origin, in the time of the Crusades. The spurs are of the kind called prick-spurs, more ancient than those with rowels; but the latter were used at this period, having been introduced in the time of Henry III. The Norman kite-shaped shield, was in this reign superseded by the square-topped kind borne by the figure. During the reign of Edward I. the Tower was chiefly used as a state-prison; and the turbulent and warlike spirit of the time, kept it as such in perpetual occupation. In 1282, the Jews, under a charge of having clipped and deteriorated the current coin, were seized in all parts of the kingdom, and six hundred of that unhappy race were thrown into the Tower. At the battle of Dunbar, (1296) the Scottish king Baliol, and a number of his most influential nobility, were taken prisoners, and committed to the Tower: the unfortunate monarch, after nearly three years incarceration within its walls, was released at the intercession of the Pope, and ultimately submitted to an inglorious but peaceful banishment in France. But we have here to notice the fate of a more illustrious individual: in 1305, the celebrated hero of Scotland, and defender of its liberties-WILLIAM WALLACE, became an inmate of the Tower of London. The noble patriot, after a pretended trial, was dragged, tied to horses' tails, through Cheapside to Smithfield, and there executed with cruelties which we will not detail. The deed left an eternal stain on Edward's glory, and stands forth in dark and barbarous contrast to the chivalrous generosity of his great-grandson as a royal victor.

HENRY VI. 1450.-A great space intervenes in the history of armour between these two reigns; but upon this particular our limits will not allow us to dwell. The back and breast plates of this suit are of the flexible kind introduced in the reign of Henry V. The sleeves and skirt are of chain mail; the gauntlets are fluted. Tuilles, (small tile-like pieces of steel) an invention of the age, are appended to the breast-plate where it joins the cuisses, or coverings for the thighs. The lower part of the leg is defended by jambs, and the feet by pointed sollerets: the helmet is a salade with a frontlet, surmounted by a crest: in the right hand is a pole-axe. The horse is caparisoned with housings emblazoned with the arms of France and England (modern): its head is defended by a fluted chanfron.

In this reign, the Tower was thickly tenanted by prisoners, French, Scotch, and English: many great names are found amongst the prisoners of this period, but few circumstances relative to them have been handed down to us. The most striking events in connection with our subject, relate to the hard fortunes of the ill-fated Henry himself—who, unable to contend with the evil times in which he lived, became the mere tool and victim of contending parties. A considerable portion of his unhappy reign was spent in imprisonment, and his murdered body was discovered one morning in his "prison-lodging." The foul deed was ascribed to the Duke of Gloster (Rich. III.) but the affair is involved in mystery. For much information on this and other matters, we refer the reader to Mr. Bayley's History.

EDWARD IV. 1465. The representative of this gay and gallant monarch appears in an elegant suit, furnished with most of the additional pieces used in the tournament; for the armour used in the lists was stronger and more complete than that made for warfare. The figure is armed with a tilting-lance; the vamplate or guard of which, is curiously formed and ancient; the

shaft is modern. The saddle, though of more recent date, is a fine specimen of the war-saddle. The horse is in a housing, powdered with the king's badges, the white rose and crown.

The Tower, in some portions of this monarch's reign, assumed its palatine character; for we learn that Edward occasionally held his court there in great splendor; and made it the starting-point not only of his own coronation procession, but that of his queen, Lady Elizabeth Gray. But in this reign also, the Tower became the scene of a dark event which, like the death of Henry VI. has gathered interest from the mystery that surrounds it: we allude to the imprisonment and end of the Duke of Clarence, the king's brother, who in that part of the Tower called the Bowyer's Tower, is reputed to have met his death by drowning in a malmsey-butt. The circumstances of this prince's fate, rival in atrocity all Edward's cruelties.

