fion-house of the lord mayor, the Custom-house, Indiahouse, and a vast number of other public buildings; befide

in different forms, and intended either to kill the men on horfeback, or to pull them off their horfes. At the back is a fpike, which, your attendants fay, was to pick the roaft beef out of the Englithman's teeth. And on one of them is a piece of filver coin, which they intended to make current in England. On this coin are three heads, fuppofed to be the Pope's, Philip II's, and queen Mary's.This is a curiofity which moft Spaniards who arrive in London come to fee, 14. The Spanish officers lances, finely engraved. Thefe were formerly gilt, but the gilding is now almoft worn off with cleaning. It is faid, that when Don Pedro de Valdez, a captain of one of the Spanish fhips that was taken, paffed his examination before lord Burleigh, he told his lordship, that thofe fine polished lances were put on board to bleed the English with; to which that nobleman merrily replied, that, if he were not mistaken, the English had performed that operation better on their good friends the Spaniards, with worfe inftruments. 1. The common foldiers pikes, 18 fect in length, pointed with long sharp fpikes, and fhod with iron; defigned to keep off the horse, to facilitate the landing of their foot. 16. The last thing fhewn of thefe memorable fpoils, is the Spanish general's fhield, not worn by him; but carried before him as an enfign of honour. Upon it are depicted, in moft curious workmanship, fome of the labours of Hercules, and other allegories, which feem to throw a fhade upon the boafted skill of modern artifts. This was made near an hundred years before the art of printing was known in England; and upon it is the following infcription, in Roman characters, ADVLTERIO DELANIRA CONSPURCANS OCCIDITUR CACVS AB HERCVL. OPPRIMITVR 1379. 17. The other curiofities depofited here, are Danish and Saxon clubs, weapons which each of those people are faid to have ufed in their conqueft of England. These are, perhaps, curiofities of the greatet antiquity of any in the Tower, they having lain there above 850 years. The warders call them the womens weapons, becaufe, fay they," the British women made prize of them, when, in one night, they all confpired together, and cut the throats of 35,coo Danes; the greateft piece of fecrecy the English women ever kept, for which they have ever fince been honoured with the right-hand of the man, the upper end of the table, and the firft cut of every dish of victuals they happen to like beft." The maffacre of the Danes was not, however, performed by the women alone, but by the private orders of Ethelred II. who in 1012, privately commanded his officers to extirpate thofe cruel and tyrannical invaders. 18.

befide the magnificent edifices raifed by our nobility;

as

King Henry VI'I's walking ftaff, which has three match-lock piflols in it, with coverings to keep the charges dry. "With this ftaff, the warders tell you, the king fometimes walked round the city, to fee that the conftables did their duty; and one night, as he was walking near the bridge-foot, the conftable topt him, to know what he did with fuch an unlucky weapon, at that time of the night. Upon which the king truck him; but the constable calling the watchmen to his affiftance, his majelly was apprehended, and carried to the Poultry Compter, where he lay till morning, without either fire or candle. When the keeper was informed of the rank of his prifoner, he dispatched a meffenger to the conflable, who came trembling with fear, expecting nothing less than to be hanged, drawn and quartered: but instead of that, the king applauded him for his refolution in doing his duty, and made him a handfome prefent. At the fame time he fettled upon St. Magnus's parith, an annual grant of 231. and a mark, and made a provifion for furnishing 30 chaldron of coals, and a large allowance of bread annually for ever, toward the comfortable relief of his fellow-prifoners and their fucceffors, which, the warders fay, is paid them to this day." 19. A large wooden cannon, called Policy, because, as we are informed, when king Henry VIII. befieged Bouloigne, the roads being impaflable for heavy cannon, he caufed a number of thefe wooden ones to be made, and mounted on proper batteries before the town, as if real cannon; which fo terrified the French cornmandant, that he gave up the place without firing a hot. 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 afterward that the upper town capitulated, in which time the English fuftained great lofs in poffeffing themfelves of the bray. The warders mult therefore be greatly mistaken in their account of this piece. 20. The ax with which queen Anne Bullen, the mother of queen Elizabeth, was beheaded, on the 19th of May 1536. The earl of Effex, queen Elizabeth's favourite, was alfo beheaded with the 21. A small train of ten pieces of pretty little cannon, neatly mounted on proper carriages, being a prefent from the foundery of London to king Charles I. when a child, to affift him in learning the art of gunnery. 22. Weapons made with the blades of fcythes fixed trait to the ends of poles. 1 hefe were taken from the duke of Monmouth's party, at the battle of Sedgemoore, in the reign of James II. 23. The partizans that were carried at the funeral of king William III. 24. The perfect model of the admirable machine, the idea of which was brought from Italy by Sir Thomas Lombe, and firft erected at

