captured, pillaged, and burnt.

After this rough kind of courtship, and when they had plundered and

destroyed the towns and villages in the neighbourhood, the army moved

on to Leith, which was also demolished. Before taking ship on their

return the Earl of Hertford distributed honours to those who had been

conspicuous by their bravery; Peter Legh, of Lyme, was one of them, and

was then advanced to the rank of banneret.

After the accession of Edward VI. he was entrusted with the shrievalty

of Lancashire, and on the 17th November, 1553, the first year of Queen

Mary's reign, he was appointed to the office of sheriff of the county

of Chester, and re-appointed to the same office "during pleasure" in

the following year, an evidence that he enjoyed the confidence of both

sovereigns. The times were, however, troublous. A great religious

revolution, the seeds of which had been sown by "the preacher of

Lutterworth," attained to maturity in the time of Henry VIII. In the

"infant reign" of Edward VI. the Reformation continued to advance with

steady step, but at his death his sister Mary ascended the throne,

Popery was restored, and many of the people returned to the religious

observances of their fathers. The then Earl of Derby, acting upon the

maxims of his family, had been able to accommodate himself to the

changing circumstances of the times. Though a staunch Protestant under

Edward, he became an uncompromising Roman Catholic under Mary, orthodox

in every article of the faith except the restitution of the property

which he had filched from the Church, and about which his conscience

was somewhat tender, restitution being, in his estimation, inconsistent

with the traditional canon of "good luck;" his heresies on this head,

however, were amply atoned for by his readiness to persecute those who

adhered to the reformed doctrines. When George Marsh, the Lancashire

martyr, was taken before Justice Barton, at Smithell's Hall, for

preaching false doctrine in the church of Dean, the justice sent him

to the Earl of Derby, at Lathom, for further examination. "Then was I

called," says Marsh, "to my Lord and his council, and was brought into

the chamber of presence, where were Sir William Norris, Sir Piers a

Lee (Sir Peter Legh), Mr. Sherburn, the parson of Grapnel, Mr. Moore,

and others. My Lord asked me whether I was one of those that sowed evil

seed and dissension amongst the people; which thing I denied, desiring

to know my accusers, and what could be laid against me, but that I

could not know. Then he and his counsel would examine me themselves."

Sir Peter does not seem to have liked the office of Inquisitor, for,

though an active member of Lord Derby's council, he took care to absent

himself when Marsh was brought up a second time for examination. Very

likely his own religious opinions were a little undecided, and the

patience, meekness, and tranquillity of the martyr may have inclined

him towards the faith for which so worthy a man was to suffer so

terrible a death.

In the year in which Sir Peter was appointed to the shrievalty of

Cheshire a general muster of soldiers was ordered from the respective

hundreds of the county of Lancaster, and his name occurs in the muster

for West Derby as holding a command under the Earl of Derby. Three

years later a commission was issued to array, inspect, and exercise all

men-at-arms, and men capable of bearing arms, as well archers as horse

and foot men, so that they might be arrayed in arms to serve their

country in case of need. But all this preparation was of little avail,

for, after a short siege of eight days, the fortress of Calais, which

had cost the conquerors of Crescy eleven months to acquire, and which

for two hundred years had been held as the key to the dominions of the

the French King, was surrendered, and England found herself expelled

from the continent of Europe. The loss filled the kingdom with murmurs,

and overwhelmed the Queen with despair, and at the age of forty-two

years she descended childless to the grave, leaving the throne to her

half-sister Elizabeth, whose masculine habits and resolute will made

her better fitted to wield the sceptre.

In the year of Elizabeth's accession Sir Peter Legh caused the church

at Disley to be consecrated for Protestant worship, and dedicated to

the Virgin Mary. At the same time he added a peal of bells,[60] one of

which bore the following inscription:--

All people may behold and see

The works of good Sir Peter Legh.

and, as Bishop Gastrill states in his _Notitia_, the church was "made

parochiall upon a composition between Sir Peter Legh of Lyme and other

Inhabitants of Disley, and Sir Edward Warren, Patron of Stockport, and

the Inhabitants of that Parish. The Inhabitants of Disley to repair

their chapel, and to pay all dues to the mother church (of Stockport)."

The building which Sir Peter's grandfather had caused to be erected

would seem to have remained unoccupied, for between the legal

disputations and the religious commotions that were simultaneously

taking place the property intended for the endowment had never been

actually conveyed.

Having performed this duty, Sir Peter next set about the improvement of

his Cheshire estates, and obtained licence from the Queen to enclose

and empark his estate of Lyme, and to have free warren therein, as

well as in his adjoining lands. Hitherto the family had resided

chiefly at Bradley, a larger and more stately mansion than Lyme,

which, if a house of much antiquity, was one of comparatively small

dimensions. Sir Peter Legh was a man of considerable culture; he was

a scholar and an architect as well as a soldier, and during his time

some important additions were made to his Cheshire home. With his

love of architecture it was natural he should combine a taste for

heraldry, and in the pursuit of this study he received considerable

help from William Flower, Norroy King of Arms, who had previously

held the post of Chester Herald. About this time Flower was making

his "Visitation" of Cheshire; he was a welcome guest at Lyme, and,

doubtless, he was equally pleased to find a congenial spirit, for in

that age of religious zeal, persecution, and piety there were many

who, acting upon St. Paul's advice to Timothy, avoided "giving heed to

fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than

godly edifying," and who were indifferent about preserving their

distinctions of rank, and others who had no special taste for the

investigations of their descent, and were unable therefore to render

the professional herald any substantial help in the elucidation of

their family lineage. Very pleasant, no doubt, were the discourses and

learned the discussions of those two worthies as they roamed about the

chase, wandered over the Knight's Low, or sauntered beneath the shadow

of the Lyme Hills. But heralds are human, and are apt to be credulous

when dealing with knights and gentlemen possessing kindred tastes

and given to hospitality. Flower listened to the story of the former

Peter Legh's supposed share in the victory at Crescy, accepted parole

evidence, and endorsed the fable, giving it the stamp of official

confirmation in the special armorial augmentation--the hand and banner

to which we have previously referred--which Sir Peter caused to be so

profusely displayed in his mansion; he would seem also to have rendered

assistance in the tricking out of the fine series of heraldic shields

that were placed in the church of Disley, but which were removed some

fifty years ago to grace the windows of the drawing-room at Lyme, where

they may still be seen.

But other and more urgent matters demanded the attention of the lord

of Lyme. The country was much divided on the subjects of religion and

politics, and many of the old county families were anxious to see the

Catholic faith re-established. In November, 1569, occurred the "Rising

in the North," headed by the Earl of Northumberland.

Earl Percy there his ancyent spread,

The half moone shining all soe faire;

The Norton's ancyent had the crosse,

And the five wounds our Lord did beare.

No sooner was it suppressed than another abortive act of treason

occurred. The Earl of Derby was at the head of the lieutenancy of

Lancashire and Cheshire, and to guard against any fresh attempt to

disturb the public tranquillity, levies of troops, armour, and money

were made. Forced loans were also had recourse to--loans that might

more correctly have been termed benevolences or compulsory gifts, for

they were never intended to be repaid. In April, 1570, a letter under

the Privy Seal was sent to Sir Peter Legh, requiring him as the owner

of estates in Cheshire to furnish a "loan" of one hundred marks, and

simultaneously, as a Lancashire landowner, to lend £100.

On the 24th October, 1572, died Edward, the great and munificent Earl

of Derby, with whose death, in the opinion of Camden, "the glory of

English hospitality seemed to fall asleep." The funeral obsequies

were characterised with a splendour and magnificence that befitted

the semi-regal state he had maintained when living. Such a funeral

Lancashire had never seen before. The representatives of all the great

county families, with their banners and other heraldic insignia,

were there. Sir Peter Legh was present as one of the mourners, and

was joined with another mourner in offering the deceased Earl's

sword. It must have been a sorrowful day for him, for he had enjoyed

a large share of the Earl's confidence, and often had they taken

counsel together on the great questions that were then occupying the

public mind. But the confidence which had been shown by the father

was manifested in an equal degree by the son, and the letters still

preserved among the Lyme muniments show that Sir Peter Legh's advice

and counsel on private, as well as on public questions, was frequently

sought by the "great" Earl's successor. In 1585, when the Spaniards

were threatening a descent on the English coasts and the alarm of

invasion spread through the country, Henry, Earl of Derby, was

appointed by the Queen Lord Lieutenant of the two counties of Lancaster

and Chester, with power to appoint his own provost marshal, whose duty

was to enforce discipline and maintain order among the troops who were

to be drilled and trained and kept in readiness to repel the common

enemy. Sir Peter Legh owned extensive estates in both counties. He was

the tried and trusted friend of the Stanleys, and to him, therefore,

was committed the responsible office of provost marshal for the two

shires. We next hear of him, in his capacity of "provost marshal and

justice of peace for Lancashire and Cheshire," committing one Randolph

Norbury--who had been charged with "uttering very heinous words"

against the Queen's favourite, the Earl of Leicester, who had succeeded

to the Lancashire estates of the Botelers of Bewsey--to the keeper of

the Castle of Chester to be detained until he should be discharged by

due course of law.

The storm which had long been threatening was now about to burst. The

haughty Spaniard, impatient for conquest, and offended at Drake's

threatening to "singe his beard," ordered the "Invincible Armada," as

he presumptuously phrased it, to be prepared for sea. Great was the

preparation and intense the excitement in England. All along the coast

anxious watch was kept for days; from tower and turret and from every

vantage ground warders scanned the horizon with eager eyes. At length

the beacon fires were lit, proclaiming to Englishmen that the enemy was

in view, and tongues of flame shot up from every cliff and hill--

For swift to east and swift to west the warning radiance spread--

High on St. Michael's Mount it shone--it shone on Beachy Head.

Far o'er the deep the Spaniard saw, along each southern shire,

Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire.

Sir Peter Legh's kinsman, Thomas Legh, of Adlington, was the "stout old

sheriff" of Cheshire that year. He himself was still provost marshal

of the two palatine counties, and we may be sure at such a time he

would be by no means idle. He was too old to again unsheath the sword,

but if he were unable to render personal help he could yet render

pecuniary aid, and that he readily did, for we read that in response

to the Queen's appeal he contributed one hundred pounds--a substantial

sum in those days, and a welcome addition to an exchequer by no means

overflowing. It was almost his last public act, for before two more

winters had passed over his head he had sunk peacefully to his rest,

full of years and honours. He died at Lyme, on the 6th December, 1589,

at the age of seventy-six; his body was carried to Winwick, and there

buried in the family chapel where so many of his race had been laid

before him.

What has been truly called the "great Eliza's golden time" seems to

have been the golden era of Lyme as it was the golden age of England.

The Sir Peter Legh of that day was a scholar as well as a gentleman,

a courtier as well as a soldier; brave and generous, graceful and

gifted, with a knowledge of the world, and a large experience,

united with consummate prudence. He was the friend of Essex and of

Leicester, and the trusted counsellor of two successive Earls of Derby;

a frequent visitor at Lathom, he was familiar with the semi-regal

state and munificence there maintained, and in his own house at Lyme

he observed a dignity and bounteous hospitality such as none of his

predecessors had equalled. The age was one of growing refinement and

general activity of intellect, resulting from the growing opulence of

the country. England had recovered from the state of exhaustion in

which the Wars of the Roses had left her, and men had more leisure for

the cultivation of the elegances of life. While those daring spirits,

Drake and Hawkins, and Howard, and Frobisher, were founding our naval

supremacy, Sackville and Spencer, and Marlowe and Sidney were calling

up a great native literature. Raleigh was in his teens, and in the

yeoman's house at Stratford was budding into manhood he who was to

Show, sustain, and nourish all the world.

