It would seem that the clue to its meaning in this special sense was first discovered by the late Sir William (then Mr.) Hardy ("an ingenious and diligent young man," as he was at the time described) in 1836. He pointed out that "Dominus Anglie" was the style adopted by Richard I. "between the demise of his predecessor and his own coronation."[223] Mr. Albert Way, in a valuable paper on the charters belonging to Reading Abbey, which appeared some twenty-seven years later,[224] called attention to the styles "Anglorum _Regina_" and "Anglorum _Domina_," as used by the Empress.[225] As to the former, he referred to the charter of the Empress at Reading, granting lands to Reading Abbey.[226] As to the latter ("Domina Anglorum"), he quoted Mr. Hardy's paper on the charter of Richard I., and urged that "the fact that Matilda was never crowned Queen of England may suffice to account for her being thus styled" (p. 283). He further quoted from William of Malmesbury the two passages in which that chronicler applies this style to the Empress,[227] and he carefully avoided assigning them both to the episode of the 2nd of March. Lastly, he quoted the third passage, that in the _Gesta Stephani_. Mr. Birch subsequently read a paper "On the Great Seals of King Stephen" before the Royal Society of Literature (December 17, 1873), in which he referred to Mr. Way's paper, as the source of one of the charters of which he gave the text, and in which he embodied Mr. Way's observations on the styles "Regina" and "Domina."[228] But instead, unfortunately, of merely following in Mr. Way's footsteps, he added the startling error that Stephen was a prisoner, and Matilda consequently in power, till 1143. He wrote thus:—