196 POCKET ALMANACKS AT RENISHAW. 



support my belief that George Sitwell was in the secret of the plot 

 hatched at Whittington, three miles from Renishaw, or to prove 

 that he was in communication with his uncle, the William 

 Sacheverell who played such an important part in the Conference 

 about the abdication, and in the Convention of the Revolution. 

 Nor is there much of sporting interest to be found here, beyond 

 the record of a race, run in 1691, between Sir Paul Jenkinson and 

 " Cozen Revell," and a note, in the same year, which shows that 

 poachers in Foxston Wood knew, even at that time, how to set 

 wires for hares. The home farm at Renishaw contained, during 

 this period, a hundred acres or more, and the receipts for curing 

 various cattle diseases, though no doubt they can be found else- 

 where, are yet worth printing, as showing what diseases were 

 actually raging at the time. 



It is hardly necessary to offer any apology for giving the lists of 

 books lent from the Renishaw library, for they have their value as 

 evidence that our old country house libraries were real educational 

 centres, and that they were open to all classes, from the county 

 member down to the groom of a friend. 



The George Sitwell, to whom fifteen out of these eighteen 

 almanacks belonged, was the eldest son of Francis Sitwell, of 

 Renishaw, by Katherine, daughter of Henry Sacheverell, of Barton 

 and Morley; was born on the 23rd August, 1657, and was 

 educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. His father was High 

 Sheriff in 1671, and died in the same year; and on the 20th 

 May, 1680, George Sitwell married Anne, only daughter and heir 

 of Thomas Kent, of Povey, and heir at the same time to her 

 grandfather, Hercules Clay, of Whitecotes, and to her stepmother, 

 Gertrude Eyre, of Haldworth. He was appointed a county 

 magistrate on the 25th April, 1693, ^"d ^ deputy lieutenant, 

 by the Duke of Devonshire, on the i6th February, 1707, and 

 again on the 22nd July, 17 15, and by the Earl of Scarsdale on 

 the 28th December, 1711. I have a portrait of him, supposed to 

 be by Sir Godfrey Kneller, a considerable number of his letters, 

 the notebook which he used as a justice, and a long and most 

 interesting series of his estate accounts, including much of his 



