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VIII.—The Common Seals of Cornwall.—By R. N. WokrrtH, Corr. 
Mem. 
Read at the Spring Meeting, May 16, 1873. 
HE discussion of the origin of seals carries us back to the very 
earliest days of civilisation; for seals have been used for 
purposes, of authenticity and security over a period to be reckoned 
by thousands rather than by hundreds of years. We find mention 
in Genesis of the seal of Pharaoh and the signet of Judah; and 
seals and their impressions abound among the antiquities of 
Assyria and Egypt. Indeed, so far as is known, they originated 
in the first-named country. Even gem engraving, to which we 
owe some of the finest remains of the elder art, was practised at 
Nineveh. And the cartouches which contain the royal name in the 
hieroglyphs of Egypt appear clearly derivable from the form 
of the royal seal. References to seals literally abound in the 
pages of ancient and classical writers. Pliny, who held without 
proof that the use of seals began with usury, speaks of their 
universal employment in his time, throughout the civilized world, 
as the sole means of authenticating documents, indicates their use 
for purposes of security, and regretfully exclaims: ‘O-the inno- 
cence of the old world! what a heauenly life led men in those 
dayes when as there was no vse at: all of seal and signet! But 
now we are fain to seal up our ambrie and hogsheads with our 
signets, for feare we be robbed and beguiled of our meat and 
drinke.” He remarks likewise: “ Verily we hold in these daies 
a seale to be the best assurance in contracts that may be.” 
Our own immediate predecessors—the Saxons—had, however, 
little to do with seals. Edward the Confessor had one, but the 
common practice was, instead of sealing, to make the sign of the 
cross. As legal formalities, seals were introduced into this country 
by the Normans ; and, after the Conquest, they became what they 
still remain, component and necessary parts of nearly all legal docu- 
ments. Originally they appertained only to corporate bodies 