KNIGHT OF THE TIME OF RICHARD III.-This suit is of the kind called ribbed, and worthy of the age in which armour had arrived at its greatest state of perfection. The helmet is a salade supplied with oreillets or ear-guards; in front of the shoulders are two pieces called rondelles, for protection of the arm-pits: altogether this suit is a most beautiful specimen, and merits a more particular account than our plan will admit of. floor is to be seen the "Tilting-appareil" of the suit; and on the pillar behind is an original Tilting-lance with ferrule, ring, and vamplate, wanting the coronal or blunt head. The above suit was purchased at the sale of armour used in the Eglintoun Tournament

On the

Upon the death of Edward IV his son, then 12 years of age, was proclaimed by the title of Edward V. but did not receive the crown, or exercise any of the functions of royalty-his brief reign commenced and ended in the Tower. The generally accredited murder of the young princes, and the impeachment and revolting execution of Lord Hastings, are events that we need but name in connection with our subject-Shakspeare, the charming (though somewhat doubtful) medium through which many study the history of their country, has recorded them in language that will endure for ages. Who has not heard of the unhappy Jane Shore? -in the preceding reign, the guilty mistress of a libertine monarch; in the next, a prisoner in the Tower; from which she was released, only to close the misera ble remainder of her days in beggary and starvation. The crown for which Richard had so deeply "'fil'd his mind," proved but an empty possession; his throne, established in blood, led to a bloody grave: he was slain on Bosworth field, after a brief and iniquitous reign of little more than two years.

Knight of the time of HenRY VII.-Fluted armour, of which this is a suit, was introduced about this period. The tabard, or outer garment which succeeded the surcoat of the Normans, was now laid aside, in order that the costliness of the suit might be seen to greater advantage. The helmet is of the kind called Burgonet, (Burgundian origin) following the form of the head, and found to be so much more commodious than those formerly used, that it contiuued to be worn, with slight modifications, until body armour was discontinued.

ANOTHER SUIT of the same time and of a similar kind is also exhibited. In the right hand of the figure is an ancient sword, and from the bow of the saddle hangs a battle-axe of the war kind

armed with steel front and cantle. The horse-armour is also fluted, but of a different pattern to the man's; exhibiting all the pieces in a suit of plate, with the exception of the Flanchards, the piece worn over the flanks. At this period the use of fire-arms became prevalent amongst the soldiery.

Upon the marriage between Henry VII. and the Princess Elizabeth, which was to "unite the white rose with the red," the Tower again appears in its characte of a royal palace: for we learn, that two days before that appointed for her coro nation, (Nov. 25, 1487) "the queen with her ladies and other estates, came from Greenwich to the Tower of London, where she was received by the king," and led to state-apartments, where their majesties "kept open household and frank resort" for all the court: from thence they proceeded to Westminster, where her majesty was crowned with due solemnity. In May, 1501, the king held a grand tournament in the Tower; in little more than one year from this festivity, a scene of far different character ensued within these walls-the deathbed of a queen: during the royal residence in the Tower, the queen died, giving birth to a daughter, which did not long survive her. The unhappy consequences of a protracted civil contention were apparent during this reign: for although Henry kept a vigilant guard over the prerogatives of the crown,-yet the fierce struggles of a scarcely subdued party, and the extraordinary, though brief, success of a romantic impostor, afforded a constant supply of Tower prisoners; and often were the "prison lodgings" untenanted by an exchange for the scaffold. In this reign the Earl of Warwick, (son of the ill-fated Clarence) and Sir William Stanley, one of Henry's foremost supporters, fell victims to the cruel policy of the times; Perkin Warbeck also, the fruitful source of so much strife, closed his adventurous career upon the scaffold at Tyburn. In this reign, Sir James Tyrrel was executed upon Towerhill for treason: this individual has been immortalized as the infamous agent of Richard III. in his murder of the young princes while in the Tower: but the treason for which Tyrrel suffered, had no reference to that ruthless deed; nor does it appear that his last confession threw any additional light upon the subject.

HENRY V111. 1520.—We now come to a suit which actually belonged to the monarch whose name is placed over it. This armour is damasked, and consists of tilting-helmet, back and breast plates with placcate, garde-de-reins, pauldrons with passegardes, rere and vam-braces, gauntlets, (that on the right hand being fixed, the left for tilting) tessets, demi-cuisses with genouillères, jambs, and square-toed sollerets. A martel-de-fer is in the right hand; a short sword is worn at the saddle-bow, and a long one from the waist. The horse-armour and body-armour are not of the same pattern: the stirrups are remarkably large.

