The board was analogous to that of the Conseil de Prud' Hommes of Lyons, and elsewhere in France and Belgium, consisting of twelve manufacturers and of twelve weavers, appointed and elected by their respective bodies. The Chairman elected to preside at all their meetings was entirely disconnected with the trade; and all parties agreed to abide by his decision, whenever an equality of votes happened to neutralize their proceedings. This mode of settling differences between masters and men, which has proved so successful in Macclesfield, might be imitated elsewhere, not only to the advantage, but to the mutual peace and good-will of both parties, however divergent might be their respective views.

The principal manufacturers of the place are the Messrs. Brocklehurst, whose dealings in the article of silk are rarely equalled in this country. It is to this firm that Macclesfield is mainly indebted for the introduction of the manufacture, and for other branches also in the neighbourhood, such as "throwing," and we may add, also, that of dyeing.

Sir John Lombe did not long survive the honour that was conferred upon him. His death was attended with circumstances of a painful interest. He had brought with him from Piedmont two natives, who had assisted him in obtaining the secret of the throwing art. The Italian merchants, finding themselves betrayed and their manufactures undersold, determined For this purpose, a clever woman was sent to England, who got into his employment, and managed to gain over one of his Italian workmen. The result was that he died after a lingering and painful illness, induced, as it was asserted, by the administration of a slow poison. An investigation took place; but though there was little doubt as to the guilt of these parties, their guilt could not be proved.

on revenge.

Macclesfield contains an increasing population of 40,000. It possesses very few objects of antiquarian interest; and, as we suppose our readers will not require us to describe its institutions, which are those of every large town, nor its market-place and fairs, a brief description of such points as may be supposed to attract a stranger's attention is all that we shall offer.

The town is irregularly built; and standing on a hill in a kind of basin, presents an antiquated and picturesque appearance; always remembering that the very term, picturesque, supposes the absence, to a certain extent, of the well-constructed mansion, the spacious street, and the bright and cleanly exterior, which go to make up the modern idea of the word comfort.

From the east side of the town, and indeed from many positions in the suburbs, the church rises conspicuously from amidst the houses clustered around and below it. It had once a spire, which was in existence in 1585, and appears represented upon an official seal bearing the date of 1757; but it has long since passed away. It still possesses a goodly tower. The ancient aspect of this, and much of the building

In reality, it is dedicated to St. Michael, and was founded by Queen Eleanor, the wife of Edward I. Although it is the mistress of nine townships, it is still but a parochial chapelry under Prestbury. The body of the church was almost wholly rebuilt in 1740, and considerable alterations have since been made. Attached to the church is a chapel, known as the Savage, or Rivers chapel, either from its founder, or as having been in the possession of the earls of that name.

Not far from the church stood an ancient well, contiguous to the position of which are the only remains of what is said to have been once a castle or mansion, the residence of a Duke of Buckingham. These remains are a wall and a doorway, together with some portions of the building itself, forming, at present, part of the premises of an ironmonger. Webb, writing in 1622, says, "In this towne (Macclesfield) are yet seen some ruines of the ancient manor-house of the Duke of Buckingham, who kept there his princely residence about the time of King Edward IV., of whose great hospitality there, much by tradition is reported." Smith, writing nearly 40 years before Webb, assigns the same ownership to the ruin, which in his day existed; and though it is said that the duke's name does not appear in any of the town's records, the authority of these two authors is too good to be lightly passed over. Ormerod mentions in another part of his history, that a certain Ralph de Macclesfield gave "his mansion, the old castle and place-yard of Macclesfield, with other lands," to a Duke of Buckingham, in exchange for the Manor of Mere, &c.; and he adds that this Duke was probably Edward Stafford, beheaded by Henry VIII.

There is an ancient black and white house at the corner of Chester Gate, leading out of the Market Place, and an inn, still called Bate Hall, once the residence of the ancestors of the Earl of Comtown, which may interest the stranger; and he may also like to know that Macclesfield was formerly surrounded by a haia, or fortification, kept in repair by the military tenants of the Earl. The recollection of this is yet preserved in the names of the streets which form the outlets of the town-Chester Gate, Jordan Gate, and Wall Gate. Jordan Gate derives its name most probably from a certain Jordan de Macclesfield. On the spot now occupied by the street so called and around it, he held considerable possessions.

