164 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



munificent possessor. Two gentlemen, one of middle 

 stature, with ample chest and shoulders, and the other 

 somewhat taller, but of more slender structure, en- 

 deavoured to find armour sufficiently large to fit either 

 one or the other, and failed, in a collection where, we 

 believe, they had a choice of upwards of sixty complete 

 suits of plate, all defensive armour, which nevertheless 

 had been worn, in preceding centuries, by chivalry, 

 and persons of distinction, in England, France, Ger- 

 many, and Italy. Hence King John, Petit Jean de 

 Samtre*, the Constable of Bourbon, the Prince of Conde, 

 {" ce petit homme tant joli,") and Nicolo Piccinino, 

 were not the only valiant men of small proportions in 

 the feudal ages. At the present period, the British 

 upper classes are probably of higher stature than the 

 aristocracy of any other civilized people ; * but taken 

 nationally, the Prussian, and all the fair-haired natives 

 of the north-west of Europe, are of greatest height, 

 since the standard size for the military service is above 

 that of any other people in Europe. Northern Chinese, 

 or Highland Tahtars, we have been informed by a 

 general officer, who served in the late war, were found 

 to be fully equal, in stature and bulk, to our stoutest 

 grenadiers; but we have since learned, from another 

 officer, that when these men appeared on the field, 



* Mr. Laurence, in his work on the Natural History of 

 Man, may have easily found Englishmen of six feet and 

 more in height, and Negroes below that standard ; but had 

 he visited tropical market places, and compared the stature 

 of our planters and sailors by that of the Negroes, he woi; 

 most likely have found the white men the smallest 



