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• 1 2020-01-14T11:33:34+00:00 Plate 2.4: Ancient Deeds and Seals 145 Scholarly Commentary with DZI View for Vetusta Monumenta, Plate 2.4. Commentary by Dustin Frazier Wood and Richard Gilbert. plain 2023-06-23T04:20:37+00:00 Plate: Engraved by George Vertue in 1751. Presents engravings of two deeds and three seals. Both deeds are accompanied by decorative scrolls, which confirm charters of ecclesiastical lands in Yorkshire. The deeds are also accompanied by their seals. A third seal, the seal of Matthew Hutton, appears on the lower right detached from the deed from which it depended. Thomas Wilson of Leeds sent these deeds and seals to Dr Richard Rawlinson, who displayed them at a meeting of the SAL in March 1750 (SAL Minutes VI.34).
  
  Object: Both deeds with their pendent seals, as well as the seal of Matthew Hutton, came from the collection of Thomas Wilson (c.1702-1761) of Leeds, and were exhibited at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries by Dr. Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).
  
  The Meaux deed is currently Bodleian Library, Yorkshire Charters 108 and Hutton's seal is appended to a lease currently Bodleian Library, Yorkshire Charters 334 (Turner and Coxe 1878, 638, 636-7). The current location of the Drax deed is unknown, though two related charters survive as Bodleian Library, Yorkshire Charters 51 and 332 (Turner and Coxe 1878, 606).
  
  Transcription:
  
  Title:
  
  Antient Deeds & Seals
  
  Upper Left:
  
  Carta Convenc[i]o[n]is inter Walterum {de Langton} Cov[entry] & Litch[field] Episcopum Magistrum Hospitalis sancti Leonardi Ebor[acum], & fratres ejusdem Loci, et Rogerum Abbatem & Conventum de Melsa de Redditu Molendinor[um] in Magna Wharrum: dat. 25 Nov. 1301
  
  Scil[ice]t dic (sic) Veneris in Festo s[an]c[t]æ Catherinæ Virginis, 29 Ed. 1.
  
  Upper Deed:
  
  CIROGRAPHVM [illeg.]
  
  Anno regni regis Edwardi fil[ii] regis Henrici vicesimo nono die ven[er]is in festo s[anc]te Kat[er]ine v[ir]ginis apud Ebor[acum] co[n]venit[ur] int[er] d[omi]n[u]m Walt[eru]m dei ^gra[tia] Coventr[y] & Lich[field] ep[iscopu]m mag[iste]r[iu]m hospitalis s[anc]ti Leonardi Ebor[acum] & fr[atr]es eiusde[m] loci ex una parte & fr[atre]m Rog[eru]m Abb[at]em de Melsa & eiusdem loci conventui ex altera – videl[ice]t q[uo]d cu[m] Hugo mag[iste]r & fr[atr]es hospitalis p[re]d[i]c[t]i aliquando dimisissent fratri Mich[ael]i tunc Abbati de Melsa & eiusdem loci convent[u]m duo molendina aquatica cum stagnis & om[n]ib[u]s aliis p[er]tinentiis suis in magna Wharrum simul cum om[n]ib[u]s sic ubi duor[um] alior[um] molendinor[um] cu[m] p[er]tinentiis in eadem villa que om[n]ia h[ab]uerunt ex dono Will[elm]i Fossard Reddendo inde pred[i]c[t]o hospitali annuatim quatuor marcas argenti – p[ro]ut in scriptis inde int[er] eos tunc confectis, pleni[us] continet[ur] videl[icet] pred[ic]tus vero Walterus mag[iste]r pred[i]c[t]i hospitalis & fr[atr]es eiusdem loci remiserunt ex tu[n]c pred[ic]to Abb[a]ti & co[n]ventui de Melsa memoratis & unam marcam argenti redditus suprascr[i]pti. Ita videl[ice]t q[uo]d sing[u]lis annis a temp[or]e confec[t]io[n]is p[re]sencis d[i]ct[us] Abbas & co[n]ventus de Melsa reddant & p[er]solvant hospitali supras[cri]pto quadraginta solidos sterlingor[um] in festis Pentecostes & S[anc]ti Martini p[er] equales porc[i]o[n]es p[ro] pred[ic]tis molendinis & eor[um] p[er]tinentiis ut est p[er]missu[s]. Et si co[n]tingat q[uo]d p[re]d[ic]tus redditus quadraginta solidor[um] de aliquo t[er]mino aretro fuit, de cet[er]o bene liceat magi[str]o & f[rat]rib[u]s & eor[um] successorib[u]s qui p[ro] temp[or]e fu[eru]nt in pred[ic]tis tenementis & etiam in omnib[u]s tenementis que isdem Abbas & co[n]ventus h[ab]uerunt die confect[i]o[n]is presentiu[m] in predicta villa de Magna Wharrum ad quor[um]cumque manus devenerint & distri[n]gere & distri[n]ctio[n]em illam sic captam quo sibi viderint expedire effugare & eam retinere quousque eisdem magi[str]o & f[rat]rib[u]s de pred[i]c[t]o redditu annuo quadraginta solidor[um] plenarie fuit satisf[ac]t[u]m In cui[us] rei fide[m] & memoriam huic scripto bipertito sigilla part[iu]m p[re]dic[t]ar[um] alternativi sunt appensa Dat apud Ebor[acum] die & anno suprad[ic]tis.
  