It was at a house in Jordan Gate that the head-quarters of the Highland army are said to have been established in the rebellion of 1745. Tradition also assigns a room in the residence of the Head Master of the Grammar School as the place where Prince Charles Edward held a levee; but we have it on the authority of an aged lady, well known and much loved in Macclesfield, who herself heard it in her youth from others, that the Prince certainly slept during his stay in the town at a mansion called "The Fence." We mention this fact because it enables us to introduce a name dear to the recollection

of Cambridge men. The Fence, though now the residence of Thomas Brocklehurst, Esq., was the property of the late Professor Smythe, in whose family it still remains. The Smythes also own a considerable portion of the township of Hinchfield, an extensive suburb of Macclesfield. Hinchfield House is the residence of John Brocklehurst, Esq., the member for the borough-the other member is Mr. Egerton, the son of Mr. Egerton of Sutton, a gentleman whose name is identified with the out interests of the county, and whose munificence is measured by possessions so ample as (together with his descent) to place him at the head of the commoners of Cheshire.

The Grammar-school-founded first by Sir John Percy vale, and secondly by King Edward VI.—at Macclesfield is a valuable institution, well endowed with two exhibitions of £50 each to the Universities. It has numbered amongst its masters and scholars some eminent men. Amongst the former may be mentioned Brouns werd and Newton in the sixteenth centuary, and Brancker in the succeeding century. Newton was considered the purest Latin scholar of his time. To Brownswerd and Brancker there are monuments in the church. The present head-master is the Rev. T. B. Cornish.

When we say that Macclesfield has one or two very handsome structures - the Town Hall and Savings Bank-and that it is well supplied with churches, chapels, an excellent dispensary, a Mechanics' Institute, School of Design, and the usual useful institutions of a large town, we believe that, as far as regards the town itself, we have fulfilled our task as guides.

We must not, however, forget to add that a public park, in a situation of great beauty, is in the course of formation. The idea originated with the working classes at the period when monuments to the memory of the late Sir Robert Peel were proposed throughout the country. The operatives of Macclesfield deter mined that their memorial should be in such a form as would prove a public benefit. They accordingly suggested a park, and subscribed largely towards carrying out their proposition. To this suggestion another has been added, of a public library. This will, no doubt, be also carried into effect.

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The same testimony which we have already quoted with reference to the devastation, by the Conqueror, of Prestbury and its sister townships, exists as to the share which Macclesfield bore in the common suffering. In Doomsday Book, at the close of an entry which shows it to have been one of the lordships of Earl Edwin, there are these words: Tempore R. Edwardi talebat VIII. libras, modo XX. solidos. Wasta fecti;" that is, that whereas before the Conquest the manor had been worth eight pounds, the ravages of the Norman had reduced it to an eighth of its former value. The ancient church of "Maclesfeld" seems at this time to have been destroyed. The whole of the district around Macclesfield was originally forest. The name "Macclesfield Forest" yet designates a large portion of it; and it is probable that the bands of robbers who from time

to time infested the locality owed their origin to the houseless condition and natural hatred of the Saxon serfs to their conquerors. Their homes had been desolated, their property destroyed, and their rights and sufferings utterly and equally disregarded. Nothing was left to many of them but the forest for a shelter, and the property of their oppressors, whenever they could meet with it, for a subsistence. Thus, necessity and revenge drove them into the felon's occupation. The occupation doubtless remained when the excuse had ceased to exist, and so became a sort of hereditary profession with some, as well as affording a temptation to all who were lawless and disaffected.

