1705. Richard Mytton and John Kynaston, members. and Edward Cresset, Esq., ditto.1 1710. Ditto 1734. John Mytton, grandfather to the subject of this memoir, stood a severe contest for the Borough, but was defeated by Sir Richard Corbet, Bart., and William Kynaston, Esq.; and the late John Mytton, Esq., was elected member, January 14, 1819, having been opposed by Panton Corbet, Esq., who soon resigned the contest. Numbers-Mytton, 384; Corbet, 287. In so highly an aristocratic county as Shropshire, and one celebrated for its electioneering contentions, these extracts may be sufficient to exhibit the parliamentary pretensions of this ancient family, and of my late departed friend. In 1480, Thomas Mytton was high sheriff for Shropshire, and apprehended the Duke of Buckingham, who had rebelled against Richard the Third, and conducted him to Salisbury, where, as his historian 1 This election was the result of a very severe contest. The following was the final state of the poll:-Mytton, 224; Edward Cresset (ancestor of Cresset Pelham, Esq., late M.P. for the county), 222; Thomas Jones (ancestor of Sir Tyrwhitt Jones, Bart.), 177; Sir Edward Leighton, Bart., 131 relates, he was instantly tried, condemned, and executed according to the summary method practised in those ages. His reward for this very important service is recorded in the Harleian MSS., No. 433; in which is an abstract of the Letters Patent, whereby "King Richard the Third grants to his trusty and well-beloved Squire, Thomas Mytton, and to his heirs male, the Castle and Lordship of Cawes, and all appurtenances thereto, amounting to the value of fifty pounds, and late belonging to our rebel and traitor, the late Duke of Buckingham." This Thomas Mytton married one of the daughters of Sir John Burgh, and was an immediate ancestor of the subject of this memoir. As has been shown, the first conspicuous ancestor of this family was, Reginold de Mutton, of Weston Lizard, Shropshire, now represented through the Wilbrahams and Newports by the present Earl of Bradford; and it is in 1549 that we first find it seated at Halston, when Sir Robert Townsend is stated to have rented Mr. Mytton's large mansion at Cotow, he-Mr. Mytton-having removed to his more recent purchase at Halston-or, as it was then called, Holy Stone, much celebrated in history as the scene of bloody deeds in the reign of the first Richard. At this ancient mansion there was a preceptory of Knights Templars, and after wards of the Knights Hospitallers, under a grant from Queen Elizabeth (who confirmed the alienation of the property from the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, to whom it was given by an Earl of Arundel who possessed it after the Norman conquest), when purchased, or rather exchanged for, by Edward Mytton of Habberley. There was also formerly an abbey in the village of Halston, taken down more than a century ago; but there is the church or chapel of Halston now standing on the domain, exempt from Episcopal jurisdiction, and without any other revenue than what the Chaplain may be allowed by the owner of it. Having described ancient, I proceed to modern Halston; and, unless very fastidious indeed, my readers will agree with me in thinking that it ought to satisfy the desires of every moderate man. In the first place, its location is good. Away from any great road, it is within easy reach of two-the London and Holyhead, and the Shrewsbury and Chester without being subjected to the inconvenience of either; and the lodge-gates open upon an excellent cross turnpike-road, leading from Oswestry to Ellesmere-distant, three miles from the former town and five from the latter. Being situated on a flat, the domain is deprived of some of the advantages the extremely beautiful country by which it is surrounded affords, but still the tout ensemble is good. In the front of the mansion is a lawn of about sixty acres of prettily diversified grass-land, and behind it is a tastily laid-out flower garden, contiguous to a fine tract of meadow land separated from it by a deeply sunken fence; and a noble sheet of water, with the old family chapel at the head of it, gives a good finish to the landscape. When I say that the oak is the weed of that part of our island, I scarcely need add that, in a domain of such antiquity as Halston, it is-I fear I must write was to be seen in its full majesty of form; and no estate in the county could produce finer oaks than those which adorned the Halston woods. I can indeed speak to the fact of one which was cut down, about eight years back, containing ten tons of timber, without top or lop! The plantations also, all made by the late Mr. Mytton and to the extent of three miles, nearly encircle the domain, and afford shelter to the superfluity of game which it was his ambition to possess. The mansion house, without pretensions to magnificence, is replete with every comfort and convenience for a country gentleman's establishment; and is much more commodious than it appears to be, from the offices being for the most part detached. It contains |