Milford chronicle., 1904-09-09
BRITISH GREAT SEAL
STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THIS EN-
5LEM OF SOVEREIGNTY.


as a Frying Pan and Broken tS
Pieces In the House of Lords.
+ 1t seems almost ludicrously impos
sible that the great seal of England
r should have ever been made to serve
the humble purpose of a frying pan
2 and yet this is only one of many equal
ly strange episodes in the romantic
story of the seal which is the specific
emblem Of British sovereignty"
r Lord Chancellor Eldon was so fearful
that the seal would be lost or stolen
while in his custody that he never
went to sleep without first satisfying
himself that it was safe in his bedroom
One night-it was in the year 1S12-he
was reused from his slumbers by cries
Of "Fire!" Jumping out of bed he
snatched up the great seal and, rush
ing into the garden, buried It deep in
the middle Of a flower bed. His house
might be burned to the ground, but at
least he would not prove unworthy Of
the great trust which had been reposed
in him.
Next morning, however-so exciting
had been the experiences of the night
he had completely forgotten in what
part Of the garden the emblem of SOW
ereignty had been hidden, and it was
only after his entire household had
hunted for hours that it was at last
run to earth. You never saw anything |
so ridiculous" he wrote later, "as see
ing the whole family down the walks
H. "a al
found it."
Once at least the great seal has been
Mt the bottom of the Thames and
would be there today but for a lucky
accident. 1t was in 1888, when the
second James was fleeing from Eng
land and the Prince of Orange to
France, in company with Sir Edward
Hales. He had intended to take the
great seal with him, but as he was
being rowed from Lambeth to Vaux-
hall, where horses were awaiting him,
another and better idea occurred to
him. He would fling the seal into the
river, and that would place it once for I
all out of reach of his enemy. So over !
board the seal went, and for some
" ENAA1 ~ A0g AnNAE utlLAi Bg Il GuIIUuS /
chance it was picked up in a fisher q
mans net and restored to the proper S
e
The ludicrous frying pan adventure
1efell it when in the custody of Lord r
The chancellor had gone G
o Scotland for a short holiday-seeing r
hat he could not take the seal on the n
Rhine trip he longed for without put il
ing it in commission at great cost to fl
he was a guest of the n
Owager Duchess of Bedford at Rothie-
where he kept his precious al
harge in his bedroom. One day the A
Oung ladies of the house party took m
he seal from the bedroom and hid it. fo
'rougham was desperate when he dis IN
Overed his loss and did not recover ed
is peace of mind until the pretty 81
lieves promised to lead him to it if he III
-ould consent to be blindfolded.
With his eyes bandaged he was con
ucted to the drawing room, and there IN
e discovered the seal hidden in a tea bo
nest. So overjoyed was he at its re- ba
very that he consented to the young su
hAEo nukktoAlOll luul they SuOtsau dO- ] 10
urn to the kitchen and celebrate the to,
yOus event by making pancakes in its
lie seal, and thus, amid much laughter ao
e greatest emblem of sovereignty in tbi
e whole world was actually used as a 9
IN in which to fry pancakes. The bu
al, it should perhaps be mentioned, cat
insists Of two silver disks hinged to- fall
thor fhuF al. -
ey form a mold. into which the wax.
cen, red or yellow, as the case may
, is poured. Thus it would make not
all bad substitute for the common
kitchen frying pan
Many a time has the great seal been
zen to the house of lords and broken
pieces at the bar by the hammer of
sturdy blacksmith amid the frantic
eering of unlocking members. This
S the fate of the seal which fell into
, hands of the parliamentary army
the capitulatiOn of oxford in 1916
rec years later the old parliamentary
j, which represented Charles en-.
oned on one side and riding on horse
* on the other, was similarly de
Dyed to make way for the new seal
h its view of the house of commons
place of the deposed sovereign.
hard Cromwel's seal was broken
the hammer in 1859, and in the fol n, /;
ing year the great seal of the com.
lwealth itself was destroyed in the
le way. n,
nee the seal was lost, by Charles II. m
lis flight from the fatal field of Wor- ~,
er, and once it was stolen by bur We
s from Lord Thurlow's house in
at OrmOnd street, but it was re.
ed by a replica in the wonderfully
t time Of thirty-six hours The
that was in use when George ".
was divided between Lord Lynd
It and Lord BrOugham, King VIII
". presenting one side to each
lcellor. mounted in a magnificent
er and a similar present was made We
tier years TO Lords Chelmsford and line
pbell and to Lords Selborne and
ms. OF the handsome satchels or