Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/331

Rh —An impression from a matrix of the fourteenth century, recently found at Terrington, near Lynn, Norfolk. It is of pointed-oval form, and represents a female kneeling; above her appears the divine hand in the gesture of benediction. The legend is—

»AVXILIV MEV A D'NO QVI FECIT CELV ^ TERBA.

(Psalm exxi., v. 2).

—Two Italian matrices, of brass, of the fourteenth century, purchased at Spoleto. On one, of pointed-oval form, appears an ecclesiastic, Luke, prior of St. Peter's, in that city, kneeling, under a trefoiled arch ; above which is seen a demi-figure of St. Peter. >J< S' LVCE P'ORIS S'CI PETRI SPOLETANI. The other is cir- cular ; the device is the foot and part of the leg of a goose, being a canting allusion to the name of the owner of the seal, as appears by the legend, — >J< S' CORADI D' PEDOCHI', the seal of Conrad di Fedochi, piede, or pede d'oca (plur. oche), the goose's foot.' It occurs as an armorial charge in a bearing cited by Spener. By the Dean of Hereford. — A set of ancient keys of peculiar con- struction, eight in number, connected together, and turning on one pivot. It had been stated that they were the medifeval keys of the cathedral Close. The forms were veiy ingeniously varied, and they appeared to have been formed for fastenings of the nature of latch-locks. Compare the curious keys found at Castle Acre, Norfolk ; Camd. Brit., ed. Gough, vol. ii., pi. v. By the Dean of Westminster. — A silver spoon, discovered under the foundations of Romsey Abbey : it was apparently of English workmanship, date 1 6th century ; the handle terminated in a pointed or conical knop. Mr. Disney produced a very interesting relic, of which, by his kind permission, a representation is here laid before our readers. It is a small silver seal, well authenticated as having been used by Milton. The impress is a coat of arms, a double- headed eagle displayed ; the shield is surmounted by a helm, lambrequins, and crest, which appears to be a lion's gamb grasping the head of an eagle, by the neck, erased. This valuable little memorial had been in the possession of Mr. John Payne, on the death of Thomas Foster, who had married Elizabeth Clai-ke, daughter of Deborah, Milton's youngest daughter, and wife of Abraham Clarke, a weaver in Spital Fields. ]Ir. Payne sold it to Mr. Thomas Hollis, in 1701 ; on his death, 1774, it came into the possession of Mr. Thomas Brand Hollis, and then became part of the collection, inhei'ited 'in 1804 by Mr. Disney's father." Some interesting observations were made in reference to this seal by the Rev. Joseph Hunter. The armorial bearing, he remarked, is certainly the same which was taken by IMiltou. It had been supposed that the poet's father was a Milton's Silver Seal. ' It might be conjectured that in this name was an allusion to the " familiar beast to man," which, according to Sir Huch P^vans, in the Merry Wives of Windsor, doth " become an old coat well." Pcdocchio signifies a louse. 2 See memoirs of Thomas Hollis, by Arch- deacon Blackburn, printed in 1780.