have become tenants to the canons for the
land, once their own: we frequently observe a man pay rent for what he
_sells_, but seldom for what he _gives_.

At the dissolution of abbies, in 1537, Thomas Arden, the head of the
family, purchased it of Henry the Eighth, for 272_l_. 10s. uniting it
again to his estate, after a separation of three hundred and fifty
years, in whose posterity it continued till their fall.

Thus, the father first purchased what the son gave away, and his
offspring re-purchased again. The father lays a tax on his successor;
or, climbs to heaven at the expence of the son. In one age it is
meritorious to _give_ to the church, in another, to _take_ from her.

ERDINGTON.

Three miles north-east of Birmingham, is _Erdington-hall_, which boasts
a long antiquity. The manor was the property of the old Earls of Mercia:
Edwin possessed it at the conquest, but lost it in favour of William
Fitz-Ausculf, who no doubt granted it in knight's service to his friend
and relation, of Norman race, who erected the hall; the moat, took his
residence in, and his name Erdington, from the place. His descendants
seem to have resided here with great opulence near 400 years.

Dugdale mentions a circumstance of Sir Thomas de Erdington, little
noticed by our historians. He was a faithful adherent to King John, who
conferred on him many valuable favours: harrassed by the Pope on one
side, and his angry Barons on the other, he privately sent Sir Thomas to
Murmeli, the powerful King of Africa, Morocco, and Spain; with offers
to forsake the christian faith, turn mahometan, deliver up his kingdom,
and hold it of him in tribute, for his assistance against his enemies.
But it does not appear the ambassador succeeded: the Moorish Monarch did
not chuse to unite his prosperous fortune with that of a random prince;
he might also consider, the man who could destroy his nephew and his
sovereign, could not be an honour to any profession.

The manor left the Erdington family in 1472, and, during a course of 175
years, acknowledged for its owners, George Plantagenet, Duke of
Clarence, Sir William Harcourt, Robert Wright, Sir Reginald Bray,
Francis Englefield, Humphry Dimock, Walter Earl, Sir Walter Devereux,
and was, in 1647, purchased by Sir Thomas Holte, in whose family it
continued till 1782, when Henage Legge, Esq; became seised of the manor.

As none of the Lords seem to have resided upon the premises since the
departure of t