JOHN MYTTON. 



The late Sir Bernard Burke, in his fascinating chronicle 

 of the Vicissitudes of Families, has given nothing more 

 striking or more mournful than the sudden downfall of 

 the Myttons of Halston. Here, as he says, was a family 

 far more ancient than, and apparently as vigorous as, 

 the grand old oaks which were once the pride of Halston, 

 destroyed, after centuries of honourable and historic 

 eminence, by the mad follies of one man in the brief 

 space of eighteen years. 



As far back as the reign of Edward the First the 

 Myttons of Halston were prominent among the magnates 

 of Shropshire and Merionethshire. They distinguished 

 themselves both in peace and war ; as soldiers, in the 

 Wars of the Roses and the great fight between King 

 Charles and the Parliament, as High Sheriffs, from the 

 time of the Plantagenets to that of the Guelphs. And 

 yet, strangely enough, the only one of them all known to 

 fame is the ' mad squire ' who, almost within living 

 memory, brought ruin and degradation upon his 

 ancient line. To this day the name of Jack Mytton is 

 remembered with something like affection, despite all 

 his faults and follies, by the sportsmen of Shropshire, 

 and that he was not wholly unworthy of that affectionate 

 remembrance, I shall endeavour to make apparent 



