Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 2).djvu/148

 front piece. The back piece was riveted at either side to the corresponding parts of the front by four rivets on each side. These have also been lost. The front portion is at the top, turned over and inwards, forming a ledge about one inch broad. On the right side, and thus far away from any lance stroke, is a squarish aperture, three inches by four, and probably at one time closed by a door with a spring catch. Where the upper ledge was turned down inside the helm, a piece of metal has been fixed on the interior, thus preventing any sharp edge remaining opposite the wearer's face. This piece of metal is about three inches deep and then conforms to the general lines of the front." Viscount Dillon proceeds to point out the very common error committed by modern heraldic artists of showing openings for air on the sinister side of helms. "No real tilting helms would have these, as, in an encounter of left arm to left arm, no such encouragement for a lance point to bite the surface would ever have been given." A hole, probably for hanging-up purposes, has been made in the apex of the helm, and three pairs of holes, one pair on each side and one pair behind the apex, are original, and were for points or laces to keep in position the quilted cap worn inside the helm. On the back piece, near its upper margin, are two pairs of holes which we may suppose served the purpose of fastening the helm to the wearer's backplate by means of rings and rods. This plan, which is seen in some German helms, would probably be quite as effective, if not more so, than the hasp or locket attached to the lower part of the helm at the back. The lower part of the back portion of the helm has been much corroded and broken, but was probably at no time very thick. At the neck there are sixteen holes for the connection by rivets of the leather strap to which a lining might be attached. At the lower part of the front piece, where the metal splays out for the shoulder, are three holes, two on the sinister and two on the dexter side. To these holes we may suppose were fixed the forelocks by which the helm was braced to the breastplate. This splay extends about two inches, and in later times a thinner plate, about two and a half inches deep, and with a wired margin, has been added, probably for the purpose of suspending the helm in the church.

It is not easy to say how, but it appears probable that some shock, occasioned either by the helm having received a tremendous blow on its top, or by its having fallen on its top with great violence, has thrown the various plates out of position; likewise, certain of the rivets are missing, especially those that connect the top piece with the front portion. The unusual heaviness of this helm (it weighs 25 lb. 13 oz.) is due to the great