remarks exclusively to the books of entries of those ancient wills
which have long and unquestionably ceased to be useful for legal
purposes.

"These entries of ancient wills are of the very highest importance to
historical inquirers. They abound with illustrations of manners and
customs; they exhibit in the most authentic way the state of religion,
the condition of the various classes of the people, and of society in
general; they are invaluable to the lexicographer, the genealogist, the
topographer, the biographer,--to historical writers of every order and
kind. They constitute the most important depository in existence of
exact information relating to events and persons of the period to which
they relate.

"But all this information is unavailable in consequence of the
regulations of the office in which the wills are kept. All the books of
entry, both of ancient and modern wills, are kept together, and can
only be consulted in the same department of the same office, in the
same manner and subject to precisely the same restrictions and the same
payments. No distinction is made between the fees to be paid by a
literary person who wishes to make a few notes from wills, perhaps
three or four hundred years old, in order to rectify a fact, a name, a
date, or to establish the proper place of a descent in a pedigree, or
the exact meaning of a doubtful word, and the fees to be paid by the
person who wants a copy of a will proved yesterday as evidence of a
right to property perhaps to be established in a court of justice. No
extract is allowed to be made, not even of a word or a date, except the
names of the executors and the date of the will. Printed statements in
historical books, which refer to wills, may not be compared with the
wills as entered; even ancient copies of wills handed down for many
generations in the families of the testators, may not be examined in
the registered wills without paying the office for making new and
entire copies.

"No such restrictions exclude literary inquirers from the British
Museum, where there are papers equally valuable. The Public Record
Offices are all open, either gratuitously or upon payment of easy fees.
The Secretary of State for the Home Department grants permission of
access to her Majesty's State Paper Office. Your Grace's predecessor