ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINa. 



87 



minute description of the seals of tlie ancient priories at Bodmin, 

 St. Grermans, Launceston, and Tywardreath, the Dominican 

 Friary at Truro, and of those of a number of the ancient Church 

 dignitaries, and coming down to a more recent date, he des- 

 cribed the seals of the Lord Bishop of the Diocese and the 

 Archdeacons of Cornwall and Bodmin, in the designing of the 

 last of these he took a very active part. With reference to it 

 he explained the difficulty experienced in the representation of 

 St. Petroc, particularly with regard to the hair. Mr. Borlase 

 had stated ''' that the old British ecclesiastics used to shave 

 their foreheads, leaving the hair in a straight line. The back 

 hair hung down, but the front edge of it stood up like a saw, 

 giving a most grotesque appearance. In the seal this was 

 obviated by leaving the top of the head bald. 



The Bishop then briefly summed up the various matters 

 that had been brought before the Institution during the day. 

 He alluded at length to the question of the seals for the Diocese 

 and the Archdeaconry of Bodmin, and expressed an opinion that 

 that for the diocese would have been better had the bezants been 

 arranged with only seven and a half in view, but Rouge Croix 

 had designed it as shewn. He differed from Mr. Borlase as to the 

 style of hair of the ancient British ecclesiastics. The idea that 

 they wore it cut in the grotesque jagged manner described arose 

 from a forced reading. He was convinced that the custom for the 

 ecclesiastics was to wear the hair behind like ordinary persons, 

 but shaved off in the front to a straight line from ear to ear, 

 and the style adopted for the seal was therefore as correct as 

 could be obtained. Having drawn particular attention to the 

 value of the Bihliotheca Cornuhiensis, his lordship read a few 

 extracts from a paper sent him by the Rev. A, Reynolds, de- 

 scribing the disgraceful state of some of the Cornish churches 

 in 1831, and concluded by especially thanking Mr. H. M. 

 Whitley for his valuable paper upon Church goods. 



Before the company separated, Mr. T. Cragoe drew atten- 

 tion to the fact that in Mount's Bay was to be met the rare 

 dog's tooth grass, and that this was the only place in England 

 where it was known. And Mr. Carne exhibited some valuable 

 microscopic slides. 



* " Ab aure ad aiu-em per frontem in coronse modum incisus est capillus 

 intonsus dependebat." (Ducange). E. I._of C.^Joiirnal, Vol. VI, p. 51. 



