But what have we to tell of the men who were content to hammer and chase iron to produce those masterpieces such as the suits of armour in the Louvre, and so many others which enrich our Museum of Artillery? Arc not those damascened works too worthy of mention in which, by incrusting silver and gold in the iron, manufactures in that material were brought to such a height of perfection as to rival the choicest works of the goldsmith. This art is not of modern invention : the Greeks were acquainted with it, and Glaucus of Chios owes to it his renown. Brought back to us, beyond all doubt, by way of the East and through the Arabs, it retained in its various names traces of this derivation. Italy called the first artists who practised it azziminists, and the productions themselves "lavori all' algeminia" or "azzimina;" the former word we derive from the Persian "al agem," just as "alia damaschina" means in the manner of Damascus. Nothing contributes more to the beauty of arms than this work, which brings out on the iron broad surfaces of gold and silver, which engraving heightens by its patient details, sometimes so minute and delicate as to rival the finest lace. Here, on a corselet of black iron, divided into compartments by ingenious arabesques, the ground is as it were overrun by a damask of slender foliage, which imparts to the surface a greyish tint from which the figures of Minerva, Mars, and Fame stand vigorously out. There silver banners in ample folds float above a confused crowd of combatants, with decorated cuirasses, whose fiery horses, some white inlaid in silver, others yellow with lights of gold, throw into the composition touches of colour which transform it into a real painting. One must not overlook the shield, purchased at the sale of San Donato, a masterpiece signed by its designer and maker, Giorgio Ghisi of Mantua, and dated 1554, with its magnificent arabesques, which enclose within their meanders microscopic subjects, and which frame superb figures, vigorous masks, and garlands laden with fruit, forming the most harmonious composition. Nor was Ghisi one of the first promoters of this style: Venice had seen Paolo immortalise his name by his damascened productions; from 1520 Brescia had hailed the appearance of Serafino, and the same city was to produce Francesco Garbugnani, who worked for Louis XIV. At Milan was a Pleiad; Luccio Piccinino and Bernardo Civo wrought for the Farnese, Romero for Alfonso of Este; then we have Gio Pietro Figino, Francesco Pillizzone, Martin Ghinello, Bartolomeo Piatti; Ferrante Bellino, and Pompeo Turcone. This art added France to its number, and Cursinet worked at it for Henri IV.; Jean Petit resided at the Lcuvre in 1608, and Henri Petit in 1637.

Can we wonder at this studied elegance when we look back upon the luxury displayed in public ceremonials, upon the great State displays? Tilting armour required no less than that for the field a solidity incompatible with these elaborate refinements, one appreciates this fact on merely glancing at the corslets and helmets in the collections of Nieuwerkerke, Riggs, Spitzer, etc. As to shields, one knows that they had ceased to form a part of defensive armour towards the end of the fifteenth century, from the moment when the suit itself became defensive by the perfect closing of the whole. The shields were relegated to the hands of the esquires on those occasions of ceremonial when the great lords appeared in arms, and it is easily understood how they came to be viewed as evidence, by their richness, of the rank of those before whom they were carried. Thus it is that the Galerie d'Apollon shows us the splendid suit of enamelled gold of Charles IX., affecting the shapes thenceforth discarded, and transformed into a true masterpiece of the goldsmith's art, in which the chasing, and the various vitrified works, whether cloisonne or " a paillons," set off the brilliancy of the steel. The helmets, as regards art, do not go much farther back than the sixteenth century: a few war head-pieces are indeed to be met with, both elegant and curious, with the pointed mezail, the wreathed crest; but it is especially among the burgonets and the morions that true works of art are discoverable. The burgonet, a light head-piece without the mezail, and having a round crown surmounted by a crest, a small vizor, couvre-nuque, and oreillettes or ear-guards, lends itself to the most charming ornamental conceptions; covered with foliage relieved by figures, it is often enhanced by fantastic representations, such as the winged chimera carved upon the helmet of Francis I. Sometimes the crest itself took the shape of a lion's head, or of a dragon; even that of a man crowned with laurel. In some specimens, the regular ornamental design leaves large medallions whereon are depicted, in bas-relief, religious, mythological, or warlike subjects. These reliefs are generally set off by a gilt ground; and, occasionally, found in combination with rich damascenings.

The morion, of a form not so antique, with its raised crown, its prominent crest, its rim turned down at the sides, and peaked in front and behind in a boat-shape, afforded less complete protection; it is often extremely graceful in contour. The golden helmet of Charles IX. is of this shape. With the burgonet, it forms the natural ornament of trophies.

With these, words are the necessary accompaniments. We know what was their primitive form: the straight blade, diminishing in width to the point, was formed to strike with the edge; the hilt, furnished with a cross-piece, traversed by its horizontal guard (quillon) had for pommel, a roundel, which often served as a signet or seal.

This shape underwent modification along with the defensive armour. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, swords, intended to thrust, were long, rigid, sharp; the hilt more complicated by the addition of two or three guards joined at the top, then the guard called "pas d'dne," then secondary guards sometimes united at the pommel. It is about the middle of the sixteenth century that the arrangement of the rapier hilt begins, which, later, was to develop until it reached those shell or cup guards, which, either plain or perforated with elaborate workmanship, enveloped the whole hand, and completely protected it.