England had then become a true garden of the Hesperides; musical talent

had spread from the Court to the people; literature was cultivated;

and the drama, "which taught the unlearned the knowledge of many

famous histories," was emerging from childishness into vigorous life,

and producing its effect upon the national character. With the great

diffusion of wealth men took pleasure and pride in adding to the

stateliness and beauty of their permanent abodes. Architecture is said

to mark the growth and development of human society, and to express the

needs and ideas of changeful centuries. The age of Elizabeth was truly

a building age; the day of the gloomy keep, the drawbridge, and the

portcullis--the time

When men built less against the elements

Than their next neighbours

was passed. Property was secure; and the fortified castle had given

place to the stately mansion, and in almost every parish the country

gentleman had taken the place of the feudal barons or the mitred abbots

who had previously been the owners of vast territorial districts. As

William Brown, in his "Pastorals," remarked--

Here on some mount a house of pleasure vaunted,

Where once the warring cannon had been planted.

Sir Peter Legh, as we have seen, greatly enlarged, if he did not

entirely rebuild, his mansion at Lyme; he greatly improved his estate,

and had his demesne emparked, so that the fallow deer which tenanted it

could be separated from the wild cattle that roamed over the moorland

wastes of Macclesfield Forest. His progenitors for generations had been

foresters in fee; he not only enjoyed the privilege, but, as the deputy

of the Earl of Derby, exercised various offices in connection with the

forest. Hunting was his favourite pastime, and he appears to have been

generous in the distribution of game and venison among his friends

and neighbours. In the "Shuttleworth Accounts" there are frequent

references to Sir Peter's bounty. Thus we read--"Paid for twoe pounds

of peper that wente to Lyme when the staggs were sent to London, 5s.

8d.;" "To the keeper at Lyme for killing two staggs, 4s.;" "Unto a man

who broughte a shoulder of a stagge from Lyme, xijd.;" "Unto a keeper

of Sir Pyeres Legh who brought venison, 5s." Later on we read--"Given

unto a mane of Sir Peteres Lyghte which broughte rabettes and pigiones,

xijd.;" "To a man of Sir Peter Lyghe, which broughte fisshe to the

Smitheles, ijs.;" "To a mane of Sir Peter Lyghe, which broughte a fatte

buke to Smytheles, vs.;" "To Lytell Robin which brought smelts from my

Ladie Lyge, iiijd.;" "To Sir Peter Lyghe's mane which brought a fatte

buke to Smytheles, vis.;" "Sir Peter Lyghe's keeper, which brought

the buke to Gawthorpe, xs." In 1584 the great Earl of Leicester,

Elizabeth's favourite, is found writing to Sir Peter, thanking him for

a hind he had sent, and also for a hound, probably one of the Lyme

mastiffs, a breed that was famous it seems even then. We have already

said that the lord of Lyme enjoyed the friendship of the Earl of Essex,

Leicester's great rival. Essex was a guest at Lyme, and Wilson, the

historian, who was in his retinue, in his journal records a curious

incident respecting the hunting of the deer on that occasion. He

writes:--

Sir Peter Lee, of Lime in Cheshire, invited my Lord one summer to

hunt the stagg. And having a great stagg in chase, and many gentlemen

in pursuite, the stagg took soyle; and divers (whereof I was one)

alighted and stood with swords drawne to have a cut at him at his

coming out of the water.

The staggs there being wonderfull fierce and dangerous made us

youthes more eager to be at him. But he escaped us all. And it was my

misfortune to be hindered of coming near him, the way being sliperie,

as by a fall; which gave occasion to some who did not know mee, to

speake as if I had falne for feare, which being told mee, I left the

stagg, and followed the gentleman who first spoke it. But I found him

of that cold temper, that, it seems, his words made an escape from

him, as by his denial and repentance it appeared.

But this made mee more violent in persuite of the stagg, to recover

my reputation. And I happened to be the only horseman in when the

dogs set him up at bay; and approaching nere him on horseback, he

broke through the dogs and run at mee, and tore my horse's side with

his hornes close to my thigh. Then I quitted my horse, and grew more

cunning (for the dogs had set him up again), stealing behind him with

my sword and cut his hamstrings, and then got upon his back and cut

his throate: which as I was doing, the company came in and blamed my

rashness for running such a hazard.

Sir Peter Legh believed that--

The forest music is to hear the hounds

Rend the thin air and with a lusty cry

Awake the drowsy echo, and confound

Their perfect language in a mingled voice.

But though, like Percy, in Chevy Chase, he delighted--

To drive the deer with hound and horn,

hunting the stag was not the only amusement he provided for his

friends. The Mysteries and Miracle Plays had then given place to

"stage-plays, interludes, and comedies;" though the drama was only

in its puling infancy, it was rising into popular favour. My Lord of

Leicester had his company of players, who performed before the Queen

at the Kenilworth revels in 1575, when the whole country side flocked

to the great earl's great castle. Doubtless there was amongst the

spectators the bright son of the well-to-do burgess of Stratford, who

would probably there received his first impressions of the drama, as

he witnessed the rude masques, the storial shows of Gascoigne, and

the allegory of the Lady of the Lake. The great Earl of Derby had

a company of players in Lancashire, who, according to the Stanley

papers, relieved the dulness of the Puritan chaplain's preaching on

the Sunday morning by a theatrical performance before the household

in the same mansion on the Sunday evening; and Sir Peter Legh, not to

be behind hand, had a company of his own. The severe moralists of the

age were strongly opposed to stage plays, and accounted them greater

abominations than drinking, dicing, bear-baiting, and cock-fighting,

and the law defined as "vagabonds" all players who were "not belonging

to any baron of this realm, or towards any other person of greater

degree." Sir Peter Legh's actors not only performed at Lyme and

enlivened the houses of his neighbours, but we read in the Shuttleworth

accounts already referred to that in the "Armada" year they appeared

at Gawthorpe and were paid for a performance in the hall there. Sir

Peter's liberality and munificence added to his popularity, and caused

him to be looked up to with reverence and respect as well by his equals

as by the common people. As we have said, he died in 1589, at the ripe

age of 76; but Dame Margaret, his wife, must have survived him several

years, for among the family portraits at Lyme there is one of her,

taken in 1595, when she was in her ninetieth year. By her Sir Peter had

a numerous issue--five sons and two daughters. The youngest of the two

daughters, Margery, married for her first husband Sir Robert Barton, of

Smithells, in Lancashire, and concerning their union tradition tells a

pathetic story which Mr. Leigh has enshrined in verse and given to the

world in his entertaining "Lays and Legends of Cheshire," under the

title of "The Loves of Sir Robert Barton and Margery Legh."

Sir Peter Legh outlived his eldest son, also named Peter, who died

at Haydock about the year 1570, and was succeeded by his grandson,

who bore the same baptismal name. He was born in 1563, and must

therefore have been in his twenty-seventh year when he succeeded to the

patrimonial lands. While yet a minor he had received a training well

fitted to enable him to discharge the duties that would devolve upon

him as the owner of extensive estates. He had been a frequent guest of

the Earl of Derby, and in the lordly hall of Lathom and at the kingly

court of Castle Rushen he acquired a grace and dignity of manner, and

at Gray's Inn, where he entered as a student, he gained a knowledge of

the laws which in due course he would be called to administer. When a

youth of fourteen he acted as page to Henry, Earl of Derby, and held up

his train when he made a visit of ceremony to the town of Liverpool,

and seven years later he was in the same Earl's suite as "one of his

gentlemen waiters," when, as Elizabeth's ambassador, he went to invest

the King of France with the Order of the Garter. In September, 1585,

four months after he had entered at Gray's Inn, he married Margaret,

daughter of Sir Gilbert Gerard, of Bromley, Master of the Rolls. For

some cause or other the marriage had been delayed, as the settlement

bears date 1st June, 1579. In the following year he was called upon

to bear his part in the Great Council of the Nation, being chosen

one of the representatives in Parliament for the ancient borough of

Wigan, his wife's kinsman, William Gerard, being his co-representative.

The time was one of much anxiety, consequent upon the well-founded

apprehensions of a Spanish invasion and the decisive indications of

plots for the deposition of Elizabeth and the recognition of Mary's

claim to the English crown--that in which the fierce indignation in

England against the bigoted King of Spain led the Government to break

through the superstitious love of peace and boldly encounter Philip

on his own territory. In 1589 Mr. Legh was again elected one of the

representatives of Wigan, and in the following year his grandfather,

Sir Peter Legh, passed to his rest, when he succeeded as next heir male

to the family estates. His wealth and social status marked him as a

fitting person to be entrusted with the shrievalty of Cheshire, and in

1595 that dignity was conferred upon him. Proud of his ancestry, he was

no less proud of the home of his ancestors. His grandfather had rebuilt

the mansion at Lyme and spent much of his time there, maintaining

great estate; the older mansion of Bradley had in consequence been

comparatively neglected and allowed to fall into decay, and in 1597, as

appears by an inscription on one of the beams, he set about repairing

the ravages which time had made, thoroughly reinstated it, and at the

same time adorned the wall of the great staircase with an heraldic

shield of eight quarterings, which may be seen at the present day. On

the 2nd July, 1598, just a month before the death of the illustrious

Lord Burleigh, the hoary minister, in whom

Old experience did attain

To something like prophetic strain,

he attended at the Royal Palace in Greenwich, and there received

the honour of knighthood at the hands of Queen Elizabeth. Two years

later--43 Elizabeth--he was elected to represent the county of Chester

in Parliament, in the place of Sir William Beeston of Beeston, Knight,

his co-representative being Sir Thomas Holcroft, of Vale Royal, and the

same year, having completed the restoration of his house at Bradley,

he rendered the like good service to the church which his ancestors

had founded at Disley, re-roofing it and putting the fabric in a state

of complete repair. While this work was going on he was busied in

making important additions to his territorial estate, having entered

into a contract with Roger and Hamer Bruche for the purchase of their

ancestral domain of Bruche, with the hall and lands pertaining to it,

which thenceforward formed part of the Legh estates.

On the 24th March, 1603, the most glorious reign in our country's

annals was brought to a close; it was a sad day for "merrie England,"

for it was that on which, in the royal palace at Richmond, in the

seventieth year of her age, and the forty-fifth of her reign, worn out

with the cares of State and wearied with the fierce contest between her

intensely womanly nature and her sense of duty as the queen of a great

people, the most powerful and most beloved monarch in Europe, Queen

Elizabeth, lay upon her cushions wrestling with death, and terminated

a long life of power, prosperity, and glory. Within three short months

of that day death had cast a shadow over the home of Sir Peter Legh.

On the 23rd July, 1603, he had the misfortune to lose his wife, the

Lady Margaret Legh, who was then in her thirty-third year. She appears

to have been staying in London at the time, for her body was buried in

the church of Fulham, in Middlesex, where a sumptuous monument with

her effigy upon it was erected to her memory, and which may still be

seen near the north door of the chancel. She is represented as seated

beneath an arched canopy with an infant upon her lap and another by her

side. Over the head is a shield of arms, and on the face of the tomb is

the following inscription:--

To ye memy. or what else dearer remayneth of yt verteous Lady, La.

