Lansdowne MS 285

folio.

A Volume, the greatest part of which formerly belonged to Sir John Paston, Knight. in the reign of Edw. IV. and was copied for him by one William Ebesham, a Scribe by profession. In vol. II. of "Original Letters," published by Sir John Fenn, Ebesham's own charges for transcribing this manuscript are preserved; from which it appears that he was paid for what was written in prose at the rate of twopence per leaf, and for what was written in verse at the rate of a penny. In this account it is called "the grete booke," See likewise the inventory of Sir John's books, p 302 of the above volume, last article but one. It appears to have been in the possession of Sir Gilbert Dethick and his son Sir William Dethick, Garter King at Arms, and afterwards became the property of Richard Saint George, Clarencieux. It seems to be the MS. quoted by Mr. Anstis as belonging to Sir Joseph Jekyll : See "Order of the Garter," Vol. II. p. 460. Some pieces of a later date have been added to the original collection.