  Upper Seal:
  
  SIGILLVM ・ ABBATIS : DE : MELSA
  
  Lower Right:
  
  Carta Confirmac[i]o[n]is Prioris & Conventus de DRAX Joh[ann]i filio Nicholai de Osgoteby de Terris in Osgoteby
  
  Lower Deed:
  
  Omnib[u]s Xpi Fidelib[u]s visur[is] vel auditur[is] Joh[ann]es Prior de Drax & eiusdem Loci convent[us] sal[ute]m et[er]nam In d[omi]no Novit univ[er]sitas v[est]ra nos co[m]muni assensu totius cap[itu]li n[ost]ri dedisse concessisse & hac p[re]senti carta n[ost]ra confirmasse Joh[ann]i filio Nicholai de Osgoteby p[ro] homagio & s[er]vitio suo unu[m] Toftu[m] & unam Bovata[m] t[er]re arrabil[is] int[er]ritorio de Osgoteby cu[m] om[n]ib[u]s p[er]tinenciis suis illud scilic[et] Toftu[m] quod Rob[ertus] Boy aliqu[o] de nob[is] tenuit & illam bovatam t[er]re quam f[rat]rem Joh[ann]es & Rob[er]tus de Barneby In eadem villa aliqu[o] de nob[is] tenuerunt. Habend[um] et tenend[um] p[re]d[i]c[tu]m tenem[en]tu[m] p[re]d[ic]to Joh[ann]i & h[e]redib[u]s suis lib[er]e quiete integ[r]e b[e]n[e] In pace In feodo & hereditate cum om[n]ib[u]s p[er]tinentiis suis & aysiamentis in p[ra]tis & pasturis in moris & turberis in viis & semitis In aquis & Waltis & om[n]ib[u]s aliis Locis Infra Villam & ext[ra] ad [t[uu]m] tenement[um] p[er]tine[n]tib[u]s. Reddendo in[de] annuatim nob[is] & successorib[u]s n[ost]ris unam m[ar]cam arg[e]nti s[cilicet] dimid[ium] m[arce] ad pentecoste & dimid[ium] m[arce] ad festu[m] S[anc]ti Martini in yeme p[ro] om[n]ia s[e]c[u]lari s[er]vit[i]o exact[i]one consuetudine & demanda. Nos aute[m] d[ic]ti J. P[ri]or & Convent[us] & successores n[ost]ri p[re]d[ic]to Joh[ann]i & h[e]redib[u]s suis totu[m] pred[ic]t[u]m tenem[en]tu[m] cum om[n]ib[u]s p[er]tine[n]tiis suis p[ro] p[re]d[ic]t[u]m s[er]viciu[m] p[er] om[n]ia sicut p[re]d[ic]t[u]m est cont[ra] om[nes] g[e]n[te]us Warantizabim[us] adquietabim[us] & defendem[us] quid[e]m donatores n[ost]ri nob[is] Warantiza[b]unt quod erit deodante In p[er]petu[u]m. et ut H[aec] donatio n[ost]ra concessio & & carte p[re]s[e]ntis confirmat[i]o rata & stabilis p[er]sev[er]et presenti sc[ri]pto sigillu[m] cap[itu]li n[ost]ri apposu[i]m[us]. Hijs Testib[u]s D[omi]no Will[elm]o de Acton Rob[er]to de Habtorp Joh[ann]e de Klyte[?] Ricard[o] fil[io] ei[usdem] Rob[erto] fil[io] Ade de Osgoteby Walt[er]o fil[io] Hug[onis] de eade[m] Hug[one] fil[io] Pet[ri] de eade[m] & Aliis
  
