Devon Notes and Queries. 183 punctual execution of the former. He is Secretary to the D. and £. Hospital and a Clerk to one of the Justices for the Count, and consequently engaged and taken from his duty as Clerk to the Principal Registry the greater part of the days, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Fortunately I fixed him to accompany me to the archives at an early hour this morn- ing, and I there saw such a scene of confusion as I never before beheld. Until this time I had no opportunity of prosecuting any enquiry into the earliest date of the Records preserved, or rather enclosed by these walls, as I was obliged to rely upon his answer alone. This, as far as it relates to the arranged papers, is certainly correct, but on the floor in boxes and in various parts of this den of desolation there is an immense heap of unarranged papers, books, and deeds, the appearance of which alone bespeaks them to be of higher antiquity than the date he mentions, but I was not fortunate enough to find the interior of any one paper corresp>ond with its exterior. Although I searched a considerable time I frequently hinted to Davey my suspicions that there might be amongst the scattered papers some more ancient than he imagined, and as often as I urged the subject he shifted it with some evasive answer, and with my utmost endeavours I could not bring him directly to the point. He insisted, however, that there were no wills among these papers, though he allowed that he had never arranged them, and even acknowledged that he thought ;^ioo would be but an adequate compensation for doing so effectually, as it would, in his estimation, take a year to complete the work. You will now probably have some idea of the state of this apartment. In addition to what I have said, within the last 20 years the choristers of the church obtained access to it, and amused themselves with cutting off the seals whenever they found any that suited their fancy; this latter outrage upon antiquity is now stopped by an iron bar and locks, which the liberality of the present dignitaries has ordered to be affixed to the door, but the glass of the windows is entirely gone, and the rain, of course, admitted to the papers. I saw a Register belonging to this office, which commenced A.D. 1256, in the time of Blondy, Bishop. I have also paid a visit to the archives belonging to the Consistorial Court, which also is in the Cathedral.
