ivory and mother-of-pearl; the right hand holds the instrument for winding up the spring.

1620. Charles, Prince of Wales. This suit, which is richly engraved and gilt, was made for the young prince when apparently about twelve or fourteen years of age. A rapier, with a beautifully worked steel hilt, is in the right hand.

1635. Thomas Wentworth,' Earl of Strafford. The only peculiarity in this suit is, that it descends no lower than the knees, armour for the legs having been replaced by boots of buff leather.

1640. King Charles I. The armour, which is curiously wrought, and entirely gilt, was presented to him, when Prince of Wales, by the Armourers' Company of the City of London.

1685. King James II., in a suit which belonged to him when living. It consists of a silver laced velvet coat with long skirts, beneath which is a waistcoat of blue velvet. His armour consists of a casque, with ear-pieces and a pierced visor, on the grating of which is the royal arms, and the initials I. R.; over his coat is a cuirass, and a long gauntlet on his left hand, while on his right hand he wears a buff glove, and on his legs jack-boots with gilt spurs. The saddle, holsters, &c., are of velvet, richly embroidered with gold lace; the pistols, which the latter contain, are curiously inlaid with silver and ivory.

It would have been better, when this collection was reformed by Dr. Meyrick, if the old practice of giving names to the figures had been abandoned. The majority of the visitors are apt to consider them as "lively effigies" of the historical characters whose names they bear, instead of regarding them as representations of the fashion of the panoply of a knight or warrior of the age to which they are referred. This objection is partly obviated in those figures which are clothed in armour known to have belonged to the individuals: but anything which tends to degrade the collection into a mere show runs counter to what should be its prime object.

From 1272 there is a transition of nearly two centuries. The next figure has the date 1450 assigned to it, with the name of Henry VI. It is, as before stated, in plate armour of peculiar workmanship.

There are but fifteen years of difference between this and the adjoining figure, to which the name of Edward IV., and the date of 1465, are given. The remaining figures all belong to the sixteenth century, "the last age of chivalric splendour," and the seventeenth, when armour was worn more for show than use, and towards the latter part of which the "fashion" disappeared. A second equestrian figure wearing a suit of armour, which is positively identified as having belonged to Henry VIII., is placed in a recess in the wall, in front of the range of equestrian figures. It is clothed in a curious suit of armour, which was presented to Henry by the emperor Maximilian I., on Henry's marriage with Katherine of Aragon. This is the most splendid in the collection. It was no doubt worn by Henry at some of those pleasant May meetings at Greenwich, when the white shield was hung upon a green tree in the park, for knights of good birth to subscribe their names as accepting the challenge offered by certain parties, who proposed to take the field against all comers. On one of these occasions, Henry himself, with the Duke of Suffolk, the Earl of Essex, and Sir George Carew, assumed this honourable but somewhat arduous post, challenging all knights to joust and tilt at the barriers. A striking proof of the King's estimation of Maximilian's present is given on his great seal, where he is represented wearing a suit exactly corresponding with it in form and style. The entire mass of armour, both for horse and rider, is washed with silver, and covered with engravings,

most beautifully executed, of holy legends, devices, mottoes, arms, &c. On the breastplate is represented a figure of St. George, just after his famous victory over the Dragon; and, with reference most probably to the marriage which occasioned the present to be made, the German word of congratulation, "Glück," meaning "Good fortune," is engraved on one of the jambs.

In this recess are also placed two small figures, each accoutred in armour known to have belonged to the young princes represented, Henry and Charles, sons of James I. Over the figure of Henry VIII, is a Latin inscription, purporting that in the reign of George IV., the Duke of Wellington being Master of the Ordnance, the collection was historically arranged by Dr. Meyrick. To this the date 1826 is affixed.

The figures on foot in front of the equestrian range represent-a foot soldier of 1540 in dark armour; a swordsman of 1506 in half-armour, with a puckered velvet skirt; a pikeman of the time of Charles I. in brown armour, studded with brass nails; and an archer of the year 1590. This figure is attired in a brigandine jacket, or doublet, containing pieces of iron, and curiously quilted; sleeves and skirts of green, long hose, and square-toed shoes. In the right hand is a bow, and on the same side a quiver of arrows.

On the north side, in a recess, is an equestrian figure, in an Asiatic suit of great antiquity. It was till lately called a Norman crusader. The armour was brought from Tonge Castle, Shropshire, where we are informed it had been for some three centuries. It consists of what might be termed the ordinary dress of a knight of that period, namely, minute iron rings joined together into a network enveloping the entire body and limbs. In a less complete shape, armour of this kind, sometimes with the rings placed edgewise-a more secure, but also a heavier garment-seems to have been used as early as the eighth century by our Saxon forefathers; for representations of it still exist in illuminated manuscripts of that period.