  Lower Seal:
  
  Obverse: [SIGIL]LVM ・ CAPITVLI [S]TI NICHOL ・DE DRA[X]
  Reverse: + SIGILLVM ・ PRIORIS : DE D
  
  Seal at Lower Right:
  
  Border: [SIGILLV]M ◦ MATTHEI ◦ HVT ARCHI[E]PISCOPI ◦ EBOR 1595
  Upper Scroll: DEVS VIDES (sic)
  Lower Scroll: QVOVS QVE DOMINO
  Initials: M[attheus] E[piscopus]
  Caption: The SEAL of MATTHEW HUTTON Archb^p. of YORK. with the Counter Seal appendant to a deed dated the 12 of Jan y . 1603, in y^e first Year of the reign of King James I.
  
  Lower Left Caption:
  
  These Deeds & Seals from the originals in the possession of R. Rawlinson L.L.D. F.R.S.
  
  Bottom Right:
  
  Sumptibus Soc. Antiq: Lond. 1751.
  
  Translation:
  
  Title:
  
  Ancient Deeds & Seals
  
  Upper Left:
  
  Charter of Confirmation between Walter [de Langton] Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield Master of the Hospital of Saint Leonard at York, & the brothers of the same place, and Abbot Roger and the house of Melsa regarding the rent of mills in Great Wharrum: dated 25 November 1301.
  
  To wit the Feast of the veneration of St Catherine the Virgin, 29 Edward I.
  
  Upper Deed:
  
  At York on the Friday of the feast of St Katherine the Virgin in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of King Edward son of King Henry it is agreed between the lord Walter, by the grace of God Bishop of Coventry & Lichfield and master of the Hospital of St Leonard of York, and the brothers of the same place, on the one part, and brother Roger, Abbot of Meaux [Melsa] and the convent of the same place on the other, that whereas Master Hugh and the brothers of the said hospital once gave up to brother Michael, then Abbot of Meaux, and the convent of the same place two watermills with ponds and all their other appurtenances in Great Wharrum along with the sites of all of their other mills wheresoever with their appurtenances in the same vill, all of which they had from the gift of William Fossard, rendering to the said hospital four silver marks a year, as shown in full in the writs then made: to wit the said Walter, master of the said hospital, and the brothers of the same place have remitted from now on to the said Abbot and the convent of Meaux one silver mark of the above-written rent.
  
  To wit that every year from the time of the present agreement the said Abbot and the convent of Meaux should render and pay to the above-written hospital forty shillings sterling in equal portions at the feasts of Pentecost and St Martin for the said mills and their appurtenances, as it is permitted.
  
  And if it should happen that the said rent of forty shillings should at any time be in arrears, then it should be furthermore well permitted for the master and brothers and their successors who at such time shall be to distrain into the hands of whoever they shall devise the said tenements and also all tenements which the same Abbot and convent hold in Great Wharrum by the present agreement, and to carry out the distraint thus taken through whoever shall seem most convenient to them, and to retain it until the rent of forty shillings a year has been fully paid to the same master and brothers. In faithful recognition of this matter the seals of the said alternative parties are appended to this bipartite writ. Given at York on the day and year above.
  
