Page:Archaeologia volume 38 part 1.djvu/99

 Notes on the Great Seals between 1648 and 1660. 83 the figure, the armour, and the view of London are the same ; and there can be little doubt that, like the Great Seals of our early Edwards, the identical seal of Oliver was used by his successor, the new name and the addition to the inscription having been inserted in the matrix. On 6th May, 1659, the declaration of the army for re-assembling the Long Parliament, which had sat till 20th April, 1653, was presented to the Speaker, and on the following day it met once more. On Monday, the 9th May, it was ordered that a new Great Seal be with all speed prepared and brought into this House for the present use of the Commonwealth, according to the form of " the last Great Seal made by the authority of this Par- liament," that is, the seal of 1651 before described ; and that the last Great Seal be brought into this House to be broken ; the care of providing the new seal being referred to Mr. Love, who reported the next day that it would be ready on Saturday morning ; b and on the 13th, he stated that the artificer by him employed had a Great Seal by him, made by a late order, before the meeting of this Parliament, May 7. This was doubtless the seal published by Vertue, with the motto " God with us, 1659," which could never have been used ; for on Mr. Love's report the House referred it to him to see the said seal broken and the silver delivered to the artificer : and the Act of Parliament passed on the 14th, after the Great Seal last in use in England (that is, the seal of Richard Lord Protector) had been brought in and broken, and the new Great Seal presented, is conclusive on this matter, for it enacts d that the seal, on the one side whereof is engraved the maps of England, Ireland, and the isles of Jersey, Guernsey, and Man (the last not mentioned in the order given for the seal of 1648), with the arms of England and Ireland, and this inscription, viz., " The Great Seal of England, one thousand six hundred fifty-one," and on the other side the sculpture of the Parliament sitting, with this inscription, viz., " In the third year of Freedom by God's blessing re- stored, one thousand six hundred fifty-one," should from thenceforth be the Great Seal of England, and none other. WM. DURRANT COOPER. Journals, vii. p. 647. " Ib. p. 648. Ib. p. 650. Ib. p. 654. M 2