Sir Thomas, in 8 Car. I., granted a deputation to Francis Armytage, Esq., for life, of the office of Bow-bearer of his Free-chace in Mashamshire, with all the fees and emoluments thereof.-In 1638, he was High Sheriff of the County of York. In 1635, he had been appointed by his cousin-german, Lord Wentworth, (afterwards created Earl of Strafford,) then Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire, one of his Deputy-Lieutenants.-For his honourable adherence in Parliament and elsewhere, to this unfortunate and cruelly persecuted nobleman, he was one of those pointed out to the fury of the populace as Straffordians. He was zealously attached to the Royal Cause during the civil wars, and had the command of a regiment.-Afterward, during the supremacy of the Roundheads, he was long detained a prisoner, and obliged to pay a fine of £5,600 to procure his freedom, and the restoration of his estates.

Thomas, the son of this Sir Thomas, married Margaret, co-heir to her cousin Ralph, Lord Eure, and left two sons: on the death of the younger of whom, a minor, in 1683, Mashamshire, with the other large estates, passed to his uncle, Christopher Danby, (second son of Sir Thomas,) who in that year conveyed Mashamshire, and all the other estates of the family, to Sir Abstrupus Danby, Knt., his son by Anne, niece of John, Lord Colepepper.-Sir Abstrupus Danby, in 1688, purchased the third of the manor of Swinton, with the mansion-house, from his relative, Mr. Norton, whose ancestor married Anne, daughter of Sir George Wandesford, and probably thereby became possessed of it, as, prior to the wardship of Sir Thomas Danby, and the connexion between the families of Danby and Wandesford, the entirety of Swinton appears to have been attached to the Danby estates. Sir Abstrupus Danby left a son, Abstrupus Danby, who was father of William Danby. The latter married Mary, daughter of Gilbert Affleck, of Dalham, in Suffolk, and had issue, one son, William, the present Lord of Mashamshire, and possessor of Swinton, who was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1784; and two daughters, Mary, wife of William, Earl Harcourt, and Elizabeth, who died unmarried.

The residence of the family had formerly been on other parts of this extensive domain, also at Thorpe Perrow, near Bedale, an estate sold by Sir Abstrupus Danby, who resided chiefly at Farnley Hall, near Leeds, a large possession acquired by the marriage of Sir James Danby, with Agnes, daughter and heir of John Langton, Lord of Farnley, Langton, and other lordships sold since.

A small portion only of the old mansion at Swinton now remains, the present possessor having considerably enlarged and improved it by the addition of an extensive wing towards the North, and a fine suite of Rooms facing the South, terminating in a Museum, the depository of a valuable collection of minerals, fossils, and other productions of natural history. The centre of this suite is occupied by the drawing-room, a noble apartment, built about thirty years since, under the directions of James Wyatt, Esq., and John Foss, Esq. of Richmond. Mr. Danby has also, within a few years, erected a massive Tower toward the East, and other castellated additions in the Norman style, from the designs of Robert Lugar, Esq., which contain, together with numerous family rooms, an elegant Library, forty-two feet in length, and a spacious Entrance Hall. A Western Tower, lately added, completes the coup-d'œil of

the South front. Among the internal decorations will be found some good Pictures by Rubens, Salvator Rosa, Guercino, Snyders, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and others of known celebrity, and a valuable collection of books. The buildings are all of a fine yellowish brown stone, raised in quarries, on the estate.

Swinton, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, is situated about ten miles from Ripon, seven from Bedale, and fourteen from Richmond, in the most richlywooded, and perhaps most beautiful part of the County, near the neat market town of Masham, almost the whole of which is an appendage to the property. The town of Masham stands on a bold bank overlooking the Eure, and the tall Spire of the parish Church is a striking feature in the surrounding landscape.

It is difficult, by description, to do justice to the beauties which are developed as the visitor wanders through the ever-varying and enchanting scenery of the Park and Grounds belonging to this delightful residence. Art has been here so judiciously brought to the assistance of, and is so blended with, Nature, that it can no where be detected as intrusive. The verdant banks of the Home Lake, skirted at intervals with evergreens, are admirably contrasted with the wilder scenery which bursts on the eye on appoaching the Great Lake, or the more secluded and romantic forest-scenery of the Storth-Water. A noble Bridge, seventy feet in height, formed of three pointed arches, has, within a few years, been thrown across the ravine of Quarry Gill, which, with the roaring Cataract of the Falls of the Eller, contribute much to the beauties of the drive through the Domain. The views of the neighbouring country are rich and pleasingly varied, extending from the eastern to the western moor-lands of the Vale of York, and from the Wolds of the East Riding to the Durham Hills.

