An unusual notebook containing some accounts and sermons copied by Henry Downes (c. 1666-1735) before being used to collect useful sermons by a later clergyman. The notebook opens with four pages of accounts from 1717 to 1725 including ‘Rents received’; ‘forfeited Impropriations to be laid out in repairing & building of Churches’ and a ‘Rent receiv’d from the Ten’td in the Diocese of Meath.’ together with three pages of copies of Sermons including ‘Mr Young before Ld Mayor Pritchard’, ‘Mr Waugh of Queens July ye 26th 91’ and a copy from ‘Dr [Isaac] Barrow 3 vol: Ser.’ Of these separate pieces that for the ‘forfeited Impropriations’ is signed is dated April 1721 by ‘H: Elphin’ [i.e Henry Downes, Bishop of Elphin] and corroborating the four other signatures on the first leaf of Henry Downes. Henry Downes was successively Bishop of Killala and Achonry 1717-20; Bishop of Elphin 1720-24; Bishop of Meath 1724-27; and Bishop of Derry 1727-35. The notebook appears to have been utilised by successive generations of the Downes family. Several leaves have been cut out of the volume either by Henry or by the next user of the notebook. We do not know who was the next owner, however Henry’s son Robert Downes (1704-63) held incumbencies at Balteagh, Desertmartin and Kilcronaghan, and was appointed Prebendary of Comber in 1734 and later Church of Ireland Dean of Derry 1740-44; Bishop of Ferns 1744-52; Down and Connor 1752-53; and Bishop of Raphoe, in County Donegal, from 1753 until his death in 1763. In turn his son Andrew Downes (1741-1820) was the Vicar of Witham in Essex, England. It would seem the use of the notebook having skipped a generation for it was Andrew who filled out most of the remaining leaves. If it was Andrew Downes he used the notebook as a handy reference work for his own sermons to be used on all occasions. Examples include headings such as ‘Pt funeral Ser., Dibdin’, ‘Infrimary Sermon’,’ National School- Richard’, ‘Sudden Death - Richard’,’ National Allusion’, ‘From a Club Sermon - inserted in my Club Sermon’, ‘On religious Dissentions’, ‘Thanksgiving from national deliverance’, ‘Subscription for widows & orphans of the wounded’, ‘Child Murder - Hartwell’, and ‘Extract from a Sermon by Charles Moore preached at Rochester, 1785 for a Sunday School, from Selwyn’s book lent by Mr Mister’. Andrew suffered from a ‘weak constitution’ and never preached at Witham, however his curate William Van Mildert (1766-1836) apart from attending to most of the business of the parish he is also known to have written and delivered two sermons every Sunday during the 1790’s. As the manuscript does not actually identify who this sermon copier was we are left somewhat in the dark although it strongly points to Andrew Downes as the writer. The only other annotation is a quick aide-mémoire of ‘[Bank] Notes sent to Mr John Snow’ in 1822.