617 



was referred to a Committee to consider the use of the Mace, and 

 with whom it shall remain, and report their opinion to the House*." 



On the 12th of July the above Committee reported, that "the 

 Mace should be made use of as formerly ; " upon which the House 

 resolved, " That the Mace shall be used in the House as formerly ; 

 and it was ordered that the Mace be brought in, which was done 

 accordinglyt-" 



From this period to the Restoration, there is no record of a new 

 Mace having been ordered ; and by the Journals of the Commons it 

 appears that the Mace was used on all occasions as heretofore, and 

 sometimes even carried before the Speaker, when he went at the 

 head of the House to attend service at St. Margaret's Church, on 

 the days appointed for solemn fasts. 



The Restoration, which put an end to every outward manifesta- 

 tion of republicanism, terminated the existence of the Common- 

 wealth Mace ; indeed as much haste was shown to get rid of it, as 

 was evinced after the execution of the late King in the ejection of 

 the Royal Mace. 



On the 27th of April 1660, the Journals of the Commons state, 

 that E. Birkhead, Esq., late Sergeant-at-Mace, was " Ordered forth- 

 with to deliver the Keys of the House, and the Mace belonging to 

 the House to Sergeant Northfolk ; " and on the 21st of May it was 

 resolved]:, " That two new Maces be forthwith provided, one for this 

 House, and the other for the Council of State, with the Cross and 

 King's Majesty's Arms, and such other ornaments as were formerly 

 usual ; and it was referred to the Council of State to take care that 

 the same be provided accordingly 



Here we have additional evidence that the Royal Society's Mace 

 and the " Bauble " are not identical, for we find the House of Com- 

 mons ordering, a month before the Restoration, a new Mace, which 

 is to be decorated " with the King's Arms, Cross, and other orna- 

 ments as were formerly usual." 



Having thus clearly ascertained that the Mace presented to the 

 Royal Society by Charles the Second is not that expelled from the 

 House of Commons by Cromwell, I turned my attention to discover, 

 if possible, the history of the Mace belonging to the Royal Society. 



It will be remembered that the Archives of the Society throw no 

 light whatever upon this important point, nor is the Mace even de- 

 scribed ||. It is merely stated, that it was sent from the Jewel House 



* Vol. 7. p. 282. t Ibid. p. 284. + Vol. 8. pp. 34 and 39. 



§ The Mace at present in the House of Commons corresponds in appearance to 

 the above description, and is, I have every reason to beheve, that made at the 

 Restoration ; it is very much like the Mace in the possession of the Royal Society, 

 with the exception that the chasing and ornaments are executed in a much coarser 

 manner. It is 4 feet 8 inches long, and weighs 251 oz. 2 dwts. 2 grs. There 

 is no inscription, date, or maker's name, but simply the letters G. R. between the 

 four shields, emblematic of England, Ireland, Scotland, and France ; these letters 

 are on all the Maces made at the time of the Restoration. 



II Evelyn says in his Diary, that " the King sent the Society a Mace of silver 

 gilt of the same fashion and bigness as those carried before His Majestic, to be 

 borne before the President on Meeting-daies," V. 1. p. 338 ; and it is recorded in 



