I fear that, notwithstanding Mr. Birch's criticism on all who have gone before him, a careful analysis of the subject will reveal that the only addition he has made to our previous knowledge on this subject, as set forth in Mr. Way's papers, consists in two original and quite incomprehensible errors: one of them, the assigning of Maud's election to the episode of the 2nd and 3rd of March, instead of to that of the 7th and 8th of April (1141); the other, the assigning of Stephen's liberation to 1143 instead of 1141. When we correct these two errors, springing (may we say, in Mr. Birch's words?) "from perfunctory inquiries into the sources of our national history rather than from careful step-by-step pursuit of the truth," we return to the _status quo ante_, as set forth in Mr. Way's paper, and find that "the unaccountable oversight," by all writers before Mr. Birch, of the fact that the Empress "held her position as queen," for more than two years, "most probably at London," is due to the fact that her said rule lasted only a few months, or rather, indeed, a few weeks, while in London itself it was numbered by days. But though it has been necessary to speak plainly on Mr. Birch's unfortunate discovery, one can probably agree with his acceptance of the view set forth by Mr. Hardy, and espoused by Mr. Way, that the style "domina" represents that "dominus" which was used as "a temporary title for the newly made monarch during the interval which was elapsing between the death of the predecessor and the coronation day of the living king."[233] To Mr. Hardy's instance of Richard's style, "Dominus Angl[iæ]," August, 1189, we may add, I presume, that of John, "Dominus Angliæ," April 17th and 29th, (1199).[234] Now, if this usage be clearly established, it is certainly a complete explanation of a style of which historians have virtually failed to grasp the relevance. But a really curious parallel, which no one has pointed out, is that afforded in the reign immediately preceding this, by the case of the king's second wife. Great importance is rightly attached to "the election of the Empress as 'domina Angliæ'" (as Dr. Stubbs describes it[235]), and to the words which William of Malmesbury places in the legate's mouth;[236] and yet, though the fact is utterly ignored, the very same formula of election is used in the case of Queen "Adeliza," twenty years before (1121)!