Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/95

Rh not come into general use in this country till a few years after the Conquest: from which time, for upwards of three centuries, they were the peculiar means of authenticating written instruments of every sort among all classes of society. Beside their legal character and importance, the valuable information which they imparted to the historian, antiquary, genealogist, and herald, has contributed to the regard in which they have been held far more than their curiosity as remains of medieval art, or the interest naturally belonging to them as indications of individual taste, and the means whereby a large portion of the ordinary business of life was transacted, and of the intercourse of society was carried on, until they were by degrees in a great measure superseded by the autographs and personal signatures of modern times, and left for legal purposes as a formality involving no longer the necessity of their being identified as the particular seals of those who used them.

On the revival of letters, the novelty and intrinsic excellence of the ancient classical literature to a great extent engrossed the attention of men of studious habits, till the inherent charm which there is in the history of a man's own country began to reassert its influence; and as minds thus better disciplined were brought to the subject, historical evidence was more correctly appreciated, and more diligently sought for. The charters of the intervening ages were examined, their credit tested, and their seals scrutinised and compared. Traces of this begin to appear in the sixteenth century, yet chiefly on the continent; but in the next century seals were very generally adduced and appealed to as proofs for divers purposes; and since that time they have ever been regarded with interest, and had a place assigned them among the contributories to our knowledge of bygone times. The notices of them by Selden, Dugdale,