DUFFIELD CASTLE. I 73 



Three knives have been found. The largest of these is fifteen 



inches long, and 



(^^^^ ^^^ ^^y^ ?^ 7 ^ its h ° rn handie > 



yjv. *«»«««_, _ ^.. . # j^Qygjj separate, 



was found close 

 ii ■ ■ j ^ ^Tik.r.' & »■- *«-y*"3aq > by ; the second is 



*" 8 * eight inches in 



.^K^^^^l^ length; and the 



,.. ,. ..... smallest is five 



and a half inches. 

 4ilfc_^-il^_i> There have been 



several jests about 

 these knives from visitors since their discovery, owing to their 

 somewhat modern look ; one gentleman gravely contending that 

 they were the upset from some comparatively modern picnic-basket. 

 But they were found several feet below the surface, mingled with 

 the masonry of the keep, and there is not really the slightest doubt 

 but that they are Norman. Round the haft of each is tightly and 

 closely twisted, so as to be almost welded together, many twists of 

 bright brass wire. This is a specially Norman treatment ; an iron 

 spur of that period has been found with similar wire wound tightly 

 round it, as a kind of ornament, as well as for strengthening pur- 

 poses. The second of these four instruments in the drawing is 

 the head of a spear, not of one used in warfare, or it would have 

 been curved or shaped in some way, but of a boar or hunting 

 spear of a small description. 



Our next illustration also reminds us of the Norman Knight or 

 horseman, for it represents (half size) a horse's bridle-bit. It is 

 five inches long, and is twisted or convoluted. It is of a simple 



