The book in question (Plate I.) is quite small, measuring 7 × 4-1/2 inches. It is a manuscript on vellum of lessons from the four gospels in Latin, written in the twelfth century; it also contains the whole of the Gospel of St. John except a small portion missing, and some other MSS. The binding is of thick wooden boards, covered probably with deer-skin. The lower cover has a sunk panel, and bears a crucified figure of our Lord cast in bronze, finely chased and formerly gilt. The corners are guarded with bossed pieces of brass, stamped with a device of a fleur-de-lis within a circle, and there is a clasp of leather and brass. The figure of our Lord appears distinctly old, but the rest of the metal work has not such evidence of antiquity, and it seems likely that it is much more recent. Inside the book are several manuscript notes by various owners, the most interesting of which is signed by John Ives, at "Yarmouth, St. Luke's Day, 1772." He says this "appears to be the original book on which our Kings and Queens took their coronation oaths before the Reformation." In Powell's _Repertoire of Records_, 1631, at p. 123, he mentions "a little booke with a crucifix" as being preserved in the chest of the King's Remembrancer at the Exchequer. Mr. Thomas Martin of Palgrave, owner of the book in the beginning of the eighteenth century, at one time lent it to Mr. Thomas Madox, author of the _History of the Exchequer_, and his opinion was that it was the book formerly belonging to the Exchequer, mentioned by Powell, and which was used to take the coronation oath upon by all our kings and queens till Henry VIII. It belonged afterwards to Mr. Thomas Astle, F.S.A., Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London, who died in 1803, and whose library was purchased by the Marquis of Buckingham and kept at Stowe in a beautiful Gothic room specially built for it. In June 1849 the library became the property of Lord Ashburnham, and from him it was purchased in 1883 by the Trustees of the British Museum, excepting the Irish MSS., which went to Dublin. This collection is now known as the Stowe Collection. There is a drawing of this book by Mr. George Vertue, presented by him to the Society of Antiquaries and still preserved in their library.