THE COMMON SEALS OF CORNWALL. 281 
paper or membrane; whilst in other cases woodcuts of a seal are 
_ attached to the documents by gum, and formally acknowlédged 
by having the seal placed upon them. I have read somewhere 
that in early times royal seals used to be additionally authenticated 
by the inclosure, in the wax, of a hair from the King’s beard, but . 
that as time went on and charters multiplied the depilatory pro- 
cess became so rapid that it had to be stopped. 
Great importance has always been attached to the safe custody 
of official seals. The mere delivery of the great seal of England 
constitutes the Lord Chancellor. The Chancellors of France, from 
which country we derive much of our practice, were bound to see 
that they did not attach the seal to royal orders which were 
inconsistent with law or justice. The seals of ecclesiastical estab- 
lishments were generally kept by the heads of the fraternities. 
Those of the municipalities of Cornwall are chiefly in the custody 
of the Mayors. So far as I am aware, this is peculiar. In Devon- 
shire and elsewhere the Town Clerks are the usual custodians. 
_ In the ensuing pages will be found a description of the seal or 
seals of every existing municipality in the county, and of those of 
all the extinct corporations, whether ecclesiastical or secular, of 
which I have been able to find any trace. With one exception, 
the whole of the secular seals are described from actual inspection ; 
the materials for the account of the conventual seals are necessarily 
nearly all second-hand. The legends of the seals described from 
personal observation are given in capitals or black letter and as 
nearly representing, in pointing and other peculiarities, the originals, 
as type will permit. The legends of the seals for which I am 
indebted to various authorities are distinguished by being in small. 
capitals. The illustrations to this paper include drawings, as 
nearly as possible in fac simile, of the seals of such boroughs— 
having them—as are now extinct. Failing to find, when the 
work was first undertaken, any traces locally of seals connected 
with the distranchised boroughs of Callington, Michell, and 
Newport, the indentures of return at the Public Record Office 
were inspected ; and it was then found that these places never 
had any. 
The dates of incorporation given are chiefly those of royal 
charters. Feudal lords exercised, and that somewhat freely, 
powers of enfranchisement in relation to the little communities 