In the eighteenth year of his age, Henry VIII. was called to the sovereignty of this kingdom: at that time he manifested a generous temper with an elegant and munificent mind. Under the auspices of this youthful monarch, the hitherto frowning character of our ancient fortress appeared to be clearing off for a more cheerful aspect; as we are informed, that in the commencement of his reign he invested the Tower with a new degree of splendour. How fearfully those fair hopes were destroyed, history too faithfully records. Never had the Tower contained a greater number of illustrious names amongst its unhappy prisoners-never was the headsman's office more recklessly called into requisition, than during this reign of terror-the scaffold and the block reeked with blood! Amongst the nobles who suffered in this reign, was Edward Bohun, Duke of Buckingham, Lord High Constable of England, who in consequence of his high descent, and some incautious expressions on his part, was charged with treason, tried and executed. We have also to name the intrepid Chancellor of England, Sir Thomas More who

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refusing to acknowledge the king's supremacy, suffered imprisonment in the Tower, previous to his execution. Imprisonment and death appear to have had but little terror in them for the witty writer of Utopia: he endured one and went forth to meet the other, with a fearlessness that fully shewed the superiority of his nature to all that earthly power could inflict. Upon his entrance to the Tower, he conversed with his accustomed pleasantry and humour; and it is related, that when the porter, according to custom, demanded his upper garment, "Marry, friend! here it is," said the facetious prisoner, tendering his cap, "I am sorry it is not better for your sake." "Nay, sir," said the porter, "I must have your gown." The grim functionary was satisfied with equal good humour. The lieutenant, who had formerly received some benefits from him, commenced an apology for the rigour he should be compelled to exercise towards him; but was interrupted with— "Mr. Lieutenant, whenever I find fault with the entertainment you provide for me, do you turn me out of doors.' After an imprisonment of more than a year, during which he was even deprived of the intellectual solace of his books, he was brought to trial, declared guilty, and condemned to a traitor's death. He heard his sentence with manly composure, and expressed a Christian hope that himself and those consenting to his death, might "meet together in everlasting love and happiness." Much sharper to him must have been the trial that succeeded: on his return from Westminster to the Tower, his favorite daughter Margaret (Mrs. Roper) had stationed herself at the Tower-wharf, where he had to pass: but as the melancholy procession approached, the edge of the fatal axe turned towards the illustrious condemned, her feelings could not be controlled: regardless of all, she burst through the crowd and the guards who surrounded her heroic parentshe clung to his neck-and long must her agonized cry of "My father! O, my father!" have rung in the ears of those who heard it: he songht to comfort, and be blessed her. This great man met death as a friend, on the 6th of July, 1535. We have already alluded to his fellow-sufferer, Bishop Fisher, who was executed on the 22nd of the preceding month.

It was on May-day in the year 1536, that the king, his queen, and the whole of the court were attending a tournament at Greenwich, when the king suddenly and unaccountably departed, with only six attendants, for Westminster. A council was convened that night, and on the following morning, the queen, (Ann Boleyn) her brother, Lord Rochford, together with others, were committed to the Towerthe scene, scarcely three years back, of all the splendour and triumph that could be devised to gratify that beautiful but now unhappy queen. The sequel needs no detail: two days after the headsman had released Henry from this tie, the brutal monarch married Jane Seymour.-The high court favor of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, and promoter of the protestant cause, terminated in the Tower and on the scaffold. We must not dismiss this period without allusion to the dreadful fate of the Countess of Salisbury, the last (of whole blood) of the royal line of Plantagenet, who after a close imprisonment in the Tower, under pretence of having favored the popish party, was (1541) without trial, conducted to the fatal green -the place of execution. The venerable and spirited lady refused to place her head on the block, declaring that she was no traitress. The executioner actually followed her round the platform, striking at her hoary head until she fell—in the 70th year of her age!-Henry married six wives: after living twenty years with the first, he put her away upon a pretended scruple of conscience. Upon the fate of his second, we have already touched: Jane Seymour, the third, died in childbed the year following that of her marriage: the fourth, Anne of Cleves, he divorced: Katherine Howard, the fifth, was beheaded on a charge of incontinency: but the sixth, Katherine Parr, outlived him; he died Jan. 28, 1547, in the 56th year of his age, and the 38th of his reign.

