Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/211

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. 1G3 wise termed, in old French, grefc or greffe, whence also a clerk of court or registrar was designated grejper. Bishoi) Kennett, in his valuable MS. Glossarial Collections, Lansd. MS. 1033, gives " Poitrel {sic) a stile or writing instrument, with one end sharp, and the other broad." An interesting relic, although appertaining to a comparatively recent period, has been kindly communicated by Mr. Heniy Montague Parken, of Exeter. It is a small steel seal, formed with three facets, and formed so as to revolve, in a fashion common enough during the seventeenth and last centuries. The steel is partly studded with gold, and the workman- ship, now defaced by rust, is elegantly designed. Its date appears to be n about the year 1624 ; the principal face bears the arms of Savoy impaling those of Bourbon Conde, the whole surmounted by a coronet and surrounded by a corde- liere. These bearings are obviously those of Thomas Francois of Savoy, prince of Carignan, fourth son of the Duke Charles Emanuel, and Catherine, daughter of Philip II. king of Spain by Elizabeth of France. The prince espoused, Oct. 10, 1624, Marie de Bourbon, second daughter of Charles, comte de Soissons and Dreux, son of Louis de Bourbon, the first prince de Conde, by his second wufe Franqoise d'Orleans. The prince of Carignan died in 1656, and Marie survived him until 1692. Mr. Holmes has favoured us with the description of the arms upon this interesting seal, as follows, "I. grand quarter counterquartered, 1, Jerusalem, 2, Cyprus, 3, Armenia, 4, Luxembourg. II. Westphalia and Saxony, in pale. III. Chablais and Aosta, in pale. IV. Geneva and Saluzzo, or Montferrat, in pale. Over all an inescutcheon of Savoy. These arms impale those of Bourbon-Soissons, France with the " baston alise de gueules pery en bande," but the bordure which was properly part of the difference, used by the Sois- sons branch, does not appear. On the facet to the dexter side of this atchieve- ment appears a monogram formed of a T. combined with M. probably for Thomas and Marie, surmounted by a coronet ; and on the remaining facet is a monogram of two Ms. combined within a cordeliere, which may be thus introduced in allusion to the similar device termed the Savoy knot,