Friendship, in which it has been seen he had a considerable share. To this superb and valuable publication Dr. Hurd, for some reasons not yet exactly ascertained, prefixed no memoirs of his distinguished friend. The omission gave offence to Dr. Parr, and induced him to republish the essay above mentioned, in a work intituled "Tracts by Warburton and a Warburtonian,” the dedication to which is not inferior to any paper in the whole compass of English controversy. The re-appearance of this work was highly resented by Dr. Hurd, who found himself under the necessity of answering it, and did so with much ability, but unhappily, without being successful in wholly' extracting the venom of the attack, though he sufficiently exposed the pretensions of his opponent, to elevation of mind and purity of intention.*

At the distance of four miles, south-east from Stafford, in the angle formed by the junction of the Sow and the Trent, stands Tixal Hall, the seat of Thomas Clifford, Esq. The present edifice is a modern building erected about thirty years ago. It is constructed of brick in a plain style, and offers nothing remarkable; but in front of it stands a magnificent gateway, a motley pile of Gothic and Grecian architecture, embellished before with three series of columns Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Mr. Pennant says, that he at one time conceived this structure might be among the early productions of Inigo Jones: afterwards, however, he abandoned that opinion, having found that it was built by Sir Walter Aston Knight, who died in 1589, and consequently at a time when Inigo was too young for such an undertaking. The antient house stood behind this gateway, and was a most venerable building, having its first floor constructed of stone, and the higher ones of wood and plaster. Some remains of that building can still be seen at the back of the gateway. It was erected by Sir Edward Aston, in the early part of the reign of Henry the eighth, and will be found represented in the thirty-eighth plate of Dr. Plot's his

Imperial County Register.

tory

tory of the county, where it is observed, that it was remarkable as containing a vast number of windows, and yet not one of them alike. On the sill of the windows was this inscription:

The manor here at the Conquest was in the possession of Roger earl of Montgomery, from whom it was held by Henry de Ferrers. In the reign of Heury the second, we find it had become the property of the family of Wastineys, or de Gastenoys, one Paganus de Gastenoys being then lord of it. This family held it for several generations, till Rose, the daughter of the last, and widow of Sir John Gastenoys Knight, sold it to the Littletons, in the reign of Henry the fourth, though not before she had consulted the learned, whether she could do it with safety to her soul. Joan daughter to Sir William Littleton, who died in 1507, carried it by marriage to Sir John Aston, Knight of the Bath. Sir Walter Aston, one of his descendants, was a great patron of the poet Drayton, who pays the following tribute to the family in his Polyolbion.*

title

title of baron Forfar. His second son Walter, second Lord Aston, married Mary daughter of Richard Weston, earl of Portland, lord Treasurer of England, and was succeeded by his son and grandson, both named after himself, and a great grandson James, who died in 1705, leaving a son Walter and two daughters, one of whom, the younger, married the Hon. Thomas Clifford, who thereby became proprietor of the estate. This house gave birth to Edward Wittenhall, bishop of Cork.

Tixal Heath immediately adjoining the park, which surrounds the mansion-house, is distinguished by two remarkable lows or tumuli, the one named the King's, and the other the Queen's Low. Nothing, however, is known respecting the reason of their being so denominated, nor can it even be conjectured on what occasion they have been constructed. Two urns were found near them, in the beginning of last century, which were supposed to be of Roman workmanship.

This beath was the scene of one of the most barbarous assassinations, which disgrace the records of history, and mark the vindictive character of the feudal times. A family emulation which subsisted for some generations, between the Stanleys of Pipe, and the Chetwynds of Ingestre, was the occasion of this catastrophe. Sir Humphrey Stanley was one of the knights of the body to king Henry the seventh, and Sir William one of his gentleman ushers. The former according to report, jealous of the preferment of his rival, resolved to dispatch him, and with that view inveigled him from his house, by a counterfeit letter, containing an invitation to the residence of one of his neighbours. Sir William, without suspicion of the artifice, set out to cross the heath unattended, but no sooner approached the middle of it, than he was attacked by twenty armed men, and dispatched in the presence of Sir Humphrey, who was passing at the same time with his train, under pretence of hunting, though in reality with the view of glutting himself with the sight of the blood he had so long coveted. VOL. XII. M m in

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