In the 34th of Henry VIII., 1542–3, Thomas Foster and Elizabeth his wife, account in the Exchequer for several temporalities in connection with the monastery of St. Peter’s, Shrewsbury. Sir William Forester, KB., married Lady Mary Cecil, daughter of James, third Earl of Salisbury. He was a staunch Protestant, and represented the county with George Weld, as previously stated, with whom he voted in favour of the succession of the House of Hanover, and the family came into possession of the Willey estates by the marriage of Brook Forester of Dothill Park, with one of the Welds, the famous George Forester, the Willey Squire, being the fruit of that marriage. George Forester left the whole of his estates to his cousin, Cecil Forester, of Ross Hall, who was allowed by George the Fourth, whose personal friendship he had been permitted to enjoy for many years, to add the name of Weld in 1821. Cecil Weld Forester, Esq., was ennobled the same year by George the Fourth, who, when Prince of Wales, honoured him with a visit at Ross Hall. He married Catherine, daughter of His Grace the fourth Duke of Rutland, and was not less renowned than his cousin, as a sportsman. His eagerness for the chase was happily characterised by the late Mr. Meynell, who used to say, “First out of cover came Cecil Forester, next the fox, and then my hounds.” A famous leap of his, thirty feet across a stream, on his famous horse Bernardo, has been recorded in some lines now at Willey which accompany the portrait of the horse. He is supposed to have been one of the first who instituted the present system of hard riding to hounds, and a horse known to have been ridden by him, it is said, would at any time fetch £20 more than the ordinary price. Speaking of the classic proportions of a horse, and the perfection of the art of riding in connection with his lordship as a sportsman, Colonel Apperley, remarked some years ago, “Unless a man sits gracefully on his horse, and handles him well, that fine effect is lost. As the poet says, he would be incorporated with the brave beast, and such does Lord Forester appear to be. His eye to a country is also remarkably quick, and his knowledge of Leicestershire has given him no small advantage. On one occasion he disregarded the good old English custom of ‘looking before you leap,’ and landed in the middle of a deep pool. ‘Hold on,’ a countryman who saw him, shouted to others coming in the same direction. ‘Hold your tongue—say nothing, we shall have it full in a minute,’ said Lord Forester.” The Colonel added, “In consequence of residing in Shropshire, a country which has been so long famous for its breed of horses, he has a good opportunity of mounting himself well. He always insisted on the necessity of lengthy shoulders, good fetlocks, well formed hind legs and open feet; and knowing better than to confound strength and size, his horses seldom exceeded fifteen hands. On anything