Akmstkong — Some Matrices of Irish Seals. 459 



the seventeenth century ; and it is much to be wished that the custom of 

 placing the effigy of the bishop on his seal had continued, instead of the 

 modern practice of using as a device a coat-of-arms — in many cases of very 

 poor design. 



Crossly, " Peerage of Ireland," 1725, p. 200, describes another seal of Bishop 

 Q-eoi'ge Baker, of Waterford, in which the device is a figure of the bishop 

 preaching from a pulpit. He also describes the seals of Michael Boyle, 

 Archbishop of Armagh, 1678, and of Thomas Fuller, Archbishop of Cashel, 

 1660 ; in both cases the device is a figure of the prelate, and heraldry is 

 reduced to reasonable proportions, the arms being placed on small shields 

 occupying only a little part of the seal. 



Our President, Dr. Mahaffy, has called my attention to the very interest- 

 ing seal of James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, 1624-1655, and Bishop 

 of Carlisle in commcndam from 1642. The device is the Primate preaching 

 from a raised pulpit to a large congregation, represented sitting in tiers, one 

 above the other. Below is the motto ; vab mihi si non evangelizavero 

 (1 Corinthians ix. 16). Below this again is a shield of arms, an archbishop's 

 cross and pall (Armagh), impaling the arms of Ussher, a chevron ermine 

 between three ushers' staves. The seal is illustrated, " Victoria County 

 History of Cumberland," vol. ii, pi. iii, facing p. 46. 



The Academy possesses the matrices of a number of modern episcopal 

 seals. They are of little interest and not worth detailed description. The 

 matrices are of brass and, with one exception, which has pointed ends, are 

 oval in shape ; they measure about 2^ by 2-| inches. The device is the arms 

 of the See impaling the arms of the bishop surmounted by a mitre. The 

 designs of the arms are poor, and the mitres relatively too small for the size 

 of the shields ; while the union of dioceses in modern times and the conse- 

 quent marshalling together of several coats has made the final arms of the 

 Sees unpleasantly complicated. The consistorial seals sometimes display the 

 arms of the See alone, sometimes impaling those of the bishop. In some 

 cases the dates are given in the inscriptions, in others in the body of the seal 

 divided by the mitre. 



The arms at present used by the Irish Sees do not call for special remark. 

 In three cases, Tuam, Clogher, and Waterford, they are undoubtedly derived 

 from devices used on early seals, while those of the remaining Sees appear, as 

 a whole, to have been assumed in post-Eeformation times.^ As above stated, 

 the union of dioceses has not improved their appearance, and where the arms 



1 For details as to the arms of the Irish Sees consult "Woodward, "Ecclesiastical Heraldry," 

 p. 200 ; also a series of papers by J. Vinycomb, with notes by J. R. Garstin, in the Ulster 

 Journal of Archaeology, commencing new series, vol. iii, 1897, p. 2. 



R.I. A. PKOC, vol.. XXX., SECT. C. [66] 



