_Epitaph_ (Vol. iii., p. 57.).--The name of the "worthie knyght" is _Sir Thomas Gravener_, as A. B. R. might have seen in the printed Catalogue of the Harleian MSS. Who he was, is a more difficult question to answer; but there was a family of that name settled in Staffordshire, as appears from MS. Harl. 1476. fol. 250. The epitaph in question (at fol. 28 b of the old numbering, or 24 b of the new, _not_ fol. 25 b.) is inserted among several short poems written by Sir Thomas Wyatt; and the epitaph itself has a capital W affixed to it, as if it were also of his composition: but I do not find it inserted in Dr. Nott's edition of his poetical works, in 1816; nor does this MS. appear to have been consulted by Dr. Nott. And here I may take the liberty of remarking, how desirable it is that your correspondents, in sending any extracts from old English MSS. to the "NOTES AND QUERIES," should adhere strictly to the original orthography, or else modernise it altogether. A. B. R. evidently intends to retain the ancient spelling; yet, from haste or inadvertence, he has committed no less than forty-four _literal_ errors in transcribing this short epitaph, and three _verbal_ ones, namely, _itt_ for _that_ (l. 11.), _Hys_ for _The_ (l. 14.), and _or_ for _and_ (l. 17.). Another curious source of error may here be pointed out. Nearly all the MSS. contained in the British Museum collections are not only distinguished by a number, but have a _press-mark_ stamped on the back, which is denoted by _Plut._ (an abbreviation of _Pluteus_, press), with the number and shelf. Thus the Harleian MS. 78., referred to by A. B. R., stands in _press_ (_Plut._) LXIII. _shelf_ E. In consequence of the Cottonian collection having been originally designated after the names of the twelve Caesars (whose busts, together with those of Cleopatra and Faustina, stood above the presses), it appears to have been supposed that other classical names served as references to the remaining portions of the manuscript department. In A. B. R.'s communication, _Plut._ is expressed by the name of _Pluto_; in a volume of Miss Strickland's _Lives of the Queens of Scotland_, lately published, it is metamorphosed into _Plutus_; and the late Dr. Adam Clarke refers to some of Dr. Dee's MSS. in the _Sloane_ (more correctly, _Cottonian_) library, under _Plutarch_ xvi. G! (See _Catalogue_ of his MSS., 8vo., 1835, p. 62.) The same amusing error is more formally repeated by Dr. J. F. Payen, in a recent pamphlet, entitled _Nouveaux Documents inedits ou peu connus sur Montaigne_, 8vo., 1850, at p. 24. of which he refers to "Bibl. Egerton, vol. 23., _Plutarch_, f. 167.," [_Plut._ CLXVII. F.], and adds in a note: "On sait que dans nos bibliotheques les grandes divisions sont marquees par les lettres de l'alphabet; _au Musee Britannique c'est par des noms de personnages celebres qu'on les designe_." [mu]. * * * * *