Cheshire, says Speed, in his “Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain” (1606), “may well be said to be a seed-plot of gentilitie and the producer of many most ancient and worthy families.” Smith says that “it is the mother and nurse of gentility of England;” and, if we may believe the author of “The Noble and Gentle Men of England,” it contains at the present day a larger number of old county families than any other English shire of equal size. “Cheshire, Chief of Men,” or, as it is versified, Cheshire, famed for chief of men, High in glory soars again, is a popular proverb in the palatinate, though Grose maliciously insinuates that the Cheshire men fabricated the proverb themselves. If, however, Menestrier’s definition of a gentleman, that he must be one “_de nom d’armes et de cir_,” holds good, then the men of Cheshire may pride themselves upon a lineage unsurpassed by the gentry of any other county. Among those who have brought renown, the Leghs have ever held a foremost place, and have proved themselves the worthy compeers of the Grosvenors, the Egertons, the Davenports, and other of the valiant men of Cheshire whose names are Writ in the annals of their country’s fame. Adlington, the ancestral home of one of the older branches of this widespread family, is a pleasant old mansion, possessing, besides its own particular attractions as a good specimen of the half-timbered manor house of bygone days, much that is interesting in its memories and associations. It lies, too, in the midst of a spacious park, prettily feathered with woodlands, and environed with much rural beauty, so that it is altogether a pleasant place to spend a summer day in—a spot where you may find enough to occupy your thoughts without satiety or weariness.