Old Lamb Row 138 (_From an old drawing by Cuitt; photograph by F. Simpson_) Tabley House and Chapel 198 (_From an old engraving_) The High Cross, Chester 208 (_From block lent by Chester and North Wales Archæological Society; drawing by His Honour Sir Horatio Lloyd_) Base of Old Village Cross, Eaton, near Tarporley 212 (_From a photograph by G. W. Haswell_) Sandbach Crosses 214 (_From block lent by Chester and North Wales Archæological Society_) Farndon Bridge 220 (_From a photograph by F. Simpson_) Facsimile of Speed’s Autograph 229 HISTORIC CHESHIRE By P. H. Ditchfield, M.A., F.S.A. Bright and fair is the Cheshire land and well renowned in story. It is one of the most famous counties in England, and can raise its head proudly above other less noted shires. It rejoices in being a County Palatine, its Earls in former days having sovereign jurisdiction within its precincts. The Earls of Chester held their own Parliaments, summoned the barons and tenants to the conclave, and Acts of Parliament passed by English houses of representatives had no force within the Palatinate of Cheshire. It had its own courts of justice for determining all pleas of land, tenements, contracts, felonies, &c. It was an _imperium in imperio_, and though Lancashire and Durham claimed similar privileges of Palatinate, their County Palatines were established later than that of Chester and were not so well settled, nor their powers and privileges so clearly defined. For a brief space Cheshire was a Principality, and Richard II. styled himself _Princeps Cestriæ_, and it can still boast of having a Prince for its Earl, the title of Earl of Chester being always borne since the reign of King Henry III. by the eldest son of the kings of England. Famous, too, is the county for its illustrious sons. Speed, a Cheshire man, who ought therefore to know well the truth of his statements, though perhaps for that reason a little partial, says: “The shire may well be said to be a seedplot of Gentilitie, and the producer of many most ancient and worthy families; neither hath any brought more men of valour into the Field than Cheeseshire hath done, who, by a generall speech, are to this day called The Chiefe of men; and for nature’s endowments (besides their noblenesse of mindes) may compare with any other nation in the world; their limmes strait and well-composed; their complexions faire, with a cheerfull countenance; and the Women of a grace, feature and beautie, inferior unto none.”