by their defendants; of whom some were fo hurt that they died foon after. Francis had chosen the Duke and the Marquis of Dorfet two of his aids, and being hurt himself at firft, defired the Duke and Marquis to fight at barriers, who therefore took the first place againft all comers. In the mean time Francis, as was thought, intending an affront to the Duke, caused a German, the ftrongest about the court, to be armed fecretly, and to present himself: They both did well; yet the Duke at laft, with the but-end of his fpear, ftruck the German till he ftaggered; and then the rail was let fall: Having breathed a while, they renewed the fight, when the Duke fo mauled the German about the head, that the blood gushed out at his nose and cars, and then he was fecretly conveyed away. Before this encounter, the Duke had likewise unhorfed a gentleman at tilts, and hurt him defperately.

3. A complete fuit of tilting armour, fuch as the kings, nobility, and gentlemen at arms, used to exercise in on horseback; at which diverfion one of the kings of France is faid to have been killed by a fhiver of a spear ftriking him in the eye.-Likewise the tilting lance, the reft for the tilting lance, with the grand guard and the flits before the eye, through which they take the fight.

4. A complete fuit of armour made for king Henry VIII. when he was but 18 years of age, rough from the hammer: 'Tis at least fix feet high, and the joints in the hands, arms, and thighs, knees, and feet, play like the joints of a rattle-snake, and are moved with all the facility imaginable.-The method of learning the exercife of tilting was upon wooden horses set on cafters, which, by the fway of the body, could be moved every way; fo that by frequent practice the rider could fhift, parry, ftrike, unhorse,

and

and recover with surprising dexterity. Some of the horfes in this armory had undoubtedly been made ufe of for this purpose; and it is but lately that the cafters have been taken from their feet.

5. A little fuit of armour made for king Charles II. when he was prince of Wales, and about seven or eight years of age, with a piece of armour for his horfe's head; the whole moft curiously wrought and inlaid with filver.

6. Lord Courcy's armour, who, as the warders tell you, was grand champion in Ireland, and as a proof fhew you the very fword he took from the champion of France, for which valiant action he and all his fucceffors have the honour to wear their hats in the king's prefence; which privilege, add they, is enjoyed by Lord Kinfale, as head of that ancient and noble family, at this day.It is recorded indeed of this Courcy, that when a confpiracy was formed against him in Ireland, by his own fervants, at the inftigation of Hugh de Lucy, who was jealous of his power, tho' he was betrayed at his devotions, he laid 13 of the confpirators dead at his feet before he was overpowered. He was afterwards committed prifoner to the Tower of London, and it is no improbable conjecture, that what is fhewn is the very armour he brought with him to that prifon.

7. Real coats of mail called brigandine jackets: They consist of small bits of steel, fo artfully quilted one over another as to refift the point of a fword, or even, I believe, a mufket bullet, and yet they are fo flexible, that you may bend your body in them any way, as well as in ordinary cloathing.

8. An Indian fuit of armour, fent as a prefent to King Charles II. from the great Mogul: This is indeed a great curiofity: It is made of iron quills about two inches long; finely japanned and ranged in.

C 3

rows,

rows, one row flipping over another very artificially; they are bound together with filk twist very ftrong: They are used in that country as a defence against darts and arrows poisoned or unpoisoned.

9. A neat little fuit of armour, in which is a carved figure reprefenting Richard Duke of York, King Edward the IVth's youngest fon, who, with his brother Edward V. were fmothered in the Tower by order of Richard III. commonly called Crook-backed Richard, their uncle and guardian. The manner of their deaths was this: One Sir James Tyrrel, aftrong refolute fellow, having a commiffion from the king for that purpose, and employing one Miles Forrest, a common ruffian, and John Deighton his own groom, these two wretches, by night, entered the room where the young princes, attended only by one fervant, were confined, and while they flept, finothered them in their bed-clothes. After this, Tyrrel ordered them to be buried at the ftair-foot, deep under ground; where their bones were actually found in the reign of King Charles II. See more of this in the Hiftory of Westminster Abbey.

10. The armour of the great John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who was the fon of a king, the father of a king, and the uncle of a king, but was never king himself. Dugdale fays, that more kings and fovereign princes fprang from his loins than from any king in Chriftendom. He was interred with Blancb, his first wife, on the north fide of the choir of the old cathedral church of St. Paul; and on his monument hung his proper helmet and spear; as also his target covered with horn; which precious reliques were unfortunately confumed with that stately edifice itself, by the dreadful fire of London. The armour here fhewn is seven foot high, and the sword and lance are of an enormous fize.

11. The

II. The droll figure of Will Somers, as the warders tell you, King Henry VIIIth's jefter: an honeft man, fays they, of a woman's making-—had a handsome woman to his wife, who made him a cuckold; and wears his horns on his head, because they should not wear holes in his pocket. He would neither believe king, queen, nor any about the court, that he was a cuckold, till he put on his fpectacles to fee, being a little dimfighted, as all cuckolds fhould be; in which antic manner he is here reprefented.

12. A collar of torment, which, fay your conduc-. tors, used formerly to be put about the womens neck that cuckolded their hufbands, or fcolded at them when they came home late; but that cuftom is left off now-a-days, to prevent quarelling for collars, there not being fmiths enough to make them, as moft married men are fure to want them at one time or another.

We come now to the line of kings, which, to follow the order of your conductor, we must reverfe the order of their chronology, and describe the last firft, as

1. His late majefty K. George I. in a compleat suit of armour, fitting with a truncheon in his hand on a white horfe, richly caparifoned, having a fine Turkey bridle gilt with gold, with a globe, crefcent, and ftar; velvet furniture laced with gold, and gold trappings. This prince was born in 1660, came to the crown on the death of Q. Anne, August 1, 1714, died June 11, 1727, on his journey to Hanover.

2. The late King William III. dreffed in the very fuit of armour worn by Edward the Black prince, fon of Edward III. in the famous battle of Crefly, wherein the French loft 11 princes, 18 baronets, 1200 knights, 1500 gentlemen at arms, 4000 squires, who were mounted on horfeback; and 30,000 com

C 4

mon

mon men. He is mounted on a forrel horse, whofe furniture is green velvet embroidered with filver, and holds in his right hand a flaming fword. The battle of the Boyne in Ireland, and the taking of Namur, are the only memorable victories of this warlike king; who was born in 1650, afcended the British throne on the abdication of King James II. his father-in-law, February 13, 1688, and died March 8, 1702, by a fall from his horse.

3. K. Charles II. dreffed in the armour that was worn by the champion of England at the coronation of his late majefty. There is nothing very memorable in this king's ftory, but his fufferings, and his restoration to the crown after 12 years banishment. He fits with a truncheon in his hand on a fine horse richly caparisoned with crimson velvet laced with gold. He was born in 1630, fucceeded to the throne on the death of his father Charles I. January 30, 1649, and died February 6, 1684.

4. K. Charles I. in a rich fuit of his own proper armour, gilt with gold and curiously wrought, prefented to him by the city of London when he was prince of Wales; and in the fame armour that was laid on the coffin at the funeral proceffion of the late great Duke of Marlborough; on which occafion a collar of SS's was added to it, and is now round it.

The civil wars in this prince's reign, and his untimely death, afford a very melancholy story, which will never be forgotten. He was born in 1600, fuc ceeded his father K. James I. March 27, 1625, and was beheaded in fight of his own palace gates, January 30, 1649

5. James I. of England and VIth of Scotland. By his fucceeding to the throne of England, on the death of Q. Elizabeth, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, which till then had been at continual wars,

were