priors (not, as he says by a slip, 'of abbots'), and to describe its seal and arms. The next Appendix is devoted to the manors and possessions of the family, an alphabetical list of which covers several pages. This is a most careful piece of work, and of course a valuable contribution to county history. So extensive were the lands of the Gresleys that some might easily be overlooked, and we observe that there is no mention of Eastwell, where 'Gresley's fee' consisted of 2 hides and 3 bovates, held under Ferrers, as is proved by the Croxton Abbey evidences printed in Nichols' Leicestershire. On the other hand, we have our doubts about Thorpe Constantine. The fact that Nigel, its Domesday holder, occurs as Nigel 'de Torp' suggests that he was not identical with Nigel 'de Stafford.'
Appendix C brings us to the arms, seals, crest and motto of the family. The arms are a most interesting example of a derived coat, the Vaire ermine and gules of Gresley being clearly, as Mr. Madan says, a variation of the Ferrers coat, Vaire or and gules. These arms first occur on a Gresley seal of 1240, though the series of family seals of Drakelowe actually begins in the early years of the thirteenth century. The snares that beset the path of the unwary genealogist are admirably illustrated by the next Appendix, which introduces us to two families who seems to have existed for the express purpose of being confused with the Gresleys. One of these is Greasley of Greasley, whose stammhaus was little more than twenty miles from Gresley; the other was a great feudal house, Grelly, baron of Manchester. The second of these names often occurs as Gresle or Greslet, but can, we think, be distinguished from Gresley by the 'de' which precedes the latter. Mr. Madan, it is true, states that Domesday mentions 'Albert de Grelly,' but the actual form is 'Albertus Greslet.' A century later (1185) the Rotulus de Dominabus which he appears not to have consulted, contains frequent mention of Albert 'Gresle,' 'Greslei,' or 'Gresley,' and Robert his son, the evidence proving that they were both born at earlier dates than Mr. Madan imagines. It was Robert, we may add, whose officer at Swineshead (Lincolnshire) was thrown by him into prison and bound in chains, till, calling on the names of St. Edmund and St. Audrey, he was miraculously delivered by the royal martyr like St. Peter before him. In the last Appendix Mr. Madan deals in true scholarly fashion with the materials employed by him in writing this notable book. Those