  Upper Seal:
  
  Seal of the Abbot of Melsa
  
  Lower Right:
  
  Charter of Confirmation of the Prior and Convent of Drax to John son of Nicholas of Osgodby regarding Lands in Osgodby
  
  Lower Deed:
  
  To all the Christian faithful who shall see or hear this writ, John, Prior of Drax and the convent of the same place send eternal greeting. All of you [universitas vestra] know that we have, by common consent of our whole chapter, given, conceded and with this our present charter confirmed to John son of Nicholas of Osgoteby for his homage and service a toft and an oxgang of arable land in the territory of Osgoteby with all its appurtenances; that is, the toft which Robert Boy once held of us and the oxgang of land which the same John and Robert de Barneby once held of us in the same vill, the said tenement to be had and held by the aforesaid John and his heirs freely, quietly, completely, well; in peace, in fee and by inheritance; with all appurtenances and easements; in meadows and pastures; in marshes and turbaries; in roads and paths; in waters and wastes and all other places within the vill and without pertaining to the tenement, rendering yearly to us and our successors one silver mark, of which half a mark at Pentecost and half a mark at the feast of St Martin in observance [yeme] (i.e., in winter) for each secular service, exaction, custom and demand. We, the aforesaid Prior J. [sic] and the convent and our successors shall warrant, acquiesce and defend against all peoples for the aforesaid John and his successors the whole of the aforesaid tenement with all its appurtenances for the aforesaid service in every respect as is aforesaid, just as our donors warrant what is given to us forever. And so that this our gift, allowance and confirmation of the present charter remain valid and stable, we attach the seal of our chapter to what is written above. Witnesses to this lord William of Acton, Robert of Habt[h]orp, John of [Klyte?] and Richard his son, Robert son of [Ade?] of Osgoteby, Walter son of Hugh of the same, Hugh son of Peter of the same, and others.
  
  Lower Seal:
  
  Obverse: Seal of the Chapter of St Nicholas of Drax
  Reverse: + Seal of the Prior of D[rax]
  
  Seal at Lower Right:
  
  Border: Seal of Matthew Hutton Archbishop of York 1595
  Upper Scroll: God Sees
  Lower Scroll: As far as the Lord
  Initials: Bishop Matthew
  Caption: The SEAL of MATTHEW HUTTON Archb^p. of YORK. with the Counter Seal appendant to a deed dated the 12 of Jan^y. 1603, in y^e first Year of the reign of King James I.
  
  Lower Left Caption:
  
  These Deeds & Seals from the originals in the possession of R. Rawlinson L.L.D. F.R.S.
  
  Bottom Right:
  
  Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London. 1751.
  
  Commentary by Dustin Frazier Wood and Richard Gilbert: Plate 2.4 depicts two deeds and three seals related to ecclesiastical establishments in Yorkshire. All were sent from Thomas Wilson of Leeds to Dr Richard Rawlinson to display at a meeting of the Society in March 1750 (SAL Minutes VI.34). Wilson, an antiquary, schoolmaster, and parish clerk, collected and created transcripts of hundreds of medieval manuscripts relating to Yorkshire during his lifetime (Ramm and Wilde 2018). Wilson's interests made him a natural correspondent of Rawlinson, a major collector of English manuscripts and influential member of the Society of Antiquaries whose episcopal motto as a bishop of the non-juring church was "I collect and preserve." Wilson had been proposed for membership of the Society by Rawlinson in January 1750 and was elected a year later, on 2 February 1751 (SAL Minutes VI.20, 78).
  
  The upper deed is a chirograph, one of two duplicate texts written on a single sheet of parchment and separated by a zig-zag cut, usually through some form of the word "chirograph"; in this case the word "CIROGRAPHVM" plus four additional, undecipherable characters appear upside-down at the top of the document, bisected by the cut. It contains an early fourteenth-century confirmation by Walter Langton (d.1321), Bishop of Lichfield and Treasurer of England under Edward I, of the rights of the Abbey of Meaux (or Melsa) to rents from several mills on the border of Great Wharram and the (later deserted) village of Wharram Percy, where the Abbey had established a grange and mills in the mid-twelfth century (Wrathmell 2012, 226). The decorative scroll to the left of the deed dates it to 25 November 1301 but this seems to be a computational error on the part of the caption writer; the Feast of St Katherine in the twenty-ninth year of Edward I's reign fell on 25 November 1300. This error in dating was replicated by John Tickell, who reproduced an image of the deed from the Vetusta Monumenta plate in his history of Kingston upon Hull in 1798 (Tickell 1798, 178).
  
