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Fig. 1426. Chanfron

Belonging to the suit worn by Henry, Prince of Wales, illustrated in Fig. 1425. Collection: H.M. the King, Windsor Castle

as a present to the Prince by Henri IV of France under the charge of M. St. Anthoine. M. St. Anthoine remained in the service of Prince Henry in this country. On the death of the Prince, at whose burial service he led a "mourning great horse," he was made Equerry to Charles I. In the splendid portrait by Sir Antony Vandyck in the Vandyck Room of Windsor Castle, which represents King Charles I on horseback, M. St. Anthoine figures as the bearer of the King's helmet. This little suit, attractive only in its shape and pretty proportions, is an example of the rapid deterioration that took place in the armourer's craft as the XVIIth century dawned; it is carelessly made and ill-finished. The general carriage of the suit is good, as it is fashioned on the lines of a graceful French model seen at its best in the case of the armour of Louis XIII (Fig. 1450); but the poor, thin material of which it is made and the general tendency in its manufacture to skimp all work that involves trouble quite outbalance its "prettiness." The whole surface is divided into radiating bands, simple narrow ones dividing those of greater width. They are etched and gilt with duplicated laurel wreaths containing alternately figures classical and emblematical and groups of arms; while at given intervals hand mirrors appear decked with feathers and groups of tongue-like flames. The groundwork to these designs is worked to a matted surface. All the exposed steel surfaces are blued. The armour is furthermore profusely studded with hemispherically-headed rivets, each capped with brass or latten. The suit comprises the breast-*plate of narrow, peascod form, the backplate, attached to which by a screw is a deep garde-de-rein, the gorget, full arms and pauldrons, the inner bend of the arm being protected by laminated plates, gauntlets with bell-shaped cuffs and fingers, and long tassets of fifteen plates attached to the taces by a large screw and nut. The tassets are detachable at the eleventh plate, and could be worn without the knee-cops or genouillères; the latter have a rosette impressed upon their principal plate. The skull-piece of the close helmet is made in two halves and joined at the comb. To the apex of this was screwed an ornamental finial which is now missing. The visor and bevor face-guard are pierced on either side with a circular arrangement of holes for breathing purposes. There is a single deep gorget plate, and a tubular plume-holder