GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



407 



property of all land-owners, and the number 

 of serfs, cotters, and other persons employed, 

 or dwelling on the demesnes. The meaning 

 of the name "Domesday-Book" is obscure. 

 The book itself comprises two volumes, which 

 were exhibited on the occasion of the celebra- 

 tion. The first volume is written on 382 large 

 folios of vellum, in a small and clear hand, in 

 abbreviated Latin ; the second is a quarto, 

 written on 450 folio sheets in larger charac- 

 ters. The book was first deposited in the 

 Royal Treasury at Winchester, but was after- 

 ward removed to the Exchequer at Westmin- 

 ster, where it was preserved in an iron chest, 

 with three locks and keys. Thence it was 

 taken to the Chapter-House (1696), and thence 

 to Fetter Lane, where it is now preserved in 

 the house of her Majesty's Public Records. 



of charters mostly relating to Kent ; " Pope 

 Nicholas's Taxatio " ; the " Testa de Nevill " ; 

 the " Book of Aids " ; " Valor Ecclesiasticus," 

 and a variety of registers, cartularies, etc. 

 There were also exhibited the iron chest in 

 which the Domesday volumes are kept, the 

 original wooden boards in which the large 

 volume was bound, and a number of wooden 

 *' tallies," which were in use in the Exchequer 

 until the reign of William IV, for the purpose 

 of keeping the public accounts. The proceed- 

 ings on the first day of the celebration in- 

 cluded the reading of a paper by Mr. Hubert 

 Hall, on the " Official Custody of the Book of 

 Domesday." On October 26 the members of 

 the committee and their friends gathered at 

 the British Museum, in the King's Library, 

 and inspected the books and manuscripts 



1, Little Domesday-Book. 2, Old binding of Domesday-Book. 3, Treasure-chest in which the book was kept. 



4, Domesday-Book. 



The eight -hundredth celebration opened at 

 the Public Record Office on the afternoon of 

 October 25, in the presence of and assisted 

 by Lord Aberdare, President of the Royal 

 Historical Society, Mr. John Evans, F. R. S., 

 President of the Society of Antiquaries, and 

 a number of other friends and supporters of 

 the movement. The large octagonal search- 

 room was filled by a distinguished company 

 of ladies and gentlemen, invited guests. In 

 the center of the room were exhibited the 

 two volumes of "Domesday-Book," and on 

 tables about the room were ranged the vari- 

 ous subsidiary volumes bearing on the same 

 subject, loaned by the public bodies to which 

 they belonged. These included the "Abbre- 

 viatis" of Domesday (of the date of Henry 

 I); the "Breviate" (a short abstract of the 

 same) ; the " Boldon-Book," relating to the 

 Palatinate of Durham; the "Red Book of the 

 Exchequer"; the "Black Book of the Ex- 

 chequer," and the smaller book of the same; 

 the series of Pipe Rolls from the reign of 

 Henry I; the "Cartse Antique," transcripts 



cognate to the subject under consideration. 

 These included the "Boldon-Book," already 

 mentioned, a register of the Cathedral and 

 Priory of Durham, including a survey of the 

 See and its possessions, made by order of 

 Bishop Pudsey, in 1183; the cartulary of the 

 Priory of St. Swithim, Winchester, containing 

 a collection of royal and other charters in 

 Anglo-Saxon and Latin, with details of the 

 boundaries of lands from the reign of Cead- 

 walla, A. D. 688, to that of Edward the Con- 

 fessor, and with a few additions made under 

 the early Norman kings; the cartulary of 

 Westminster Abbey; that of the Abbey of 

 Evesham; that of the Abbey of Abingdon; 

 the Exon Domesday, containing surveys of 

 the five southwestern counties of England, 

 and apparently an exact transcript of the 

 original returns from which the Exchequer 

 Domesday was compiled; the "Inquisitio Eli- 

 en sis," lent by the Master and Fellows of 

 Trinity College, Cambridge; the '^ Domesday 

 Monachorum," a collection of muniments, cus- 

 toms, etc., of Christ Church, Canterbury; the 



