since it is apparently of French workmanship, we will next allude to a most beautiful sword (Fig. 1361) in the Royal Armoury of Windsor (No. 65 in the 1904 catalogue). This weapon, by far the finest in the Royal Armoury in point of design and workmanship, has always been reputed to come from the hand of Benvenuto Cellini, and as such is illustrated in Plon's work on that master. Splendid, however, as is the quality of the chiselling, and excellent as is the design, this attribution cannot for one moment be sustained. The Windsor sword in no way resembles the often over-*charged later works of Cellini. In the fashion and decoration of the hilt, which, at the earliest, cannot be placed before 1570, the year before Cellini's death, it shows none of the characteristics which his work at this stage of his career displayed, the stage in which he transgressed the limits of true taste by indulging in an over-abundance of caryatids, of strapwork, and a general exuberance of adornment. The pommel is of flattened pear-shaped form, the grip is cylindrical, swelling in the centre, the quillons are slightly curved, a ring-guard is attached to the end of the pas-d'âne. The whole hilt is finely chiselled in low relief with subjects chosen from the life of David—his slaying the lion, his cutting off the head of Goliath, his coronation as King of Israel. The quillons terminate in the figures of Fame and of Time. Other portions of the hilt are chiselled to depict satyrs, nude figures, herms, and foliage of minute and exquisite design; some details of the figures, such as their armour, are damascened with gold. The blade is of flattened diamond section, stamped on the ricasso with the Solingen bladesmith's mark, a unicorn's head—the mark of Clemens Horn. The scabbard, of which there is a record in the Carlton House Inventory, is now unfortunately lost; it was of black leather, with a ferrule mount of steel, embossed and chased with figures. This sword was presented to George III in 1807 by Mr. Walsh Porter as having belonged to the illustrious English patriot, John Hampden. It is quite possible that the weapon may have been his property; for, during his early years, Hampden is said to have lived the fashionable life of men of large fortune of the time. He was born in 1594, so it would be about the year 1612, seven years before his marriage, that "he consorted with men of fashion," and probably acquired and wore the weapon in question. It must, however, soon have been laid aside; for about 1620 Hampden adopted the religious principles and severe habits of the Puritans, and became noted for "an extraordinary sobriety and strictness," with which the wearing of such an enriched weapon would have been out of all keeping. We have ventured to suggest a French nationality for this fine