Margaret Legh, daughter of him yt sometimes was Sir Gilbert Gerrard,

Knt. and mr of ye Rolles in ye Highe Court of Chancery, Wife to Sir

Peter Legh of Lyme, in ye county of Chester, Kt., and by him ye mother

of seven sons, Pierce, Frauncis, Radcliffe, Thomas, Peter, Gilbert,

and John, with two daughters, Anne and Catherine; of wch Radcliffe,

Gilbert, and John, deceased infants, the rest yet surviving to the

happy increase of ther house. The years she enjoyed ye world were 33.

yt her husband enjoyed her 17, at which period she yielded her soul

to the blessedness of long rest and her body to the earth, July 3rd,

1603. This inscription in ye note of piety and love by her sad husband

is here devotedly placed.

Among the family portraits at Lyme there is one in the "state bedroom"

of the deceased lady--a full length--"Sir Peter Legh's first lady

that was Lord Gerard of Bromley's daughter, master of the rolls." She

is represented in the costume of the Elizabethan era, with the large

hooped petticoats, ruff, &c.

When James of Scotland was proclaimed as the successor of Elizabeth on

the English throne, Sir Peter Legh deemed it expedient to sue out a

general pardon; not that he was conscious of having done any wrong, but

in those days it was a convenient mode of settling old scores, for by

paying a fine into the exchequer a general absolution could be obtained

for all sins of omission or commission, real or imaginary.

Having paid his money and obtained the bill of indemnity which enabled

him to begin the new reign without a blot, he was free to take unto

himself a second wife, and he found a suitable partner in the person

of Dorothy Egerton, the daughter of Sir Richard Egerton, of Ridley,

and the widow of Richard Brereton, of Worsley, in Lancashire, and

Tatton, in Cheshire--the _quasi_ sister of Thomas Egerton Lord Viscount

Brackley, Elizabeth's Lord Keeper, and subsequently James the First's

famous Lord Chancellor, the progenitor of the Earls and Dukes of

Bridgewater that were, and the Earls of Ellesmere, and Lords Egerton

of Tatton that are. The marriage settlement, which is among the Lyme

deeds, bears date 11th March, 1604, Dame Brereton having then been a

widow more than five years, while Sir Peter had been a widower only

eight months. The match was in many respects a wise one; the lady was

of good birth, richly dowered, kind hearted and benevolent, and, being

childless herself, she had the good fortune to gain the affection and

respect of Sir Peter's children. A few years after the marriage, Sir

Peter, who united with the love of letters a love of art, had her

portrait painted as he had previously had those of himself and his

first wife. The picture is said, though on somewhat doubtful authority,

to be the work of Cornelius Jansen; it is a three-quarters, and one

of the finest in the collection at Lyme. The lady is represented as

habited in the costume of the time, with a lace ruff and necklace of

beads, and a pet dog sitting upon the table by her side. In one corner

is depicted a shield, with the arms of Egerton, of Ridley, and three

other quarterings, and in the opposite corner is the inscription:--

"_Ætatissuæ 50, Anno Dni. 1615._"

For some years after his second marriage, Sir Peter seems to have led

a comparatively uneventful life. When not engaged in the fulfilment of

his duties as Lieutenant-governor, or Captain of the Isle of Man, he

spent much of his time on his Lancashire and Cheshire estates; Lyme

was his favourite residence, and was frequented by the best company,

and often the scene of much gaiety and display. The only shadow that

darkened his path was cast by his eldest son, Piers, who, while at

Magdalene College, Cambridge, appears to have disappointed his hopes,

or been guilty of some irregularity that necessitated his sending for

him home, being, as he says, "enforced to do so for cause." This was

not the only trouble, for about the year 1619 the young man married,

presumably without his father's consent, and probably without his

knowledge, though the lady was in every way of equal rank with himself,

being the daughter of Sir John Saville, of Howley, in Yorkshire, the

first Lord Saville of Pontefract. Mr. Beamont inclines to the opinion

that the great difference between the political views of the two houses

of Lyme and Howley was very likely the reason which occasioned Piers

Legh to marry Anne Saville without waiting for his father's consent. Be

that as it may, the father was much displeased, an estrangement ensued,

and his intercourse with his son was never renewed. Piers Legh's

married life seems to have been brief; little is known respecting him,

and it is not known with certainty when he died or when he was buried,

but it was commonly believed, though erroneously, as will hereafter be

seen, that he predeceased his father some years, having by his wife,

who survived him many years, one son and three daughters.

Sir Peter Legh attained to a greater age than many of his ancestors;

born near the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, it was his lot to serve

three successive sovereigns--the Maiden Queen, James the First, and

Charles the First--and he appears to have been hale and strong until

within a short period of his death, which occurred at Lyme on the 17th

February, 1635-6. Three days after, his body was buried at Winwick

in accordance with his expressed desire, and from the unusual haste

with which the funeral arrangements were carried out it has been

surmised that he must have fallen a victim to the plague or some other

infectious disease. In his will, which was executed on the 18th January

immediately preceding his death, he desired that his body might be

buried with little pomp, and a stone with a brass placed over his

grave. The brass still remains, the only memorial recording his burial,

and bears this inscription:--

Here underneath this stone lyeth buried the body of Sir Peter Legh,

Kt., who departed this life, February 17th, 1635. Ætatis suæ 73.

Sir Peter's _Inquisition post mortem_ was taken at Wigan on the

18th April, 1636, and some idea of the extent of the territorial

possessions of the family may be gathered from the following list of

messuages, mills, lands, wards, rents, &c., in Lancashire, Cheshire,

and Westmoreland, given as having been held by him at the time of

his death:--Bradley Manor, Burtonwood Manor, Haydock Manor, Bruch

Manor, and Hanley Manor; Halton, Pemberton, Norley, Bridgemore,

Newton-in-Makerfield, Lawton, Golborne, Fernhead, Hindley, Kenion,

Warrington, Sankey Magna and Parva, Overforde, Wolstone, Penketh,

Garston, Ollerton, Much Woulton, Much Hoole, Walton-le-Dale, Ulnes

Walton, Bretherton, Eccleston-juxta-Crofton, Bold, Childwall, Croston,

Poulton, the advowson of Claughton-juxta-Horneby, the church of

Shevington, and the church near Prescott. Lands, &c., in Westmorland,

Lyme, Grapnall, Disley, Broome, Heatley, Sutton, Marple, Offerton,

Norbury, Weyley (Whaley), Macclesfield, Latchford, Warburton,

Kettleshulme, and Bridgemoor.

By the same inquisition it was found that Sir Peter Legh's next heir

was his grandson, also named Peter, and that he was then of the age

of thirteen and upwards. Being a minor, his mother, then describing

herself as "Anne Legh, of Ripley in the countie of Yorke, widowe,"

obtained from the courts of wards and liveries the custody, wardship,

and marriage of her son Piers, paying to the King the sum of £2,000

as the consideration. Before he had attained his majority the young

Lord of Lyme was chosen as one of the representatives of Newton in

the Parliament which assembled at Westminster on the 3rd November,

1640--the most memorable in the annals of England--the Long Parliament,

which endured for thirteen years, and which has been the theme of the

most extravagant hatred and the most exaggerated praise. He did not,

however, long enjoy his senatorial honours, for happening to become

involved in one of the quarrels so common in those days, a duel was the

result, and he was mortally wounded in the encounter. The affair is

thus referred to in "The Perfect Diurnall of Passages in Parliament,"

under date Friday, January 28th, 1641-2:--

This evening Sir Peter Lee, a member of the House of Commons, was hurt

dangerously in a duell by one Master Mansfield.

There is an inaccuracy in styling him "Sir" Peter, for he had not

received the honour of knighthood, and there is an error, too, in the

name of his antagonist, whom Lord Herbert of Cherbury describes as his

nephew, the son of Sir John Browne, and who, he says, "had the fortune

to kill one Lee of a great family in Lancashire."[61] He lingered for

some days--sufficiently long to enable him to dispose of his affairs,

as will be seen by the following copy of his will with the codicil

annexed:--

28 January, 1641.--Peter Legh, esqr., being dangerouslie wounded

maketh his desires and requests as followeth, viz. The barron of

Kinderton to take the moneyes in his trunk which is about 70li.

Desired him to speake to his unckle Frauncis to be good to his mother

and sisters. Sir Willm. Gerrarde to have his dun nage.

1 February, 1641.--He desireth his unckle Frauncis over and above his

owne bountie to his sisters, that he will for his sake give them cli.

a peece. To his man Ralph Arnefielde the xiiijli. he oweth him to be

made upe xlli. The boy here with him, Myles Leighe vli., his footboy

at Blackley vli., and every servant at Blackley xs. a peece. Ralphe

Swindells xli. He giveth his greye nage he had of Mr. Brathwates [his

sister's husband] to Captain Broughton. His sword at his lodging in

towne to Mr. Carrel Mulineux and praieth God he may make better use

of it than he hath done, and his case of pistoles. His watche to his

aunt Lettice Leigh. His cloathes to his three servants, the boy at

Blakeley, Ralphe Arnfield, and Myles Leighe. Desireth his father to

see his bodie buried at Winwicke, and Mr. Jones, who hath beene with

him at his sickness, to preach at his funerall. To his brother Tom his

sword at Blakeley, and a gray nage he bought of the barron. To his

father his white mare and best saddle. Praieth his unkele Frauncis

to consider the debts he oweth Sir Wm. Gerrarde and all the debts

he oweth to others. To his friend Mr. Roger Moston his caen. To his

unkele Frauncis the sword that was his grandfather's, his great seale

ringe, and his greate fowlinge piece. Desireth his unkle to give his

mother cli. a year during her life if she give the porcon in money she

hath to his sisters, which if she otherwaies dispose of them cli. in

money.

[Illustration: Handwritten signature]

I say my hand.

Witnesses hereof

Raphe Assheton K.

John Jones

Roger Mostyn

Tho. Munckas.

1641.

In this will he expressly mentions his father as then living, a

statement that is in conflict with the decree of the Court of Wards and

Livery of November 22nd, 1624, which represents him as having "dyed in

his (father's) displeasure." The later years of the father's life are

shrouded in much mystery, and it may be that after the quarrel with Sir

Peter Legh he had disappeared, and, being for a time unheard of, was

supposed to be dead; certain it is that he was not among the mourners

at Sir Peter's funeral at Winwick, in 1635, and he is not named in the

inquisition taken after his death, his son being therein named as the

heir to his grandfather.

The "unkele Frauncis" whom young Peter Legh so affectionately remembers

in his will was the second son of Sir Peter. He resided at Blackley

Hall, near Manchester, which, with the demesne, had been conveyed to

him in 1636 by Ralph Assheton, of Middleton, "in consideracon of the

full somme of two thousand pounds of currant English money."

Peter Legh died on the 2nd February, the day after he had added the

codicil to his will. His body was brought from London and interred in

the family vault at Winwick, the burial being thus recorded in the

parish register:--

1641-2 Feb. 14. Mr. Peter Legh grandchild of Sir Peter Lee of Lime,

slaine in London by Mr. Browne, and buried at Winwicke ye 14 day.

Peter had never married, and by this fatality the direct succession

to the territorial possessions of the family was broken after having

passed uninterruptedly through eleven generations, in every one of

which the eldest son bore the name of Peter or Piers.

