It appears by the preceding account of the Sneyd Family, that they suffered great losses by their loyalty during the civil wars, now nearly two centuries ago. The following letter, which we extract from Shaw's Staffordshire,* was written when the outrages committed at Keel House were fresh in the recollection of the writer; and there can be no doubt that its accompaniments furnished Mr. Chetwynd with the notes we now, for the first time, have the privilege to publish.

"This for the Honoured Walter Chetwyne, Esq. at Ingestree, with a little Box and Pedigree.

'Stafford, January 14, 1679.

"MOST HONOURED SIR, "I was in hope to have met with you at the Sessions, to have delivered this "enclosed with my own hands: I have left the Deed of Purchase of Bradwell "with my Brother, which was in Henry the IVths days, as you may see by the "Deed. Most of my writings were lost when Keel was plundered,¶ so that I "cannot give you so satisfactory account of my Pedigree which otherwise I "might, and, therefore, have returned such answer to your queries as I can at present. Sir, you will infinitely oblige all the Gentry of the County with your noble and worthy undertaking, especially your most affectionate Kinsman "and faithful servant, "WILLIAM SNEYD."

¶ Order of the Parliamentary Committee at Stafford :-" 1642. Feb. 29. That Keele House be forth"with demolished by Capt. Barbar's souldiers, and that Mr. Fitzherbert's house be forthwith demolished "by Capt. Stone's souldiers." (Shaw's History of Staffordshire, vol. 1. p. 64.)

"1643. May 1. Mrs. Sneyd, Wife of Ralph Sneyd, Esq. of Keel, to pay to the Committee at Stafford, "£400. Mrs. Sneyd to have all the Goods remaining at Keel House, except vessels of brass and wood, corn and white meat."(Shaw's 2d vol. p. 3.)

We ought not to omit mentioning, that one of the members of the House of Keel was mainly instrumental in providing an asylum for King Charles II., after the unfortunate battle of Worcester, (Sept. 1651.) Captain Richard Sneyd, the younger brother of the writer of the above letter, conducted the Earl of Derby to Boscobel House, after the defeat of his troops at Wigan (25th Aug.); and from Boscobel, the Earl joined the King at Worcester, just before his disastrous encounter with the Parliamentary Forces there, and immediately afterwards conducted his Majesty through many difficulties back to Boscobel, where he remained for some days, until he found means to escape under the guise of Mrs. Lane's groom, to Bristol, and thence, after much further difficulty, found his way to France.†

* Vol. II. p. vi. + See a little Book, entitled "Boscobel," or the History of His Sacred Majesty's most miraculous Preservation, after the Battle of Worcester.-3d Sept. 1651.-Printed at London, 1660.

Another principal landed Proprietor in Tunstall is Smith Child, Esq., of Newfield, an acting Magistrate of the County, who inherits the estates of the Baddeleys, his ancestors on the female side, who have been seated here for four centuries, at least, and where his paternal grandfather, Admiral Smith Child, (whose mother was Mary Baddeley,) died in 1813, at the advanced age of 83. The Newfield and other estates belonging to Mr. Thomas Baddeley, were settled by him upon the marriage of his nephew, Captain (afterwards Admiral) Child, with his cousin Margaret Roylance, daughter of Mr. Thomas Roylance, of Townhouse, in Audley, in the year 1764; and by the death of their eldest surviving son, in his father's life-time, these estates descended to his son, the present proprietor, during his infancy.