Mashamshire includes the villages of Healey, Fearby, Swinton, Ilton, Colsterdale, Ellingtons Ambo, and Ellingstring.

The south aisle of the Church belongs to the Barony of Masham, and is the burial place of the Danbys of Swinton. Of this family there is a sumptuous mural Monument at the east end, in memory of Abstrupus Danby, last mentioned by us.

The Barony of Scrope of Upsall, and Masham, is in abeyance between the families of Wyville and Danby, as lineal heirs of Elizabeth Fitz Randall, and Margery Danby, the two co-heirs who left issue of Thomas Lord Scrope.

Danby bears for Arms :-Argent, three Chevronels interlaced in base, sable; on a chief of the second, three Mullets, of the first.

[We are indebted to Charles Tucker, Esq., for this account of the family of Danby; from whose Sketch, also, our Drawing has been made.]

Wilton Castle, Yorkshire ;

THE SEAT OF

SIR JOHN LOWTHER, BART., M.P.

WILTON Castle, the ancient baronial Seat of the Bulmers, stands in that part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, called Cleveland. The Bulmers were a family of great consideration, and had large possessions in the counties of York and Durham, but at what particular period they became first seated at Wilton, we have no information. In the fourth year of Edward II., Ralph de Bulmer obtained a charter in all his demesne lands here, and in the first of Edward III., he had summons to parliament amongst the barons. In the fourth of Edward III., he had special licence to make a Castle of his Manorhouse at Wilton; and was, in the same year, constituted Sheriff of Yorkshire, and Governor of York Castle. Wilton continued in the family for many generations, till Sir John Bulmer, Kt., the last possessor of that family, engaging in the Northern Insurrection, called the Pilgrimage of Grace, was attainted for High Treason, (28 Henry VIII.) when this and other estates were forfeited to the crown. Wilton was afterwards granted, in the reign of Philip and Mary, to Sir Thomas Cornwallis, and his wife in tail, and confirmed in the third year of James I., to his son, Sir William Cornwallis, in fee; whose descendant, Lord Cornwallis, sold the estate here to Sir Stephen Fox, afterwards Earl of Ilchester, of whom it was purchased by the trustees, under the will of Robert Lowther, Esq., of Maul's Meburn, for the benefit of his son, the late Earl of Lonsdale, then an infant, and by him bequeathed to the present possessor, Sir John Lowther, of Swillington, Bart.

The present building, raised on the site, and out of the ruins of the ancient Castle, was constructed after the designs of R. Smirke, Esq., according to the style of architecture which prevailed in the reign of Elizabeth; but has since received great additions and alterations under the direction of the proprietor himself, and now assumes a castellated form much in unison with the character of the place and the surrounding country. Plate I. The north front, extends in line upwards of 230 feet. The Castle contains many good and commodious apartments. A morning room, 46 feet in length, commands views distinguished by every variety of prospect, bounded on the south by rising grounds, cloathed with timber; on the east by the sea; and to the north-west, the eye has an unlimited range over the Counties of Durham and

B

York, intersected by the River Tees, which, meandering through the grazing districts of those counties, on its approach to the sea, expands itself into a fine extensive bay. Plate II. is a south-west view.

At the entrance of the grounds from Guisborough, is an appropriate Lodge, and a road of more than two miles in length, leads to the Castle, chiefly through woods abounding with picturesque and romantic scenery.

Wilton was an ancient Chapelry, within the parish of Kirk-Leatham; but the chapel seems not to have been dependant on that church. It was dedicated to St. Cuthbert, and being granted and appropriated to the Priory of Guisborough, at the dissolution of the monastery, it became a perpetual curacy, endowed with small tithes. Sir John Lowther is the present Patron; the right of nomination to the chapel being an appendage to the manor. The village, almost entirely rebuilt by the present proprietor, is small, seated on the northern declivity of a hill, about three miles from the Market-town of Guisborough. It consists of one township, comprehending the Manors of Lazenby and Lackenby. The prospect from the upper part of the village is very extensive; the town of Hartlepool in a prominent position, with the bold figure of its Church, is a striking object.

Sir John Lowther is the only brother of the Right Honourable William Earl of Lonsdale, and was created a Baronet in September, 1824. Arms,-Or, six annulets, sable, a crescent for difference.

Motto," Magistratus indicat virum.”

* Our Views of this Mansion, have been copied by permission of the proprietor, from two beautiful paintings, by George Arnald, Esq., A.R.A.