On the 14th April, 1642, an inquisition was taken at Wigan before the

Escheator of Lancashire. It is a lengthy document, and, after reciting

many family deeds and settlements, states that Peter Legh had died

while under age; that his sisters Frances, Margaret, and Elizabeth

were his heirs, and that Francis Legh (of Blackley, his uncle) was

heir male of the body of Sir Peter Legh, and then of the age of fifty

and more. He did not long enjoy possession of the estates, his death

occurring February 2nd, 1643-4. He had to wife Anne, the daughter and

heiress of Sir Edward Fenner, of Hampton, in Oxfordshire, knight; but

as this lady, who survived, bore him no issue, the estates at his

death, reverted to his nephew, Richard Legh, the second surviving

son of his brother, the Rev. Thomas Legh, D.D., rector of Sefton and

Walton, in Lancashire, by his wife, Lettice, daughter and co-heiress

of Sir George Calveley, of Lea, a descendant of Sir Hugh Calveley, the

famous Cheshire hero, who fought so gallantly at Auray and Navarette in

the days of the third Edward. Born on the 7th May, 1634, Francis Legh

was under ten years of age when he succeeded to the family inheritance;

his father had been dead five years, but his mother was still living,

though she did not survive many years, her death occurring October 14,

1648. Her body was interred in the Lyme Chapel in Macclesfield Church,

where, against the east wall, there is a black marble tablet to her

memory bearing a long Latin inscription.

It was a fortunate circumstance that Richard Legh, when he so

unexpectedly succeeded to the lordship of Lyme and the vast territorial

possessions in Lancashire and Westmorland his progenitors had acquired,

was too young to be entrusted with the control of his own affairs. He

had not completed his tenth year at the time of his uncle's decease.

It was an eventful period in England's history: the storm which had

so long been gathering upon the political horizon had burst; eighteen

months before, the shot which signalled the commencement of the great

civil war had been fired at Manchester; Edgehill had been fought;

and England's purest patriot had been laid to rest, uncenotaphed but

not forgotten, in the church at Great Hampden, beneath the shadow of

the Chiltern Hills. Sovereign and subject were separated for ever,

and each, wearied of the other, no longer sought for peace; the loud

beating of the warlike pulse drowned the faint, decaying traditions

of the miseries which had attended the ancient domestic feuds;

hostile armies were marching and countermarching; every manor house

was put by its owner in a position of defence, and every Englishman

declared for King or Parliament and prepared himself for the struggle,

never swerving for a moment from what he believed to be the path of

honourable, though perilous duty. Amid these political distractions

Richard Legh's youthfulness stood him in good stead; too young to

take any part in the strife then being waged, he escaped many of the

services and exactions he would otherwise have been subjected to had

he been suspected of any strong partiality either for the Cavaliers

or the Roundheads. On the 7th May, 1655, he attained his majority,

and in the following year he was returned as one of the members for

Cheshire in the Parliament which assembled at Westminster on the 7th

September, 1656, his colleagues in the representation being Sir George

Booth, of Dunham; Thomas Marbury, of Marbury; and Peter Brooke, of

Mere--a Parliament notable as that in which the ancient privileges

were violated on the broadest scale, no member being admitted who

could not produce a certificate that he was "approved by his Highness's

Council." As Richard Legh was not among the excluded members, he must

have satisfied the requirements of the "Council," and been therefore

accounted one of the "betrayers of the liberties of England;" but he

took little part in the proceedings, and when his name was called on

the memorable occasion when it was intended that the Protector should

be invested with the powers and the title of King he was reported to

have gone away into the country "dangerously sick." After the death

of Cromwell, in 1659, and when his son Richard had been proclaimed as

his successor in the Protectorate, a new Parliament was called, and

Mr. Legh was again returned as one of the members for Cheshire; John

Bradshaw, the regicide, being returned with him. It had, however, but a

very brief existence. The members assembled on the 29th January (1659);

on the 27th April a proclamation was issued dissolving it, and the

members returned to their own homes. With the fall of the Parliament

fell Richard Cromwell; the sceptre which had proved too heavy for

his grasp, was laid aside, and, as Thurloe wrote to Lockhart, he was

"excluded from having any share in the Government," and "retired as

a private gentleman." Mr. Legh appears to have been concerned in the

Royalist insurrection--the "Cheshire Rising," as it was called--which

occurred in the following year, when Sir George Booth appeared in arms

and obtained possession of the city of Chester, the object being the

recall of the exiled Stuarts, and he was for a time incarcerated in

York Castle; but the unsuccessful "Rising" was quickly followed by the

accomplishment of the design it failed in; Charles was restored to the

Crown, and Mr. Legh regained his liberty.

On the 29th May, 1660, Charles the Second passed in triumphal

procession through the streets of London. The delirium of joy

manifested on that occasion was no mere exuberance of delight, but

the expression of the nation's belief that the Government of England

had again a solid foundation upon which peace and security, liberty

and religion, might be established. Peace and good order being

restored, Mr. Legh, who had now attained the age of twenty-six, had

time to attend to matters affecting his own domestic happiness. On

the 1st January, 1660-1, he took to himself a wife in the person of

Elizabeth, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Chicheley, of Wimpole,

in Cambridgeshire, descended from a brother of Archbishop Chicheley,

the munificent founder of All Souls', Oxford, and himself Charles the

Second's Master of the Ordnance and the Chancellor of the Duchy of

Lancaster.

On the 23rd of April following the King was crowned at Westminster, and

it is not improbable that Richard Legh and his young bride were among

the guests in Westminster Hall on the occasion when Samuel Pepys was so

dazzled with the fine hangings, and the brave ladies, and the "musique"

of the violins; though they could hardly have been among the "many

great gallants, men and women," who laid hold of the garrulous diarist,

and would have him drink the King's health upon his knees, kneeling

upon a faggot, which he did. Certain it is that the lord of Lyme was in

favour with the Court, and when Charles proposed to found the new order

of the "Knights of the Royal Oak," in which only those distinguished

for their loyalty were to be admitted, his name was placed among those

on whom the distinction was proposed to be conferred. The order was,

however, soon abolished, "it being wisely judged," as Noble, in his

"Memoirs of the Cromwell Family," remarks, "that it was calculated only

to keep awake animosities which it was the part of wisdom to lull to

sleep."

In the same year Mr. Legh purchased from Sir Thomas Fleetwood the

barony of Newton-in-Makerfield, or Newton-in-the-Willows, as it is

more generally styled, thus adding considerably to the territorial

possessions of his house as well as to his social status in the county.

Newton, which in Saxon times was of sufficient importance to give name

to one of the hundreds of Lancashire, by virtue of a charter granted in

the first year of Elizabeth's reign, had the privilege of returning two

members to Parliament conferred upon it, a dignity it retained until

disfranchised by the Reform Bill of 1832. The nomination of members

was in the Baron of Newton until the year 1620, when the franchise

became vested in the burgesses possessing freeholds of the value of

40s. a year and upwards, but this was only a nominal change, for, the

burgage tenures being chiefly in the lord of the manor, the election

was as much in him after the right came nominally into the hands of

the burgesses as it was before, the place continuing to rank among the

nomination boroughs until the Reform Act, and thus the Leghs acquired

with the barony a seat in the legislature whenever they might choose to

seek that honour. Mr. Legh sat as one of the members for the borough in

the Convention Parliament of 1660, and again in that which assembled a

few days after the King's coronation. In the succeeding year (September

20, 1662) he was appointed a deputy-lieutenant of Cheshire, and on the

26th April the same office in Lancashire was, by the King's command,

conferred upon him by the Earl of Bridgewater. It was while holding

these offices that Mr. Legh found himself in a position of some

difficulty with regard to a distinguished visitor who it was intimated

had expressed his intention of becoming a guest at Lyme. The Duke of

Monmouth, the eldest of the many illegitimate children of Charles

II.--"the Duke whom," as Evelyn says, "for distinction they called the

Protestant Duke, though the son of an abandoned woman the people made

their idol," had suddenly returned from temporary exile and set up a

claim to be considered the legitimate heir to the throne in opposition

to the Duke of York, who, on account of his Popish proclivities, the

Whigs of the time sought to disinherit. The vanity of the bastard son

of Lucy Waters being inflamed by the enthusiastic demonstrations of

the people, he made a "glorious progress" through the country, which

is referred to by Dryden in his "Absalom and Achitophel," who thus

represents the Earl of Shaftesbury as remonstrating with him on his

doubts and apprehensions when a crown was within his view:--

Did you for this expose yourself to show,

And to the crowd bow popularly low?

For this your glorious progress next ordain,

With chariots, horsemen, and a numerous train?

Cheshire was among the counties in which he sought to keep alive the

political cry by appealing to popular opinion against the dreaded

predominance of Popery, and in 1683 we find one of his partisans,

Caryll, Lord Molineux, thus writing to Mr. Legh:--"At Chester they

are in consternation how to treat the Monmouth Duke. You, I hope, are

settled in your resolution of entertaining him when he comes to Lyme,

which, I hear, will be very soon." But Mr. Legh was not so "settled;"

on the contrary, we find him with two of his brother magistrates busied

in taking the depositions of certain individuals respecting the Duke

and his progress, and transmitting them to the Secretary of State, for

which he received his Majesty's thanks.

[Illustration: Handwritten signature]

Monmouth's progress through Cheshire was attended with considerable

tumult, and he is said to have given countenance to riotous assemblies,

whose violence was such that they forced open the doors of the

Cathedral at Chester, destroyed most of the painted glass, and tore

the surplices of the clergy into rags; they also broke the font to

pieces, pulled down some of the monuments, attempted to demolish the

organ, and committed other outrages. A memoir of his reception in the

city mentions several arts to gain popularity not unworthy of notice.

The infant of the Mayor was christened Henrietta, Monmouth acting as

sponsor, and the following day (August 25, 1683,) it is said that he

went to the horse races at Wallasey in Wirral, where he rode his own

horse and won the plate, which he presented in the evening to his

goddaughter.

While these events were transpiring Mr. Legh occupied himself with

rebuilding the old Episcopal chapel of St. Peter on his Newton

estate, and providing for the better maintenance of the incumbent.

Two years later, on the accession of James II., he was reappointed

Deputy-lieutenant of Cheshire, but he did not long retain the office,

his death occurring at Lyme on the 31st August, 1687, at the age of

53. His body was removed to Winwick, and there interred in the family

vault on the 6th of the following month, when a sermon, entitled "The

Christian's Triumph over Death," was preached by the Rev. William

Shippen, Rector of Stockport. This sermon, which was afterwards

published, contains a brief sketch of his life and character, which Mr.

Earwaker, in his "East Cheshire," thus summarises:--

The greatest Excellencies of his Ancestors seem'd to Concenter in

his Person. The singular Piety of his Grandfather, Sir Peter; the

extraordinary Charity and Benignity of his Uncle, Francis; the

Constancy and Fixedness of Religion of his Father; the quickness and

Gaiety of Spirit of his Mother. Educated at the University in his

"Blooming Youth", and "refined and finished afterwards at City and

Court," he was "rendered a most accomplished and useful gentleman both

to his Prince and Country." He added "the Parliamentary Burrough and

Barony of Newton" to his other estates, and his "Mansion House (Lyme

Hall) he so far Rebuilt and Ennobled, partly in Effect, and partly in

Design and preparations for its finishing." ... "There was such an

Affluence of all things, so great a resort of Persons of Quality, ...

that his house might very well be styled a Country Court, and Lime the

Palace to the County Palatine of Chester."

He engaged in the Cheshire rising to restore his Exiled Sovereign,

though being surprised by the Enemy, he was prevented from appearing

in that successful Enterprise, of which both the Palatine Counties

(the Stage of the Action) and York Castle (the place of his

Imprisonment) are unquestionable Witnesses. "Although he was actually

in every Parliament during his whole Reign (i.e., of Charles II.), yet

he never joyn'd any Faction in the House." ... "His present Majesty

(James II.) in his Royal Progress at Chester heard of his last fatal

Indisposition." ... "He never fail'd of his Daily Service in his

Domestick Chapel." ... "His Love and Zeal for the Church of England"

are shown "in his Parish (Winwick) where he has at his own proper

Charges built a Decent and Elegant Chapel, and taken care to Establish

a Competent Maintenance for the constant Ministry therein for the

Publick Worship of God."

