Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/60

 of 1382, in the Chapel of Ease at Seron, near Forville (Fig. 763), can be seen a rondel-hilted dagger; but in this instance both the pommel and guard appear cylindrical, the grip swelling slightly in the middle. The hilt is large for the length of the blade, and it closely resembles a small dagger in the Reubell Collection, Paris. The whole hilt of this example, which we may safely assign to the opening years of the XVth century, and which was found in London, is overlaid with light-coloured horn, engraved with trefoil ornaments. Further enrichment of the hilt has been effected by inlaying certain exposed portions of the horn surface with arrangements of small circles in silver. The pommel and guard disks are small and of like diameter, though deep for their circumference, being built up of a central plaque overlaid on either side with horn. The grip has its largest circumference in the middle. The blade is of flattened diamond-shaped section, and bears an armourer's mark inlaid in silver. Very like the Reubell dagger in the method of its enrichment is a rondel dagger which was found in Old Swan Lane in 1867. It is now in the Guildhall Museum (Fig. 765). The horn rondels are larger in circumference; but the grip, which is spirally twisted, is inlaid with bands of ornaments in silver, pearls, or studs. The blade in this case is back-edged. Turning once more to English brasses we see on that of Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, in St. Mary's Church, Warwick (Fig. 766) a rondel dagger with a flattened spheroidal pommel, the rondel guard fitting within the locket mount of the scabbard. This brass was supposed to have been completed in 1401, to which same period must be assigned a dagger of similar type found at Walthamstow, and now in the London Museum (Fig. 767). The brass of an unknown knight in Laughton Church, Lincolnshire, of the early years of the XVth century (Fig. 768), affords an illustration of another rondel dagger, this time with a disk pommel of octagonal section, surmounted by a loose ring. From the careful engraving of the dagger on the brass in question, it can be seen that the weapon fitted deep within the top of the scabbard, which widened sufficiently at the top to receive the rondel guard. A dagger, probably of the same construction, is to be seen on the brass of Sir Reginald de Cobham in Lingfield Church, Surrey (Fig. 769). This brass is dated 1403. In the London Museum is shown a dagger that was found near Upper Thames Street on the shore of the Thames (Fig. 770). It is a fine largely proportioned weapon in a good state of preservation. The rondel pommel and guard are of the same proportions. They are hollow but built up to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, each being of hexagonal formation. In the grip are four large ring