go 
On Some Ancient Burton Manuseripts.* 
(With Two Ptares). 
By T. Know gs, M.A., of St. John’s College, Cambridge. 
(Read before the Society, April 10th, 1891). 
Parish Church of this town are twelve in number. 
They are all of them written on parchment, and they 
vary in size from about 18 inches by 6 or 7 to 10 inches 
by 3 (about). They are in medizeval Latin, and the words are, as 
is usual in such documents, much contracted and abbreviated. 
This latter circumstance, coupled with that of the great dissimilarity 
between the shapes of the letters used in the middle ages and the 
letters used now, makes the deciphering of these documents a 
matter of some difficulty to anyone unused to the work. The 
documents are all of them deeds; that is to say, they are under 
seal. It is not, as many suppose, the fact of their being 
written on parchment that constitutes them deeds, but the fact of 
their being, as the phrase is, ‘‘under seal.”” It is probably known 
to most here that some law documents have merely to be signed, 
whilst to others you have not only to sign your name, but also to 
affix a seal. Itis these latter documents, which are said to be ‘‘under 
*T.must acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. W. H. St. John Hope, 
Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, for his kind assistance in helping me 
to read these MSS.—T. K. 
a a 
a i 