In the church at Winwick there is a handsome monument to his memory

with marble busts of himself and his wife, and in the hall at Lyme

there are several portraits of both. By his wife, who survived him and

retained her widowhood for the long period of forty-one years, he had a

family of six sons and seven daughters, all of whom, with the exception

of two daughters, Sarah and Anne, who died in infancy, were living at

the time of his decease.

Peter Legh, the eldest son, who succeeded, though under age, had been

married some few months at the time of his father's death, the lady

being his own cousin, Frances, only surviving daughter of Piers Legh,

of Bruche, and eventually heiress of her brother of the same name; the

Bruche estates thus becoming reunited with the patrimonial lands. Peter

Legh, like his father, was a staunch adherent of the Stuarts, and after

the abdication of James II. and the "Peaceful Revolution" had placed

the Prince and Princess of Orange upon the English throne, it is not

surprising that he should have been suspected of entertaining opinions

hostile to the reigning family, and of opening communications with the

Irish supporters of King James, with a view to the restoration of the

exiled monarch. Many Protestant Royalists, whose fathers had fought for

Charles the First, although opposed to the designs of James upon the

Church, avowed their attachment to his inviolable person and crown, and

professed themselves bound by their oath of allegiance, from which, as

they affirmed, no personal misconduct of the King could release them.

Some of the more enthusiastic armed their tenantry in defence of the

Stuarts, and began to prepare themselves, as they had done fifty years

before, to unite in rallying round the standard of their legitimate

King. Suspicion having been excited by the landing of several Irishmen

on the coast, and by the discovery of arms in transit from London to

Lancashire, Lord Delamere issued a proclamation summoning the friends

of liberty, and the new Government to meet him on Bowdon Downs, a

proceeding that served to quell the spirit of disaffection among

the Jacobites, and preserve the tranquility of the two counties. At

this time an attempt was made by a common informer, one John Lunt,

to fix on Mr. Legh the charge of treason, in having, as was alleged,

accepted a colonel's commission in King James's service. Mr. Beamont

gives the following interesting particulars respecting his arrest and

imprisonment:--

On the 19th of July, 1694, while Mr. Legh was still a very young

man, a King's messenger, with Lunt, the informer, attended by fourteen

Dutch troopers, each wearing a blue cloak, and armed with a case

of pistols, arrived at Lyme, where Mr. Legh was living, between

the hours of six and seven in the morning. The messenger, with one

Oldham, their guide, and two or three of the troopers, immediately

ascended the great staircase, and having found Mr. Legh, who was in

his dressing-room and not yet dressed, they apprehended him under a

Secretary of State's warrant, charging him with high treason. From his

dressing-room they led him, attired only in his night gown, to his

closet, where were Mr. Lunt and two or three more of the troopers.

There the messenger and Mr. Lunt began to search his papers, and

continued their search until noon, selecting and putting by from time

to time, to be carried away, such of them as they thought fit. The

alleged colonel's commission, had it been found, would have raised a

damning presumption; and the only wonder is that, like the witness

against Spratt, Bishop of Rochester, Lunt, who was evidently aware

of this practice, had not so contrived as to hide where it should

be found a forged commission somewhere in the house at Lyme. After

being allowed to dress himself, Mr. Legh was taken downstairs into

the parlour, and there left in charge of two of the troopers, while

a search for arms was made in every part of the house; the result,

however, must have disappointed the searchers, for, except a case of

pistols and a carbine found in Mr. Legh's closet, which they seized

and carried away, nothing whatever was found. Their quest being ended,

Mr. Legh was taken from his house, and conveyed the same night,

guarded by twelve troopers, to Knutsford, Lunt setting his own saddle

on one of Mr. Legh's horses and riding away with it. From Knutsford

Mr. Legh was conveyed by the troopers to Chester Castle, where he

remained a prisoner until about the first of September following,

when Lord Molyneux, Sir William Gerard, Sir Thomas Clifton, Philip

Langton, Esq., William Blundell, Esq., and some others were conducted

to London, guarded by four messengers, and an escort of twenty-one

Dutch troopers, commanded by Captain Baker. On arriving at St. Giles's

the prisoners were all committed to the custody of the messengers,

who, at the end of three days, brought them, by command, before the

Duke of Shrewsbury, his Majesty's Principal Secretary of State,

when his Grace, having heard and considered the charge against Mr.

Legh, remanded him for three days, and then committed him to the

Tower on a warrant, of which the following is a copy:--'These are in

their Majesty's names to authorise you to receive and take into your

custody, the body of Peter Legh, of Lyme, Esquire, herewith sent you,

being charged before me for high treason in levying warr against their

Majestys, and adhering to their Majesty's enemies; and you are to keep

him safe and close until he shall be delivered by due course of law,

and for so doing this shall be your warrant. Given at the Court at

Whitehall, the 12th September, 1694.--SHREWSBURY. The Right Honourable

Robert Lucas, Governor-in-Chief of the Tower, or his deputy.'

[Illustration: TRAITORS' GATE,--THE TOWER.]

The closing years of the seventeenth century were distinguished

if not disgraced by a succession of intrigues and conspiracies

for the overthrow of the reigning dynasty. The country was in a

state of political ferment, and the public mind, ever eager for

some new sensation, caught with avidity and believed every story

of real or pretended attempts to involve the nation in bloodshed.

Plots were innumerable, and plot-hunting became as gainful a trade

among unscrupulous knaves as witch-finding had been with their

great-grandfathers nearly a century previously. That Peter Legh

entertained strong Jacobite sympathies and desired to see the return

of King James there can scarcely be a doubt, but that he took up

arms or engaged in any treasonable enterprise against the person and

government of the "Dutch usurper," as the disaffected styled the Prince

of Orange, is extremely improbable. John Lunt, who seems to have taken

the leading part in attempting to fasten the charge of treason upon

him, was a miscreant of the most infamous type and actuated by the

basest of motives; he had been a highwayman, one of his accomplices was

a convicted cattle lifter, and at the time of the trial he made such a

ridiculous figure that the jury were compelled to treat his evidence as

altogether unworthy of belief.

For some time after his committal to the Tower Mr. Legh was subjected

to very harsh treatment, and denied all communication with his friends

or counsel. At no time could the Tower be said to be an agreeable

place of residence, but lodged as he was in its worst room, with the

atmosphere poisoned by the polluted exhalations of the surrounding

ditch and the ague-giving marshes which then stretched east and west,

and without any opportunity for outdoor exercise, the confinement must

have been exceedingly trying, and especially to a constitution such as

his, accustomed to the breezy moors of Lyme. Happily the rigidity of

his imprisonment was after a while relaxed, and at the instance of the

Queen permission was given for Mrs. Legh and a maid-servant to be with

him if they were willing to share his confinement; and subsequently a

further order was given that he should be allowed "such liberty of

walking within the Tower at convenient times" as might be consistent

with his safe keeping--conversation, however, being strictly forbidden.

This latter injunction seems to have been strictly enforced, for it

is recorded that when Mr. Legh's mother, Madam Legh, who was busied

in getting up the evidence for his defence, came under the window of

the room in which he was confined to inquire how he was, the sentinel

pointed his musket and declared he would shoot her if she spoke another

word. At length the order came that he was to prepare for trial at

Chester,[62] and, guarded by a party of horse, the gentleman porter,

gentleman gaoler, and two warders of the Tower, he was reconducted

to Chester Castle, when, without even being put on his trial, he was

called to the bar and discharged, the evidence in support of the

accusation which the informer Lunt had trumped up having, it would

seem, been of so worthless and unsatisfactory a character as to leave

no doubt of his innocence.

Barely eighteen months, however, elapsed before Mr. Legh was again

arrested and lodged in Chester Gaol charged with similar treasonable

offences, but no evidence was adduced, and when he was placed at

the bar, no witnesses appearing, he was at once acquitted, and

in accordance with the following order, dated June 2nd, 1696,

and addressed to the High Sheriff directing his release, was

discharged:--"Mr. Legh, charged with high treason and treasonable

practices, in consequence of his Majesty's gracious directions."

The treatment Mr. Legh received at the hands of the State left upon his

mind a sense of injustice that was never wholly removed, for in some

directions respecting his burial, given nearly half a century after

these occurrences, he wrote as follows:--

I would have no monument set over me, but a plain brass nailed to the

wall to express my innocency in that wicked conspiracy (to ruin me)

by false witnesses, imprisonments, and trials in 1694 and 1696, and

that I die a member of the Church of England, looking on it to be the

best and purest of churches; and that I do most sincerely wish it may

continue for ever.

On the whole, however, it was perhaps not an unmixed evil that at

so early a period of his career Mr. Legh should have had painful

experience of the perils that political partizanship sometimes entails;

for the remembrance of the dangers he had so narrowly escaped would

necessarily have a salutary effect, and, on a later occasion, doubtless

inspired that prudence which saved him from the ruin and destruction

that befel so many of the partizans of the House of Stuart after the

abortive rising in favour of the Chevalier de St. George in 1715.

Certain it is that when in that year the members of the Cheshire

Jacobite Club met to discuss the prospects of the rising in favour of

the Stuarts, Mr. Legh's advice that they should abstain from taking

any part in the revolt was acted upon, and, finding it difficult to

harmonise their belief in the divine right of kings with their faith

in the principles of the Reformation, they contented themselves with

drinking the health of the King over a bowl of water, thus figuratively

expressing their allegiance to the exiled monarch "over the water."[63]

Though Mr. Legh never entered Parliament and took but little interest

in the conduct of public affairs, not being even upon the commission

of the peace, he was by no means neglectful of the social duties that

lay nearer home. In him the reputation of the ancient lords of Lyme

was well sustained, and the old ancestral home continued to be the

scene of munificence and hospitality, being accounted the centre of

whatever there was of society and life in the county. John Byrom,

the laureate of the Jacobites, as he has been sometimes styled, was

frequently a guest at Lyme at this time, and Mr. Legh, who was one of

his shorthand pupils, is often named in his letters to Mrs. Byrom.

Another visitor was the eccentric genius, Samuel Johnson, better known

by his _sobriquet_ of Lord Flame, who, in the epistle dedicatory of his

play of "Hurlothrumbo'" enumerates "the integrity of Leigh of Lime"

among the many virtues possessed by his patroness, the Lady Delves. In

1699 Mr. Legh found employment for his time in founding and liberally

endowing the school at Newton-in-Makerfield; and ten years later he was

busied in erecting the Church of the Holy Trinity for the spiritual

benefit of the tenantry on his Warrington estates, and, as the trust

deeds recite, "upon trust and confidence, that the same might be used

and employed for a chapel, for all the inhabitants of Warrington

to resort unto and hear Divine service and sermons, according to

the liturgy, rites and usage of the Church of England, as by law

established."

In 1725 Mr. Legh had the misfortune to lose his son and heir, the

only issue of his marriage, Piers Legh, who died unmarried, and was

buried at Winwick on the 14th of June, and not long after (February

17, 1727-8) his fond and faithful wife, who had so cheerfully shared

the privations of his prison life in the Tower, Madam Frances Legh,

was called to her rest, her remains being laid beside those of her son

on the 23rd February. Before the close of the year, having no direct

heir, he made a settlement of Lyme and the other estates in favour of

the four surviving sons of his younger brother, Thomas Legh, of Bank,

who, in the event of his own death without issue, were to inherit

in succession in tail male. These sons were Peter, who eventually

succeeded; Piers, a merchant of Liverpool, engaged in the African

trade, who died unmarried May, 1774; Ashburnham Legh, who became rector

of Davenham, in Cheshire, and died at Golborne in 1775, and Henry, who

died young.

