Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/403

Rh of an étoile on either side would seem to be also designed for the Virgin. The annexed cut, kindly furnished by the author, is from an impression very inferior to that appended to the deed of surrender, still preserved in the Augmentation Office, of which likewise, and of the signatures, the volume contains a lithographed copy, admirably finished, the seal being of the colour of the wax original.

Besides the seal of Edward the Second, Mr.Gibson has engraved the second great seal of Edward the Third. As we are not aware that it has ever been given before, except in Sandford, we gladly use the permission of the author to present it to our readers, whom we may refer for some interesting particulars connected with it, to Professor Willis's paper on the "History of the Great Seals of England," in the second volume of the Archæological Journal.

As Lord Campbell's work has already attained the dignity of a second edition, and may, possibly, reach a third, it will be rendering a useful service to the noble author and his readers, to call attention to some omissions, and many errors in that portion of it which falls within the scope of an archæological review.

It is unnecessary to follow his lordship into the question of the derivation of the word "chancellor," since he has neither cast any new light upon a point which has been frequently discussed, nor supplied any fresh material for conjecture. The noble author has been equally unsuccessful in his observations upon the duties of the office in early times, a part of his work remarkably full of contradictory positions. We shall also pass by his notices of the chancellors during the Anglo-Saxon period, from the pluviose St. Swithin to the notary Swardus, who is most preposterously elevated to the dignity of vice-chancellor under Edward the Confessor.