Lansdowne MS 778/115

115. Some account of Mr. Gray, a barrister at Colchester and a collector of coins and papers relating to monastic affairs.-He wishes that gentleman would write a history of Colchester.-That he learned from Mr. Gray that Mr. Holman of Halstede in Essex, and lately deceased, had large extracts from Domesday relating to that county, supposed to have belonged to Sir Simonds D'Ewes.-That he was a Puritan and a Presbyterian teacher, had many old chartularies and other antiquities, probably also belonging to Sir Simonds D'Ewes.-That he had formerly drawn up some account of the history and antiquities of Essex, but that instead of publishing it, he made money by taking fees of such as came to him for information, of whom there were many; and that the printing of his materials would have spoiled his trade.-That the Hereford Missal is very scarce and was unknown to Bryan Twine.-Desires further information from Mr. West concerning that gentleman's MS. Epistolæ Domini Abbatis Willelmi de Paraclyto.-Does not know of any MSS. given by Dr. Plot to the Ashmolean Museum; but that his son-in-law Mr. Burman parted with several of them to Harris, when writing the History of Kent, and gave that in quarto on all the counties to Dr. Thorpe of Rochester. Jan. 21, 1730. fo. 184.