  The lower manuscript is a quitclaim that confirms a grant to Drax Priory of lands at nearby Osgodby. The John identified in the first line as prior is probably either John de Saxton, elected in 1349, or John de Wiggeton, elected in or before 1354. Although John Burton included details of numerous grants to Drax of lands at Osgodby in his Monasticon Eboracense, published in 1758, and consulted a transcript cartulary of Drax owned by William Constable of Everingham, none of the entries matches that of this deed (Burton 1758, 100-13 & 100 n. c).
  
  Both manuscripts bear their appended seals. Vertue depicts the seal of the Meaux confirmation at a sharp angle, bearing the figure of the abbot on the front and a mass of wax protruding behind. For the seal of the Drax quitclaim, however, Vertue depicts both obverse and reverse (or seal and counterseal), the former appended to the seal and the latter to the left, symbolically connected by a strip of parchment. The seal (that of the priory chapter) depicts St Nicholas standing with one hand raised in blessing, while the counterseal (that of the prior himself) depicts the head and torso of the prior in profile.
  
  The final object depicted - the seal of Matthew Hutton (1529-1606), Archbishop of York from 1595 to 1606 - appears detached from the deed from which it depended. Like the other two it is vesica shaped, the pointed ovoid form conventional for ecclesiastical seals. The obverse (Hutton's "seal of dignity") depicts Hutton kneeling in prayer in front of an open book on a cushion, surrounded by scrolls bearing the words "DEVS VIDES" [sic] ("God Sees") and QVOVS QVE DOMINO ("As far as/To the place of the Lord"), above his coat of arms which are flanked by the initials ME (Mattheus Episcopus). The counterseal, smaller, rounded and deep pressed into a much larger bulk of wax, depicts a smaller version of the open book from the obverse above Hutton's coat of arms, granted on 1 May 1584 (Raine 1843, xvii-xviii, 10-11).
  
  As Laura Whatley has pointed out elsewhere in this edition (Plate 1.5), seals - and, we might add, the documents to which they were attached - occupied a central place in antiquarian culture. They were perhaps the most common objects that antiquaries interested in the English past worked with. If they lack the obvious conjuring power of the Westminster Tournament Roll (Plates 1.21-26) or the Oxford Decree against papal jurisdiction (Plate 1.62), or the rarity of the fragments of the Cotton Genesis (Plates 1.67-68), the deeds and seals of Plate 2.4 nevertheless represent the oldest English manuscripts that had yet been published by the SAL and demonstrate its commitment to publishing accurate collections of seals (Plates 1.5, 1.28-33, 1.53-1.54, 1.55, 1.56, 1.58-1.60).
  
  The stated motivation to engrave and print this collection related to the objects' rarity and condition: the Society's minutes note that that the concord between the Bishop of Coventry and the Abbot of Meaux bore "the word CIROGRAPHVM, & other Letters cut thro' indentwise" and a seal "well cut and preserved"; the seal attached to the Drax deed appeared "in good preservation and proper to be Engraved to perpetuate the Stile of the Priory" (SAL Minutes VI.34). The week after their exhibition Rawlinson proposed that "the two fine deeds with their Seals annex'd might be Engraved [...] by Mr. Vertue," a proposal that was agreed by ballot on 19 April (SAL Minutes VI.38).
  
  Vertue's engraving represents as near as possible a true facsimile of both deeds and their seals. Both float in blank but clearly lit space. Shadow lines to the right of each deed and at their bottom folds, and in the curled slips and irregular forms of the wax seals, provide a sense of three-dimensionality. This shadowing continues on the seals themselves, in the subtle additional density of lines to the right of the figure on the seal of Meaux. Such shadowing can also be seen to the right of the face and arm (those parts of the seal in highest relief) of the figure on the obverse of the Drax seal, and to the right of the chest of the figure on its reverse. Hutton's seal, the largest on the page, also appears to be in facsimile, albeit without its attached manuscript. All three seals are damaged, and their reverses appear naturally, in contrast to earlier Vetusta Monumenta plates where seals appear with clean edges and no hint of uneven sides or reverses. The excellent state of preservation of the figures on the seals, the drape of their clothing, the details of the priors' crosiers, and the delicate scrollwork on Hutton's seal are all the more striking in contrast to the broken edges that fragment their legends.
  
