Frazer—On Brass Matrix of an Ancient Seal, &c. 471 
‘the walls of Christ Church, which can be explained by repeated altera- 
tions in its structure, unlike St Patrick’s Cathedral, where, as I have 
already said, they maintain their place. These little ornaments recall 
to our memory a distant and long-vanished era in Dublin history, so 
remote that its houses may have then contained living men who could 
recollect a time before Norman knight garrisoned its walls or steel- 
clad Templars had possession of priory or church in Ireland. 
NOTES ADDED IN THE PRESS. 
In the course of the discussion on this Paper, and in subse- 
quent correspondence, several important suggestions were made. The 
Most Rey. Bishop Donnelly read the inscription as DIFINITORESs, 
which satisfies the requirements of the lettering, and will explain its 
ecclesiastical significance. This explanation is borne out by referring 
to the Glossary of Du Cange, who describes such officers as exercising 
the function of visitors, officials whose duty it was to maintain monastic 
oversight. According to Du Cange, the word is sometimes written 
DEFINITOR and DIFFINITOR, both being equivalent to Visitator. 
By the kindness of Rev. J. A. Nowlan, O. 8. A., St. Augustine’s and 
St. John’s, Dublin, I am informed that Four Definitors ‘‘form the 
Council of each Provincial. They come into office by election with the 
Provincial ; and go out of office with him. The term in Ireland is for 
four years. The Provincial seal passes from the outgoing to the in- 
coming Provincial. At the time this seal was used there was no Irish 
Provincial, but the convents here were subject to the Provincial of 
England.”” He, however, informs me it is quite possible some monk, 
residing here at the time, may have exercised the office of visitor, and 
become possessed of the seal, in virtue of his office. 
Mr. J. J. Digges Latouche, Deputy Keeper of our Irish Records, 
has made a valuable suggestion about this seal worth being considered, 
that possibly it may have belonged to Archbishop Browne, who was 
Provincial of the Augustinian Order in England at the time of the sup- 
pression of their monasteries, and was appointed Archbishop of Dublin 
in 1535. My object has been to describe the seal, leaving its owner- 
ship an open question; and as there is no positive evidence to disas- 
sociate it from the Irish Establishment, which was the principal branch 
here, under the English Provincial jurisdiction, it appeared appropriate 
to connect the seal with some record of their past history in this city." 
1 In Gilbert’s ‘‘ History of Dublin,’’ see Appendix to vol. ii., there is a memo- 
randum from the State Paper Office, London, containing a list of the possessions of 
the dissolved Monastery of Augustinian Hermits in Dublin, and also an extract 
made by the late Sir William R. Wilde, taken from the Zransactions of the Dublin 
Philosophical Society. 
