LORD KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL, in England, formerly a great officer of state. The Great Seal of England, which is affixed on all solemn occasions to documents expressing the pleasure of the sovereign, was first adopted by Edward the Confessor (see SEALS), and entrusted to a chancellor for keeping. The office of chancellor from the time of Becket onwards varied much in importance; the holder being an ecclesiastic, he was not only engaged in the business of his diocese, but sometimes was away from England. Consequently, it became not unusual to place the personal custody of the great seal in the hands of a vice-chancellor or keeper; this, too, was the practice followed during a temporary vacancy in the chancellorship. This office gradually developed into a permanent appointment, and the lord keeper acquired the right of discharging all the duties connected with the great seal. He was usually, though not necessarily, a peer, and held office during the king's pleasure, he was appointed merely by delivery of the seal, and not, like the chancellor, by patent. His status was definitely fixed (in the case of lord keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon) by an act of Elizabeth, which declared him entitled to "like place, pre-eminence, jurisdiction, execution of laws, and all other customs, commodities, and advantages" as the lord chancellor. In subsequent reigns the lord keeper was generally raised to the chancellorship, and retained the custody of the seal. The last lord keeper was Sir Robert Henley (afterwards Lord Northington), who was made chancellor on the accession of George III. LORD MAYOR'S DAY, in England, the 9th of November, the date of the inauguration of the lord mayor of London (see Vol. XVI., p. 966), marked by a pageant known as the Lord Mayor's Show. The first of these pageants was held in 1215. The idea originated in the stipulation made in a charter then granted by John that the citizen chosen to be mayor should be presented to the king or his justice for approval. The crowd of citizens who accompanied the mayor on horseback to Westminster developed into a yearly pageant, which each season became more elaborate. Until the 15th century the mayor either rode or walked to Westminster, but in 1453 Sir John Norman appears to have set a fashion of going by water. From 1639 to 1655 the show disappeared owing to Puritan opposition. With the Restoration the city pageant was revived, but interregnums occurred during the years of the plague and fire, and in 1683 when a quarrel broke out between Charles and the city, ending in the temporary abrogation of the charter. In 1711 an untoward accident befell the show, the mayor Sir Gilbert Heathcote (the original of Addison's Sir Andrew Freeport) being thrown by his horse. The next year a coach was, in consequence, provided for the chief magistrate. In 1757 this was superseded by a gilded and elaborately decorated equipage costing £10,065 which was used till 1896, when a replica of it was built to replace it.