HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [245 



consequence of his intimacy with Mr. Morant, he was introduced 

 to the family, soon afterwards married his daughter and heiress, 

 and on the demise of his father-in-law, came into possession of an 

 ample estate. 



In the year 1765, Mr. Astle was appointed Receiver-General 

 of six-pence in the pound on the Civil List; and in 1766, he was 

 employed in the preparation of the Harleian Catalogue of Manu- 

 scripts in the British Museum, a work which engaged his principal 

 attention during five years. 



On the death of Henry Rooke, Esq. his Majesty's Chief Clerk in 

 the Record Office, in the Tower of London, Mr. Astle was appointed 

 his successor in that office, and was soon afterwards appointed Keeper 

 of the Records. His character as an antiquary was now established, 

 and he became a member of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, 

 and an honorary member of several learned societies on the Con- 

 tinent. He was for several years a distinguished member of the 

 Antiquarian Society, during which he contributed several articles to 

 the Archseologia. He was also a Trustee of the British Museum. 



In 1775, Mr. Astle published " The Will of King Henry the 

 Seventh/' in quarto; " A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cot- 

 tonian Library, to which are added many emendations and ad- 

 ditions, with an appendix containing an Account of the Damage 

 sustained by the Fire in 1731 ; and also a Catalogue of the Char- 

 ters preserved in the same Library, prepared by him for the 

 press, and published by S. Hooper, in one volume octavo, in 1777. 

 In 1784, Mr. Astle published, in quarto, "The Origin and Pro- 

 gress of Writing, as well hieroglyphic as elementary; illustrated 

 by Engravings taken from marbles, manuscripts, and charters, an- 

 cient and modern : also, some Account of the Origin and Progress 

 of Printing." A new edition of this valuable work, which was 

 indeed the author's masterpiece, was published in 1783, with an 

 additional copper-plate engraving from a manuscript in the British 

 Museum, marked Nero, D 4. This edition was also embellished 

 with a portrait of the author, engraved by Shelton, from a paint- 

 ing by Howard, in which the accidental loss of an eye while at 

 school is concealed. 



The Will of King Alfred, found in a Register at Winchester, and 

 which was given by Dr. Lort to Mr. Astle in 1769, was printed 

 in 1788, at Oxford, with illustrations, under the superintendence 

 of Sir Herbert Croft. An Account of the King's Royal Burghs and 

 Magnates of Scotland, was prepared for the press by Mr. Astle, 



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