fame ax.

G 4

Derby,

as Charlton-houfe, Marlborough-house, and Buckingham

Derby, at his own expence, for making orgazine or thrown filk. This model is well worth the obfervation of the curious.

To this

You now come to the grand ftore-house, a noble building, to the northward of the White Tower, that extends 245 feet in length, and 60 in breadth. It was begun by king James II. who built it to the first floor; but it was finished by king William II. who erected that magnificent room called the New, or Small Armoury, in which that prince, with queen Mary, his confort, dined in great form, having all the warrant workmen and labourers to attend them, dreffed in white gloves and aprons, the ufual badges of the order of mafonry. noble room you are led by a folding door, adjoining to the eat end of the Tower chapel, which leads to a grand staircase of 50 cafy steps. On the left-fide of the uppermost landing-place is the work-fhop, in which are conftantly employed about fourteen furbishers, in cleaning, repairing, and new placing the arms. On entering the armoury, you fee what they call a wilderness of arms, fo artfully difpofed, that at one view you behold arms for near 80,000 men, all bright, and fit for fervice: a fight which it is impoffible to behold without aftonishment; and befide thofe expofed to view, there were, before the late war, fixteen chefts fhut up, each cheft holding about 1,200 mufkets. The arms were originally difpofed by Mr. Harris, who contrived to place them in this beautiful order, both here and in the guard-chamber of Hampton-court. He was a common gun-fmith; but after he had performed this work, which is the admiration of people of all nations, he was allowed a penfion from the crown for his ingenuity. The north and fouth walls are each adorned with eight pilafters, formed of pikes 16 feet long, with capitals of the Corinthian order, compofed of piftols. At the weft end, on the left-hand, as you enter, are two curious pyramids of pistols, ftanding upon crowns, globes, and fcepters, finely carved and placed upon pedestals five feet high. At the eaft, or farther end, in the oppofite corner, are two fuits of armour, one made for that warlike prince Henry V. and the other for his fon Henry VI. over each of which is a femicircle of piftols; between thefe is reprefented an organ, the large pipes compofed of brafs blunderbuffes, the fmall of piftols. On one fide of the organ is the reprefentation of a 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 an hydra, whofe feven heads are artfully combined by links of piftols. The inner columns that compofe the wilderness, round which you are conducted by your guides, are, 1, Some arms taken at Bath in the year 1715, diftinguished

