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the accompanying plates), of which a full description is given by Mr. Blaauw in Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. II, p. 20:-No. 1. Common seal of the priory and convent. It had been imagined that the obverse, A., had been made fifty or sixty years later than the reverse, and that the design portrayed the grant by Richard II of the lordship of Lewes and patronage of the priory to Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, in 1397. This supposition however, to which an erroneous reading of the legend across the seal had given some countenance, namely, Warienale instead of Martiriale decus, seems to be incorrect.13 The two portions of the seal seem to be of the same date, the obverse representing the Martyrdom of St. Pancras, and in the tabernacle work above, Diocletian, who ordered him to be slain; the reverse displaying the patron saints of the priory, the Virgin, St. Peter, St. Pancras, and St. Paul. As a valuable supplement to these Sussex seals, a plate is here given, engraved from drawings by Howlett, in the collection of the late Mr. Caley; representing, No. 2, the seal of John (Gain or de Janitura?) prior of Lewes in 1343; No. 3, the seal and counterseal of Stephen, prior in 1218;14 and No. 4, the more ancient conventual seal, representing the Martyrdom of St. Pancras.-Mr. R. Ready.

The upper moiety of a brass seal of Boxgrave Priory, Sussex, preserved amongst the muniments at Goodwood, as part of the evidences relating to the lands once belonging to that monastery, and now in the possession of the Duke of Richmond. The seal, of pointed oval form, represented the Virgin seated with the infant Saviour; a star of six points appears on each side of the figure, of which the upper part remains. There is no canopy, nor any other ornament in the field of the seal. The following letters of the legend remain:

SIGILL': SA, and the termination of the name of the Priory— GRAVA: The matrix is neatly bisected, and the edge carefully polished off. It might be supposed that some division of the possessions of the religious house took place after the Dissolution, and that a moiety of the seal accompanied either series of titledeeds. The seal is of larger dimensions, and wholly different to that of which an impression is preserved at Carlton Ride, attached to a conventual lease, 24 Henry VIII.15-Matrix of pewter or

13 Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. III, p. 202. Compare the criticisms in Gent. Mag., vol. xxxii, N. s. p. 503.

14 In Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. II, p. 19, it was proposed to read on the counter

seal, Stephani de lizi, and the fleur de lys was considered allusive to his name, de Lis. The name may, however be read·H'zi, for Herzi or Hercy.

15 Monast. Angl. edit. Caley, vol. v,

mixed white metal, the seal of Alexander Gordon, third Earl of Huntley, 1501; he commanded the left wing at Flodden, and died in 1523. The seal, of rude design, bears the following arms:Quarterly, 1, Gordon; 2, Badenoch; 3, Seton; 4, Fraser. Crest,

a stag's head; supporters, two greyhounds. (See woodcut.) It is said that this seal had been found in a moor in the south of Scotland, where one of the Gordons was slain. (See a more full account, and notices of other seals of this earl, Arch. Journal, vol. x, p.336.)-Brass seal of the burgh of Aberdeen, the armorial bearings of the burgh, three towers within a double tressure

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flory and counter-flory. On a scroll above the shield is the motto, -BON. ACCORD. Supporters, two tigers (?) couè. The execution indicates a late date. Diameter, nearly one inch and a half. The ancient seals of the burgh, bearing the date when they were made, A.D. 1430, are engraved in Laing's Catalogue of Scottish Seals, plate xxix, p. 208.-Seven seals of the Gordon family, good examples of the art of the last century.-His Grace the Duke of Richmond.

Impression from the seal of the sub-dean of Chichester. The matrix, which is of brass, was found, about the year 1840, in a field between the two parishes of Cholderton and Newton Toney, Wilts, on the borders of Hampshire, forty or fifty miles from Chichester. The adjoining parish of Amport, Hants, is a living belonging to the chapter of Chichester. The most populous parish in Chichester, in which also the Close is situated, is that of St. Peter the Great, or the Sub-deanery, and until a recent time the north transept of the cathedral was used as the parish church. The living is a vicarage, the vicar being designated the sub-dean. In the cathedrals of Lincoln, Exeter, and Salisbury, the sub-deans have estates held of

p. 643. The fine matrices of the seal of Boxgrave, figured Archæologia, vol. xxvii, p. 375, are now in the British Museum.

It is stated that they were found in an earthen vessel in Bonner's Fields, Hackney. Minutes Soc. Antiqu., vol i,

P.

101.

