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 has his forefinger on the quillon; while another, who is thrusting, holds his sword in the usual manner (vol. i, Fig. 238). In all these examples the sword is a plain cross-hilted one; but in a small painting by Bernardino di Biagio, better known as Pinturicchio, in the same collection, dating from the close of the XVth century, St. Catherine has a sword with a small semi-*circular guard, and her forefinger is passed through it. In this practice, and in this guard, the first step is being taken, towards the evolution of the complicated rapier hilts of the XVIth century.

Showing exactly the same type of sword as represented in Fig. 627

Dennington Church, Suffolk. After Stothard

As a good and early example of the bastard sword we may mention the fine weapon now in the collection of Mr. Henry G. Keasby, which was found in the Thames at a spot known as Old England, in the Zion reach of the river. The pommel of this sword is fish-tailed in shape, the quillons are long and straight, the blade slender, stiff, and tapering. Except that it is somewhat larger, this weapon is the counterpart of that seen on an effigy in Dennington Church, Suffolk, which has now been assigned, and probably correctly, to William Philipp, Lord Berdolf. We may fix the date of this effigy at about 1430; so we can safely place the period of the Keasby sword within the first quarter of the XVth century (Figs. 627 and 628). A similar type of hilt—attached, however, to a much more powerful sword—can be seen in the Wallace Collection, No. 42 (Fig. 629). The pommel of this sword is roughly fig-shaped, the quillons are straight and swell to lobes at the ends, while the blade is 46 inches long and 2-1/2 inches wide at the hilt. So robust are the proportions of this fine sword, which is certainly Italian, and dates from the middle of the XVth century, that we are bound to consider it as a weapon solely for double-handed use. In