But these men well knew in what way and for what purpose they might safely venture to exceed their commission.

The Act of Parliament from which they derived their powers authorised them to report on estates forfeited during the late troubles.

It contained not a word which could be construed into an authority to report on the old hereditary domain of the Crown.

With that domain they had as little to do as with the seignorage levied on tin in the Duchy of Cornwall, or with the church patronage of the Duchy of Lancaster.

But they had discovered that a part of that domain had been alienated by a grant which they could not deny themselves the pleasure of publishing to the world.