was accustomed to make: following his true instinct of the artist he decorated the pommel with the coat of arms and the initials of the abbot. Despite the poor condition of the blade and the late addition of a very unsuitable velvet-covered grip, this is certainly the finest sword of its kind we are acquainted with, not only in Great Britain, but even in foreign collections.
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Fig. 642. Sword
Middle of XVth century
No. 36, Wallace Collection
An interesting sword (Fig. 640), which can be safely assigned to the first quarter of the XVth century, is now to be seen in the Pyx Chapel, in the Abbey church of Westminster. It was found when alterations were being made in the chapter-*house in 1840. The blade is broad and tapering, the quillons flat and drooping slightly downwards; while the pommel is heavily proportioned and of wheel form. From the place of its discovery it is not unreasonable to attribute it to English manufacture; but just such another hilt, though of finer workmanship, is in the Royal Armoury, Madrid. The blade of the Madrid example, which is of different type, having the central ridge, is also finely etched with inscriptions. The hilt also retains part of the original grip (Fig. 641).
A type of sword somewhat different, but still exhibiting great simplicity in form, is to be seen in the Wallace Collection, No. 36 (Fig. 642). The pommel and quillons are of gilded bronze, the former being of fish-tail form. The section of the base of the pommel is continued in the formation of the grip. The blade is 35 inches long, being of flattened diamond shaped section and tapering acutely towards the point. M. Viollet-le-Duc illustrates this sword in his Dictionnaire Raisonné du Mobilier Français, but assigns to it a rather too early date. It doubtless belongs to the middle of the XVth century and is probably Italian. Among the beautiful swords left to the Musée de Cluny by M. Edouard de Beaumont, is one which is almost the companion to the Wallace sword in its general form; but it must be con-
