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A HISTORY OF LONDON John Williams, 1620-45 ('" commendam from 1621) Richard Steward, 1645 (never installed) John Earle, 1660-2 John Dolben, 1662-83 (from 1666 held deanery with bishopric of Rochester, as did his successors until 1802) Thomas Spratt, 1683-17 13 Francis Atterbury,-" 1713-23 Samuel Bradford, 1723-31 Joseph Wilcocks, 1731-56 Zachariah Pearce, 1756-68 (resigned the deanery, but not bishopric) John Thomas, 1768 (bishop of Rochester 1774) Samuel Horsley, 1 793-1 802 William Vincent, 1802-15 John Ireland, 1816-42 Thomas Turton, 1842-5 Samuel Wilberforce, 1845 William Buckland, 1845-56 Richard Chenevix Trench, 1856-64 Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, 1864-81 George Granville Bradley, 1881-1902 Joseph Armitage Robinson, 1902 The first seal of the abbey "^^ is a large vesica 3 in. by 2f in., made, it would seem, in the first quarter of the twelfth century. It gives a repre- sentation of St. Peter, the patron saint of the house, wearing a pall and seated on a throne with his right hand raised in blessing and holding his keys in his left. Across the field the inscrip- tion PETR VS AP l's xFi liiv runs in three lines, each line being broken by the figure of the saint. The legend, of which very little remains in the museum example, was : — SIGILLV ECCl'e SCI PETRI APL'i WESTMONASTERII Of the second seal we have examples of two states. The earlier of these,**^ which belongs to the very beginning of the thirteenth century, is round, about 2J in. in diameter. The reverse shows St. Peter vested and wearing mitre and pall, seated on a throne and holding a crosier in his right hand and the keys in his left. His feet rest on a prostrate figure of a man. The obverse has the representation of St. Edward the Con- fessor similarly seated with his feet on a like figure. He holds in his right hand a flowered sceptre and in his left a conventional model of '■' Rep. on MSS. of Duke of Portland, K.G. (Hist. MSS. Com.), vii, 142. "» Harl. Chart. 84 F. 46. »' B.M. D.C. E. II 8 -19 J Add. Chart. 8473; L.F.C. xvi, 9. the abbey church. The field is powdered with flowers and sprigs. Of the legends only half a dozen letters remain. The second state of this remarkable seal,^** which appears to have been in use from the first quarter of the thirteenth century till the Dissolu- tion, has the same designs on reverse and ob- verse as the first state, of which it was evidently a close copy. It only differs from the first state in small details such as the arrangement of the folds and the decoration of the saint's vestments, and the can'ing of the king's throne, and the flower that tops his sceptre. The legend on each side is : — ijf DIMIDIA PARS SIGILl' ECCLESIE SANCTI PETRI WESTMONASTERII The fifteenth-century seal ad causas *** is a large vesica, 3J in. by 2^ in., having St. Peter and St. Paul sitting side by side in a canopied niche. St. Peter has a book and his keys in his left hand and St. Paul carries the sword of his martyrdom in his right hand and a book in his left. Above their heads, in a shield of arms which seem to be those of the abbey, a chief indented with a mitre and a crosier therein. On the left of the saints is a smaller niche in which St. Catherine stands, wearing a crown and holding her wheel ; and on their right in a similar niche is St. John the Evangelist holding in his right hand his symbol of a chalice, from which a serpent issues, and in his left a palm branch. Below is St. Edward with crown and sceptre between two shields of arms which are, on the left hand, the Confessor's cross and martlets impaled with the keys of the abbey, and on the right the royal arms of Henry IV, France quartered with England. The legend, which has a cross between each word, is : — SIGILLU COMMUNE ECCL'iE BEATI PETRI WESTMONASTERII AD CAUSAS The seal of Abbot Richard Harweden *** (1430-40) is a large vesica 2f in. by if in., show- ing St. Peter crowned with a papal tiara, seated in a canopied niche, blessing with his right hand and holding one key in his left. An indistinct shield overhead has arms that may be those of this abbot. To the left of St. Peter is a smaller niche in which St. Catherine stands, while a like niche on the right has a figure of St. John with his symbols. Below is the abbot in prayer. The legend is entirely broken away. Abbot John Islip's (1500-32)^" has a some- what similar seated figure of St. Peter, who holds in his left hand a patriarch's cross. Above is a shield of the keys, and in niches on either side are '»* B.M. Ixviii, 75-6 •^ B.M. Ixviii, 78. Egerton Chart. 361. >** Ibid. 80. 456 Ibid. 79.