These robber-bands had become somewhat formidable in the time of Edward III., for to a certain inquisition taken before Thomas de Ferars, Justice of Chester at that time, there is annexed a very long roll of "the Master Robbers, who were beheaded in the time of Vivian Davenport, Roger de Davenport, and Thomas de Davenport." By this record it appears, that these bands were numerous, and that the fees paid to the Davenports, who held the office of Chief Forester, or Grand Serjeant, was for each master robber 2s. and one salmon; and for each of the inferior robbers 12d. These Grand Serjeants had eight subordinates, the power of life and death within their jurisdiction, and all wayves, strays, goods of felons and fugitives" within the hundred of Macclesfield. They had also many other curious privileges attached to their office; and they preserve to this day, in their armorial bearings, the traditionary proof of their authority, for the crest is a felon's head coifed proper, haltered or ;" or, in plainer English, a thief's head with a golden halter round his neck. The Davenports are an ancient and influential family, and have a fine estate and noble hall about six miles on the west of Macclesfield.

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We have said that the district around Macclesfield was anciently forest land. That it retained the character even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth is evident from a passage in Drayton's "Polyalbion," a typographical description of England in pithy verse-full of historical matt erand much learned research. Drayton, in describing the Mersey and its tributary streams, says:

"Where when the rivers meet with all their stately traine,
Proud Mersey is so great in ent'ring of the Maine,
As hee would make a shewe for Empery to stand,
And wrest the three-forked mace from out grim Neptune's hand;
To Cheshire highly wound, for that his watʼry store,
From hence he getteth soyt downe from her Peakish spring,
As to the grosser loughs on the Lancastrian shore.
And Bollen, that along doth nimbler Birkin bring,
From Maxfield's mightie wilds, of whose shagg'd sylvans shee
Hath in the rocks been woo'd, their Paramour to bee:
Who in the darksome holes and caverns kept her long,
And that proud forest made a party to her wrong."

A custom formerly prevailed at Macclesfield of furious riding at a wedding. Brand, on the authority of a Cheshire clergyman, mentions this, and states that the equestrian process was finished by a cavalcade round the market-place. The custom has passed away, or only

it was described to be," Cathedra in quâ rixosæ mulieres sedentes aquis demergebantur." We may perhaps be permitted to quote, in addition, from Brand, that in the "Regium Majestratem," by Sir John Skene, the punishment of the cucking-stool appears to have been anciently used in Scotland. Under "Burrow Lawes," Chapter LXIX., speaking of " Browsters," or "Wemen quha brewes aill to be sauld," it is said, "Gif she makes gude ail, that is sufficient. Bot gif she makes evil ail, contrair to the use and consuetude of the Burgh, and is convict thereof, she sall pay ane unlaw of aucht shillinges, or sall suffer the justice of the Burgh, that is, she sall be put upon the Cock-stule-and the ail sall be distribited to the pure folke," which would, we take it, be as much of a punishment to the "pure folke" as the "cock-stule" to the brewer of "evil ail."

The cucking-stool was a chair fixed to the end of a long pole; the scolding wife or quarrelsome quean was fastened into the chair, and then, by means of the pole, submerged in the water, three or more times, according to sentence. Misson, a Frenchman who travelled in England in the 17th century, and who was a close observer of all popular customs, describes this method of punishment for " quarrelsomeor profligate women," and he speaks of it as "assiz plaisante,"possibly for the spectators; but hardly, we should think, for the delinquent. He tells us at the close of his notice, that the object of putting the woman into this chair was "pour refaicher un peu sa chaleur immodestie."

The use of the cucking-stool was continued to a late period. Gay, in the "Pastorals," says:

"I'll speed me to the pond, where the high stool
On the long plank hangs o'er the muddy pool-
That stool the dread of every scolding quean."

A recent writer in the "Notes and Queries says, that in the municipal accounts of Leicester for the year 1768 -69, there is this entry, "Paid Mr. Ellis for a cuckstool, by order of Hall, £2." He adds that the modified use of it was within the memory of aged persons, and that an ancient cucking-stool is yet preserved in the town hall of Leicester.

