by several poor families who
rented tenements in the tumble-down dwelling. But formerly it was Gerard
Hall, (what a difference between Gerard and Garratt!) and was surrounded
by a park with a clear brook running through it, with pleasant fish-ponds,
(the name of these was preserved until very lately, on a street near,)
orchards, dovecotes, and similar appurtenances to the manor-houses of
former days. I am almost sure that the family to whom it belonged were
Mosleys, probably a branch of the tree of the lord of the Manor of
Manchester. Any topographical work of the last century relating to their
district would give the name of the last proprietor of the old stock,
and it is to him that my story refers.

Many years ago there lived in Manchester two old maiden ladies, of high
respectability. All their lives had been spent in the town, and they
were fond of relating the changes which had taken place within their
recollection, which extended back to seventy or eighty years from the
present time. They knew much of its traditionary history from their
father, as well; who, with his father before him, had been respectable
attorneys in Manchester, during the greater part of the last century:
they were, also, agents for several of the county families, who, driven
from their old possessions by the enlargement of the town, found
some compensation in the increased value of any land which they might
choose to sell. Consequently the Messrs. S----, father and son, were
conveyancers in good repute, and acquainted with several secret pieces
of family history, one of which related to Garratt Hall.

The owner of this estate, some time in the first half of the last
century, married young; he and his wife had several children, and lived
together in a quiet state of happiness for many years. At last, business
of some kind took the husband up to London; a week's journey in those
days. He wrote and announced his arrival; I do not think he ever wrote
again. He seemed to be swallowed up in the abyss of the metropolis,
for no friend (and the lady had many and powerful friends) could ever
ascertain for her what had become of him; the prevalent idea was that
he had been attacked by some of the street-robbers who prowled about
in those days, that he had resisted, and had been murdered. His wife
gradually gave up all hopes of seeing him again, and devoted herself
to the care of her children; and so they went on, tranquilly enough,
until the heir came