By the Right Rev. the Bishop of Salisbury. 239 



Nativity. The Blessed Virgin is seated on the ground, at the side 

 are the ox and the ass ; above is a star, and a legend which I cannot 

 read. The document to which this is attached is dated 1381. The 

 second represents a lion passant, with a legend round it, in which 

 the words de Forwood occur. It is attached to a document dated 

 1384. 



"We now must give a short account of Post- Reformation seals up 

 to that of the late Bishop. These seals differ naturally very much 

 from those that precede them. They all agree (I) in having the 

 legend in Roman characters ; (2) in containing the surname of the 

 Bishop; (3) in dropping the formula Dei gratia. They fall into 

 two distinct classes. The first, from the reign of Henry VIII. to 

 the end of James I. ; the second, from the time of Charles I. on- 

 ward to the present day. 



In the first of these two classes the seals have generally some 

 central figure in a niche with a shield of arms beneath. In the 

 second the shield of arms of the see, as now customary (viz. the 

 Blessed Virgin, crowned and sceptred, standing and holding the 

 infant Saviour on her right arm), impaling those borne privately by 

 the Bishop, take the central place, and in fact become the sole 

 figures upon the seal. In the first class we have examples of the 

 following five Bishops : — 



36. * John Capon or Salcot, 1539—57. Of strange transitional character. 



37. * John Jewel, 1560—71. \ 



39 * John Piers, 1577-91. ! The Good Shepherd. 



40 * John Cold well, 1591-96. ) 



42, Robert Abbot, 1615—18. A Bishop seated, teachiDg. 



The second class of seals consists of arms only with an inscription, 

 which some time in the last century began to be in English. 



Class I., 1539—1618. The seal of John Capon* has the peculiar 

 legend stgillum iohis capon dei p(er)missione sarum episcop, 

 and represents the Blessed Virgin and child, the former crowned, 

 under a canopy with small figures in niches to right and left in the 

 upper half of the seal. Below is the legend cor deo patet, on a 



