Thursday 4th. After Chapel called on the Principal,
& went with him to Exeter Coll. where I was introduced
to the Rector^(Dr Jones) & three of the Fellows. We went to the
Muniment Room, & a mass of old deeds & papers
were produced,- many of which were perishging – & some
totally illegible. The ones they wished to have deciphered
were two Charters (^Ao1478.1479) relative to the living of
Manhynyæt^[Menhenniot] in Cornwall – respecting which they
meditate entering into a suit in a Court of Equity. It appears
that by the first grant of the living, the entire fructus &
advowson waswere reserved to the College, with the reservation
of a suitable stipend to the perpetual Vicar, nominated by
themselves. But disputes afterwards #####arising between
the Vicar & College, relative to this stipend, a modus
was agreed on, & confirmed by a 2d Charter (1479) by
which the Rector & Fellows consented to receive 20£.
per Annm. in lieu of all their claims to the fructus &c.
of the living. Since that time the Value of the Living
has increased to such a degree, that it is now worth
1200 £. per Annm. & the College still receives only its
20 £. a year! Conceiving therefore this to be contrary
to the original Endowment of the Living, they propose
if possible, to set aside the later composition, & enforce
the Original grant. But the original Deed, which they
possess, had been so utterly destroyed by damp, that
great part (& the most important) was utterly illegible;
& a copy, taken of it (or, at least, attempted) a few
years back, was so badly done, as to render all idea
of acting on it, out of the question. They therefore, hav.g
heard of my skill in ^old parchments, wished me to examine
their papers, & this Deed in particular, to see if there
were any hope of obtaineding a complete transcript ^of it. This,
on sight of it, I declared^ to be impossible, & so it would
have been, but by the greatest piece of good fortune ever
experienced, I actually discovered among their deeds,
a duplicate, word for word, of the Deed in question, being
indeed a Counterpart made at the time, with
two seals (the other copy having 5) appended, which
was intended (as appears from the Deed itself) to
have been sent to Exeter Cathedral, but by some unac=
countable circumstance##########, they have retained both the
Origl. Deed & the Counterpart; & altho’ Exeter ^Cathedral is said
to possess a copy, yet it must have been taken from
one of these. The existence of the Counterpart in their
Archives was never known, nor even suspected,
&, of course, by the assistance of it, as compared with
the other, I was enabled to decipher every word,
very much to my own, & to the Rector’s satisfaction.
I remained with them till 3 oC. & then went to
the ###Bodleian to see Dr Bliss. At 4 oC. we went together
to see the New Printg House now erecting on the
Right Hand of St. Giles’s, opposite St. John’s College
& which will be a very fine structure, when com=
pleted. We afterwards went to St John’s, & I saw
the Hall, &c. I had just time to go home & dress,
& then joined the party at Dr Bandinel’sBliss’s, where were
D.r & Mrs Bliss & Miss Bell, Mr & Mrs Finch, Mr. ##
Henderson, & two others of Chr. Church, & some other
ladies I knew not. It was a very pleasant party,
& we remained till 11 oC. On my return, I found
a parcel from Mr Petrie, enclos.g the Copy of Cnute’s
laws, Harl. 746. which Mr P. wishes collated with
MS. Digby 13. There were several other notices of MSS.
to be copied or collated.
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