CHAP, ii.] PARENTAGE n 



princes, which probably often led to a less peaceful ending, 

 was mentioned by my father in his History of Cheshire, as a 

 notable instance of consideration. 



" On one occasion when the Scotch officers who caroused 

 in their prisoner's house, had given their usual toast KING 

 JAMES, and the host on request had followed with his, and 

 undauntedly proposed KING GEORGE, some rose, and 

 touched their swords ; but a senior officer exclaimed, ' He 

 has drunk our Prince, why should we not drink his ? 

 Here's to the Elector of Hanover." 1 



During the disturbed time, when any one bearing the 

 appearance of a messenger would assuredly have been seized 

 with the papers which he carried, the difficulty of trans- 

 mitting information was met by the employment at night of 

 two greyhounds trained for the service. The documents 

 were fastened to the animals and thus carried safely to the 

 adherent's house, from which as opportunity offered they 

 could be passed on. The greyhounds, having been well fed 

 as a reward and encouragement to future good behaviour, 

 were started off on their return journey. In the present day 

 this plan of transmission would very soon be discovered, 

 but in those times the nature of the country, the nocturnal 

 hours chosen, and also the deeply-rooted superstitions of the 

 district, all helped to make the four-footed messengers very 

 trusty carriers. 



In 1755 Thomas Johnson served as Sheriff of Lanca- 

 shire. He died in 1763, leaving a widow (who survived him 

 until 1798), one son, and three daughters the only sur- 

 vivors of a family of eleven children, of whom seven died 

 in infancy, three on the day of their birth. Of the four 

 children who reached maturity, Elizabeth, the second 

 daughter (plate in.) married my grandfather, George 

 Ormerod of Bury, at the Collegiate Church, Manchester, 

 on the i8th of October, 1784. He died in 1785, a fort- 

 night before the birth of my rather, who was the sole issue 

 of this marriage. 



My father, George Ormerod (plate n.), heir to his grand- 

 father, was born October 20, 1785. He was co-heir of, 

 and successor to the estates of his maternal uncle in 1823, 

 and sole heir to his surviving maternal aunt in 1839. He 

 was D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., and a magistrate for the 

 counties of Cheshire, Gloucester, and M on mouth. On 

 August 2, 1808, he married my mother, Sarah, eldest 

 daughter of John Latham, Bradwall Hall, Cheshire, Fellow 

 1 Hist. Ches., vol. i. p. 43. 



