290 NOTICES OP FOREIGN SEPULCHRAL BRASSES. might be cited, such as the fine weapon in the Tower Armory, impressed with an eagle, and the Avords avtcarii . GLADivs; several German blades in the Goodrich Court Armory, represented in Skelton's " Illustrations ; " the sword of Francois I. at Paris, on which is written '■Fecit 'potcnciam in hrachio stio ;" and the precious relic of Bayard, of which Sir John Boileau is the possessor, en- graved with devices and mottos. A curious inscribed sword of the fourteenth century, found in 1826 in the bed of the river Witham, about seven miles below Lincoln, was presented to the Institute by R, Swan, Esq., during the meeting in that city. It is here represented. The cha- racters, hitherto unexplained, and the ornaments on the other side of the blade, are of yellow metal, supposed to be gold, inlaid and hammered into the steel.^ At the Cathedral of Zurich there is a curious sculpture, for a note of which I am in- debted to Mr. Hewitt. It represents two combatants ; their head-pieces with nasals. On the sword of one is the name Gvmo. The position of Willem Wenemaer's left hand renders the precise form of the shield somewhat questionable ; but it certainly has the appearance of being slightly heart-shaped, — a form of rare occurrence, even on the Continent, and of which I have hitherto noticed no ex- ample in England. It appears to have escaj)ed the researches of the late M. Allou, no such shield being figured in the series forming the illustrations of his useful monograph on " Boiicliers-emis" ^ In illumhiated MSS., however, of the thir- teenth century it may occasionally be noticed, usually accompanied by the singular fashion of R Ancient inscribed sword found in tlio Witliain. Length 18 inches.
- See an account of the discovery of
this and other remains in the Witham, Gent. Mag. vol. xcvi., part ii., p. 300. ^ Memoires de la Soc. des Antiqu. de France, N. S. torn, iii., p. 285.