  The script of the two deeds is a convincing facsimile of English cursive documentary forms of cursiva anglicana of the fourteenth century. The slightly later Drax charter bears characteristic decorative dotted and cross-hatched capitals, as well as a flourish on the final 's' at bottom right (see Brown 1993, 94-7). Vertue's facsimile takes pains to recreate the numerous abbreviations and scribal ligatures as accurately as possible. In addition, Vertue reproduces the almost certainly later underlining of names that appears in both documents, thus reproducing not simply the original hands but the interventions of later readers. This (presumed) fidelity to the originals enables Plate 2.4 to serve as a proxy for those original documents as objects, as texts and as exemplars of two closely related but distinctive fourteenth-century scripts. The plate is simultaneously an act of preservation and a scholarly resource for antiquaries interested in multiple aspects of the study of English manuscripts.
  
  Plate 2.4 might then be understood as one of several Vetusta Monumenta prints that highlight eighteenth-century antiquarian engagement with historic script. Palaeography was both central to antiquarian culture and a specialised field to which only a few antiquaries dedicated their main energies. Those who did exerted lasting influence: Jean Mabillon, Humfrey Wanley, David Casley and, later, Thomas Astle appear frequently in antiquarian work both printed and manuscript (Frazier Wood 2022). Although Vertue is not normally considered a palaeographer, his facsimile engravings of pre-modern manuscripts in hands ranging from the fourth- or fifth-century Greek Cotton Genesis to the sixteenth-century English Tournament Roll (not to mention his work outside Vetusta Monumenta) make him a key figure in the field. As Casley argued in the 1730s, antiquaries had to study either original manuscripts or high-quality reproductions in order to date them and thus to understand English history (Casley 1734). With their high standards of exactness, Vertue's engravings provided precisely the kind of essential reference material that - according to Casley - every antiquary required.
  
  The provenance of the materials so carefully engraved by Vertue also testifies to the affiliative connections between antiquaries and their manuscripts: both deeds and, presumably, the seal of Matthew Hutton, had made their way into print after passing through the hands of three generations of notable Yorkshire antiquaries. Thomas Wilson probably acquired the Drax deed during the dispersal of Ralph Thoresby's (1658-1725) museum. Thoresby had earlier provided a complete transcript of it to John Stevens for publication in the latter's two-volume continuation of Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum (Stevens 1723, 351). John Tanner later cited Thoresby's transcript in the section on Drax in his edition of his brother Thomas Tanner's Notitia Monastica, suggesting that this charter, at least, bore some significance as an important - or at least noteworthy - historical source (Tanner 1744, 655-6). The Meaux deed might also have come to Wilson via Thoresby, although the subtitle of Wilson's manuscript Chartularium Melsense, completed in 1746 and now at Leeds Library, notes that its contents came from the library of Richard Thornton (1659-1710), Recorder of Leeds. Given that Wilson was just eight years old at the time of Thornton's death, the manuscript must have remained in the Thornton family into the 1740s or have passed to Thoresby and then to Wilson. In either case, Wilson continued to associate it with the elder antiquary and collector of Yorkshire manuscripts.
  
  Vertue showed proof prints of Plate 2.4 at a meeting on 29 November and again on 25 April 1751, when they were finally approved and ordered to be printed (SAL Minutes VI.62, 94). When Vertue delivered the prints, extra copies were given to Rawlinson (as well as Edward Umfreville and John Ward, the Society's Director) "for the Care and Trouble he had been at about them." The nature of this "Care and Trouble" remains unclear but could be linked to the unsubtle engraved note at the bottom left stating that the originals were "in the possession of R. Rawlinson," directly contradicting the minute book's clear statement that they belonged to Wilson. Whether Rawlinson purchased them, negotiated with Wilson for their extended loan, and/or arranged for their transportation between Leeds and London, remains unclear. So too do the roles played by Rawlinson, Umfreville and Ward in the creation of the print, although Vertue's unusual second display of proofs several months apart might suggest dissatisfaction with his first design and subsequent reworking. Whatever the case, Vertue did not sign the finished print, which contains only the by-then standard publication statement "Sumptibus Soc. Antiq: Lond. 1751."
  
