CIRCULAR OF THE COMMISSION.

Public Record Office, Chancery Lane,
London, W.C.

HER MAJESTY has been pleased to appoint under Her Sign Manual certain Commissioners to ascertain what unpublished MSS. are extant in the collections of private persons and in institutions which are calculated to throw light upon subjects connected with the civil, ecclesiastical, literary, or scientific history of this country. The present Commissioners are:

Lord Esher, Master of the Rolls, the Marquess of Salisbury, K.G., the
Marquess of Bath, the Marquess of Lothian, K.T., the Earl of
Rosebery, K.G., Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, the Bishop of Oxford,
the Bishop of Limerick, Lord Acton, Lord Carlingford, K.P.,
Sir G. W. Dasent, and Mr. H. C. Maxwell Lyte, C.B.

The Commissioners think it probable that you may feel an interest in this object and be willing to assist in the attainment of it; and with that view they desire to lay before you an outline of the course which they usually

follow.

If any nobleman or gentleman express his willingness to submit any unprinted book, or collection of documents in his possession or custody to the examination of the Commissioners, they will cause an inspection to be made by some competent person, and should the MSS. appear to come within the scope of their enquiry, a report containing copies or abstracts of them will be drawn up, printed, and submitted to the owner, with a view to obtaining his consent to the publication of the whole, or of such part of it as he may think fit, among the proceedings of the Commission, which are presented to Parliament every Session.

To avoid any possible apprehension that the examination of papers by the Commissioners may extend to title-deeds or documents of present legal value, positive instructions are given to every person who inspects MSS. on their behalf that nothing relating to the titles of existing owners is to be divulged, and that if in the course of his work any modern title-deeds or papers of private character chance to come before him, they are to be instantly put aside, and are not to be examined or calendared under any pretence whatever.

The object of the Commission is solely the discovery of unknown historical and literary materials, and in all their proceedings the Commissioners will direct their attention to that object exclusively.

In practice it has been found more satisfactory, when the collection of manuscripts is a large one, for the inspector to make a selection therefrom at the place of deposit and to obtain the owner's consent to remove the selected papers to the Public Record Office in London, where they can be more fully dealt with, and where they are preserved with the same care as if they formed part of the muniments of the realm, during the term of their examination. Among the numerous owners of MSS. who have allowed their family papers of historical interest to be temporarily removed from their muniment rooms and lent to the Commissioners to facilitate the preparation of a report may be named: The Duke of Rutland, the Duke of Portland, the Marquess of Salisbury, the Marquess Townshend, the Earl of Dartmouth, the Earl of Ancaster, Lord Braye, Lord Hothfield, Mrs. Stopford Sackville, Mr. le Fleming, of Rydal, and Mr. Fortescue, of Dropmore.

The costs of inspections, reports and calendars, and the conveyance of documents, will be defrayed at the public expense, without any charge to

owners.

The Commissioners will also, if so requested, give their advice as to the best means of repairing and preserving any papers or MSS. which may be in a state of decay, and are of historical or literary value.

The Commissioners will feel much obliged if you will communicate to them the names of any gentlemen who may be able and willing to assist in obtaining the objects for which this Commission has been issued. J. J. CARTWRIGHT,

Secretary.