The Clifton clarion., 1886-02-03

The Great seal of t;n@iand.
 New York Observer: The mere holding of the Great Seal of Eng land entities it's fortunate custo- dian to some S6O,00O year, to
 immense patronage in Church and State. to be Speaker of the House of Lords, Privy Councillor, and the head of all judicial authority in the Kingdom, to be designated Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, and keeper of the Royal Conscience, and to rank (next to the royal family the second sub ject in the realm. It is very diff cult, if not impossible, say when England first had a great seal. Souls were not much used by our Anglo Saxon ancestors, but came lately into fashion during the Nor man reigns. The gilt cross or mark of Edward the Confessor and other Saxon Kings can scarcely be called seals, and partook more of the character of signatures of an iiiiterate age; but grand and per feet seal of William the Conguerer exists having the monarch crowned and throred on one side and mounted on horseback on the other attitudes which have been irvarlably observed to the present day. One remarkable circum- stance connected with the Great Seal is its progressive growth in size as time advanced Originally, 800 years since, not larger than the top of an ordinary modern teacup, it has been gradually enlarged from age to age, till it offers now the size and appearance of a muffin, .ud requires to be enclosed in a tin box for protection. Indeed, so ,umbrous and unwielIy has the Great Seal become that some three Or four years since an act of Parli- ment passed-containing very ex traordinary provisions. directing that all the minor, and many even of the more important documents passing under it, should for the future be ssthentieated by a paper wafer, of moderate size, which should be gummed on the instru- ment, and be, deemed and taken to be Great Sealitself
 The Great Seal has only three times been lost-twice temporarily and once permanently. James II, on leaving the Kingdom on his ab- dication, threw the seal into the Thames, whence, however, it was nextmorning fished mp and brought to Whitehall. Lord Eldon buried it in his garden in Queen square during one night wheu his house caught fire and he thought in the confusion 1t might be stolen. "And,n writes the Chancellor in his diary, when the fire was exten- guished I qulte forgot in the morn ing where 1 had buried 1t, and while the carriage waited to take me to court. my lady and l and all the household Were digging with pieces of stick, till we luckily found 1t" Lord Thurlow, wbo always held it during the night in his bedroom, had it actually car ried off by burglars, from whom it was never recovered. i Privy Council was called the next day, q new one was rapidly made, and during tke remainder of his con tinuance in office Lord Thurlow invariably deposited it of a night under his pillow.
 Down to ISIS the Great Seal itself was made out of copper; since then silver has been the metal em- ploynd. It is in two halves, some what like two very thick bright tin saucepan-llds fitted closely to- gether. their inner surfaces deeply sculptured with the royal devlees intended to be formed on the wax when squeezed between them. Instruments having q limited du ration are sealed with yellow wax Others, supposed to exist in per petuity, such as patents of peer age, etc, are exemplified under green wax; and in the case of some letters patent, likely to be exposed to good deal of knocking about or journeying from place to place, such as were the assize commiss- ions, the wax seal was stamped after being ingeniously inc!osed in o,,a,,,, coIr,.od laofl,ar