^{page vii note 1} Sir William Dugdale wrote of him as “ that judicious Antiquary (my worthy friend) Gervase Holles of Grimsby ” ; and Thoroton describes him as “ a great lover of Antiquities.”

^{page vii note 2} The Molesworth family claimed descent from a Sir Walter Mowlesworth living in Edward I's reign. The pedigree is in Lansdown MS. 207 C, fol. 409–10.

^{page viii note 1} His life is in the D.N.B.

^{page viii note 2} Nalson, J., Impartial Collection, I, pp. 804–6; House of Commons Journals, II, p. 128.

^{page viii note 3} See note 3 to cap. 22.

^{page viii note 4} House of Commons Journals, II, p. 533.

^{page viii note 5} He was disabled from sitting at Westminster on August 22, 1642, and his place was filled by the election of William Wray, October 21, 1645.

^{page ix note 1} See the letter of Henry Hexham to him at Rotterdam, May 15, 1651, in Lansdowne MS. 207 F, fol. 35, and the correspondence addressed to him at Calais and Gertruydenberg in H.M.C., Marquess of Bath, II, pp. 103–4, 110.

^{page ix note 2} The Longleat MS. is dated from The Hague, 1658, but the letters to Gervase Holies printed in H.M.C., Marquess of Bath, II, pp. 120–7, show that he was at Rotterdam throughout that year save possibly for brief intervals.

^{page ix note 3} H.M.C., 7th Report, p, 117.

^{page x note 1} Nicholas Papers, IV, pp. 141–2.

^{page x note 2} H.M.C., Marquess of Bath, II, pp. 120–38.

^{page x note 3} H.M.C., 5th Report, p. 184.

^{page x note 4} H.M.C., Buccleuch, I, p. 540.

^{page xi note 1} Sir Wm. Dugdale, Life, Diary and Correspondence, p. 40.

^{page xi note 2} For fuller biographies of Gervase Holies see the D.N.B. ; Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 1922, pp. 36–70 ; and the Introduction to his Lincolnshire Church Notes published by the Lincoln Record Society, 1911.

^{page xi note 3} 4th Series, Vol. XIX, 1936.

^{page xii note 1} Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 1922, p. 67.

^{page xii note 2} I am indebted to F. Needham, Esq., Librarian and Curator at Welbeck Abbey, for providing me with a transcript of this letter.

^{page xiii note 1} H.M.C., Portland, V, p. 449. Mr. Needham points out that the initial W. Courtney printed here is a mistake for N. Courtney.