Mr. Legh survived his wife several years, his death occurring in

January, 1743-4, at the ripe age of 73, and on the 16th of that month

his body was committed to its last resting place at Winwick.

Peter Legh, the second, but eldest surviving son of Thomas Legh,

of Bank, who succeeded, was thirty-six years of age at the time of

his uncle's decease, and had then been married several years, his

wife being Martha, the only child of Thomas Bennet, of Salthrop,

in Wiltshire. In November of the year following his accession to

the estates the country was thrown into a state of ferment by the

announcement that Charles Edward Stuart, the young Pretender, at the

head of an army of Highlanders, had crossed the Borders, taken the city

of Carlisle, and was then marching southwards--

The Stuart leaning on the Scot,

Pierc'd to the very centre of the realm,

In hopes to seize his abdicated helm.

In Cheshire the partizans of the exiled family were greatly excited,

and a meeting of such of the members of the old Jacobite Club as still

survived was held. Peter Legh was present, but, profiting by the

experiences of his uncle, he counselled caution, and his counsel was

acted upon, the more ardent spirits who had been anxious to don the

white cockade having cause to rejoice that they had taken his advice.

He subsequently entered Parliament as representative of the family

borough of Newton, in November, 1747, and he was also returned to the

Parliament which sat from May 31, 1754, to March 20, 1761, and in those

which assembled in 1761, 1762, and 1768, the last-named continuing

until 1774, the year which witnessed the beginning of the struggle

between England and her Transatlantic colonies which culminated in

American independence.

The year which followed Mr. Legh's second return to Parliament was a

year of sorrow, for it was that in which he lost his only surviving

son, Benet Legh, who died on the 8th July, aged eight years; his eldest

son, Peter Benet Legh, who also died in childhood, he had buried a few

years previously, and thus the lord of Lyme was again left without a

direct heir to succeed him in the possession of the ancestral lands.

After his retirement from Parliament Mr. Legh took little part in

public affairs, occupying his time chiefly in dispensing hospitalities

and discharging those minor duties which devolved upon him as a

country gentleman. In the later years of his life he began the work of

remodelling the mansion at Lyme, under the direction of the then famous

architect Giacomo Leoni; a great portion was rebuilt, and what of the

original was left was so altered as to entirely change its appearance

and give it the characteristics of an Italian building. After fifty

years' enjoyment of married life he had the misfortune to lose his

wife, Madam Martha Legh, who died at Lyme on the 21st June, 1787;

shortly afterwards (October 9, 1787) he made his will, and on the 20th

May, 1792, having reached the patriarchal age of eighty-five, he was

removed by death. His remains were interred in the church at Disley,

where on the south side of the nave is a tablet to his memory, with a

shield quartering the arms of himself and his wife, and the following

inscription:--

Sacred to the memory of Peter Legh, Esqre, once the owner of Lyme

Park, and all its large appendages.... Obit May 20, 1792. Ætat 85.

Having no male heir, the entailed estates passed in accordance with the

terms of the settlement to his nephew, Thomas Peter, the eldest son of

his younger brother, Ashburnham Legh, rector of Davenham, by his wife,

Elizabeth Charlotte, daughter of Sir Holland Egerton, of Heaton Park,

near Manchester. Mr. Legh was a bachelor of the mature age of forty at

the time his uncle's death placed him in possession of the estates,

and he had then sat in Parliament for several years as representative

of the family borough of Newton, having been returned in 1783, in

1784, and again in 1790. He was a man of much public spirit, and on

the breaking out of the war with France at the time of the Revolution

in 1794, he raised a regiment of horse for the defence of the country.

Reilly, the historian of Manchester, says, "He proposed to raise six

troops of cavalry, and did so in fourteen days." Of this regiment,

the Third Lancashire Light Dragoons, he had the colonelcy, and it is

recorded that, in addition to the Government grant, he expended upon

it no less a sum than £20,000 of his own money. He was again returned

as representative of Newton, in the Parliament elected in 1796, but he

did not long enjoy the dignity, his death occurring suddenly on the

7th August, in the following year, while serving with his regiment at

Edinburgh. His body was removed to Winwick, and there buried in the

family chapel. Colonel Legh, who was only forty-four years of age at

the time of his death, had never married; having no legitimate issue,

and his only brother having predeceased him, he bequeathed Lyme and

the other possessions of the family, with the barony of Newton, to his

eldest (natural) son, Thomas Legh, for life, with remainder to his

issue in tail male, and on failure with like remainder to his second

natural son, William Legh.

Thomas Legh, who thus succeeded as tenant for life of the family

estates, was only four years of age at the time of his father's

decease. He entered at Oxford, but before he had completed his

curriculum in that University, hearing that Napoleon had escaped from

Elba and was then at the head of a large army, he, like many other

adventurous spirits, made his way to Belgium, and was at Brussels

on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo where he offered himself as

a volunteer, and served as an extra aide-de-camp to the Duke of

Wellington during the whole of that memorable engagement. Shortly

afterwards he went a voyage to Greece and Albania, whence he extended

his researches to Egypt and Nubia. Early in his travels he was at

Zante, where he witnessed the arrival of the celebrated frieze

discovered in the Temple of Apollo, at Phigalia. In the excavation and

removal of the beautiful sculptures composing that frieze, now one

of the chief ornaments of the British Museum, Mr. Legh was largely

instrumental, both by his purse and his active personal exertions,

and he was fortunate enough to obtain a complete set of the casts

of these sculptures, which, with the various other treasures of art

and antiquity he collected in his travels, now adorn the corridor

of the mansion at Lyme. He subsequently published an account of his

journeyings in Egypt and the country beyond the Cataracts, in which he

also drew attention to the slave trade, with its attendant horrors,

as then existing in the country of the Pharaohs. In 1816, the year in

which he attained his majority, he was returned to Parliament for the

borough of Newton, and re-elected in 1818; but after the dissolution

in 1820 he did not again seek Parliamentary honours, his tastes and

inclinations leading him to prefer a more adventurous life in the

exploration of distant and unknown lands.

He married, at Prestbury, January 14, 1828, Ellen, daughter and

heiress of William Turner, M.P., of Shrigley Park, adjacent to Lyme,

the innocent subject of the Wakefield abduction case,[64] and by her

he had an only daughter, Ellen Jane Legh, who married in 1847 the

Rev. Brabazon Lowther, since deceased, the brother of her father's

second wife, and on whom the Shrigley estates were settled. Mrs. Legh

died on the 17th January, 1831, at the early age of 19. Her remains

are deposited in the family vault at Winwick, where Mr. Legh erected

a handsome sculptured monument to her memory bearing the following

inscription:--

In the vaults of this chapel are deposited the remains of Ellen, the

dearly beloved wife of Thomas Legh, Esquire, of Lyme Hall, Cheshire,

and daughter of William Turner, Esquire, of Shrigley Park, in the

same county. Born 12 Feb. 1811. Died 17 Jany. 1831. Leaving an only

surviving child, born 20 Feb. 1830.

Mr. Legh again entered the marriage state, his second wife being Maud,

fourth daughter of George Lowther, of Hampton Hall, Somersetshire,

descended from William, fifth son of Sir Christopher Lowther, of

Lowther, who, surviving him, married, secondly, A. J. Deschamps De la

Tour, Esq., of Milford, Hampshire, but by her he had no issue. Mr.

Legh, who was a magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for the counties

of Lancaster and Chester, LL. D. and F.R.S., died at Milford Lodge,

Lymington, Hampshire, on the 8th May, 1857, in the 65th year of his

age, and was buried at Disley, when the Cheshire estates, with the

extensive properties in Lancashire, passed to his nephew, William John

Legh, the fourth but eldest surviving son of his younger brother,

William Legh, of Brymbo Hall, in Denbighshire, and of Hordle,

Hampshire, by his wife, Mary Anne, eldest daughter of John Wilkinson,

of Castlehead in Furness, the celebrated ironmaster.

William John Legh, the present owner of Lyme, was born in 1828, and at

the time his uncle's decease placed him in possession of the family

estates, was serving as captain of the 21st Fusiliers in the Crimea,

where he greatly distinguished himself; he was in the trenches, and

also shared in the glories of Inkermann. At the general election in

1859 he was returned as one of the members for South Lancashire, and

in 1868 he was elected senior representative of the Eastern Division

of the county of Chester, a constituency for which he has ever since

sat. Mr. Legh married in 1856 Emily Jane, daughter of the Rev. Charles

Nourse Wodehouse, canon of Norwich, by his wife Dulcibella Jane Hay,

daughter of William, fifteenth Earl of Errol, by whom he has, with

other issue, Thomas Wodehouse Legh, born March 18, 1857, his eldest

son, and the heir-apparent of the ancestral home and the broad lands of

the historic house of Lyme.

The old ancestral abode of the Leghs--the lordly House of Lyme, as it

is often styled--ranks among the more important of the "stately homes"

that glorify and give dignity to the county which claims to be the Vale

Royal of England. "Stately" it is from its architectural merits and

peculiarities, its picturesque surroundings, its stores of natural

beauties and acquired treasures, its historical associations, and, more

than all, as a perpetual reminder of the eventful past, its memories

being indissolubly linked with those of the leading heroes and worthies

of the shire.

No precise date can be fixed as that of its erection, but well nigh

five centuries have passed since the progenitors of the present owner

first held sway over its destinies. Tradition tells us that a house--a

hunting lodge, as it would seem--existed here in the days of King John,

at which time the domain of Lyme was included within the limits of

the royal forest of Macclesfield. From a document we have previously

quoted, we know that a Sir Peter Legh had his "fair hall with a high

chamber" here more than four hundred years ago, and, though since

his day the house has received many additions and undergone many

changes, it still retains some of its more ancient rooms in a state

of excellent preservation. Thanks to the generosity of its owner, not

only is the park open to all comers, who are free to make holiday

and seek health and pleasure upon the verdant sward and beneath the

shadow of the "tall patrician trees," but under certain regulations

the public are admitted to the hall and shown the more interesting and

attractive of its apartments. And much that is curious and interesting

do those apartments contain. They are literally full of treasures of

art--costly examples of the artists of the middle ages, as well as

of those who have earned renown in more modern times; the walls are

covered with historical portraits of fair women and brave men, that

look down with stately dignity, and carry the mind back into the

mists of bygone centuries; "storied windows" there are that glow with

the rich colourings of their heraldic blazonries, and dye the oaken

flooring with their rainbow hues; tapestries on which the Gobelins have

lavished their skill and taste, relating in embroidery the stories of

the gods; marble treasures from Egypt and the East; carvings, rich and

rare, that have been produced by the magic hand of Grinling Gibbons;

and specimens of English handicraft, the work of bygone days, when

unstinted labour was bestowed on even the most common-place articles

of every day use. There are stately apartments, rich in the grandeur

of their fittings, their upholstery and their decorations; and there

are, too, old and dimly-lighted chambers--panelled, roofed, and floored

with oak, containing specimens of antique furniture that might serve as

models for æsthetic revivalists of the present day; chairs, presses,

and seats of various kinds, and stately beds withal that have been

honoured with the repose of royal personages, so tradition alleges, the

ill-fated Mary of Scotland being among the number; and where is the

house of ancient fame in which that hapless Queen has not at some time

or other sought repose? Armorial blazonries are displayed on wall and

window, on ceiling and corridor, and the much-prized hand and banner,

commemorative of the great deed at Crescy, meets the eye at every turn.

Here, too, are examples of ancient arms and armour, suits of mail,

helmets, breast plates, and battle-axes, with pikes, and pistols, and

petronels, and two-handed swords too ponderous for anyone in these

degenerate days to wield, but which, in the grasp of a stalwart Legh,

may have been

Bathed in gore

On the plains of Agincourt.