Admiral Child entered the service in 1747, under the auspices of Earl Gower, and as the nautical disciple of Lord Anson. He first went to sea in the Chester, commanded by Sir Richard Spry; afterwards he entered the Devonshire, Captain Matthew Buckle; then into the Unicorn, and cruised in the Mediterranean, where he received notice of having obtained his commission, and was ordered to England; he was then appointed Junior Lieutenant in the Princess Royal, commanded by Sir Charles Saunders. He served at the sieges of Pondicherry and Louisbourg, and commanded the Europe in the two actions off the Chesapeake, in 1781, with such credit as enabled him to obtain preferment for most of her officers. The following year his eldest son, Thomas, (a youth of great intrepidity and promise,) perished in the unfortunate Ville de Paris. In 1795, Captain Child took the command of the Commerce de Marseilles, mounting 128 guns, which sailed on a secret expedition with one thousand troops on board, besides five hundred seamen, and stores and provisions for four months; but she was found not to be seaworthy, and was obliged to be brought back to port after being a few weeks only at sea, to the very great disap

pointment of her commander; as he often mentioned. in after-life. Captain Child attained his flag on Valentine's Day, 1799. He was, during some time previously, the regulating officer of the impress service at Liverpool, and received the honorary freedom of that Borough. After his advancement to the flag, he was not employed in actual service, but resided in Newcastle-under-Lyme for some years; and, as an honorary member of that Corporation, he was very heartily greeted by a brother Admiral, his late Majesty King William IV., then Duke of Clarence, when he, with the Prince Regent (afterwards George IV.) visited Staffordshire, in 1806.

The family of Child is said to be of Worcestershire extraction, but the Admiral's immediate ancestors, for several generations, had been seated in the Parish of Audley in this County, where they possessed considerable property, which was mostly dissipated by Smith Child, the Admiral's father, who was a man of polished manners, but wasteful in his habits. Once, during a visit to Scotland, (where he went on mercantile business,) he was introduced to and entertained by the Duke of Hamilton, whom he accompanied in one of his hunting excursions (such as are described in Sir Walter Scott's Waverley), and being in that country during the expedition of the illfated Charles Stuart, in 1745, he was twice arrested, after the defeat of the rebel forces, on suspicion of being the Pretender, to whom he bore a strong resemblance. He travelled from Scotland in company with Lord Glenorchy, who advised him to bring his son up to the Navy, and introduced him to Lord Anson, the Circumnavigator, at that time one of the Lords of the Admiralty, under whose patronage he commenced his career, as we have already stated.

We annex a Pedigree of the Family of Child, with the line of the Baddeleys, which terminated by the union of Mary Baddeley with Smith Child (the Admiral's father).

Other principal landed proprietors in Tunstall, are Hugh Henshall Williamson, Esq. of Greenway Bank, Mrs. Sparrow, of Bishton, and her sister Miss Moreton, Mr. Philip Egerton Wedgwood, of Burslem, Mr. John Smith, of Tatnall, Mr. Thomas Cartlich, and Messrs. William and Edward Adams, in right of their wives, the daughters of the late Jesse Breeze, Esq. of Greenfields. There are a great number of smaller proprietors, and most or all of the landed property in Tunstall has frequently changed hands, in modern times, except the estates of Mr. Sneyd and Mr. Child.

The open Townfields within the Hamlet of Tunstall were enclosed in 1614, by agreement among the several proprietors of that day, who were only nine in number, viz. Ralph Sneyd, Esq., Ralph Adderley, Thomas Baddeley, Thomas Wood, Richard Knight, Thomas Brett, Henry Bourne, William Bourne, and John Hill. As the document may be material towards identifying the possessions of present or recent owners of lands, and shews the ancient dissevered condition of the property, we insert a copy of the "Breviat," or instrument of Enclosure, in our Appendix.*

One of the fields to be enclosed was called the Church field, a name still attached to some lands lying on the West side of the town, and which would seem to corroborate the tradition that a church formerly existed here.† But if any such there were, it must have been destroyed before the Norman Conquest, probably in the warfare between the Saxons and Danes; and as the earliest churches were entirely constructed of wood, it cannot be matter of surprise, that no vestiges now remain of the structure. Human bones, apparently of very remote sepulture, have been at different times dug up, near the old Wesleyan Chapel, which is contiguous to the ancient village; and this seems to fortify the tradition, though it does not render the matter at all conclusive.

* No. VIII.

+ See Aikin's Manchester, p. 518. Henry's Hist. G. B. vol. IV. 112.