It has never been satisfactorily decided what kind of object is meant by the “æstel” which accompanied every one of the presentation copies of the _Hierdebóc_. Dr. Sweet translates thus: “And on each there is a clasp worth fifty mancus. And I command in God’s name that no man take the clasp from the book, or the book from the minster.” Dr. Bosworth, in his Dictionary, explained æstel as a writing-tablet, and identified the word with “astula” in Du Cange. Now it is not easy to see the propriety of combining so personal a thing as a note-book with a volume designed for common use. Nor could such an object be a fixture upon the great book, which is what the king’s phrase (ón ælcre bið) seems to require. On the other hand, Dr. Sweet’s clasp is indeed a fixture, but of such a kind as to be a part of the book itself which could not be removed without wilful mutilation, and it does not appear that the king in his injunction is apprehensive of so flagrant an outrage as that. My own impression is that the clue to the interpretation is furnished by a Glossary of the eleventh century, which gives “indicatorium” as the equivalent of æstel (Wright-Wülker, i. 327). I imagine a marker either of metal or of wood with metal fittings, so constructed as to be fixed upon the binding, and to bring a small plank across the page wherever desired. This would keep the parchment flat when apt to buckle, would mark the reader’s or transcriber’s place, and would minimise the risk of injury by fingering. It would be attached to one of the boards only in a movable way, perhaps with a screw, and consequently would require a strict and imperative rule to secure it from misplacement. The derivation might well be from “astula” (= assula). This great epistolary Preface is followed by a second, of another theme and another type. The first is conceived in the statesmanlike spirit of a king who is meditating of civil order and education in a country that has almost lapsed into barbarism. The second is the utterance of the literary artist concerning the book he has translated, the author and his merits, and the weight of his authority, not disregarding the history and transmission of the very codex over which he has been at work. The first of these prefaces is in strong and ragged prose; the second is in heroic verse, which recalls the tradition that Alfred was fond of the old songs of his native land. Þis ærendgewrit Agustinus ofer sealtne sæ suðan brohte ieg-buendum, swa hit ær fore adihtode drihtnes cempa Rome papa. Ryhtspell monig 5 Gregorius gleawmod gind wód ðurh sefan snythro searoðonca hord. Forðæm he monncynnes mæst gestriende rodra wearde, Romwara betest, monna módwelegost, mærðum gefrægost. 10