52 Notes on the Corporation Plate and Insignia of Wiltshire. 



[A f ow of these waits' chains still exist. Exeter has four of James 

 the First's time ; Kings Lynn, five of Elizabethan date ; and the 

 chain worn by the Mayor of Beverley is also formed of them.] 



The Loving Cup. This is a handsome two-handled cup, j 

 standing 18in. high, bearing the London hall-mark, the date letter j 

 for 1796, and the maker's mark of Samuel Howland. It is of the 

 elegant " classical " style, which, just at the end of the last century I 

 is seen in all the best productions of the time. The bowl has the I 

 usual engraved garlands and festoons of flowers enclosing on one 

 side a shield of the city arms, and on the other the arms of the 

 donor, Quarterly , first and fourth, Earle, Gules three escallops within I 

 a lor dure engrailed or ; second and third, Benson (of Salisbury) t 

 argent three trefoils sable between two bendlets gules with crescent for 

 difference. Crest, a lion's head erased pierced with an arrow. Above 

 the arms is inscribed : — " The gift by will of Will" 1 - Benson Earle 

 Esq., who died 21st March, 1796." 1 



" In March, 1797, a large silver cup, value fifty guineas was presented to the 

 mayor and commonalty on the bequest of William Benson Earle, Esq., of the j 

 Close." — (Old and New Sarum, 554.) 



The Common Seal. 



No. 1. The oldest known seal 3 is probably contemporary with I 

 the charter of 1227. It is circular, 2 Jin. in diameter. It bears the 1 

 figure of the Virgin and Child standing behind the city wall between 

 two spires. The wall terminates at each end in a battlemented 

 tower, whereon stands a bird with a crescent over. Above the 

 Virgin's left shoulder is a blazing sun or star to balance the floriated 

 end of her sceptre. Under a niche, in the base is the half-length 

 figure of the bishop as lord of the city. The legend is, in Lombardic 

 capitals : — 



1 William Benson Earle, son of Harry Benson Earle, b. at Shaftesbury, July 

 7th, 1740 ; educated at Winchester and Merton, Oxon ; B.A., 1761 ; M.A., 

 1764 ; died, 21st March, 1796 ; buried at Newton Toney ; monument to him 

 by Flaxman in north transept of Cathedral. A man of wide attainments, F.R.S., 

 F.S.A., and a musician. A sketch of his life is given in Hatcher & Benson's 

 Old and New Sarum, pp. 649—652. 



2 Old and New Sarum. PI. II., p. xvii. 



