pointed-oval form, XIVth cent., the device is the Virgin with the infant Saviour, within rich tabernacle work; under an arch beneath are four figures in the attitude of supplication, S' COLLEGII. DOCTORVM (LEGIS?) CANONICI, STVDII. BONONIĒSIS.—Pointed-oval seal, XIVth cent., the device being two figures, probably of saints, under a double arched canopy surmounted by a cross—＋ S' PRIORISSE ET CONVENTt' MōN D' CASSANDRA. This may be the seal of a Priory at Cassandra, or Pallœnæ, in Macedonia.
April 7, 1854.
Octavius Morgan, Esq., M.P., Vice-President, in the Chair.
The subject of the memorial regarding the preservation of sepulchral memorials and monumental inscriptions was again brought under the notice of the Society, and the following reply received from the Home Office, was read—
Sir,
I am directed by Viscount Palmerston to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th inst., forwarding a Memorial from the Archæological Institute of Great Britain, calling attention to the great importance of preserving monumental inscriptions and tombstones, with reference to the dosing of church-yards and the removal of churches in the execution of public works, &c.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
George Vulliamy, Esq.
A communication was received, in reference to this subject, from Mr. Markland, expressing his strong feeling in regard to the reckless demolition of churches to be apprehended from the proposed measure. He anxiously hoped that the emergency of the occasion might call forth the most earnest endeavours on the part of the Central Committee, as also of the members of the Institute at large, in order that every available influence might be exerted to avert, if possible, the desecration of churches and grave-yards in a manner so repugnant to the feelings of a large class of the community, and which must be viewed with deep regret by all who sincerely appreciate the value of all national as well as personal memorials. Mr. Markland fully concurred in the object of the memorial submitted to the Home Office. If the London churches, he observed, are to be pulled down, nothing could be more judicious than a compliance with that memorial, and he suggested that not only the inscriptions should be carefully copied, but that an outline representation of the monuments or tablets should be preserved. In the course of the discussion which ensued, it was stated by the Rev. Thomas Hugo, that he had witnessed within the previous week the removal of sepulchral memorials which had been carted away through the streets of the city, as he believed, from the grave-yard of St. Benet's Fink. Amongst the most interesting city churches, he observed, are St. Ethelburga's and St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, both of which present valuable architectural features of early Decorated work; and the latter contains effigies and memorials of no ordinary historical value, namely, those of Sir John Crosby, of Gresham, of Sir William Pickering and of Sir Julius Cæsar, now in jeopardy though the project of church-destruction, the effects of which it was feared would not be limited to the city of London.
