Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/273

Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. 213 sex, on brackets or on the shore, standing as flankers on either side of the ship. Each had drawn back the inner leg, apparently to make room for the prow and stern of the craft. The (heraldic) dexter figure standing near the prow is the better preserved. It is clad in a short, mid-thigh petticoat, and holds with its right hand near the upper nock a long bow, strung, while with the other hand it holds a club, both resting on the ground. It is practically the same pose as that of the Indian on inset in Smith's Map of Virginia. The other figure is rather heavily robed about the loins, with the legs bare, apparently, and holds in the left hand and resting against the shoulder what might be a sceptre, an olive branch or a trident. The right arm and hand are missing. The artist would hardly select an Indian warrior, an object of horror after the Virginian massacre, and a discouragement to peaceful settlers. We are tempted to think of the lovable Princess Rebecca, alias Pocahontas, and of the fabled club, which did not fall on Captain John Smith. The other figure might be Britannia, with a trident oflfering to her sister Princess across the waves a copy of King James' version of the Bible. If religion or the arts and sciences are undressed for artistic effect on the " other side," it would seem likely that the same taste would rule in both cases. There are indications of mantling, but whether it properly belongs to this or the " other side " cannot be stated without careful dissection of the cemented fragments. There are the remains of a rim or bordure, but the inscription, though indicated, is illegible. There is preserved among the Trelawny fragments a part of the inscription which might be agn, and might be the remains of Magnae Britanniae. There have been three periods in our Colonial life when there were general causes for the defacement of all such seals or matrices. First, at the time of the attempted resumption of the Patents ; second, at the Andros usurpa- tion ; third, at the American Revolution, when we know that all the matrices were purloined from the Council Chamber in Boston in 1775. This impression was then in Plymouth, but was exposed to the same ebullition of sentiment against all the symbols of extraneous government. The Plymouth Patent with the Seal was in private hands