While working on the papers of Sir John Eliot at Port Eliot in St. Germans, Cornwall, I came across this interesting inventory of the personal property of the great parliamentary radical of the early seventeenth century. It is written in an official hand on a parchment roll thirty-two feet long, and is an inventory of his movables not only at Port Eliot but also at Cuttenbeake. In fact, a glance at this document will show that Cuttenbeake was the principal residence of the Eliots in the early seventeenth century, while Port Eliot at this time can hardly be considered in that light. This may be partially explained by the fact that Cuttenbeake was situated on a hill, while Port Eliot was half a mile away in the damp valley of the Tiddy River.

The fame of Thomas Sherley, the eldest of the three sons of Sir Thomas Sherley of Wiston, Sussex, has been almost entirely overshadowed by that of his brothers Anthony and Robert.

It is a commonplace that contemporary descriptions of England depend for their historical value largely on the personalities of their authors, and the major claim of the following document for publication lies less in any exclusive information that it may contain than in the point of view from which it is written. Wilson himself was scarcely an important person, but the circumstances of his life bred in him habits of thought that make his comments on society more illuminating than those of worthier and ablermen.

Some time ago I was asked by Mr. G. R. Martyn, of the firm of Martyn's & Gane, if I could identify an old document, which had been found in cleaning out a room in his offices. The document was sent to me and proved to be the depositions relating to the sea-banks at Terrington. I asked Mr. Martyn if he had any more such documents and, as a result, a fairly large collection was sent for inspection.

At the close of the Relation of a short survey of 26 counties observed in a seven weeks' journey begun on 11 August, 1634, by a Captain, a Lieutenant, and an Ancient, all three of the Military Company in Norwich, the "courteous reader" was invited by an anonymous writer of verse to

Receive it only as a preparation

For a more large and long itineration

and it is not unfitting that in the tercentenary of the fulfilment of this promise, the account of the tour to the south and west of England should be offered to the Royal Historical Society