well compensated for, if practicability be attained. There is a character about ecclesiastical seals which makes them readily recognisable. Most of them, in accordance with the constitution of Cardinal Otto, have on them the distinctions prescribed by it; and even the private personal seals of ecclesiastics have generally some figure, device, or legend which serves to distinguish them. The seals of the laity are less easily referable to the different classes who used them, since the titles or other designations of the respective individuals less frequently present themselves; beside which, the several classes of the laity were not so clearly defined as those of the clergy, and such lay distinctions as existed in one country, or at one period, would not be found applicable to those of another. However, the seals of sovereigns and of their issue to some extent, and their respective consorts, which can be identified by the legends and heraldry upon them (and such is the case with most of them), might be arranged in classes apart from the rest; and, in like manner, official seals, and the seals of corporations and similar bodies, appearing to be such on the face of them (as nearly all of them do), may form other classes. But the great mass of lay seals would still remain to be disposed of; and they are far too numerous to be comprised under one head. For these, a method of distribution must be devised, irrespective of rank, sex, station, or use; and such as shall be easy of application, and according to distinctions apparent on the seals themselves.

In classification of any kind it is of course of the first importance that the classes should be well defined; but the great difficulty commonly is, to divide the subject in such a way that the several parts of it taken together shall comprise the whole; and so, in like manner, on every sub-division; a difficulty which is greatly increased when the subject cannot be exhausted, but newly discovered genera and species are continually claiming places. For practical purposes, and it is with them only that we are concerned, this object is best effected by always making the last of any number of heads, into which any class is divided, such as will comprise all of that class which are not comprised in the previous heads so that in every case the last head (whether on the primary division or on any subdivision) will be residuary

and miscellaneous.

The preceding observations will, it is hoped, render more readily intelligible the following Scheme, which has been prepared according to the principles of classification that have been suggested, and has been found to answer its purpose as far as it has been hitherto tried. It is capable of being adapted to the size and nature of the collection, existing or contemplated; for when that is small, the sub-division of some of the classes may be omitted; and when large or indefinite, further sub-divisions may be made, taking care that the distinctions appear on the seals themselves, and that in every case the last of any number of heads into which any class be sub-divided, comprises all of that class which are not comprehended in the others.

I.-ECCLESIASTICAL.

SEALS.

1.- Bulls and other seals of individuals referring to their dignities, offices, or preferments.

1. Popes.

2. Cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops.

3. Abbots, abbesses, and other heads of houses.

4. Other ecclesiastics, secular or regular.

11.-Common Seals, secreta, &c., of bodies corporate and the like.
1. Chapters of cathedral or collegiate churches, with or
without the head.

2. Religious communities professed, with or without the
head.

3. Other bodies or communities.

III.-Official Seals, without name of any individual officer, or with name of officer not an ecclesiastic.

IV.-Seals purely personal.

1. With name.

2. Without name.

v.-Seals unascertained, &c.-i. e., miscellaneous ecclesiastical seals not comprised under any of the above heads.

II.-LAY, comprising all that do not appear to be Ecclesiastical.

1.-Seals of sovereigns.

II.-Seals of consorts and daughters of sovereigns.

III.-Seals of male issue of sovereigns, and consorts and daughters of such issue.

IV.-Official Seals.

1. In the sovereign's name.

2. With name of officer.

3. Without name of sovereign or officer.

4 The word "houses" is here intended to comprise, not only regular communities, such as those of monks, nuns, and

friars, but also houses or colleges of secular priests or canons, and the like, though not those of cathedral or collegiate churches.

v.-Common Seals, secreta, &c., of corporations and the like.

1. Cities, and towns.

2. Universities, and colleges therein.

3. Guilds, companies, and similar societies.

4. Schools, hospitals, and other communities.

VI.-Personal Seals, except those of sovereigns and their male issue, and of their respective consorts and daughters, appearing to

be such.

1. With effigies seated, equestrian, or standing, with or without heraldry.

2. With heraldry of any kind, but no effigy.

3. With merchants' marks or initials as principal subjects.
4. With devices of other kinds, and names.
5. Ditto,

6. With names, but no device.

but no name.

7. With legends or mottoes, but neither device nor name. 8. Miscellaneous personal seals.

VII.-Seals unascertained, &c.-i. e., miscellaneous lay seals not comprised under any of the above heads.

After what has been said by way of introduction to the preceding Scheme, I have little to add in explanation of it. In regard to official seals, in every case it is the office, whether ecclesiastical or lay, and not the officer, that is to determine the place of the seal. In like manner our universities and colleges for education are to be considered lay corporations, as in fact they are. See Blackst. Comm. I., p. 471. By device is intended such as constitutes the principal subject, and not mere ornament or accessories. It will be obvious, and it is unavoidable, that a seal difficult to decipher or interpret may sometimes require to be placed under a different head when more completely understood: and though the seals themselves are to furnish the distinctions, yet what is found on them will sometimes need explanation; and hence in those cases it may happen, without any inconsistency, that we ascertain, by additional information from other sources, such important facts, for example, as whether an office or community was lay or ecclesiastical, secular or monastic. It is not easy to define precisely certain terms: as, for instance, who is a sovereign, but in the great majority of examples there will be no difficulty; and in the very few doubtful cases it is not of any great consequence should the seal be placed under some head to which, if not a sovereign's, it would belong, until the doubt is removed: and so in

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similar cases. If the designation of any head should, from its brevity, seem obscure, probably such obscurity will be dissipated on calling to mind, that no head is intended to comprise what is clearly comprehended under any other which is numbered in the same series. For a purpose of this kind, it is not unreasonable, and has been found most convenient, to assume all seals to be lay which do not show themselves to be otherwise; and therefore the term "lay seals" has been made to comprise all seals that do not appear to be ecclesiastical; and in this sense these words. must be understood in the last division of that class.

W. S. W.

EXAMPLES OF MEDIEVAL SEALS.

IT has been proposed to bring together, from time to time, notices of the numerous impressions and matrices of seals communicated at the meetings of the Institute. Such collections towards the History of Seals, occasionally illustrated by woodcuts, will, it is hoped, be more acceptable to the readers of the Journal than the incidental mention of them in the Reports of the meetings. They will form a suitable sequel to the foregoing scheme for their classification, the want of which has long been felt by the collector.

1. Common seal of the Benedictine Priory of St. Mary of Hurley, Berks, founded in the reign of the Conqueror by Geoffrey de Magna-villa. The conventual church, of which a portion, the western door, with chevrony mouldings, still exists, is said to have been dedicated by Osmond, Bishop of Salisbury, A.D. 1086. The Priory was a cell to the Abbey of Westminster.

The impression, from which the accompanying illustration has been taken, is appended to a deed whereby Prior Alexander and the convent granted their manor in Harefield, Middlesex, to Richard Weltekart of Louth (de Luda), Thomas his son, and Florence the wife of the same Thomas, to hold to them and the heirs of Thomas, of the chief lords of the fee, by the accustomed services, for ever. It was found by Mr. William F. Vernon amongst the evidences pertaining to his estate at Harefield, and communicated, by his kind permission, to the Institute. The deed is without date, but it may be assigned to the reign of the first or second Edward. The principal device is the Annunciation; between the angel Gabriel and the Virgin there is a vase with a lily, placed upon the apex of a pointed arch, which forms a compartment in the lower part of the seal; within this is a kneeling