31 
pottery have been found in the earth of the rampart; one of them 
bears the name Perpetui, which also occurs in Mr. Roach Smith’s 
Catalogue. 
R. Davies, Esq., read the following paper “ On the Original 
Manuscript of a York Pageant Play,” which had been presented to 
the Society by Dr. Sykes, of Doncaster. 
The valuable MS. now offered to the acceptance of this Society by 
Dr. Sykes of Doncaster, is an ancient copy of one of the pageants or 
miracle plays which in mediaeval times were exhibited in the streets of 
York upon each anniversary of the festival of Corpus Christi. There 
can be no doubt that this is the original MS. of the “ pageant play” 
which Mr. John Croft printed in his “ Excerpta Antiqua” in the year 
1797, and which he stated to be then “amongst the archives at Guild¬ 
hall, York.” It had previously appeared in a reprint of Drake’s 
“ History and Antiquities of the City of York,” published by the York 
booksellers in the year 1785, and it has been recently again printed 
by the Camden Society under the editorial care of Mr. Payne Collier. 
The original register or transcript of the whole series of pageants or 
religious mysteries which constituted the “York Corpus Christi Play” 
is still in existence. In the year 1715, when Thoresby published his 
“ Ducatus Leodiensis,” it was among the contents of his museum of 
antiquities, and his autograph upon one of the fly-leaves denotes that 
it had been given to him by Henry Fairfax, Esq. Upon the dispersion 
of Thoresby’s collections, which were sold by auction in 1764, the 
volume was purchased by Horace Walpole. After sleeping upon the 
shelves of his library at Strawberry Hill for above three-quarters of 
a century, unnoticed and unknown, it was bought at the sale of 
Walpole’s books for the late Mr. Benjamin Hey wood Bright, who 
gave for it the large sum of £235. In the year 1844 Mr. Bright’s 
collection of MSS. was brought to the hammer, and instead of the 
volume of York pageants finding its way to the British Museum, its 
proper place of deposit, the nation was outbid by a private person, 
who parted with more than £300 in order to possess it. It is now the 
property of the Earl of Ashburnhani. The whole of the Corpus Christi 
play comprised in the MS. register consists of about fifty different 
scenes or pageants, which are divided into two series : the incidents of 
the first twelve are derived from the Old Testament history, commenc¬ 
ing with the Creation, and ending with the drowning of Pharaoh and 
the Egyptians. The rest are taken from the New Testament and the 
pseudo-Evangelists. The subjects of the pageants, the order in which 
they are arranged, and the several trade companies by whom they 
