98 
[SCENE | 
THE TOWNELEY MANUSCRIPTS: 
Purchased by the Club—November, 1883. 
By J. LANGFIELD WARD, M.A. 
This volume is described in the Catalogue of the Sale as 
follows—‘‘ John Townley’s Account Book, 1601—1608; Manu- 
script, instructive as to the prices, at the period, of Cattle, Sheep, 
Poultry, Game and Agricultural Produce—Near the end is the 
following receipt ‘‘ Received of Nicholas Bancrofte one of the 
Executors of John Townley, Esqr., deceased to be disbursed 
towchinge a sale for Lands in Metheringham and for other uses 
the some of Tenn Pownds. Augustine Halle.” 
According to the pedigree, Sir Richard Townley, knighted at 
Leith, married Frances Wimbyshe of Nocton, about 7 miles from 
Lincoln; their daughter Mary married a cousin, John Townley, 
and brought as a dowry an estate at Nocton, for the entries in * 
this MS. refer principally to matters connected with Nocton. The 
volume ends in the year of John Townley’s death, 1608. The 
pedigree describes him as having been persecuted, but this would 
probably have been during the preceding reign. I infer that he 
left one of his sons in charge of the property at Nocton, but 
which he selected it would have been rather difficult to say, had 
I not found something which proves that the entries are mostly 
the work of Christopher, who was born in 1570 and died in 1623 
at Pendle Hall. This was not the well-known Christopher, ‘“ the 
indefatigable transcriber,” but an unele of his. I find that 
Richard, the eldest brother of the second Christopher, was buried 
at Nocton, but whether the present family is connected at all 
with the village I have made no endeavours to ascertain. 
I said that most of the entries I attributed to Christopher 
Townley: it appears as if several hands had been engaged upon 
the book at various times, but I infer that one of the sons was 
the principal, for he speaks of ‘‘ my brother Richard at Townley,” 
and ‘‘my brother Charles.”” In one place however comes ‘“ the 
ereat mare that Middleton did give to my master”: implying 
that the lists of horses and cattle were drawn up by a steward. 
Page 1 consists of an enumeration of the ‘“‘ horses belonging 
to the right worshipful John Townley, Esq., and remeninge 
about Nockton, this 15th day of October, 1601.” At the end of 
the book is the list for the 1st of February, 1599. They are 
described separately by names or by distinctive marks as ‘“ the 
old whyte mare of John Townley, old Specke, a bay called the 