In this apartment, and in Queen Elizabeth's Armoury, to which we pass through the wall of the White Tower, and which was the prison of Sir Walter Raleigh, and of others of whom memorials are shown, there is a vast variety of other interesting objects-suits of armour, helmets, breast-plates, battle-axes, pikes, swords, ancient pistols, linstocks, a splendid shield engraved with a representation of the meeting of Henry VIII. and Francis I. on the field of the cloth of gold, ancient pieces of artillery, and one fished up from the wreck of the Royal George, mounted on a piece of her timbers, Chinese dresses taken at Chusan, the helmet, belt, and swords of Tippoo Saib, Mahratta weapons, and Indian armour, glaives, bills, guisarmes, morning-stars, poleaxes, maces, cross-bows, long-bows, stone balls for mangonells, and specimens of link, chain, and star shot. There are also a number of specimens of instruments of torture, with the heading-axe said to have been used in the execution of Elizabeth's Earl of Essex, and the heading-block on which suffered Lords Balmerino, Kilmarnock, and Lovat, in 1746, with gashes from the axe painfully visible on the melancholy-looking wood. At the upper end of the room is an equestrian figure of Queen Elizabeth, attired as she went to return thanks at St. Paul's for her deliverance from the Spanish Armada, on which occasion, however, she certainly did not go on horseback, but in "a triumphal car, ornamented with the spoils and ensigns of the enemy."

The warder, who acts as a guide, is himself a curiosity, with his crimson tunic so gaily emblazoned, and his round black velvet hat, and its party-coloured ribbons disposed so tastefully round the band. Not even the lapse of time since he first entered on the duties of wardership, and the continual iteration of the same facts, have at all dimmed his consciousness of the respect due to his oracular announce

ments." You are now in the Horse Armoury," sayeth he; the listeners look around with new curiosity and wonder: he is satisfied, and goes on. And many an eager face and earnestly upturned eye may be noticed among those listeners; and questions will be heard, to which courteous, if not entirely satisfactory answers will be given. But, gentle spectators, do not delay; the guide must go on; other parties are waiting at the gate. You have learned that this figure represents Edward I., and that Henry VIII.; you have been shown the axe with which Essex was beheaded; and good Queen Bess herself, in her habit as she lived, has been duly submitted to your gaze. What more can you want? Some enthusiast or other will, perhaps, think that the show is of little value if we do not understand the substance; he may even fancy that the custom of exhibiting national memorials, without explanation of the circumstances which give to them their true value, or without affording opportunity of reflecting and appreciating that connection on the spot when explanation is not required, is positively mischievous-as begetting a habit of looking on objects of the highest interest with a vague, unreasoning, and altogether fruitless feeling of wonder, instead of a rational desire to learn and understand, which can alone produce real or profitable enjoyment. But it would be as well to say nothing about such matters here. At the same time it must be observed, the warders have a tedious and fatiguing duty to perform, and may well be excused from wishing to make it more onerous; or, what must appear to them worse still, to encourage any arrangements which they might fear would ultimately dispense with their attendance. But it may be worth consideration with higher authorities, whether the method adopted with such signal success at Hampton Court might not be imitated at the Tower, and visitors be no longer restricted to going in parties, which are now made up at stated intervals in the waiting-room, when, if at all numerous, they are wholly in each other's way, as they must follow the guide at far too great a speed to allow of satisfactory inspection. No one would wish to get rid of the warders. They are to our eyes an indispensable part of the locality. The Armoury in their absence would certainly want one of its most picturesque features. But let them cease to be guides, just when they would be needed in their proper character as guardians. We think there is little to be apprehended from allowing the public to wander about in its own way in such places; but at the same time we are also prepared to acknowledge that the very existence of the privilege might be endangered by a single individual, and therefore full security is requisite. Let the living antiques, therefore, by all means still move about and lend warmth and animation to the effigies of the dead ones; but let those also who would study the history of English armour, or of the times of which the contents of the Armoury are frequently the most significant testimonials, be at liberty to do so at their leisure; and let them find in some shape or other, on the spot, accessible to all, systematic information respecting every object around. Then, and then only, will this noble armoury be appropriated to equally noble uses.

We have only to add, and this is creditable to the authorities, that though far too little of the Tower is open to the public, for the parts that are shown, the Regalia and the Armoury, the charge is moderate, being only sixpence to each, and they are open every day except Sundays and church holidays. The number of persons who visited the Tower in 1849 was 45,474.