The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-06
ANTIQUARIAN.

Old English Historical Documents Unearthed.
The first report of the Royal Commission
on Historical Manuscripts just laid before
Parliament contains some very curious infor-
nation on the subject of documents, for the
most part either wholly unknown or all but
forgotten, which have been preserved in the
basement story of the House of Lords. They
have been, as it we're, buried for ages, for no
one, except some of the officers of the House
of Lords appears to have had any knowledge
of their existence, and, as the commissioners
state, their discovery is certainly no slight
acquisition to the historical student, throwing,
as they do, additional light on several impor-
tant passages in English history. Among
other papers, for instance, the commission
have found the original letter, wholly in the
handwriting of Charles l, addressed to the
House of Lords in May, 1641, recommending
that the Earl of STAFFORD be imprisoned
rather than executed, although he
(the King) had satisfied the justice
of the kingdom by the passing of
the bill of attainder against the earl. Some
of the alterations in the letter are curious,
showing the Kings desire to save Straford
by an exercise of Royal prerogative OF par
don without asking favor of the Parliament.
The letter in question will be rememberedkas
the one which contains the remarkable post
script:-''If he must die, it were charity to
reprieve him till Saturday. These words
seem to have been added, and the alterations
above alluded to made some time after the letter
was written. 1t seems that the Peers offered
to return into the Kings hands the letter
itself which he had sent; but he answered,
''My lords, what have written to you, shall
be content it to be registered by you in your
House. In it you see my mind. l know you
will use it to my honor" And yet, as the
commissioners observe, this letter has been
to all intents and purposes lost for years, and
only Just recovered Another interesting
document unearthed by the Commissioners is
an original petition from Laud while i'm
prisoned in the Tower; but per-
haps the most curious of the discoveries
made by them is that of the original manu-
script of the Book of Common Prayer, which
was annexed to the statute 13 and IA Car. 2,
c. 4. This had not been seen since 1924, and was
supposed to have been lost or destroyed when
the Houses of Parliament were burned. The
history of the compilation of this book is
sufficiently curious to deserve few words of
passing notice. AS is we'll known, the Par
liamentary Commissioners in 1915, issued an
order abolishing the Book of Common
Prayer, and King Charles II, upon his resto-
ration, lost no time in restoring the worship
sanctioned by the Acts of Uniformity of Ed
ward VI and Queen Elizabeth. Commits
sioners were appointed in 1861 to review the
Book of Common Prayer, and to compare it
the Church ''in the primitive and purest
times, and to prepare such alterations and
additions as were requisite. Both Houses
were engaged on the subject at the same
time. The Commons appointed committee
to make search whether these the origi-
nal Books of Liturgy annexed to the act
passed in the reign of Edward VI were
still extant. They selected Prayer Book
printed in 1904 to be attached to the bill they
were preparing for an Act of Uniformity, pro-
vided the Book of Edward VI could not be
found. While the Commons were thus en-
gagged the king sent to the House of Lords
the Book prepared by his Commissioners ap
pointed by letters patent on March 20, 1861,
and of which he approved The Lords there
upon directed the Book in question to be
delivered to the House of Commons to
whom, therefore, two Books were submitted.
The bill passed both Houses and became law.
1t appears that, besides the documents above
alluded to, many more have been discovered
of great worth and importance. High praise
is bestowed by the Commission on the pro-
ceedings of Sir John Shaw Lefevre, who has
caused the sorting and arrangement of the
papers to be begun; and there would appear
to be every chance that further documents of
great value are still to be discovered among
the hitherto almost unexplored mass of mis-
cellaneous papers in the House of Lords