8 
January, 1 914 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
which shed a subdued and mellow light upon the long gal- 
lery, where, upon old tables, are spread many wonderful 
pieces of armor, trophies of war, the chase, or perhaps of 
tournaments centuries ago. Here, too, are several old stat- 
uettes of wood or of metal, some of men who were warriors 
as well as saints, and who battled with men as well as fought 
for heaven. Against the walls of this quaint and mediaeval 
room are placed old carved Gothic cabinets or cupboards 
of oak now dark with age, and several old paintings and 
tapestries lend a glow of color to the stone walls upon which 
they are hung. 
In the armory there are also several complete suits of 
armor, and within a few of them are effigies so skillfully 
arranged and so lifelike in appearance that one half expects 
to be saluted by an armed retainer of the castle. A mag- 
nificent and entirely complete set of equestrian armor is 
mounted upon the effigy of a horse which is almost covered 
by the velvet and embroidered trappings, the making of 
which, history and romance lead us to believe, occupied 
much of the time of the mistress of a castle and her maidens. 
From the appearance of the horse, fully covered and 
armed, and ridden by an effigy of his master, also armed 
and spurred and with vizor drawn down over the face, and 
with the bird of victory perched upon the helmet, one may 
gather a fair idea of the dignity and impressive grandeur 
of the castle’s lord when in the full panoply of battle he led 
his warriors forth. 
Overhead, hung from the vaulted ceiling, are many battle 
flags — banners stained and tattered and marked with the 
arms of medieval knights and of half-forgotten principali- 
ties, which bear a mute but eloquent testimony to the days 
of service in camp or upon the battlefield which they have 
seen. 
Aside from the value of the armor as aiding to create a 
highly picturesque and decorative setting for the life of a 
great city residence the collection possesses a high impor- 
tance to the student of history or to anyone interested in 
the metal smiths of the middle ages and their work. I he 
armorer, a pastmaster in the intricacies of his craft, was a 
personage of much consequence at any court or castle of 
mediaeval days. His glowing furnaces and the well-directed 
blows upon the anvil of his trained workers produced the 
trusty swords and the heavy armor in which the castle’s 
defenders were almost invulnerable to attack. The working 
of iron into steel and the welding and forging of steel into 
arms, tested and tempered, was an art of practical necessity 
in earlier days, and the armor which came from their forges 
is the treasure of museums to-day. 
At one side of the armory is a great Gothic chimney-piece 
of stone, and the light from its deep fireplace illumines what 
is a strange assemblage of the fragments of the life of other 
centuries and ages ago, and what seems to be a chapter from 
the history of romance and chivalry set forth upon a spot 
which was all but unknown when the armor and the battle- 
Hags which are here brought together saw their days of 
glory upon the field, or about old battlemented portals. 
