the market, with all its stately appurtenances of trees, lawns, walks, drives, histories, legends, rime, and romance of antiquity. It had come down through several centuries of varied occupation, with but a dim record of the families that had inhabited it. A company was formed to buy up this estate, which failing to effect the purchase, the corporation, assisted by private subscriptions of £7,000, came to the aid of the enterprise, and secured the valuable property for the use of the people. The park contains forty-two acres, affording sufficient space for recreation, while it is so situated as to appear only the central point of view to a park of a dozen miles in extent, picturesquely wooded and dashed with gleams of water pleasantly interspersed with the green and gold of the variegated landscape. Then, standing on a gently-rounded eminence, commanding all this lovely scenery, is the great hall with its turrets, terraces, stables, and outbuildings. It has been turned into a museum; so that, when tired of walks or sports in the park, young and old may season their recreations with a little useful knowledge. In a word, no other town in the kingdom has such a baronial estate for the free use of its people.
Aston Church is a noble old structure, "to the manor born," though probably several hundred years before the present hall was erected, to which it seems to have been an apanage. The
