Abroad, this attainment is encouraged in various countries by endowments and schools. In our own country, where the development of such studies is usually left to private exertion and enterprise, Palaeo graphy has received but little notice in the past. In the future, however, it will receive better recognition. In the Universities its value has at length been acknowledged as a factor in education. The mere faculty of reading an ancient ms. May not count for much, but it is worth something. The faculty of assigning a date and locality to an undated codex; of deciding between the true and the false; in a word, Of applying accurate knowledge to minute points — a faculty which is only to be acquired by long and careful training — is worth much, and will give a distinct advantage to the scholar who possesses it. I have to thank my colleague, Mr. G. F. Warner, the assistant-keeper of the Department of mss., for kind help in passing this work through the press.