Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/27

 war, particularly five pieces of armour complete, and disposed at equal distances." Thus we have the record of two suits in the Guard Chamber of the Round Tower, and five suits in the King's Guard Chamber of the Castle, making seven suits in all. Now, on the accession of King Edward VII, apart from a few plain made-up suits of XVIIth century date, Windsor Castle contained eight fine harnesses. But as one of these, according to the account of the late Sir Richard Holmes, was a suit which was said to have belonged to a Duke of Brunswick, given to the Prince Consort in 1842, and so was not at Windsor Castle anterior to that date, it cannot be included among the seven suits. Our desire is to prove that the following seven suits were in the Castle in the year 1742.

(1) A half suit, made up of part of the Worcester armour (Vol. iv, page 27, Fig. 1109).

(2) A three-quarter suit, made up of part of the Sir John Smythe armour (Vol. iv, page 40, Fig. 1120).

(3) A three-quarter suit, said to have belonged to Prince Rupert (page 29, Fig. 1444).

(4) A half suit, said to have been made for Henry, Prince of Wales (post, page 10, Fig. 1429).

(5) A three-quarter suit, made for Henry, Prince of Wales, prior to the year 1607 (Fig. 1425).

(6) A full suit, with its tilt-pieces and chanfron, made for Henry, Prince of Wales, decorated with a thistle and fleur-de-lis (post, page 16, Fig. 1435).

(7) A full suit, with its tilt-pieces and chanfron, said to have belonged to Charles, Prince of Wales, engraved and gilt (page 31, Fig. 1446).

A very slender, but we venture to think very definitive, clue helps us to identify No. 1 (Fig. 1109), a half suit of armour made up of part of the Worcester suit, now in the Tower of London. This clue was the discovery last year of a portion of one of the ear-pieces from the burgonet helmet belonging to the Windsor Castle Worcester suit. It came from the house of an old lady whose mother (we will suppress the name) was one of the housekeepers at Windsor Castle in the year 1832. To this missing ear-piece was attached an old and faded ticket, on which was written: "When in Windsor, in 1832, I got this piece of armour of the Black Prince from a man who had been employed some years before, in cleaning armour in Windsor Castle. He told me that, in cleaning the Black Prince's armour, he found this piece loose, and carried it off as a relic.

"15th March, 1839. [Here follows the signature.]"