Not far from Macclesfield, on the Chester road, and within the limits of the borough, is a small hamlet called Broken Cross. The sign of the Pack-horse yet preserves in a traditionary form the circumstances which gave it a certain, but not a spotless notoriety. It was originally the starting place, we believe, of the carriers in the days when the only conveyance for goods was by means of pack-horses. Broken Cross afterwards became a rendezvous for the flash-men, and a resort of highwaymen. In the wild country between Buxton Leeh and Macclesfield there is a district called "The Flash." In this district there formerly lived a class of pedestrian pedlars who frequented fairs and public-houses, and used a peculiar dialect or canty slang amongst themselves.

They hawked for sale the buttons which were the produce of Macclesfield before its present staple manufacture was introduced, and the ribbons and fene

tings made in the neighbourhood. They obtained credit to a great amount by paying ready money for their first purchases; and when they could obtain no more, they evaded payment and went elsewhere. With the money thus obtained they inclosed land and built farms, having no title to the one nor the other, and setting all law at defiance. They were at length broken up. They derived their name "Flash-men" from the district which they inhabited; and associating with a set of sharpers called the "Broken-cross gang," who ultimately became highwaymen and foot-pads, they have thus conferred on the locality to which we have alluded a traditionary notoriety, which will not easily pass away. Dr. Aiken, in his history of Manchester, furnishes the account to which we are now indebted for these details. We have gossiped thus much concerning the customs and traditions of Macclesfield, because in themselves they are really not uninteresting, and because there is a sad dearth, in the history of this ancient town, of those stirring legends or marvellous events which attach to the recollections of other localities. We have no such tale as that of "The good devil of Woodstock;" we cannot find a house haunted like that of Mr. Mompesson in Wiltshire, according to the veracious relations of old Glanvile in his "Ladducesinus Triumphatus." We have not even a ghost to tell of upon the authority of most credible witnesses. We must therefore leave the good town of Macclesfield to the repose from which it is seldom disturbed, and proceed on our journey southwards.

The railroad emerges from Macclesfield in the township of Sutton,-a very beautiful locality, of which, however, but little is seen, until some short distance has been traversed. We then gain a sight of the chain of hills of which we have already spoken. In the background they stretch away towards Derbyshire, enfolding, as it were, "Shutlings Low," a hill, or rather mountain, overlooking the whole country. In the foreground they are broken into picturesque and irregular forms, clothed with wood, and pleasing the eye with the rich alternation of verdant heights and fertile vales. A glimpse up one of these vales into Winkle has always struck us as being, amongst so much that is fair, peculiarly beautiful.

Buxton lies behind the hills to the left, at a distance of about 12 miles from Macclesfield. The high-road from Macclesfield rises for the space of seven miles to a great elevation, where stands a well-known house called the Cat and Fiddle. From this point it descends for the remaining five miles into the town of Buxton. The scenery is wild, and in winter very desolate. The inn which we have mentioned forms in its loneliness a conspicuous object from many points of the lowland districts; and for six months of the year, surrounded as it is with snow, stands out in dark relief, although so small, like a spot of jet in a mass of silver.

The estates of Sutton were formerly in the possession of the Suttons : from them they descended to the Fauconbergs; and from them, by intermarriage, they have passed into the family of the Earls of Lucan, to whom

the Suttons was the Sir Richard Sutton who was one of the founders of Brazen Nose, at Oxford. Fuller says that "William Smith, Bishop of Lincoln, began Brazen Nose College, but died before he had finished one nostril thereof, leaving this Sutton his executor, who over-performed the Bishop's will, and completed the foundation with his own liberal additions thereunto." To this notice some quaint verses are attached :"Began by one, but finished by another, Sutton was my nurse, but Smith my mother; Or if the phrase more proper seem, say rather, That Sutton was my guardian, Smith my father. 'Cause equal kindness they to me exprest, Better I neither love, love both the best; If both they may be called who had one willWhat one design'd the other did fulfil. May such testators live, who good intend; But if they die, heaven such exec'tors send." Fuller says that Sir Richard was born at Prestbury, as he was informed by his good friend, Dr. Sates, principal of Brazen Nose.

