SHAFTESBURY. 47 



few benefits of a material nature. It appears tliat tliey were 

 unwilling to make this sacrifice of their hirtliright. The charter 

 of 1665 was never actually surrendered, but was secreted, so it i.s 

 said, liy Atwell, the town clerk, and was again produced wlien a 

 change in the political atmosphere rendered such a course possiljle. 

 I may add a wortl as to the old town seals. One document in the 

 chest, A. I). 1350, is sealed with the " Sir/iUuii) conuiiunifafis Bun/i. 

 S/iasto7i," as it is termed. This seal, which measures 1| inches 

 long by 1 inch broad, is a vesica containing the bare trunk of a 

 tree, on the top of which a small bird is perched, and against the 

 tree, on the dexter side, a lion rampant is pawing, -while on the 

 other side of the tree, separated from it Iw a spray of leaves, is a 

 sword, point upwards, and inclined to sinister. Around tho seal 



runs the legend " + ES VS [sinister side] ENSI8. AVIS. LKO. 



LIGNVM. [dexter side]," which cannot be wholly read, as the 

 seal is imperfect. A seal remotely resembling this, and dated 

 1570, is figured in Hufchins, iii. 17, and is thera called the " .seal 

 of the Corporation of Shaftesbury for warrants, &c.," and the 

 third section or impalement of the ornament on the top of the old 

 mace, of which an engraving is given by Ilutchins, two pages 

 previously, also resembles it. The other seal was the " Sigillnni 

 olficii Maioritatis Bur<ji Shasfon," and bore a cross, in the 1st and 

 4th quarters a Heur-de-lis, in the 2nd and 3rd a leopard's head, 

 ■with the legend " S. officii maioris Bvnii Shaston." The present 

 Guildhall was built in 1827, where the Goldhill Cro.ss formerly 

 stood, and superseded the New Guildhall, which was erected about 

 1568 or 1569 in tho corn market, to the north of S. Peter's 

 Church. The Old Guildhall, a still earlier building, was "the 

 last house adjoining to the park wall, west of Goldhill Cro.ss" 

 (//«/fAm>t, iii. 7). I may mention that my oxaminatiou of tin- 

 documents in the chest has ena1)led me to add the names of 36 

 mayors to the list given by Ilutchins. One curious custom, 

 connected with the Corporation, must not lie forgotten. It r.'lat« s 

 to the water supply. As may readily 1)C imagined Shaftesbury 

 was ill suppliecl with this necessary, though plentifully with Ijocv. 



