Crossing the river, one mile farther east, is _Berwood-hall_, where the
forsaken moat, at this day, guards--nothing. This, with the manor to
which it belongs, was also the property of the Ardens; one of which in
the reign of Henry the Second, granted it to the canons of Leicester;
who added a chapel, which went to decay four hundred years ago. After
the grant, the Ardens seem to have become tenants to the canons for the
land, once their own: we frequently observe a man pay rent for what he
_sells_, but seldom for what he _gives_.
At the dissolution of abbies, in 1537, Thomas Arden, the head of the
family, purchased it of Henry the Eighth, for 272_l_. 10s. uniting it
again to his estate, after a separation of three hundred and fifty
years, in whose posterity it continued till their fall.
Thus, the father first purchased what the son gave away, and his
offspring re-purchased again. The father lays a tax on his successor;
or, climbs to heaven at the expence of the son. In one age it is
meritorious to _give_ to the church, in another, to _take_ from her.