Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/340

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has also lions' masks upon it, Mr. ffoulkes' ingenious theory has some force. It is, however, a very remarkable thing that, despite the fact that it is so unlike any other suit with which we are acquainted in the Tower Collection, we can find no definite description of it in any of the inventories, unless the following item in the 1660 inventory has reference to it: "Upon a horse statue of wood, one compleat tilt armor cap-a-pe, richly guilt, part engraven, part damasked, made for Prince Henry, with two gauntlets and one guilt grand-guard, the horse furniture being one shaffroone of the same sort, one old leather sadle and bitt."

Fig. 1061. Suit of armour for a youth

Probably of French workmanship under Italian influence, late XVIth or early XVIIth century. Tower of Londonass, Class II, No. 89

In the 1676 inventory is the same entry, which reappears in the inventory and valuation of 1688, where the value of the suit is placed at £208. We cannot help thinking, however, that vague and undescriptive as are the old inventories, some allusion, however slight, would have been made to its remarkable decoration if this entry really had reference to the lion suit; so that although we give the quotation from the 1660 inventory as we find it, we have little or no belief that it has reference to the lion suit. To the idea of it being a suit made for Prince Henry the objection can be raised that it is too large if compared with any of those which there is reason to believe were his property; moreover there is no grand-guard, unless the reinforcing breastplate could be construed as being that plate. To the fact that the suit now possesses