stations have been less disturbed by the hand of man. The Island of Richborough, after ceasing to become of importance as a port, or military station, has been deserted; and from the state of the roads and surrounding marshes, has lapsed into obscurity; other adjoining stations having risen to importance. Richborough must have been not only in Roman, but in Saxon times, a populous place. No Roman burial-place has yet been found, and but for the South Eastern Railway laying bare fragments of a domestic building on the margin of the hill, no villa or domestic building has been found. Mr. Boys drew attention to the marks of streets outside the walls on the north and west, but appears hardly to have explored them; yet these traces are still visible in the surrounding cornfields. Saxon coins and works of art have from time to time been found here; and at the brow of the hill, towards the south, Lowton, no doubt a corruption of Low Town, has been the site of Roman or Saxon buildings. Numerous coins are still found here. No buildings have disturbed the subsoil of the hill for centuries, and the plough of the husbandman doubtless annually passes over relics of the deepest interest were they brought to light. I believe Mr. Roach Smith shares with me the opinion that a wide and rich field is here awaiting the hand of explorers, and mines of archæological wealth will reward the efforts of a systematic search within and without the walls.

The discovery of Roman remains has often been the result of accidental circumstances, such as the digging for foundations, or the opening of pits or quarries for stone or brick-earth. Surely it is not too much to expect that a small outlay judiciously expended in investigation would obtain on this site important results. The geological structure of the ground would much facilitate such research. I hope your Society may commemorate your late visit to East Kent by setting on foot such an enterprise.

THE

SEALS OF HENRY VI AS KING OF FRANCE.

BY THE LATE A. B. WYON, ESQ., CHIEF ENGRAVER OF
HER MAJESTY'S SEALS.

(Read 6 Feb., 1884.)

IN a recent paper I attempted to reduce to order the hitherto confused history of the Great Seals of Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI, for England. It seems desirable to supplement that attempt by a short account of the Great Seals and Seals of Absence used by Henry VI as King of France, with which the history of the Great Seals of England is somewhat intertwined. This seems the more desirable inasmuch as no work hitherto published contains a complete enumeration or description of the seals in question.

The Trésor de Numismatique gives but one seal only of Henry VI for France, and one seal for England; the latter not being the seal of Henry VI, but of Henry VII, for France, as I will afterwards show. The former seal is engraved, and described by Speed' and by Sandford.1 The same seal is described by Wailly," who was unaware that Henry VI used any other seal for England, and referred to by Willis, in his often quoted paper, as Seal K. By none of the above writers is any other seal of Henry VI for France mentioned. Douët d'Arcq, however, describes three seals of Henry VI for France, viz., the seal already mentioned, an earlier Great Seal, and a Seal of Absence. But this enumeration is still incomplete, for there are yet two more seals, of which incomplete impressions exist in the British Museum, which claim to be included in the category, and whose claims at least deserve examination.

1 Trésor, etc., "Sceaux de France", Plate xi, f. 3.

2 Trésor, etc.," Sceaux des Rois et Reines d'Angleterre, Plate x, f. 1.

3 Speed, Hist. of England, pp. 810, 820.

4 Sandford, Gen. Hist., pp. 246, 294.

5 Wailly, El. de Palæographie, vol. ii, p. 115.

6 Arch. Journ., No. 5, 1845.

7 Collection des Sceaux, Nos. 10,041, 10,042, 10,043.

I propose, therefore, to give a short description of each of these five seals, of which I exhibit casts.

FIRST GREAT SEAL. A.

(See Plate opposite, fig. 1.) Diameter, 96 millimètres. The King seated in majesty, crowned, and holding in the right hand a long sceptre ending in a flowery ornament; in the left hand a shorter sceptre, at the end of which is a hand in the attitude of benediction, and which is usually described as "the hand of justice".1

Over the King's head is a canopy of three ogival, pointed arches, the central arch being very wide, and low in proportion. From the sides of the King's seat spring two arms curving upwards, and terminating in a kind of fleur-de-lis ornament, sustaining two shields surmounted by two crowns; the dexter shield bearing the arms of France alone, and the sinister bearing quarterly, first and fourth, France; second and third, England. The crown over the shield of France is of the type borne by the Kings of France and England alike, until this period, having three fleurs-de-lis, with two intermediate points on which are usually two smaller fleurs-de-lis. The crown over the shield of England, however, has three crosses in place of the three fleurs-de-lis. This is deserving of attention, as I believe it is the earliest appearance of the three crosses in the royal crown of England, excepting the similar crown in the contemporary Seal of Absence, which I will presently describe. The third seal of Edward IV is the earliest Great Seal of England in which we find the three crosses separated by two fleurs-de-lis, as on the seal now described. The King's feet rest on two lions, couchant, regardant.

Legend: HENRICV[S DEI GRACIA] FRAN | CORVM ET

ANGLIE REX.

Counterseal. (See fig. 2.) Diameter, 34 mm. An angel winged, holding two sceptres, and also two shields, the latter filling the lower half of the circle. The sceptre in

1 A golden sceptre with an ivory hand, which would seem to be that represented in this and the following seals, is exhibited in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, as "the sceptre of the hand of justice", and is attributed to the Kings "du troisième race”.