Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/365

 CD I i a i n a I B o c inn c n t s. SURVEY OF THE TOWER ARMORY IN THE YEAR IGOO. The inventory Iiltc oftbred to our readers as a valuable illustration of military costume, is already partially known through a transcript comiiumicated to the Society of Anti- (piaries by "Sir. Bray, in 1792. It was published iirst in the eleventh volume of the Archacologia, and reprinted by Sir Sanmel Meyrick, in his Critical Enquiry^ The attested copy, in the possession of the late Mrs. Tucker, of Betchworth Castle, Surrey, w^as the authority whence the text of this in- teresting document was thus derived, the existence of the original being hitherto unknown. It had, however, been pre- served amongst the Records in the Audit Ottice, and we are indebted to Mr. Cunningham for bringing it to light from a neglected mass of old evidences, and for the connnunication of an accurate transcript. This original bears the autograph signatures of the Lieu- tenant of the Tower and of the Commissioners, appointed by Charles II. on his restoration to survey the armom* and numitions remainino; in his armories. A collation with the })rinted text has shewn various errors and omissions m the coj)y, as published by ]lr. Bray, amongst which may be men- tioned the particular description of nine suits of armour, with other curious items, not found in his communication given in the Archaeologia. It has been thought, therefore, that an accurate copy of the entire document, hitherto only imper- fectly known through the costly publications above cited, cannot fail to be acceptable to many readers of the Archae- ological Journal. The following survey appears to be the earliest inventory extant of any extensive assemblage of armom- in the royal arsenal at the Tower of London. Various evidences have been preserved relating to military stores preserved in that fortress, ' Crit. Eiiqu., vol. iii. p. 106, edit. 1834. VOL. IV. Y V