[Illustration: Shield]

As we have before said, the mansion in all its antique stateliness

comes unexpectedly upon the view, being hidden from sight on all sides

by the high grounds of the park and the bleak moorlands beyond that

stretch away in the direction of the Peak hills. It looks, indeed,

as if, in selecting the situation for his building, the architect

had sacrificed effect to protection from the weather, and the noble

appearance it would have possessed if built upon an eminence is

entirely lost. The plan is quadrangular, enclosing an extensive

court, and the architecture like that of many other old mansions,

of different periods, a portion dating from the time of the last of

the Tudor sovereigns, whilst another part--the south front, with its

noble Corinthian columned portion--is a fine specimen of Palladian

architecture, erected by Leoni, a century and a half ago; though

the effect is greatly marred by a modern square lantern, with stone

balustrades, that was added by Wyatt in 1822.

The north front, which is first seen on approaching from the Disley

side,--that by which visitors are generally admitted--is not

particularly striking in appearance; it is approached through a square

court enclosed by iron palisades, and entered by an arched gateway.

The main entrance is in the centre of this front, which projects

slightly from the main structure, and constitutes the oldest and most

characteristic part of the building, having been left comparatively

untouched by Leoni, his alterations having been restricted to the side

wings, which are of more modern construction, and ornamented with

Corinthian pilasters. A couple of hunting horns, relics of the old

forestering days, depend from the wall, and over the rounded archway

is a shield of eight quarterings, representing the principal heraldic

achievements of the family, the arms being:--(1), Corona; (2), Legh,

with an escutcheon over both representing the Crescy augmentation

granted by Flower; (3), Boteler; (4), Croft; (5), Haydock; (6), Boydell

of Poulscroft; (7), Boydell of Gropenhall; and (8), Ashton. The shield

is encircled by a garter bearing the motto _En Dieu est ma Foi_, and

over all is the ram's head, the crest of the family. A sun-dial is

placed above the shield, and formerly the structure was surmounted by a

lofty octagon lantern, which Leoni removed to an elevated part of the

grounds, and replaced by a statue of Minerva.

A noble mastiff of the Lyme breed--a lion couchant in

appearance--guards the entrance; a brief survey satisfies him,

apparently, as to the harmlessness of our intentions, and we are

permitted without molestation to pass through the archway, when we

are handed over to the care of a prim and somewhat stately domestic,

who obligingly condescends for the time to lionize us. The entrance

communicates with a spacious quadrangle, round three sides of which

a piazza is carried, the fourth, or east side, being occupied by a

flight of stone stairs leading to the entrance hall, to which we are

first conducted. It is a large and well proportioned room, fifty feet

by forty-two, but much modernised, having been remodelled by Wyatt

in 1822, the decorations being of the Ionic order. It is divided

lengthways by lofty columns, and surrounded by a deep cornice, adorned

with the horns of the red deer and other trophies of the chase. The

stone chimneypiece was erected by Wyatt, but, though massive, it is

poor in detail when compared with the one in the drawing-room, which

dates from the time of Elizabeth. Over the fireplace, with one hand

grasping his sword, and the other resting upon a helmet, is a portrait

of Sir Peter Legh, the "founder" of the family, as our cicerone

assures us, and the one who for his loyalty to King Richard, suffered

decapitation at Chester in 1399, but which in reality represents Sir

Peter, who was knighted at Leith in 1544, the friend of Flower, and

the restorer and rebuilder of Lyme. We gaze upon the lineaments of the

ancient worthy and think of the doughty deeds in which he bore a part,

but our reverie is rudely dispelled when our garrulous guide informs

us that the gorgeous frame in which the picture is placed belonged to

the Duke of York, and was purchased at a sale of his Royal Highness's

effects--a piece of information we would most willingly have dispensed

with. A noteworthy feature in the room is an opening concealed by

panelling near the centre of the north wall, that affords a glimpse

of the drawing-room beyond; on one side of the panel which forms the

door is a full length portrait of Edward III., armed cap-à-pie, and

on the other a full-length of his gallant son, the Black Prince. In

the same room we are shown some specimens of ancient armour, a pair

of long-rowelled gilt spurs, said to have been presented by the Black

Prince, and the famous two-handed sword--"the blade both true and

trusty"--which credulous sightseers are gravely told is the veritable

weapon with which Perkin a Legh cut down the standard-bearer of

the King of France, and earned for himself the broad lands of Lyme;

for here, as in many another "ancestral home," the attendants who

undertake to enlighten you on the past fortunes of the house generally

contrive to blend fable with fact in pretty equal proportions, so that

the thoughtful enquirer is apt to become perplexed with the curious

mosaic of history and romance that is put before him. The walls are

hung with family portraits, some of them of considerable interest; two

are believed to be those of the Sir Peter Legh before referred to,

but taken at different periods of his life; on one side is a portrait

of Richard Legh, who represented Cheshire in Parliament during the

Commonwealth; there is also one of his wife's father, Sir Thomas

Chicheley, of Wimpole, Charles the Second's master of ordnance; close

by is a portrait of Richard Legh's son, Piers Legh, whose Jacobite

leanings brought him into trouble, and occasioned his being charged

with treason and imprisoned in the Tower; and there is another of the

late Thomas Legh, the enterprising Eastern traveller, who is depicted

in an Albanian costume, with one arm resting upon his horse's neck, and

an Arab attendant reclining at his feet.

"Would you like to see the chapel?" inquires our guide. "Certainly,"

is the reply, and accordingly we descend from the entrance-hall by a

flight of stairs to the domestic sanctuary of the lords of Lyme, which

is situate immediately beneath the drawing-room, at the north-east

angle of the building. The date of its erection is uncertain, but it

was probably added at the time Sir Peter Legh re-edified and enlarged

the hall, near the close of the sixteenth century. The font, in which

for generations past the scions of the house have been baptised, is

adorned with shields of arms, and is said to have been removed from the

old home at Bradley; here are also preserved two ancient Runic crosses

that were dug up on a farm at Disley about forty years ago; they are of

sandstone, completely covered with the interlaced Saxon knot, and are

exceedingly interesting, one remarkable feature being the Greek key,

which is introduced as an ornament on the edge of each.

The drawing-room, to which we are next conducted, is a spacious

apartment, forty-three feet by thirty, and remarkable for the richness

of its decoration. The walls are covered with wainscot, elaborately

carved, the lower stage being worked in a succession of intersecting

arches. The mantel-piece, which reaches nearly to the ceiling, is a

good example of renaissance work; duplicated columns of Ionic character

support the entablature, and above that are caryatides bearing a

pediment, the intervening compartment being occupied with the Royal

arms of Elizabeth--France (modern), and England, quarterly--carved in

high relief; the shield is encircled by the garter, and has the lion

and dragon for supporters. Additional beauty is given to this room

by a deeply-recessed oriel, lighted on three sides by long windows

filled with stained glass that is said to have been brought from

Disley Church in the beginning of the present century. In the upper

part of the central light appear the Royal arms of the Tudor period

in old glass, but by an unaccountable blunder some modern herald has

added the lion and unicorn, which were not assumed as supporters by

the English sovereigns until after the accession of James. Beneath is

a small portrait of the Sir Peter Legh at whose instance, no doubt,

these heraldic decorations were originally designed, with the favourite

cognizance--the hand and banner--on one side, and the ram's head, the

crest of the Lyme Leghs, on the other, and beneath are several shields

representing the alliances of the family. The two side lights are

also enriched with heraldic shields, the greater portion being those

of Knights of the Garter living in Elizabeth's reign. There are three

other windows in this room similarly decorated, and, taken altogether,

they form perhaps the finest and most interesting collection of

heraldic insignia in glass to be met with in any house in the kingdom.

We have not space at our disposal to enumerate even the ancient

worthies whose--

Devices blazoned on the shield

In their own tinct

are here displayed. They are, doubtless, the joint production of Sir

Peter Legh and Flower about the time of that famous herald's visit to

Lyme in the sixteenth century.[65]

The Stag Parlour--an ante-room between the drawing and dining

rooms--next invites our attention. It retains much of its ancient

character, and is so named from the decorations upon the frieze and

cornice, representing in twelve compartments the various incidents of

the chase worked in stucco. One of these compartments, the one over the

fireplace, has a representation of the hall of Lyme, as it appeared

three hundred years ago, with a gay company of horsemen engaged in

the exciting pursuit of "driving the deer," a custom that must have

been observed at Lyme from the golden days of the Virgin Queen. The

custom was usually observed about the months of May and June; the deer

were collected in a drove before the house called the Deer Clad, and

then made to swim across a piece of water, with which the exhibition

ended. There is an engraving at Lyme by Vivarres, after a painting by

T. Smith, representing this custom. The same custom is traditionally

said to have been observed at Townley Hall, in Lancashire, formerly

the seat of a collateral line of the Leghs. The ceiling of the Stag

Parlour is panelled and the walls are draped with tapestry, and hung

with family portraits, and other pictures. The central compartment of

the chimney-piece has a shield representing the coat of Legh quartering

those of the family alliances, the Crescy cognizance occupying one

of the side panels, and the ram's head the other, the whole being

surmounted by the Royal arms of James I., with the garter and motto,

between two allegorical figures of Peace and Plenty. In this room we

were shown the dagger of Charles the First, on which the name "Carolus"

may still be discerned, and the gloves he wore; and another memento of

the ill-fated monarch--six antique chairs, the coverings of which are

said to have been made from the cloak in which he appeared when on the

scaffold.

In continuing our examination of the interior of Lyme, we pass from

the Stag Parlour, as it is called, to the dining-room, which extends

along a portion of the eastern front. The general characteristics of

this room are of later date than of the one we have just left; the

ceiling is highly ornamented, and the walls are divided into panelled

compartments, the upper portions being adorned with scrolls carved

in high relief, that form a kind of frieze. Over the fireplace is an

exquisite carving in wood by Grinling Gibbons, the finest we remember

to have seen, except, perhaps, that in Trinity Chapel, Oxford, which,

by the way, is from the same hand. The group comprises fish, fishing

tackle, and wild fowl, so truthfully rendered that we may almost fancy

them to have been just brought in by the sportsman, and that the

unyielding wood is even yet quivering with life. Well might Walpole

say of Gibbons:--"There is no instance of a man before him who gave to

wood the loose and airy lightness of flowers, and chained together the

various productions of the elements with a free disorder natural to

each species." And surely no finer examples of the artist's skill are

to be found either at Burleigh or at Chatsworth. The furniture in this

room calls for little note, but the portraits which adorn the walls

have especial interest. The melancholy visage of Charles I., painted

by Vandyke, looks down from the framed canvas; there are portraits,

too, of successive owners of Lyme, and one by Housman of the Lady

Anne, daughter of Lord Keeper Coventry--the mother of the last of the

Savilles who held the marquisate of Halifax.

The ante-room through which we have to pass to the library is hung with

tapestry of ancient date, illustrative of the rape of Europa, and we

see--

The sweet Europa's mantle blue unclasp'd

From off her shoulder backward borne;

From one hand droop'd a crocus; one hand grasp'd

The wild bull's golden horn.

The library itself is a spacious apartment remodelled by Wyatt, and

stored with--

Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore.

It contains some basso-relievos brought from Greece by the late Mr.

Thomas Legh, rare antiques from the East, and an ancient urn from

Pompeii, that once contained the ashes of a semi-illustrious hero,

but which is now applied to less sacred uses, being filled with dried

rose-leaves.

Imperial Cæsar, dead and turned to clay,

Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.

