Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 5).djvu/128

Belluno, Andrea, or even that of Giandonato Ferrara, appears on them, and sometimes the word Houndsloe. This latter inscription denotes their provenance to be that of a factory of bladesmiths in that outlying district of London, in which blades signed by a certain Johannes Hoppie were made. Hounsloe blades^[1] are occasionally met with; take for instance a fine slender mid-XVIIth century blade in the collection of Mr. W. H. Fenton. In 1636 Benjamin Stone, blade-maker, of Hounslow Heath, states that he has, at his own charge of £6,000, perfected the art of blade-making, and that he can make "as good as any that are made in the Christian world." This factory at Hounslow did a good deal of work for the Parliamentary forces at the time of the Civil War. Back-edged sword blades signed Hounsloe are not so rare, though they seldom bear the name of a maker, while on curved hanger blades we have often noted the name of Hounsloe, though as a rule in connection with the name of Kennet; for example, one in Mr. Fenton's Collection inscribed John Kennet Hounsloe 1655, and another in Mr. Ramsbottom's Collection, Johannes Kinndt Hounsloe 1634; but to the best of our recollection we have seen only one long slender rapier blade that can be ascribed to the Hounslow factory to which we have referred.

Fig. 1525. "Hanger" or cutlass

Probably of German workmanship, about 1640.

Collection: the late Mr. E. J. Brett

Fig. 1526. Cutlass hilt

Of chiselled steel. Signed: Pietro Ancino da Reggio. About 1680.

(a) View in profile

(b) View of the shell. Ex collection: Baron de Cosson

But to return to the hilts of the curved XVIIth century swords. Occa-*

1. Cf. vol. i, p. lxiii