the Young Pretender nothing was known in the valley, though the heavy storm on February 25 was felt throughout the length and breadth of it. Horace Walpole writes to Sir Horace Mann that this storm certainly saved us from invasion. There is just come advice,' are his words, 'that the great storm on the 25th of last month-the very day the embarcation was to have sailed from Dunkirk-destroyed twelve of their transports and obliged the whole number of troops, which were 15,000, to debark. You may look upon the invasion as at an end, at least for the present; though, as everything is to come to a crisis, one shall not be surprised to hear of the attempt renewed.' This was written March 5, 1744. One night about this time all the willows in the valley were swept off; but they are rapid in their growth, and the stream of the Rea is lined by them. It was a July day, and as I sat under the Old Oak I heard two or three notes, a low plaintive sort of squeak, uttered by a bird on the wing, the sight of which I did not catch, but it was evidently disturbed. My Talking Friend at once said it was the dor-hawk, fern-owl, or night-jar, and that when flushed in the daytime they frequently sought refuge in the boughs, where they sat lengthwise, and not, as other birds do, across. He added that it was also called the churn-owl, or wheel-bird; and those who have heard a score of them by night on the sides of the vast Penmaenmawr, as I did forty years ago, might have thought there was a score of spinningwheels all at work. Late in the year-it was in the month of October-John and Elizabeth Adon of Hanwood brought word to the village that when they left Shrewsbury to return a great fire was burning at the Gullet in Shrewsbury. It was on a Friday, and I see by Phillips that 'great damage was done in the warehouses of Mr. Benion, grocer, and Mr. Morgan, ironmonger.' The same authority states that the Conduit Reservoir on Clarimond Hill was built this year. Much as they loved good Shropshire beer, it was the custom of all the country people to drink at the conduits, and the news of the town was picked up there. Even when I was a boy I recollect to have seen the women there in troops. The conduits were, in fact, what 'the places of drawing water' were to the Israelitish women. Though it was a matter not likely to be whispered by the reeds on the banks of the Rea, nor a point to ruffle the leaves of the yellow water-lilies in the Lower Harrisals, it may be mentioned here that a great man died this year, and one whose name will remain amongst us, whatever different views may be taken of his poetry. Mr. Pope, says Spence in his 'Anecdotes,' 'died May 30, in the evening; but they did not know the exact time; for his departure was so easy that it was imperceptible even to the standers by. May our end be like his.' Early in the next year-in March 1745-died Lord Orford, that great spirit of his day, better known by the name of Sir Robert Walpole. In the old county of Shropshire his was a name which carried weight, for if they did not like his Hanoverian politics there was a bluffness about his character which jumped with the feelings and tastes of many of the old squires of his day. Many a bottle of wine had they cracked with him, and some had hunted and shot with him at Houghton in Norfolk, and knew how hospitable he could be; nor were they a sort of people there to object to wild revelry, and what the ever-memorable John Hales of Eton called 'intempestive commissation and compotation.' He certainly was a coarse file with which soft bodies are rubbed to powder, and might have suggested to Aaron Hill, his contemporary, these lines : Tender-handed touch a nettle, It is thus that Horace Walpole expresses himself in writing. to Sir Horace Mann: However irreparable his personal loss may be to his friends, he certainly died critically well for himself. He had lived to stand the rudest trials with honour, and to see his character universally cleared, his enemies brought to infamy for their ignorance or villany, and the world allowing him to be the only man in England fit to be what he had been; and he died at a time when his age and infirmities prevented his again undertaking the support of a Government, which engrossed his whole care, and which he foresaw was falling into the last confusion. In this I hope his judgment failed. His fortune attended him to the last, for he died of the most painful of all distempers with little or no pain.' I have always thought myself that in the management of the House he has only had one equal-the late Lord Palmerston; and I find my view supported in Lord Chesterfield's character of him, who doubted, however, if an impartial character of him will ever be transmitted to posterity. His words are: 'He was both the best Parliament-man and the ablest manager of Parliament that I believe ever lived. An artful rather than an eloquent speaker, he saw, as by intuition, the disposition of the House, and pressed or receded accordingly.' The great event of the year, as is well known, was the landing of Charles Edward, or the Young Pretender; of whom, and of his adventures and hairbreadth