On one side a deeply-recessed bay-window lures you to enjoy the

quietude, and dream the hours away in the luxurious ease it offers.

Delightful is the prospect from this window; in front are seen the

smooth shaven lawns and terraces, with their richly-coloured parterres,

and the water flashing in the bright sunlight; and, beyond, the natural

landscape with its wooded slopes and the brown heathy wastes that shut

out the view of the more distant hills.

But the time is passing rapidly, and we must not loiter, so we follow

our conductress up flights of stairs, along galleries and corridors,

and through interminable suites of rooms, where we have to look to

our footing, the polished oak parquetrie being perilous to walk upon.

The grand staircase, which leads to a corridor above, resting on six

Corinthian columns, is of oak, with a handsome ceiling adorned with

pendants and armorial ensigns of the family. It is hung with pictures,

two of them being by Sir William Beechy, and representing George IV.

and his brother the Duke of York. Facing us as we ascend the first

flight is an interesting portrait, a full length, of John Watson, the

famous keeper,--an ancient servitor, who died in 1753, at the age of

104 years. It bears this inscription:--

Io Watson, who in the 26th year of his age, Anno 1674, commenced

keeper of Lime Park; in wch service he continued 70 years, and Anno

1750, in the 102nd year of his age. He hunted a Buck, a chase near

Six hours, at wch Hunting one gentleman was present whose Ancesters

he had hunted with for four Generations before, he being the fifth

Generation he had hunted with.

Watson, who was grandfather of the celebrated Rev. John Watson, M.A.,

F.S.A., rector of Stockport, and author of "Memorials of the Earls

of Warren and Surrey," lies buried at Disley, where, in the middle

aisle of the church, is a tombstone with an inscription to his memory.

Concerning this ancient worthy we have the following obituary notice:--

Mr. Joseph Watson died in the 105th year of his age, and was buried

at Disley in Cheshire, the 3rd of June, 1753. He was born at Mossley

Common, in the parish of Leigh, in Lancashire, and married his Wife

from Eccles, near Manchester, in the same County. They lived a Happy

Couple 72 years. She died in the 94th year of her age. He was Park

Keeper to the late Peter Legh, Esqre., of Lyme and his Father 64

years. He drove and shewed the Red Deer to most of the Nobility and

Gentry in that Part of the Kingdom to the Surprise and Satisfaction

of them and all others that saw that Performance, as he could command

them at his Pleasure the same as if they had been common Horned

Cattle. In the reign of Queen Anne Sqr. Legh was in company with some

Gentlemen at Macclesfield, in Cheshire, amongst which was Sir Roger

Moston then one of the Members of Parliament for the same County.

For their merry Conversation Sqr. Legh said his Keeper should drive

12 Brace of Stags to the Forest of Windsor a Present to the Queen.

Sir Roger, thinking it impracticable, proposed a Wager of £500 that

neither his Keeper nor no other Person could drive 12 Brace of Red

Deer from Lyme Park to Windsor Forest on any account whatever. Sqr.

Legh accepted the Wager and immediately sent for his Keeper, who

directly came to his Master, who told him he must directly prepare to

drive 12 Brace of Stags to Windsor Forest upon a Wager. He gave his

Master for answer, that upon any Wager or upon his Command he would

drive him 12 Brace of Stags to Windsor Forest or to any other part of

the Kingdom when he pleased to direct, upon forfeiture of his Life and

Fortune. He was a man of Low Stature, not Bulky, fresh complexion,

and pleasant countenance. He believed he had drunk a Gallon of Malt

Liquor a Day, one Day with another, for 60 years; he drank plentifully

the latter part of his Life, but no more than was agreeable to his

Constitution and a comfort to himself. He was of a mild Temper,

engaging Company, and fine Behaviour, and allowed to be the Best

Keeper in England, in his Time. In the 103rd year of his age he was

at the Hunting and Killing a Buck with the Honble George Warren, in

his Park at Pointon, whose activity gave pleasure and Surprize to all

Spectators then present. Sir George was the 5th Generation of the

Warren Family he had performed that Diversion with in Pointon Park.

As we pass along the corridor our attention is arrested by two marble

busts, one of the massive head and rugged features of the late Thomas

Legh, the famous traveller, and the other that of his second wife, Maud

Lowther. We are next ushered into the long gallery, a noble chamber

one hundred and twenty feet in length and twenty-eight feet wide,

fronting the east, and exhibiting the architectural characteristics

of the Elizabethan era--one of those long narrow galleries that are

frequently met with in mansions of that period, and, like the one at

Haddon, used as a ballroom and on occasions of special festivity. The

walls are of dark oak, elaborately ornamented, the panels being wrought

in intersecting arches and relieved at intervals with flat pilasters;

in the centre a huge fireplace reaches from floor to ceiling, it is

handsomely carved and bears the arms of Queen Elizabeth with the

lion and dragon as supporters, an evidence that it dates from that

sovereign's reign. On one side we noticed an antiquated spinet that

has been doubtless played upon by many a fair daughter of the house

of Lyme. A few portraits adorn the walls, among them one of the Lady

Margaret Gerard, wife of Sir Peter Legh, holding in her arms her

great-grandchild, Anne Legh, who afterwards married Richard Bold, of

Bold. The picture bears the following inscription, apparently added

at a later date:--"Sir Piers' lady ætatis suæ 90, A.D. 1595," and

underneath the child--"ætatis suæ anno primo after marryed to Bold;"

there is also a portrait of the Rev. John Dod, the decalogist, and

another of the unfortunate divine Dr. John Hewitt, a son of Thomas

Hewitt, of Eccles, who was chaplain to Charles I., and who for his

loyalty to Charles II. was beheaded on Tower Hill, June 8th, 1658;

here, too, are portraits after the style of Holbein, one of the warlike

Henry IV., and another of Bluff King Hal, the first Defender of the

Faith.

Continuing our tour of inspection, we are led from corridor to corridor

and from room to room, pausing now and then, as a relief from the

examination of the treasures within, to look upon the glad world

without, where the sun is shining brightly on the green sward and the

lush pastures. Then we are hurried on through tapestried chambers and

state bedrooms with grotesquely-carved four-posters shadowed with a

huge pomp of stiff brocade. In one of them we are shown the bed used

by Mary Queen of Scots on the occasion of her visit to Lyme, with

its original hangings of crimson silk, now, alas, much tarnished and

dilapidated, and, if we are so disposed, we may refresh our memories

with the tragic story of Hero and Leander as in part pourtrayed on

the faded tapestry that adorns the walls of this and the adjoining

dressing-room. There are other chambers on this floor that deserve

inspection--the state bedroom, the mahogany, the velvet, and the yellow

bedrooms, with their corresponding dressing-rooms, all hung with

portraits more or less interesting. Then we pass to an oaken-panelled

chamber called the Knight's Room, and to the stone parlour--two

apartments that have remained untouched since Elizabeth's time--and so

to the gallery which extends on the upper floor round the quadrangle,

the walls of which are adorned with casts from the Phigalian

marbles--antique friezes, representing the contest between the Centaurs

and Lapithæ, and the Greeks and Amazons, which formerly ornamented the

Cella of the Temple of Apollo Epicurus at Phigalia in Arcadia, and the

originals of which are now in the British Museum, having been brought

to England by the late Thomas Legh. Another chamber is pointed out

which is said to be the oldest in the building, and on that account is

called King John's Room, though we should be much inclined to doubt the

fact of its having been in existence in that monarch's reign; then we

are ushered into another apartment named after the Black Prince, which

is also known as the Ghost Room, for Lyme, like every other old mansion

of respectability, has its ghost story, as the talented author of "Lays

and Legends of Cheshire," who, besides being laureate of Lyme, can

claim kindred with its ancient lords, can tell us; and we are asked to

believe that a secret passage leads from it to the "Cage," a mile away,

though we cannot learn that anyone within the recollection of that

respectable personage, the oldest inhabitant, has ever explored it,

but such means of exit we are assured were necessary in the turbulent

times when this part of the hall was built. Having completed our

perambulation, we ascended to the gallery at the top of the house,

from whence we can survey the country that lies spread like a rich

panorama at our feet, looking more than usually fair and brilliant as

the mellow sunlight brings out every inequality and brightens every

object with its magical radiance. But we may not loiter, for there

are yet other things to interest us, and so, having seen all that is

usually shown to visitors, we take leave of our courteous attendant and

wend our way across the park in a south-easterly direction and then

mount the hill, on the summit of which is an ancient memorial that has

long exercised the ingenuity of antiquaries to discover its age and

purpose--the Bowstones, as it is called--two upright pillars, much worn

with age, springing from a double-socketed base. They are believed to

have been of Saxon or Danish origin, though some authorities incline to

the opinion that they are of later date and were intended as boundary

stones.

Half a mile westward of the Bowstones is a conical hill to which the

name of "the Knight's Low" has been given, from a tradition that has

floated down through long centuries of time that it was the burial

place of one of the earlier lords of Lyme. The shaping power of the

imagination has supplied the minor accessories of the story, and the

dependents of the family delight to relate how that at midnight a

muffled sound, as of a distant funeral peal, is often borne on the

wind, and that at this time a shadowy procession of mourners may be

seen wending its way towards the Knight's Low, bearing a coffin and

pall, and followed by a lady arrayed in white and apparently in deep

distress. To add to the mystery there is a tale that the shadowy

form of the old knight's wife--the lady "draped in white and silver

sheen"--issues forth at midnight from a field adjoining a stream that

runs through the park, commonly known as "The Field of the White

Lady," or "the Lady's Grave," and flits silently across the grass in

the direction of the Knight's Low. Mr. Leigh has made the tradition

the theme of one of his legendary ballads, "Sir Percy Legh," though

to suit the purposes of his story he has dealt rather unceremoniously

with history and dates, things the votaries of the Muses do not always

stand much in awe of--

They buried him within the park

Which he had left so blithe of blee;

And followed in the mourners' track,

All gaily dressed, poor Agnes Legh.

They heaped a mound upon his corse--

A mound whereon the fir trees grow;

And many a wail is heard at night,

Coming from the good Knight's Low.

She rambled all the night forlorn,

She rambled forth all drearilie,

Till on the river's bank one morn

Was found the corse of Agnes Legh.

They buried her where she was found--

They buried her near the river's wave;

And ever since the land around

Is known but as the Lady's Grave.

At length our progress is ended. While the westering sun and the

lengthening shadows remind us that evening is rapidly drawing on, we

retrace our steps, passing by the north front of the hall, along the

grassy slopes where the deer are crouching and the kine are ruminating

at will, past Lyme Cage, through the gates by which we originally

entered, and along the quiet tree-shaded road to Disley, and in a few

minutes find ourselves in the cosy parlour of the "Ram's Head," with

the mind laden with the lore of ancient days, and impressed with a

succession of pictures of endless suites of rooms stored with carvings

of cunning device, curious enamels, and cabinets of costly workmanship;

with tapestry, pictures, and a wealth of natural and artistic treasures

such as few, if any, of the "stately homes" of Cheshire can equal and

none surpass.

We have not attempted in our notice of this old historic mansion to

speak of every room, to notice every object of interest, and many

details have been purposely omitted. In recounting the fortunes of

the former lords we have endeavoured to call up visions of the

past--to arrest momentarily the hand of Time, which is fast drawing the

curtain of oblivion over bygone scenes, and, though our task has been

but imperfectly performed, at least we may hope to have contributed

something towards a better knowledge and appreciation of "Lyme Hall and

the Leghs."

Historic Sites of Lancashire and Cheshire A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive. · 第 9 / 13 章

Henry of Richmond came out of the field of Bosworth a victor to ascend