THE ORIGIN OF THE SHIRLEYS AND OF THE GRESLEYS. 1 6 1 



never even mentioned the name of Swadlincote, and have not 

 so much as had occasion to consider the connection of the 

 Gresleys with that manor. 



The Gresley cartulary affords two similar opportunities of 

 revealing the peculiar character of Mr. Yeatman's statements. 

 On p. 126 he writes as follows: — 



Mr. Round, in his sentimental mood, can find nothing more valuable 

 than the Gresley chartulary, which he thinks, " taken as a whole is 

 (sic) unsurpassed as a collection for the history of a family." It is to 

 be hoped that this is inaccurate, for a more wretched compilation of 

 fraud and forgery was never made ! 



What I actually wrote was : — 



Taking the documents at Drakelowe as a whole, they are possibly un- 

 surpassed as a collection for the history of a family.* 



Now, the Gresley cartulary is at Manchester, and not among 

 " the documents at Drakelowe," nor have I had occasion to 

 make any use of its contents. 



Again he returns to the attack on p. 139: — 



It is amazing to find anyone so ignorant of mediaeval documents as to 

 write of this Cartulary as Mr. Round does — that " of course it is a 

 valuable contribution to county history." 



What I actually wrote was that one of Mr. Madaris 



Appendixes (" Notes on the Manors and Possessions of the 



Family ") is, " of course, a valuable contribution to county 



history."! So the cartulary (as in the preceding instance) is 



not even mentioned in the paragraph from which this sentence 



is taken ; the really " amazing " thing is that a writer should 



dare to make such statements. Mr. Yeatman speaks, we have 



seen, of " a most impudent fraud." I must leave my readers 



to select the language most fitting to describe the tactics by 



which he endeavours to prove my " crass ignorance." 



I have honestly endeavoured to discover when Mr. Yeatman 

 believes the Gresleys now of Drakelowe to have first obtained 

 the estates. But, although his Preface is definite enough, he 

 speaks far more vaguely when it comes to the text. Thus 

 on p. 122 : — 



* The Ancestor, i. 202. Mr. Yeatman cannot even quote its title 

 accurately, for he styles it on p. 121 ''The Antiquary." 

 t Ibid., p. 201. 

 1 1 



