Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/279

 1922 REVIEWS OF BOOKS 271 son in his Calendar of Close Rolls and partly on the authority of the New English Dictionary. But no one has ever seen a seal made by using the reverse side of the matrix of the Great Seal only, and until such a seal is forthcoming respectful doubt is permissible. Of the existence of a half- seal in the English chancery there is indeed no doubt ; it is mentioned in statutes from 1 Henry VIII, c. 16 down to 2 & 3 William IV, c. 92, and it is always spoken of with familiarity and respect ; and yet no one has ever seen a specimen of the English half -seal, or handled a matrix adapted to create it. This is not a little odd, but it becomes still odder when the history of the quarter-seal of the Scottish Chancery is considered. This seal, which is used for letters that in England would be letters close, is well known ; specimens of the seals exist and can be examined ; the matrices are in existence, and the seal is still in use. In view of the general puzzledom of the subject it need not surprise us to learn that it is not a quarter-seal at all, but a seal in the shape of a semicircle, with an obverse and a reverse, modelled on the obverse and reverse of the great seal, and only differing from it in a few minute points. Now its existence seems to suggest as a possible hypothesis that the half-seal of England may have been a seal of this character, and it is at least possible that the phrase sub pede sigilli may mean that in those cases also that seal was employed. Only the production of such a seal or its matrix can prove such an hypothesis ; but it is possible to support it on the evidence of fragments, even small fragments, of seals found adher- ing to the tags of letters close. The Public Record Office is a bad place for the discovery of such evidence. A returned letter close is of little impor- tance, once its duty has been done, and though neglect is often the best preservative of parchment, it is fatal to seals. Still even there two speci- mens of letters close x are known, still bearing small fragments of seals, showing a reverse and obverse, which are assuredly not great seals. The best preserved of these shows a few letters of the legend. These letters are the same size as the letters on the legend of the Great Seal ; the curve of the seal and its consequent diameter are those of the Great Seal, so far as the small size of the fragment enables them to be determined. But the tongue to which this seal is attached measures just two inches from the point at which it leaves the body of the writ to the point at which the outer rim of the seal was fixed ; and the diameter of the Great Seal of the date, the reign of Edward II, is 3'9 inches. There is room for a half -seal, but not for a whole seal. Two instances are much, but scarcely enough. Had it not been for Mr. Salter's wisdom in printing all the documents in his collection, the most remarkable case might never have been known. It is no. 101 in the first volume of his work. Again we have the same make-up ; a single narrow tag, with the seal half-way along it, and the address written at the end of the tag. The seal is of course only a fragment, but so far as its appearance goes it might be a largish fragment of the Great Seal ; it is certainly the largest fragment I have ever seen attached to a letter of the kind. Again, its position on the tag makes it clear that there is only room for a half-seal and not for a whole seal. It may be added that no. 103 is another letter of the same 1 The reference is R. S. 418 and 419.