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one and give him the other, and both keep them as presents from me.'" This curious contention about the Great Seal is somewhat differently rendered in the following letter written by Brougham to Lord Grey : —

The hammer referred to by Greville is the hammer with which the Great Seal of England is defaced, by the Sovereign giv ing the seal a gentle blow, after which it is supposed to be broken and to have lost all its virtues as the clavis regni.



No. 23.

Third (and present) Seal of Queen Victoria. Period of use from August 1878. Diameter 654 inches. "September i, 1831.

"My Dear Lord Grev : — "The King was extremely gracious about the Great Seal, and has ordered Rundell to make a fine salver to put it in. "He had Rundell's partner with him yesterday evening, whom he sent to me this morning before eight. I insisted on giving Cople [Lord Lyndhurst] half." {Life of Brougham^

Obverse.

William IV. 's only Great Seal is shown in No. 22 : the battleships and the trident remind William's posterity that he was a British sailor as well as an English King. The first seal of Victoria was used from July 18, 1838, to January 23, 1860, and when it was defaced the seal went to Lord Campbell. The Chancellor, however, sent