Any suggestions for the improvement of the work would be esteemed. The author will confine himself strictly to The Art History of those seals whose dates are accurately known; The Characteristic Styles prevailing at each period; and The various Signs of Date as they are developed. FOOTNOTES [1] I have to acknowledge the kind permission to use the following illustrations--by Messrs. Virtue and Co., four blocks from Cutts' _Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages_, 1872; by Messrs. Mitchell and Hughes, six blocks from Dr. Jackson Howard's _Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica_; by Messrs. Nichols and Son, sixteen blocks from _The Herald and Genealogist_, _Collectanea Genealogica et Heraldica_, _The Topographer and Genealogist_, and _The Visitation of Huntingdon_, 1613 [Camden Society]; by Messrs. Parker, eight blocks from Hewitt's _Ancient Arms and Armour_ and _The Archæological Journal_, vol. iv; by the Society of Antiquaries, eight blocks published in their _Proceedings_; and by the Royal Archæological Institute, one block from _The Archæological Journal_, vol. xi. [2] Randle Holme's _Academy of Armoury_, book i. p. 9, tells us how Froissart, describing the battle of Poictiers, says that the Black Prince commanded the body of the Lord Richard Duras to be laid on a shield, and that five men should bear the same to the Cardinal of Peregorth for a present, &c. Also, that towards the end of the reign of Edward III, the Frenchmen, to save themselves from the liberal shot of the English archers, had shields made of elme-wood, seven feet in length and three in breadth and an inch in thickness, which were made sharp at the foot to pitch into the ground.