230 



On the Seals of the BisJiops of Salisbury. 



The brass contains two shields, one the arms of France (three fleur- 

 de-lys) and England quarterly surrounded with the garter, which 

 seems to show that our Bishop was Chancellor of the order, though 

 I do not find it anywhere noted; the other his own arms (the cross 

 engrailed ermine with crescent in the first quarter) with the motto 

 Misericordias domini in eternum cantabo. There is no hint of his being 

 a cardinal. The shield of the arms of England, like that on Wyvill'J 

 seal, marks a change which has just taken place, since it was only 

 a few years before Hallam's death that Henry V. had substituted 

 the three fleur-de-lys in the quarterings of France for the field seme 

 de fleur-de-lys. I would notice also that while on Wy villus seal in 

 Edward Ill's reign the lions of England are in the first and fourth 

 quarters, in this brass (as I believe is usually the case on other 

 monuments) the fleur-de-lys occupy those places. I presume that 

 this is no mere accident, but the hint of an ambition which was not 

 unnatural in the descendant of a line of Norman and Plantagenet 

 Kings. I am not aware what explanation is given by heralds of 

 the fact that the arms of France are usually put in the principal 

 place, and those of England in the subordinate one, on the shields 

 of our monarchs. It may suggest, however, the reflection that it 

 was fortunate for England that the title King of France, which 

 Henry V. was so nearly making a reality, gradually became less 

 and less of a fact under his successor. Had it been otherwise 

 England might have become a province of a great monarchy — but 

 a subordinate one, like Scotland or Ireland. 



(26) The seal of Robert Neville, A.D. 1427 (figured also in 

 Benson and . Hatcher's History of Salisbury, pi. 1, No. 8) has the 

 Trinity above and the coronation of the Virgin in the centre, treated 

 in an unusual way, our Lord being seated on the dexter side, blessing, 

 whilst he crowns her with bis left hand. On either side are saints. 

 On the dexter side, I believe, St. Thomas of Canterbury ; on the 

 sinister, one who is supposed to be St. Osmund. Below are three 

 niches, the centre an angel holding the arms of Neville, a saltire, 

 with two annulets interlaced in fess as a difference. Angels also 

 occupy the right and left niches, unless the sinister is the Blessed 

 Virgin Mary receiving the annunciation. The figure of the Bishop 



