whole converfation of the court and country turned upon the discoveries made by the Spanish prifoners of the racks, the wheels, and the whips of wire, with which they were to fcourge the English of every rank, age, and fex. The moft noted heretics were to be put to death; thofe that furvived were to be branded on the forehead with a hot iron; and the whole form of government both in church and ftate was to be overturned.

16. The Spanish morning-ftar; a deftructive engine refembling the figure of a ftar, of which there were many thoufands on board, and all of them with poisoned points; and were defigned to ftrike at the enemy as they came on board in cafe a of close attack.

17. The Spanish general's halbert, covered with velvet. All the nails of this weapon are double gilt with gold; and on its top is the Pope's head curiously engraven.

18. A Spanish battle-ax, fo contrived as to ftrike four holes in a man's fcull at once; and has befides a pistol in the handle with a matchlock.

19. King Henry, the VIII's walking staff, which has three match-lock pistols in it, with coverings to keep the charges dry. With this staff, the warders tell you, the king walked round the city fometimes, to fee that the conftables did their duty; and one night, as he was walking near the bridge-foot, the conftable ftopt to know what he did with fuch a mifchievous weapon at that time of the night; upon which the king ftruck him; but the conftable calling the watchmen to his affiftance, his majefty was apprehended and carried to the Pou'try Compier, where he lay confined till morning, without either fire or candle; when the keeper was informed of the rank of his prifoner, he dif

6

patched

patched a meffenger to the conftable, who came trembling with fear, expecting nothing less than to be hanged, drawn, and quartered; but, instead of that, the king applauded his refolution in honeftly doing his duty, and made him a handsome prefent.

20. A large wooden cannon, called Policy, because, fay your guides, when Henry VIII. befieged Bologne, the roads being impaffable for heavy cannon, he caufed a number of those wooden ones to be made, and mounted on proper batteries before the town, as if real cannon, which fo terrified the French commandant, that when he beheld a formidable train, as he thought, just ready to play, he gave up the town without firing a shot. The truth is, the duke of Suffolk, who commanded at this fiege under the king, foon made himself master of the lower town; but it was not till feven weeks afterwards that the upper town capitulated, in which time the English fuftained great lofs.

21. The last thing they fhew of thefe memorable spoils, is the Spanish general's shield, not worn by, but carried before him as an enfign of honour. On it are depicted, in most curious workmanship, the labours of Hercules, and other expreffive allegories, which feem to throw a fhade upon the boafted fkill of modern artifts. The date is 1376, near 100 years before the art of printing was known in England.

The infcription upon it is as follows, in Roman characters, tolerably engraven: ADVLTERIO

DEIANIRA CONSPVRCANS OCCIDITVR CACVS

AB HERCUL. OPPRIMITVR 1379; alluding to the killing of Cacus by Hercules, for adultery with his, wife Dejanira.

22. Some weapons made with the part of a fcythe fixed on a pole, which was taken from

the

the duke of Monmouth's party at the battle of Sedgemoor in the reign of James II.

23. The partizans that were carried at the funeral of king William III.

24. At the upper end of the room is a green canopy, inclosed with Gothic arches and pillars, which, when drawn up, prefents to view three very striking figures; the first Q. Elizabeth alighting from her horfe to go to review her fleet at Tilbury. She is fuperbly dreffed in the armour fhe had on at the time above-mentioned, with a rich white filk petticoat, curiously ornamented with pearls, fpangles, &c. Her robe or upper drefs is rich crimfon fattin, laced with gold and fringed. Her hair is finely ornamented with pearls.

Juft by her fide ftands the fecond figure, a fine cream-coloured horfe, his bridle curioufly ornamented with gilt metal; the faddle covered with crimson velvet, laced alfo with gold and fringed.

At the head of the horse stands the third figure, a page holding the bridle with his left hand, and the queen's helmet with a plume of white feathers thereon in his right. This page is dreffed in a filk fnuff-colour garment lined with blue, with a blue filk fash fringed with gold, according to the fashion of that time. The whole together makes a most elegant appearance.

O this

Of the SMALL ARMORY.

T curiofity we are led by a small fold

ing door adjoining to the east end of the Tower-chapel, the afcent to which is by a grand ftaircase of 50 eafy steps. On the left fide of the uppermoft landing-place is the workshop, wherein are conftantly employed about 14 furbishers, in cleaning, repairing, and new placing the arms. When you enter the armory itself, you will fee what they call a wilderness of arms, fo artificially difpofed, and fo admirably ranged, that at one

2

view

view you behold arms for near 80,000 men, all bright and clean and fit for fervice at a moment's warning; a fight that none ever beheld without aftonishment, and is not to be matched perhaps in the world. Befides thofe exposed to public view, there are 16 chefts fhut up, each cheft holding about 1200 muskets.

The north and fouth walls are adorned with 16 pilafters (each fide eight) of pikes 16 feet long, with capitals of piftols in the Corinthian order. At the weft end, on the left hand as you enter, are two curious pyramids compofed of pistols, ftanding upon crowns, globes, and fcepters, finely carved and placed upon a pedestal five feet high; at the eaft or farther end, in the oppofite corner, are two fuits of armour, one made for Henry V. the other for Henry VI. over each of which is a femicircle of piftols; between these is reprefented the figure of an organ, the large pipes compofed of brafs blunderbuffes, the fmall of piftols; on one fide of this figure is the reprefentation of the fiery ferpent, the head and tail of carved work, and the body of piftols, winding round in the form of a fnake; and on the other a hydra, or seven-headed monfter, whofe heads are very artificially combined by links of piftols.

The inter-columns that compofe the wildernefs, round which you are carried by your guides, are,

1. Some arms taken at Bath in the year 1715. Thefe are diftinguished from all others in the Tower, by having what they call dog-locks, which kind of locks have a ketch to fecure them from going off at a half-cock.

2. Bayonets and piftols put up in the form of half-moons and fans, with the imitation of a target in the center, made up of bayonet-blades; thefe bayonets, of which you will observe several other fans compofed, are of the first invention,

having plug-handles, which go into the muzzle of a gun, inftead of over it, and thereby prevent the firing of the piece without shooting away the bayonet. These were invented at Bayonne in Spain, from whence they take their name.

3. Brafs blunderbuffes for fea-fervice, with capitals of piftols over them; the waves of the fea are here reprefented in old fashioned bayonets. 4. Bayonets and fword-bayonets, in the form of half-moons and fans, and fet in fcollop-fhells finely carved the fword bayonet is made like the old bayonet with a plug-handle, only different from it by being longer.

5. The rifing fun, irradiated with rays of piftols fet in a chequered frame of marine hangers, of a peculiar make, having brafs handles, and the form of a dog's head on their pummels.

6. Four beautiful twifted pillars, made with piftols up to the top, which is about 22 feet high, and placed at right angles, with the form of a falling ftar on the cieling exactly in the middle of them, being the center of this magnificent room. Into this place opens the grand ftair-cafe door, for the admiffion of the royal family, or any of the nobility, whofe curiofity may lead them to view the armory; oppofite to which opens another door into the balcony, that affords a fine profpect of the parade, the governor's houfe, the furveyor-general's, ftore-keeper's and the other grand officers houfes in the Tower. This grand entrance has been newly ornamented; the capitals, irradiations, and heads of Julius and Auguftus Cefar, are finely gilt; and the whole armory neatly cleaned and painted, and newly fitted up in a moft elegant manner.

7. The form of a pair of large folding-gates, made of ferjeants halberts of antique make.

8. Horfemen's carbines, blunderbuffes, and piftols, hanging artificially in furbelows and flounces. 9. Meauja's