The Society’s MSS.—Chiseldon and Draycot. 39 
which looks no further than thirty years back for its “ root 
of title,’ that thanks to Lord Cairns’ Act and _possessory 
titles, they need lumber their offices and muniment rooms no longer 
with these parchments. One man burns them, another makes 
them ingeniously serviceable as parchment ; enormous quantities 
go to make drums, or are boiled down. True to his instincts the 
man-of-law more cautiously hires cellars to store the parchments of 
the estates he has recently marketed, against the-time when they 
can decently be otherwise disposed of. 
That is to say, the short title, or possessory title, are the direct 
occasion of a greater daily destruction at the present moment of 
ancient MSS. than at any period since the Reformation. 
oA society of antiquaries in possession of these facts will know 
how to appreciate the intellectual interests, nay the courage, of the - 
late Mr. Richard Mullings, who collected the MSS. which by the 
gift of Mr. John Mullings have now become available for research 
purposes. In his lifetime Mr. Richard Mullings made many 
generous gifts to the Society; the whole collection is now ours. 
All the documents in it have now been arranged, and stamped, and 
the next thing to be done is to present members with the infor- 
mation contained in them as speedily as possible. It is proposed, 
accordingly, to print them in the Magazine, parish by parish, as 
fully as space will admit, and with such notes and additions as are 
readily available. The real work of illustration will, it is hoped, 
be done by members themselves, for, valuable as they are, these 
papers and parchments are only materials for history, awaiting 
their place. . 
J 
; There is, to begin with, a small packet of papers relating to 
 Chiseldon. This place may be considered as made up of (1) 
* Chiseldon, (2) Burderop, (8) Hodson, (4) Badbury, and (5) 
Draycot Foliot. The status of Draycot is not very easy to de- 
termine. Anciently a distinct parish, it has long been treated, for 