escapes, and of his gallantry, it would be out of place to dwell at length in these pages; but as a great alarm was spread in the Old Town later in the year, and as the news travelled quick up the valley of the Rea, some few particulars may be noticed in passing; for they were stirring times. What caused the alarm in Shrewsbury was the arrival of the Pretender, with the Dukes of Athol and Perth, at Ashbourn, about sixty miles distant, and thirteen-and-a-half N.W. by W. of Derby, on December 4. Within a few days the report was current that the Highlanders were approaching, and all was excitement and something like dismay amongst all parties the Jacobites as well as the adherents of the house of Hanover dreading equally the pillage of Scotch marauders, who were said to spare no one, and even to eat children. Nor did the presence of the newly-raised fusiliers, under Lord Herbert, lord lieutenant of the county, inspire any confidence, for although they marched out to meet the rebels they soon fell back. It appears, however, that the report was a false the women there in troops. The conduits were, in fact, what 'the places of drawing water' were to the Israelitish women. Though it was a matter not likely to be whispered by the reeds on the banks of the Rea, nor a point to ruffle the leaves of the yellow water-lilies in the Lower Harrisals, it may be mentioned here that a great man died this year, and one whose name will remain amongst us, whatever different views may be taken of his poetry. Mr. Pope, says Spence in his 'Anecdotes,' 'died May 30, in the evening; but they did not know the exact time; for his departure was so easy that it was imperceptible even to the standers by. May our end be like his.' Early in the next year-in March 1745-died Lord Orford, that great spirit of his day, better known by the name of Sir Robert Walpole. In the old county of Shropshire his was a name which carried weight, for if they did not like his Hanoverian politics there was a bluffness about his character which jumped with the feelings and tastes of many of the old squires of his day. Many a bottle of wine had they cracked with him, and some had hunted and shot with him at Houghton in Norfolk, and knew how hospitable he could be; nor were they a sort of people there to object to wild revelry, and what the ever-memorable John Hales of Eton called 'intempestive commissation and compotation.' He certainly was a coarse file with which soft bodies are rubbed to powder, and might have suggested to Aaron Hill, his contemporary, these lines: Tender-handed touch a nettle, And it stings you for your pains ; It is thus that Horace Walpole expresses himself in writing to Sir Horace Mann: However irreparable his personal loss may be to his friends, he certainly died critically well for himself. He had lived to stand the rudest trials with honour, and to see his character universally cleared, his enemies brought to infamy for their ignorance or villany, and the world allowing him to be the only man in England fit to be what he had been; and he died at a time when his age and infirmities prevented his again undertaking the support of a Government, which engrossed his whole care, and which he foresaw was falling into the last confusion. In this I hope his judgment failed. His fortune attended him to the last, for he died of the most painful of all distempers with little or no pain.' I have always thought myself that in the management of the House he has only had one equal-the late Lord Palmerston; and I find my view supported in Lord Chesterfield's character of him, who doubted, however, if an impartial character of him will ever be transmitted to posterity. His words are: 'He was both the best Parliament-man and the ablest manager of Parliament that I believe ever lived. An artful rather than an eloquent speaker, he saw, as by intuition, the disposition of the House, and pressed or receded accordingly.' The great event of the year, as is well known, was the landing of Charles Edward, or the Young Pretender; of whom, and of his adventures and hairbreadth escapes, and of his gallantry, it would be out of place to dwell at length in these pages; but as a great alarm was spread in the Old Town later in the year, and as the news travelled quick up the valley of the Rea, some few particulars may be noticed in passing; for they were stirring times. What caused the alarm in Shrewsbury was the arrival of the Pretender, with the Dukes of Athol and Perth, at Ashbourn, about sixty miles distant, and thirteen-and-a-half N.W. by W. of Derby, on December 4. Within a few days the report was current that the Highlanders were approaching, and all was excitement and something like dismay amongst all parties the Jacobites as well as the adherents of the house of Hanover dreading equally the pillage of Scotch marauders, who were said to spare no one, and even to eat children. Nor did the presence of the newly-raised fusiliers, under Lord Herbert, lord lieutenant of the county, inspire any confidence, for although they marched out to meet the rebels they soon fell back. It appears, however, that the report was a false |