from

ham-house, in St. James's-park; the duke of Montague's,

from all others in the Tower, by having what is called doglocks; that is, a kind of locks with a catch, to prevent their going off at half-cock. z. Bayonets and piftols put up in the forms of half moons and fans, with the imitation of a target in the center, made of bayonet blades. These bayonets, of which feveral other fans are compofed, are of the first invention, they having plug handles which go into the muzzle of the gun, inftead of over it, and thereby prevent the firing of the piece, without fhooting away the bayonet. Thefe were invented at Bayonne in Spain, and from that place take their name. 3. Brafs blunderbuffes for fea-fervice, with capitols 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 carved fcollop-fhells. The fwordbayonet is made like the old bayonet, with a plug handle, and differs from it only in being longer. 5. The rifing fun irradiated with piftols, fet in a chequered frame of marine hangers, of a peculiar make, having brafs handles, and a dog's head on their pomels. 6. Four beautiful twifted pillars, formed of piftols up to the top, which is about 22 feet high, and placed at right angles; with the reprefentation 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 stair-case door, for the admiffion of the royal family, or any of the nobility, whofe curiofity leads them to view the armoury; oppofite to which opens another door into the balcony, that affords a fine profpect of the parade, the governor's houfe, the furveyorgeneral's, the ftore-keeper's, and other general officers in the Tower. 7. The form of a large pair of folding gates, made of ferjeant's halberts, of an antique make. 8. Horfemen's carbines, hanging very artificially in furbeloes and flounces. 9. Medufa's head, vulgarly called the Witch of Endor, within three regular ellipfes of pistols, with fnakes. The features are finely carved, and the whole figure contrived with the utmolt art. This figure terminates the north fide. 10. Facing the eaft wall, as you turn round, is a grand figure of a lofty organ, 10 ranges high, in which are contained upward of 2,000 pairs of piftols. 11. On the fouth-fide, as you return, the firft figure that attracts attention, is Jupiter riding in a fiery chariot, drawn by eagles, as if in the clouds, holding a thunder-bolt in his left-hand; and over his head is a rainbow: this figure is finely carved, and decorated with bayonets. The figures on this fide answer pretty nearly to thofe on the other, and therefore need no farther defcription, till you come again to the center; where, on each fide the door leading to the balcony, you fee, 12. A fine reprefentation in carved work, of the ftar and garter, thistle, rofe

and

tague's, and the duke of Richmond's, in the Privygarden;

and crown, ornamented with pistols, &c. and very elegantly enriched with birds, &c. 13. The arms taken from Sir William Perkins, Sir John Friend, Charnock, and others concerned in the affalination-plot in 1696; among which they fhew the very blunderbufs with which they intended to fhoot king William near Turnham Green, in his way to Hampton Court: alfo the carbine with which Charnock undertook to fhoot that monarch, as he rode a hunting. 14. Laftly, the Highlanders arms, taken in 1715, particularly the earl of Mar's fine piece, exquifitely wrought, and inlaid with mother of pearl: alfo a Highland broad-fword, with which a Highlander ftruck general Evans, and at one blow ftruck him through the hat, wig, and iron skullcap; on which that general is faid to have shot him dead; others fay, he was taken prifoner, and generously forgiven for his bravery. Here is alfo the fword of juftice, with a fharp point, and the fword of mercy, with a blunt point, carried before the pretender on his being proclaimed king of Scotland, in 1715. Here are likewife fome of the Highlanders piftols, the barrels and flocks being all iron; alfo a Highlander's Lochabor ax, with which it is faid that colonel Gardner was killed at the battle of Preston Pans. A difcerning eye will difcover a thousand peculiarities in the difpofition of fo vaft a variety of arms, which no defcription can reach; and therefore it is fit that every one who has a tafte for the admirable combinations of art, fhould gratify it with the fight of the nobleft curiofities of this kind in the whole world.

Upon the ground floor under the fmall armoury, is a large room of equal dimenfions with that, fupported by 20 pillars, all hung round with implements of war. This room, which is 24 feet high, has a paffage in the middle 16 feet wide. At the fight of fuch a variety of the most dreadful engines of deftruction, before whofe thunder the moft fuperb edifices, the nobleft works of art, and numbers of the human fpecies, fall together in one common and undistinguished ruin; one cannot help wishing that these horrible inventions had still lain, like a falfe conception, in the womb of nature, never to have been ripened into birth. But when, on the other hand, we confider, that with us they are not used to answer the purposes of ambition, but for felf defence, and in the protection of our juft rights, our terror fubfides, and we view thefe engines of devaftation with a kind of folemn complacency, as the means Providence has put into our hands for our prefervation. 1. You are fhewn two large pieces of cannon, employed by admiral Vernon before Carthagena; each of which has a large fcale driven out of their muzzles by balls from the caftle of Bocca Chica. 2. Two pieces of excellent workmanship, prefented by the city of London to

the