Tixall House, Staffordshire ;

THE SEAT OF

SIR THOMAS CLIFFORD, BART.

THE Manor of Tixall was one of the many manors in the county of Stafford, bestowed by William the Conqueror on Robert de Toeni, or de Stadford. It afterwards came into the family of Wasteneys, from whom it was purchased by the famous Judge Littleton. His grand-daughter, Joan Littleton, brought it into the family of Aston, by her marriage with Sir John Aston, of Haywood, Knight-banneret; and by the marriage of the Honourable Barbara Aston, daughter and coheiress of James, fifth Lord Aston, with the Honourable Thomas Clifford, father of the present proprietor, it came into the family of Clifford.

The Mansion is situated nearly in the centre of the parish, and occupies a considerable extent of ground; but the only part fully exposed to view is the south front, which was added by the Hon. Thomas Clifford, to the quadrangle erected by James Lord Aston, in 1750. It is built of Tixall stone, and is ornamented with a portico of the Doric order, the shaft of each of the columns formed of a single block, 15 feet in length. The front is extended, by a screen on each side, also decorated with Doric columns and pilasters, to the length of 144 feet, each screen surmounted by a large pedestal and lion couchant. The Hall of Entrance is 24 feet square, to the left of which is the Library, which measures 28 by 24 feet, and contains about 4000 volumes. It also contains a large painting, by the late Edward Bird, R. A., of the Landing of Louis XVIII. at Calais, in 1814; a most interesting picture, taken on the spot, and rendered more valuable from the number of Portraits it contains, viz., Louis XVIII. King of France, the Duchess of Angouleme, Sir John Beresford, Commander of the Royal Yacht, the Prince of Condè, the Duc de Bourbon, the French nobles and ladies of the court, the Earl of Buckinghamshire, Lord Cawdor, Lord Sidmouth, Sir Thomas Clifford, Bart. &c. &c.

A Picture, to which this may be considered as a companion, of the Embarkation at Dover in the same year, had been previously painted by the same artist, for his late Majesty, then Prince Regent, and which is now in the Royal Collection.

On the right of the Hall is the Dining Room, 36 feet long, by 24 feet wide, and, like the Hall and Library, 16 feet 6 inches high. One of the paintings with which this room is decorated, is of uncommon size: it contains eleven Portraits, as large as life, and represents Walter, the fourth Lord Aston, of Forfar, with the Lady Mary Howard, his wife, their children and attendants: it was painted by Richard Van Bleek. There is also, by the same artist, a full-length Portrait of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, in his robes, and with the Earl Marshal's staff: a Portrait of Catherine Gage, second wife of the fourth Lord Aston; and over the doors are two Heads, one by Vandyck, the other by Cornelius Jansen. There are also in this room, Catiline's Conspiracy, by Salvator Rosa, and two large historical subjects, by Casali. They originally formed part of the collection of Mr. Beckford, at Fonthill. Over these three rooms, on the ground floor, are two excellent Bedchambers, and in the centre, a Drawing Room, which opens into a spacious Balcony, over the Portico, commanding an enchanting prospect. In this room is a valuable Portrait of Cromwell, Earl of Essex, by Holbein, an engraving of which is included in "The Illustrious Heads," by Edmund Lodge, Esq.; Sportsmen, by Murillo; Virgin and Child, by Solimeni; Christ in the Garden, by Carlo Maratti, &c. The Gate-House, which stands a few paces to the west of the Mansion, is the most elegant antique edifice of its kind in the kingdom. It consists of three stories, decorated with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns, and is flanked by four octagon towers. Views of it are to be seen in Plot's Staffordshire, Grose's Antiquities, and in the Beauties of England and Wales. It was built in 1580, by Sir Walter Aston, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, for his bravery at the siege of Leith.

Behind the Gate-House are the ruins of the ancient seat of the Astons, which was completed in 1555. The most remarkable remains are, bow-window, richly decorated with Gothic ornaments, and an oriel, on the ceiling of which are, very neatly carved in stone, the arms of Montfort, Freville, Byron, and Walsh, ancestors of the Astons.

THE SEAT OF

THOMAS FITZHERBERT, ESQ.

THIS handsome edifice was erected in the reign of Queen Anne. It is of stone, and the principal front is divided into three compartments-viz., a centre with four pilasters, and two wings, the whole surmounted by vases; the architecture of the building, altogether, marking the period of its erection. The house stands on a commanding eminence; and from the leads of the building is a very extensive prospect of the north-west parts of Stafford, with Shropshire, Cheshire, and Worcestershire in the distance; the principal entrance is by four steps into the great hall, of considerable dimensions: the apartments are spacious, and the whole interior is fitted up with much elegance, at once bespeaking the refined taste of the present proprietor. The house contains many valuable pictures. A very elegant chapel adjoins the mansion, for the use of the family and tenantry, who are of the Roman Catholic persuasion. The parish church stands by the road-side, and forms a pleasing object in the view.

The family of the proprietor is of ancient and noble descent, having for their founder, Heribert, Earl of Vermandois, about the year 900.

Sir William Fitzherbert, Knight, in 1225, obtained a grant of the manor of Norbury, near Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, to him and his heirs for ever. there they resided for about four hundred and fifty years; till the marriage of William Fitzherbert with Isabel, daughter and heiress of Humphrey Swinnerton of this place, about the middle of the sixteenth century, since which time it has been the principal seat of this branch of the family.

Of this family was Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, Knight, the celebrated Judge, author of "Natura Brevium Novel, 1534," in French; a work often reprinted, and highly esteemed; and also of the "Book of Husbandry, 1634;" reprinted frequently in the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth, but now very scarce; a copy is, however, preserved in the Library here. This work obtained for its author the title of "The Father of English Husbandry," and was the result of forty years' experience in agricultural pursuits. We had nothing, says Hartes in his essays on husbandry, for the space of an hundred years, that resembled a systematical body of agriculture, but Fitzherbert's two books. Sir Anthony also published some other useful books on law. Fuller observes, "These, his writings, are monuments which will longer continue his memory than the flat blue marble stone under which he lies interred in Norbury church." He died in 1538.

The ancient mansion at Norbury is now a farm-house, but the study of Sir Anthony is still preserved; it is wainscoted with oak, and on each of the panels is inscribed select sentences out of Scripture, chiefly from the book of Wisdom, in old English characters.

On the death of Thomas Fitzherbert, Esq. who built this seat, at Nice, in the south of France, in 1781, without issue, the Swinnerton estates devolved to his brother Basil, whose son, Thomas Fitzherbert, Esq., is the present possessor.

Swinnerton Hall is in Pirehill hundred, and is three miles north-west from the town of Stone.