Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/211

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no charm or enchantment about him. 6. lit pierceth the helmet of Masse with his spear. 7. He presenteth Masse's helmet to his lady. 8. He is invested with the robes and order of the Garter by the king. The other division represents a si- milar rencontre in Smithfield, London, on the 30th of January 1441, between this Sir John As t ley and Sir Philip Boyle, an Arragonian knight; in which the former was also victor. It was fought with battle-axes, spears, swords, and daggers, in the presence of the king; who, pleased with his knight's prowess, conferred further favours upon him after the successful termination of the tournav. Wrottesley-House, the seat of Sir John Wrot- tesley, bart. stands near the road as we pass on to Wolverhampton; but placed on an eminence, it is seen long before it is approached; and preclamiN by its hundred-windowed fronts, that ;t was erected before the ingenuity of the financier had discovered

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that the light of heaven was a fair and rational subject of taxation. Sir Walter Yvrottesley, the ancestor of the present possessor, built it in 1 696, on the scite of the ancient castellated ha!!, which had been the scat of the family for centuries. The grounds behind the house are simply and agreeably disposed; where nature has aided taste by pro- ducing trees of great beauty and profuse foliage.

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