we visited the seat of P. York, Esq. The grounds and plantations, are
very extensive; and the bowery walk, while they afford refreshing shelter
from a summer’s sun, allow partial views of the counties of Cheshire and
Shropshire; with the Weeakin and Brydyork hills: in short, through these
groves
“How long so e’er the wanderer roves, each step
Shall wake fresh beauties, each short point presents
A different picture; new, and yet the same.”
The tower of Wrexham, and the town itself, as occasion offers, is a
nearer, and an additional charming object. In an alteration of the walks
a few years since, were discovered below the surface of the ground, the
shattered walls of an ancient castle; these fragments Mr. Yorke has left
unimpaired, and they remain a momento of the vicissitudes of fortune.
The entrenchments round the castle, and likewise the original scite of
the keep, are still very apparent.
The house itself is very indifferent: Watt’s dyke runs through part of
the grounds. In a parlour opposite the garden, we observed some fine
paintings of the Hardwick family. Mr. Yorke has dedicated another room
to the royal tribes of Wales, {144} where the arms and lines of the
descent, as far as they can be traced, are emblazoned and hung up.
In the coolness of the evening, our hospitable host, conducted us to the
neat and elegant little country church of March Wiel, lately cased with
stone; and in the year 1788, ornamented with a new painted window by Mr.
Eginton, of Birmingham; the twenty-one compartments contain the arms and
crests of the Middletons and Yorks, with rich transparent borders. This
window is undoubtedly very elegant, but the subject in my own opinion,
more adapted to a hall, than an ornament to a church window. The high
tower appears not in proportion with the body of the church.
Deeply impressed with sentiments of gratitude towards our Reverend
friend, and sensible of his hospitality and kind intentions, we took
leave of him early the next morning, and pursued our route to