  If the particular provenance of the deeds and seals and the circumstances of the design and approval for printing of Plate 2.4 remain unclear, its association with Rawlinson - and the prominent display of that association - reflects both Rawlinson's interests and the political circumstances of the Society at the time of its production. During his lifetime Rawlinson was known as an important collector of English manuscripts and European seals and seal matrices. During the late 1740s and into the 1750s Rawlinson frequently showed both at meetings of the Society, where he had considerable influence and occupied a seat on the Council. At the time the fate of the unmarried, sixty-year-old Rawlinson's collections "became a matter for public discussion" (Clapinson 2004). The inclusion of Rawlinson's name on Plate 2.4 likely represents a form of encouragement for Rawlinson to leave his collections to the Society, which had obtained its charter earlier the same year and could therefore legally own property. In 1752 Rawlinson made his will, in which he left the Society "all his dyes and matrices of English seals, and for medals, and all his copper-plates, of seals, charters, and other his curiosities . . . his drawings relating to England, 10 walnut-tree book-cases, four mahogony [sic] presses, his collection of English prints, with port folios to keep the same [and] a free-hold estate and copyhold estate at Fulham" (London Magazine 1755, 205). If Plate 2.4 represents the Society's hopes of acquiring a major collection, and perhaps also Rawlinson's intentions, it also serves as a reminder of the frustration of those hopes and of the inseparability of politics and antiquarianism. In the parliamentary election year of 1754, Rawlinson's status as a non-juror and Jacobite led the Society not to re-elect him to his seat on its Council; when the president, Martin Folkes, died later that spring and left a vacancy, Rawlinson was passed over again. Although some members made conciliatory overtures to Rawlinson he objected to his friend George Ballard that they "mistake me for one Mr. Spaniel, for such they must take a creature to be without resentment." In a codicil to his will witnessed by four members of the Society on 25 July 1754 Rawlinson revoked all his bequests (worth in excess of £2000), leaving them instead to the Bodleian Library, and St John's College and Hertford colleges, Oxford (Tashjian, Tashjian and Enright 1990, 63-5). Despite the fate of the objects it depicts, however, Plate 2.4 remains a testament to an idea on which Rawlinson and the Society agreed: the necessity of collecting, preserving and publishing the manuscript remains of English history.
  
  
  
  Acknowledgments
  
  The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to the reviewers of this transcription, translation and commentary for their careful and constructive insights.
  
  Works Cited:
  
  Manuscripts:
  
  Society of Antiquaries of London. 1718-. Minutes of the Society's Proceedings.
  
  Wilson, Thomas. 1746. Chartularium Melsense, a collection of Papal Bulls, Royal and Private Benefactions to the Abbey of Meaux, in the East Riding, Ex Bibliotheca Thorntonianæ. Leeds Library.
  
  Printed Works:
  
  Brown, Michelle. 1993. A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600. London: British Library.
  
  Burton, John. 1758. Monasticon Eboracense: and the Ecclesiastical History of Yorkshire. York: N. Nickson.
  
  Casley, David. 1734. Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the King's Library: An Appendix to the Catalogue of the Cottonian Library; Together with an Account of Books Burnt or Damaged by a Late Fire. London.
  
  Cherry, John. 2016. Richard Rawlinson and His Seal Matrices: Collecting in the early eighteenth century. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum.
  
  Frazier Wood, Dustin. 2022. "The Face of Antiquity: Script, Manuscript, and Facsimile in Early Eighteenth-Century Antiquarian Culture," Modern Philology 120, no.1: 89-112.
  
  The Gentleman's Magazine. 1755. "List of Deaths for the Year 1755," Vol. 25, 186-7.
  
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