On the right of the railroad from Macclesfield is Macclesfield Common-an extensive moss, part of the estate of the Earl of Harrington, producing at present nothing beyond peat for firing. Some mention is made of a speculation for draining it. There is little doubt, were such a speculation ably carried out, that it would answer. Some small portions of it have been recovered, but the greater part is still an uncultivated waste.

This moss extends to Gawsworth, a locality full of much interest. It possesses an ancient church, the tower of which rises gracefully above the surrounding foliage, forming a conspicuous object for a considerable distance. It has also a rectory of the true old Cheshire build-black and white, wood and plaster. The hall of the rectory is unique of its kind; it is open to the very top of the building; the roof is supported [by arched timbers, which are decorated with carving, and the beams and plaster of the sides are painted white. It seems to have owed much to the care of one of the rectors, Mr. Hall. There are also some picturesque remains of the old Hall, as well as a piece of ground, levelled and surrounded with low embankments on three sides, which is said to be an ancient tilting ground. Between the rectory and the church runs a broad road, with grass on either side; near the road, and opposite the rectory, are large, old-fashioned fish-ponds, overshadowed with aged and luxuriant trees. It is through these trees that the churchyard is approached, and it is not easy to find a spot uniting so much rural beauty with so much venerable antiquity. The church itself has recently been restored. During the process of restoration, some remarkable frescoes were discovered. One was a singular representation of the Last Judgment. The other two were taken from the legends of St. Christopher and St. George. That of St. Christopher was a rude and colossal figure of the Saint crossing the river with a child on his shoulder. That of St. George was a picture of the Knight and his Horse in their usual attitude over the Dragon, with the

of the destined victim beheld the fray; whilst the disconsolate damsel is depicted on the banks of a stream running into the ocean. The knight's armour and the lady's costume afford data for fixing the period of the work, which was probably that of the middle of the fifteenth century.

Gawsworth is remarkable for the manner in which, as a possession, it has been transmitted from one family to another. Originally belonging to the family of Abdworth, it passed into that of Oneby; from this again, by marriage, into the family of Fitton. From the Fittons it was transferred to the Gerards, Earls of Macclesfield; and from them, by inter-marriages, it has come into the hands of its present possessor, the Earl of Harrington.

It did not pass into the family of Gerard, however, without a memorable law suit. A rare tract, entitled "A True Narrative of the proceedings in the several suits in law that have been between Charles, Lord Gerald, of Brandon, and Alexander Fitton, Esq. By a Lover of Truth. 1663." It contains the whole account of a trial which caused great excitement and interest at the time, not only on account of the value of the estates involved, and the rank of the parties engaged, but from the conflicting testimony that was offered, and the serious charges which were laid against some of the parties. The estate had been decreed by Sir Edward Fitton, as it was asserted, to his nephew, Lord Gerard. This was denied; and the chief point in dispute was the validity of a deed of settlement, alleged by Alexander Fitton to have been drawn up by Sir Edward during his life-time, under the provisions of which Alexander claimed. In opposition to this, a will was produced, nineteen years after Sir Edward's death, by the Gerards; and the question was whether the settlement would thereby be set aside. A commission was taken out to prove the signatures of witnesses to the deed; which being done, the attorney of Lord Gerard returned to London, and, it is alleged, prevailed upon a person of the name of Granger (then confined in the gate-house) to swear that he had, for £40, forged the document at the instigation of Mr. Fitton. Much conflicting evidence was offered on both sides, but the result was a verdict that the deed was forged, and the indictment of some of the witnesses for perjury. Fitton charged Lord Gerard with a like offence; and it is exceedingly difficult to say whether or not the measure of guilt was equally shared between them. Fitton was subsequently taken out of gaol by James II., made Chancellor of Ireland, and created by him Lord Gawsworth. After his abdication, it is supposed he accompanied his fallen master to France. Ormerod says, "What the guilt of Gerard might be, God can only judge; but his hand fell heavily on the representatives of that noble house. In less than half a century the husbands of its two co-heiresses, James, Duke of Hamilton, and Charles, Lord Mohun, were slain by each other's hands in a murderous duel, arising out of a dispute relative to the partition of the Fitton estates, and