Families of really ancient gentry, which, like _birth_, is but a relative term, are generally found recorded in the Visitation Books of the Heralds for the counties in which they dwelt. Whatever antiquity may be claimed for this family, who resided in the county of York, it is certain that no pedigree of them was recorded at any of the Visitations of that county, of which three were held during the time of the Turners' residence, viz., in 1585, 1612, and 1665; in which last year, too, the large list of "Disclaimers" does not contain them. The only assistance we derive from the labours of the heralds is this. In a manuscript lately added to the British Museum (Additional, No. 12,482) a list of persons whom, in 1665, the heralds summoned to appear, or intended to do so, contains the name of "Mr. Turner, of the parish of St. John del Pike, York," who is unquestionably the Poet's grandfather. This indifference to the advantage of making a public record of many facts, interesting at least to their posterity, is not peculiar to this family, but deposes rather unfavourably to the taste and judgment of the persons in whom the representation of a family at such a time vested. It manifests also some want of a disposition to co-operate in an important public institution, unhappily now fallen into desuetude. There can be no question that the heralds of old time did sometimes record matter, even then of early date, which will not bear the test of comparison with contemporary evidence; but of the generations then existing, or but just passed away, they may be taken as worthy witnesses. And fortunate are those families who have a few generations recorded in the Heralds' books. They are saved thereby a vast amount of research into miscellaneous papers, which, after much labour and expense, may yield data sufficient for the construction of a genealogical system, without security against error. The difficulty of recovering lost portions of family history is far greater than is imagined by those who have never made the attempt. In the case before us, it could not be easy to ascend beyond the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the period, emphatically, when the really ancient gentry of the kingdom were either pushed from their pedestals, or obliged to admit new men to share with them the honour and influence which belong to the possession of broad lands and powerful family alliances. In the forty-fifth year of Elizabeth, February 10, 1603, within a few weeks of the close of her reign, a grant was made by the Crown to Lancelot Turner, of the Manor of Towthorpe, in the county of York. He was then residing at Towthorpe, for on the 12th of December, in that year, 1603, it was certified by William Bainbrigg and R. Aldborough, that "Lancelot Turner, of Towthropp, gentleman, in the wapentake of Bulmer," was for the most part of the year preceding the taxation of the subsidy, and ever since, residing at Towthropp with his family, and is there assessed on goods estimated at £8.