CHARLES BRANdon, Duke of Suffolk, 1520, and EDWARD CLINTON, EARL OF LINCOLN, 1530.-These suits so closely resemble the preceding, as to need no particular description.

EDWARD VI. 1552.-This is a very beautiful suit of russet armour: the peculiarity of its appearance is produced by oxydising

the metal and then smoothing its surface. The horse-armour is a complete suit and worthy of attention: it is embossed, and embellished with the badges of Burgundy and Granada.

Edward VI. succeeded his father at the tender age of nine years. By the late monarch's will, sixteen executors were appointed for the government of the king and kingdom during Edward's minority, and the Duke of Somerset placed at their head as Protector. Somerset was possessed of good qualities, which rendered him deservedly popular: his zeal, however, for the protestant cause, and a station that made him an object of perpetual jealousy, raised him a host of enemies, to whose combined machinations he at length fell a victim. He was twice a Tower-prisoner: the first time he was unexpectedly liberated; but his second imprisonment terminated on the scaffold. The principal of Somerset's enemies was Dudley, Earl of Warwick (afterwards Duke of Northumberland.) This ambitious and unprincipled man had long directed his views to the highest offices of the state, and the course of his ambition involved many in ruin. The most illustrious of these victims will long excite interest and sympathy-the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey; who yielding to his selfish importunity, suffered herself, upon Edward's decease, to be proclaimed as queen; a measure which caused her death and that of her husband-both suffered in one day upon the fatal green! The "ill-weav'd ambition' of Northumberland led him to the same fate-he also perished on the scaffold.

FRANCIS HASTINGS, EARL OF HUNTINGDON, 1555, temp. Mary. This is a suit of plate armour richly gilt. The weight of the body armour is upwards of 100 lbs. of which the helmet weighs 14 lbs.

Upon the accession of Mary, the Bishops Gardiner, Day, and Tonstal, with the Dutchess of Somerset (all imprisoned in the preceding reign) were released from the Tower, but were too quickly succeeded by others. We have already alluded to the fate of Lady Jane Grey; indeed, it has been supposed that the queen had originally no intention of extreme measures in this case; but that the Wyat rebellion was adduced as an argument in favor of the cruel policy ultimately adopted: Bishop Gardiner and Cardinal Pole are said to have been the principal advocates for those violent proceedings. The prisons in the Tower during this reign were occupied chiefly by those attached to the protestant cause: offences against the royal person appear to have been less regarded in Mary's time, than those which arose from differences upon religious points; and future martyrs tenanted these gloomy dungeons, and endured the sharp trials of the torture-chamber, preparatory to their final immolation. The fierce persecution in this reign needs no detail.

ROBERT DUDLEY, EARL OF LEICESTER, 1560, temp. Eliz.— This splendid tournament suit is allowed, beyond doubt, to have belonged to the celebrated court favourite whose name is attached to it; originally it was gilt: the square-toed solleret is abandoned, and the round-toed is adopted. This suit weighs about 87 lbs.

SIR HENRY LEA, 1570.-He was Champion to queen Elizabeth and Master of the Armories. The suit in which he is represented has nothing to distinguish it from others already noticed.

ROBERT DEVEREUX, EARL OF ESSEX, 1581, temp. Eliz.This suit is richly engraved and gilt, and was worn by the champion at the coronation of George II. The bridle is remarkable for the length of the cheeks of the bit.

The period now represented is one of peculiar interest in connexion with the Tower. Its annals have hitherto been chiefly characteristic of the frailty of human greatness-striking illustrations of absolute monarchy, which occasioned an almos certain transition from the court to the prison-from the prison to the scaffold