280 THE COMMON SEALS OF CORNWALL. 
metal, paste, and bees-wax were all employed before what we 
term sealing-wax,—really not wax at all but lac—came into use. 
Clay was probably first in order; and the mud of the Nile and 
the Tigris is said to have been admirably adapted for the purpose. 
In the days of Cicero, sealing earth was used in Asia, wax in 
Europe. Yellow wax, as produced by the bees, gave place to 
coloured about the end of the 12th century, and the colours most 
in favour were green and red. ‘The wax was simply mixed with 
a little turpentine; and, perishable as the material may seem, I 
have seen seals in it 800 years old, as perfect as if impressed only 
yesterday. Paste or wafer is of later origin; and sealing-wax 
was not introduced into Europe until early in the 16th century. 
Seals are attached to the documents they authenticate in two 
ways—either they are affixed to the face, or they are suspended 
by a strip of parchment or a string of some kind. All the early 
French Kings, to Louis le Gros, affixed their seals. The seal of 
Edward the Confessor, on the contrary, was always appended ; 
and seals were not affixed, in England, until the 14th century. 
The leaden seals attached to the Papal decrees—bulle—whence 
these documents take their name of bulls, were always appended; . 
and similar seals were used by the Knights Hospitallers. Seals 
now are generally affixed en placard. The Great Seal of England 
may be seen, however, attached to patents, in a tin box; and 
some other official seals are always appended. 
Stamps, as distinguished from seals, are coming increasingly 
into use. Pliny records that the Asiatics used to smear their seals 
with ink, and stamp them on the paper or parchment. This 
method is followed by the Post Office, by various courts of law, 
and by some recent incorporations—Newquay Local Board to wit. 
The great rival of the seal proper is however the embossing press. 
When seals were only used on rare occasions it was of very little 
consequence whether wax was used or not; but now when our 
Town Councils and Local Boards issue sealed notices by the 
hundred, some more expeditious way is needed. Some skill, 
moreover, is required in taking the impression of a large seal in 
sealing-wax, especially one so large as that of the Bridge Trust at 
Barnstaple—the largest in the Two Counties, and as big as a small 
saucer. And where the embossing press has not superseded the 
seal, the impression is frequently taken on wafer covered with 