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them, as of other dignitaries, and a similar privilege appears originally to have belonged to the sub-deanery of Chichester. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, temp. Henry VIII, vol. i, p. 296, the "Firma parochie sub-diaconatus Cicestr." may be found, giving a description of the lands and the amount of rental. The seal, of pointed oval form, measures one inch and a quarter by four-fifths of an inch; it bears the legend, *s' SVBDECANI CICESTRIE. In the upper part appears a demi-figure of St. Peter, the patron saint of the cathedral; and below is a demifigure of an ecclesiastic, whose hands are raised in supplication. The matrix is in the possession of the Rev. Thomas Mozley, who was rector of Cholderton at the time of its discovery. Impression from the seal of James I, for writs of the Court of Common Pleas (pro Brevibus coram Justiciariis). Dark brown wax.-Impression from the seal of Richard Montague, bishop of Chichester 1628, translated to Norwich in 1638; pointed oval; it displays a figure in armour of pseudo-classical character, bearing an oval shield charged with a lion rampant, not his heraldic bearing. SIGILLVM. RICARDI. MOVNTAGV. EPISCOPI. CICES TREN. The matrix was found amongst old metal.-The Chichester Philosophical Society.

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Silver matrix of the town seal of Chichester: it is of pointed oval form; the device is an eagle with wings raised and holding a fleur de lys in its beak. In the field is a flaming star of eight rays.

SIGILLVM. CIVIVM. CICESTRIE. Fourteenth century. 16-Oval silver seal of St. Mary's Hospital, Chichester; an escutcheon of the arms of the city (Arg. guttée de poix, on a chief indented gules a lion passant guardant or.) *THE SEALE. OF. THE. WARDENS. OF. THE. HOSPITALL. OF. ST. MARIES. IN. CHICHESTRE. On the reverse there is a handle, and the arms of Chichester, as before, engraved with the name-Gulielmus Stamper Maior, Anno Domini 1657. Dimensions, three inches by two inches and a quarter.-There is also a more modern seal of the city, of which an impression was exhibited: the matrix is circular; diameter three inches and quarter; the device is an embattled gateway, with three turrets; the portcullis appears in the gate, and over it an escutcheon of the city arms, as before: 16 Of this and other seals of Chichester, a plate was engraved by the late Mr. T.

VIII.

King, of which impressions may be purchased from Mr. W. Hayley Mason.

42

-SIGILLVM: COMMVNE: CIVITATIS CICESTRIE:-The Town Clerk, Chichester.

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The silver matrix of the seal of St. Mary's Hospital, Chichester, established by Pat. 13 Hen. III, 1229. Originally there had been a convent of nuns there, founded in 1158. See notices of the hospital and the buildings now existing, Sussex Arch. Coll. vol. II, p. 1. The seal represents the Virgin enthroned, holding the infant Saviour.

SIGILL. HOSPITALIS S'CE MARIE CICESTRIE. Date thirteenth century. It is preserved in a small round silverclamped pyx, to which a chain is attached. This box seems to be of considerable antiquity, and of some unknown medieval manufacture, bearing resemblance to some kinds of japanned oriental work.-The Rev. J. Hutchinson, Master of St. Mary's Hospital.

Impression from the seal of Laurence Pay, Archdeacon of Chichester 1635. A pointed oval seal. In the upper part is an arm issuing from clouds and grasping a cross fleur de lysè; underneath is a scroll, inscribed-TENEO. NON. DIMITTAM., and a shield of arms. Legend round the margin,- -SIGILLVM. LAVRENCII. PAY. ARCHIDIACONI. CICESTREN.-Mr. Robert Elliot, Chichester.

Impression from the seal of a hospital at New Shoreham, Sussex; pointed oval, the device is the Crucifix, rudely designed, beneath is a Catherine wheel. Engraved Gent. Mag. Aug. 1736. THE.

SEAL. OF. O. SAVIOVR. IESVS. CHRIST. OF. THE. OSPITAL. OF. SHORAM.

IN SVSSEX. No other trace of this foundation has been noticed; there was a hospital of St. James at Shoreham.-Mr. A. W. Franks.

Brass matrix, fifteenth century, used as the seal of the Peculiar of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Chichester, for probates, marriage licenses, &c. It is of pointed oval form, measuring three inches by two inches. It is remarkable that the seal appropriated from time immemorial to this purpose should prove to be that of some bishop, unknown, possibly a suffragan. In the centre appears The Virgin enthroned, with St. Peter and St. Paul: in the shrine

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