to be made partaker of eternal happiness; and her body she commits to the earth, to be decently buried at Didsbury as conveniently to her late dear husband Sir John Bland deceased as may be, at the discretion of her executor. And as for all her real and personal estate, she gives and bequeaths the same in manner and form following: First, she wills her just debts, funeral charges and expenses of probate to be paid and satisfied. She then recites certain articles of agreement, bearing date November 3, 1720, made between herself and her son-in-law Thomas Davison of Blakiston in the county of Durham Esq., wherein she promises to pay the said Thomas Davison the sum of one thousand pounds on the day of her death; in pursuance of which covenant and agreement she hereby directs the payment of the aforesaid sum, declaring it to be in full satisfaction and discharge of and for all such covenants and agreements as she has entered into in the aforesaid articles. She gives and devises to her daughter Meriel Jacob her best pair of diamond ear-rings and also the sum of one hundred pounds. She charges her manor and lordship of Withington and all and every her messuages, lands, rents, &c. in Withington, and all other her manors, lands, &c. whatsoever and wheresoever, as well with the payment of all her debts, funeral charges and legacies, as with the payment of such debts of her late husband Sir John Bland as she stands obliged to pay; which manors, lands, rents, &c. so charged she leaves to her son Sir John Bland of Kippax Park in the county of York Bart., to have and to hold the same so charged and chargeable as aforesaid to her said son Sir John Bland, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns for ever. She constitutes her said son Sir John Bland executor of this her will, and revokes all former wills. And further, it is her earnest request to her said son Sir John Bland, that in case of failure of issue of his body he would sometime in his lifetime, either by will or any other writing, convey and settle the said real estate or so much thereof as he shall stand seised of at the time of his decease, as that the same may come and be enjoyed by her said daughter Meriel Jacob and by the heirs of her body; and for default of such issue, by her (testatrix) grandson Thomas Davison and the heirs of his body; and for

default of such issue, that the same may come and be enjoyed by her cousin Francis Mosley of Rolleston in the county of Stafford, clerk, for and during the term of his natural life, and after his decease by the first son and all and every other son and sons of the body of her said cousin Francis Mosley begotten successively in tail male - the elder of such son and sons and the heirs males of his and their body and bodies being ever preferred before the younger and the heirs males of his and their body and bodies. In witness whereof, &c. Witnesses: G. Pigot, Jno. Greene, WiH. Broome.

Lady Anne Bland died, as has been already stated, in 1734, and was succeeded in the inheritance by her son Sir John Bland, who both bore his father's name and shared his father's vices. The provision made in the later clauses of her will for perpetuating the descent of the estates in her family was frustrated by the reckless extravagance of the new heir, who soon completed the ruin commenced by his father. Hulme manor passed in 1751 to George Lloyd of Manchester Esq., and the manor of Withington about the same time to the Egertons of Tatton, in whom it is at present vested.

Hough End, for several generations the residence of the Mosley family, was erected in the later years of the reign of Elizabeth, and, though always of modest proportions, may yet be considered a fair example of the style of domestic architecture of the period. At the present day, with its ivy-covered walls, its clustered chimneys and its gabled roof, it presents a picturesque and pleasing appearance. It is built entirely of stone, and comprises a centre with a bay at each end a little advanced from the main structure; the latter, of three stories, lighted by square-headed windows divided into lights by substantial stone mullions, and transomed, the upper structure gabled and ornamented with the usual ball ornament of the period. The centre is of two stories only, lighted by windows similar in character to those just described, and surmounted by a parapet forming a triplet gable. The entrance appears to have been originally by a gabled porch at the east end of the building, but this has since been built up and its place supplied by a doorway penetrating the south front. It is now occupied as a farm-house.