FLOOR.] 
THE MANUSCRIPT SALOON. 
13 
right, or south side, the Harleian MSS., on the left the Lans- 
downe and Old Royal collections, and on the east side the 
Cottonian Library. In the galleries above are deposited the 
Sloane MSS. and a portion of the Additional MSS. 
On entering the Room, from the Grenville Library, the 
-visitor has on his right hand a series of English and Foreign 
Charters in glazed frames. They are : — 
A selection from the Anglo-Saxon Charters, of which as many as 
one hundred and forty are preserved in the Department.* They 
record grants made by Hodilredus or Ethelred, a kinsman of Sebbi, 
King of Essex, in the year 692-3 ; and by Edgar, Canute, and 
Edward the Confessor, Kings of England, in 96J, 1031, and 1045 
Grants by Kings Henry I., Henry II., Richard I., Henry III., and 
Edward I. ; together with a deed whereby Louis, son of Philip 
Augustus, King of France, when fighting with the disaffected English 
barons against King John, makes a grant of the town of Grimsby, in 
Lincolnshire, in 1210; an acknowledgment by Queen Eleanor, wife 
of Henry III., of a debt due to Florentine merchants in England, in 
1^62; and a grant by Magnus, King of Man and the Isles, in 1256. 
Letters Patent of Edward II., confirming articles for the reform of 
the government, a.d. 1311. A deed of Edward III., restoring the 
lands of Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, a.d. 1331, with a well- 
executed ornamental border. 
The original Articles of Liberties demanded by the Barons of King 
John, which formed the foundation of Magna Charta, a.d. 1215 ; with 
the Great Seal attached. 
Charters of William II. and Henry I. • signed with crosses by the 
Kings and witnesses. Decree of the Emperor Hludouuicus [Louis le 
Debonnaire] respecting lands on the river Weser, a.d. 840. 
A charter of Peter, Bishop of Beauvais, a.d. 1123 ; with the epis- 
copal seal. Charter of Ferdinand IV., King of Castile, a.d. 1307; 
with a bulla, or leaden seal, attached. 
Adjoining the above are two large frames, in which are 
enclosed a collection of books and papers containing auto- 
graph works or inscriptions. They are : — 
Specimens of caligraphy, or copy-books, written in their youth by 
Edward VI., the Princess, afterwards Queen, Elizabeth, Charles I. 
when Prince, and William, Duke of Cumberland, in 1727. A manual 
of prayers, having on the margins some lines in the handwriting of 
Lady Jane Grey, and said to have been used by her on the scaffold, 
1*2 February, 15 54. The original draft of the will of Mary Queen of 
* Printed in photographic facsimile, in four volumes, entitled, "Ancient 
Charters in the British Museum," 1S73-1S7S. 
