Jany – continue reading enquiring and writing in conjunction with Joseph Fletcher – on London Corporation – and the report of the commissioners – / the proofs only.

Whereas I cane answer for demanding my pay and a discharg from thee Henery Cromwell in a miutinous and sedissous maner, it is falce, I disowen it, for I came in the feare of God to desire a discharg of thee which thou did promis me. I demanded it not in a miutinous nor sedisous manner, as that of God in thy conscience may wittness and as many peopele whoe were then present may wittness to the contrary, and when I came to thy house to looke for thy promis I was put out of doors by the shoulder. Then I came to thee again and gave thee a paper sheweing the justnes of what I desired of thee and in it demanded my wages not in a miutinous nor sedisous maner as yee falcely accus me and as that of God in all your consciences may wittness to the contrary, and to the light of Christ in all tender consciences who reads that paper I leave it to judg whether thos words be spoken in a miutinous and sedisous maner which are written in that paper.

At the F.O. all the morning and afternoon going over the Agenda for the forthcoming Session of the League of Nations at Geneva. At 6 o'clock to 1 Carlton House Terrace to see Lord Curzon and to discuss with him any points of policy arising out of the Agenda. Lord C. is off to Cannes tomorrow to attend the Inter-Allied Conference that is to discuss the question of German reparations, trade with Russia, etc.

I took occasion of a visit paid to me the other day by Baron Dalwigk to ask him whether at the time of the Emperor of Russia's visit to the King of Prussia at Ems in the latter days of May and the beginning of June last year, he had heard any thing of the Treaty which it was now currently reported had been concluded between Prussia & Russia on that occasion.1 His Excellency assured me that he had never then or since heard any thing which could lead him to believe that a treaty such as that suggested had on that occasion been concluded, and though he did not doubt that from an early date a clear understanding had been arrived at between the two Governments by which Prussia was assured not only of Russia's neutrality but of her assistance in the event of Austria's joining with France he did not believe that this understanding had been recorded in so formal an instrument as a treaty.

Introduction V

Ordinances of the Chapter, 1241-1254

Injunctions of Bishop Hugh of Balsham, 1261

Statutes of Bishop Ralph of Walpole, 1300

Ordinances of the Chapter, 1304

Injunctions of Bishop Robert of Orford, 1307

Ordinances of the Chapter, 1314

Metropolitical visitation of Archbishop Thomas Arundel, 1401

Injunctions of Archbishop Thomas Arundel, 1403

Injunctions of Bishop William Gray, 1466

Comperta and detect a in the visitation of Archbishop William Warham's Vicar General, 1515

This Parliamentary diary is taken from shorthand manuscripts in the archives of the Harrowby MSS. Trust at Sandon Hall in Stafford-shire. For nearly a century from about 1713 successive members of the Ryder family recorded much of their personal, legal and political activities in shorthand notes and diaries. This practice was begun by Sir Dudley Ryder, who used a variant of Rich's shorthand system, which had been devised in the seventeenth century. He taught the system to his son Nathaniel, the author of this diary, and he in turn taught it to his two eldest sons, Dudley, later first Earl of Harrowby and Foreign Secretary 1804–5, and Richard, Home Secretary 1809–1812. Legal business comprises much of the material thus recorded, and many other notes concern personal and social matters, or estate management and accounts: but a considerable amount of important Parliamentary and other political information has also been discovered. Altogether, the surviving shorthand documents at Sandon Hall amount to some four million words. During the last thirty years or so, the Earl of Harrowby has sought to have these documents transcribed as part of his plan to put his family records in order. Since 1949 this task has been undertaken on something approaching a voluntary basis by Mr. K. L. Perrin of Great Comberton in Worcestershire, a hobby of great benefit to past, present and future historians.

Friday 15 January The official Coronation Programme was issued today. It would be idle to pretend that the change of monarchs has not taken the fire out of the national interest in the Coronation. King George VI and his consort are popular enough in a quiet way, but they do not arose any great enthusiasm. In society itself, the Queen is definitely unpopular. As Duchess of York she was regarded as a rather quiet, uninteresting, highly domesticated person, a little too Scots, if anything. But as Queen she is a little derided as lacking in glamour.

The beautiful valley of the Axe lies in south-east Devonshire, about four miles west of Dorset. The red marl and brown and sterile summits of the green sand-hills mark the situation with unmistakable signs. A real Devonshire valley cannot be confounded with any other; nor can its climate. Mild in winter, when southern Italy has frost and snow, and when Greece is not to be traversed from the same causes, its curative influence at length begins to be appreciated.