Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/314

 :27.^ EXAMPLES OF MEDLEY AL SEALS. direction of the length. There is no lateral margin, but below the writing, throaghout the whole extent, is a blank space, about five inches in width, on which, near the right hand corner of the parchment, is affixed the seal. The form and size of the wax, which was white, and also of the impression, are shown in the plate. The matrix evidently had a loop for suspension, which has left an indentation above the device, as is there also shown. The subject is a bishop bareheaded, in eucharistic vestments, seated, and holding in his right hand a crosier, with the crook turned towards him, and in his left hand a book : at his feet is a lion's face. The seat terminates on each side in a bird's head. The legend is, ►I< TETRYS BELVACiNSis EPiscoPVS ; in which are noticeable the rectangular E, and the angular foruLs of the s and o. The A appears to want the traverse, but tliis may have been unintentional. The seal would seem to have been affixed by making an incision in the parchment, probably in the form of a cross or star, and folding back the corners of the incision, and passing a portion of the heated wax through the hole so formed, leaving a large mass of it on the front, and moulding another, but much smaller, lump at the back, so as to make the avIioIc of the wax resemble a large clenched i-ivet. The matrix was then impressed on the mass in front, which is still about an inch in height ; and the seal thus mailc could not be removed without injuring the parchment, or heating the wax anew. The appearance of the wax at the back, which is about 2Hnches in diameter, and llattened, as if In' the pressure of sealing the other side, and also the puckered state of the parchment, occasioned by the process of affixing it, are shown on a reduced scale in the plate wjiich acconi])anies these remarks. The charter is nunil^ered viii., and tlicre are loui- indorse- ments, evidently made at dillerent liincs, indicating the nature of it. The earliest, which is in a hand a|>|>ai('ntly a little later than the chai'tei-, reads /;/ r.iintso as follows : "Petri Kpiscopi behiacencis dc oiniiibiis {r in (■j)iscoj)atu illo liabcnius.' Another, near the reverse of liic wax, is like it, e.cc|it that " lialtcliainiis ' is substitutccl lor •' liabcjnus." The others are in lr('n<'Ii and no ddulii iMiiisidcrably later llian til cliait'i". W. S. WALKol.'l).