THE ORIGIN OF THE SHIRLEYS AND OF THE GRESLEYS. 1 53 



inanities "), and " Mr. Lee has been discreetly silent respecting 

 his castigation in England, because he could not answer it.'' 

 I, also, have been advised that such attacks need no reply ; 

 but as the pedigrees of two Derbyshire houses have been 

 unjustifiably impugned, I propose to gratify what I understand 

 is Mr. Yeatman's ardent desire by replying to his criticisms 

 thereon, the more so as the matter is of real interest for the 

 feudal history of Derbyshire. 



My critic, obviously, cannot complain if, while abstaining 

 from the language he employs, I subject his own work to 

 somewhat searching scrutiny. 



I shall make, of course, no assertion without giving the 

 proof on which it rests, so that all may test it for themselves, 

 but I may as well state at the outset, to show that I have 

 nothing to fear, that in not one single instance from beginning 

 to end of his volume has my critic succeeded in impugning 

 either the accuracy of my statements or the soundness of 

 my conclusions. This is, perhaps, the explanation of his 

 wrath.* 



The great return {carta) of his knights and their fees, in 

 n66,f by the Earl of Derby, is transcribed in what are known 

 as the Black Book {Liber Niger) and Red Book of the 

 Exchequer. To the latter Mr. Yeatman devotes the third 

 chapter (pp. 265-278), and to the Earl's carta the fourth chapter 

 (pp. 279-312) of his first volume. From this will be seen 

 the great importance he attaches to this record. But although 

 he has avowedly taken for his model the admirable work of 

 General Wrottesley for the William Salt Society, he presents 

 his readers not (like that Society) J with the actual text of the 

 records, but with his own translations of them. Indeed, he 



*As Mr. Yeatman invites me to give a full account of my anonymous 

 criticisms by way of " atonement," I may perhaps mention that I have 

 never published an anonymous review of any one of his books. 



1 1 need not discuss Mr. Yeatman's objection to this date, which is 

 accepted by all historians. 



t See General Wrottesley's paper on "The Liber Niger Scaccarii," 

 vol. i., pp. T46-152, for the text. 



