240 Collections towards the History 
when religious establishments formed the only, or almost only, 
centres of refinement and civilization. To the circumstances of the 
foundation, as narrated by the author I have mentioned, I do not 
attempt to add anything, or to say more than that I believe the » 
account he gives of the first erection, of the consequent removals, 
or of the final establishment at Stanley, are in the main quite correct, 
and in all respects borne out by the manuscript indicated. The fasta 
of the abbots is very meagre, and I have been happily able to assist 
in forming a fuller list. The great value of a correct chronological 
sequence of heads of a Religious House is universally recognized by 
all historians and topographers, for by its aid we are enabled to 
assign dates to deeds, and to portions of the fabric of the buildings, 
which without such aid must be attributed only to conjectural epochs. 
The book which claims so interesting a place in the history of 
Stanley Abbey is a manuscript in the Harley Collection of the — 
British Museum, and bears the number 6716. It is thus described 
in the folio catalogue :— 
“ Tiber membranaceus in folio, in quo habentur Tituli Privilegi- 
orum et Indulgentiarum, finales Concordie et tituli Cartarum ad 
varia loca pertinentium. Folia membranacea.” 
It will be readily perceived from the above description that the 
manuscript had not been identified with any locality, and it was my 
good fortune to be arranging a series of uncertain descriptions of 
manuscripts, when my attention was drawn to the peculiar form of 
this one, which appeared to me to be a species of Calendar, or 
Register of Charters and Documents belonging to some Religious 
House, and to contain a schedule of the contents of the muniment 
room or archives of the Library. A very cursory examination of 
the manuscript enabled me to assign the probable locality to be near 
Calne, in Wiltshire, for almost the first sentences of the book make 
mention of an affair “ between us and the Rector of the Church of 
Calne,” and another affair “between us and the Abbot of St. 
Augustine’s, Bristol.” The constant mention of Lambourne, Lok- 
cesuuell, Malmesbury, Coderyngtone, and Wynterbourne, led me to 
1 See further on. 

