Records

The ancient treasury of the English kings with its multiform contents in the shape of money and plate, regalia, relics and records has been described with considerable minuteness by many generations of native antiquaries and the titles and duties of its custodians have been set forth in numerous establishments. Further than this, the eventful transfers of records to new repositories or from one centre of official activity to another have been duly noted, together with the causes and effects of the periodical reforms in the method of their custody. Finally, after tracing the gradual recognition, in later times, of the interest of the whole community in the safe-keeping and accessibility of the national Archives, the great transformation scene in the early years of the past century has been illustrated by a wealth of official and polemical literature.

At the same time the story of the housing of the Public Records is one which has given rise to few reflections and it remains without a moral. This circumstance, however, is of less moment than the loose and indefinite descriptions of the position and contents of the ancient record repositories of the Crown which pervade the voluminous official Reports on the Public Records published during the first half of the nineteenth century.

After wearily turning some thousands of folio pages, the modern antiquary who seeks more definite information than the chance allusions which may be found in the official memoranda of contemporary archivists, will probably find himself without any exact ideas upon the subject.