23 



warfare, including a curious carved shield, made of a solid 

 piece of wood, a club, a waddy, &c. 



The President read some interesting statements, copied 

 from MSS. in the British Museum, consisting of letters 

 addressed by Henry VIII. to Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet 

 and statesman, and friend of Surrey. 



Dr, Moffatt read an extract of a letter from Sir James 

 Emerson Tennent, noticing some discoveries of Mr. Lane 

 in an Arabic MS. which were likely not only to reconcile 

 the Mosaic statements with modern Geology, but to make 

 them confirmatory of it. 



THE PAPER FOR THE EVENING WAS: 



" THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH ARMOUR."— By Mr. Pidgeon. 



Mr. Pidgeon then read the first portion of a paper on 

 " The History of English Armour, from the Conquest to 

 the time of Henry the Eighth." 



As it will be impossible to illustrate this subject by the 

 very numerous sketches and diagrams which Mr. Pidgeon 

 had prepared for the occasion, we must give a mere outline 

 of the paper. 



He said : The present age is remarkable for the atten- 

 tion which is paid to the remains of ancient art, and for 

 the diligence and care with which the literary and artistic 

 works of the Middle Ages are collected, studied, and 

 classified. We now view the relics of past times as impor- 

 tant objects of study — as undeniable contemporary evidence 

 of the great events they were intended to commemorate. 

 Unfortunately, this change in our estimate of such works 

 is of comparatively recent growth. It is but little more 

 than half a century since Gough published the great work 

 which, perhaps, more than any other, called the public 

 attention to the subject of this paper; and it is since that 

 time that Mr. Craven has begun to collect impressions from 

 monumental brasses — a pursuit now keenly and success- 

 fully followed by anticpiaries in all parts of the kingdom. 



Had this subject at an earlier period engaged the 

 attention of the learned, what treasures of ancient art 

 might have been preserved. How many splendid memorials 

 of distinguished families might have been rescued from 

 mutilation or destruction. How many lights might have 

 been thrown on obscure points of history and genealogy. 

 How clear a view might we have obtained of the progress 

 of domestic industry, of manners and customs, of the 

 progress of the arts, &c, 



