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or thence supplied at various times, from an early period ; and some account of these is given by Mr. Hewitt, in his useful hand-book, which we have taken occasion elsewhere to com- mend to the notice of our readers^[1]. Amongst these records may be cited particularly the "Inventory of Ordenaunce, munition and other goods, belonging to our late soverayne Lorde, King Henry VII," as examined by commissioners appointed by Edward VI. on his accession, in 1547. The original MS., formerly in the possession of Gustavus Brander, is now in the library of the Society of Antiquaries^[2], and the entries relating to the Tower are given, with the munitions of various fortresses, in Sir Samuel Meyrick's Critical Enquiry^[3]. None of the suits, however, described in the following survey, as having belonged to sovereigns and great personages, are mentioned in that document ; the only armour named as then existing in the Tower being brigandines, variously arrayed, and defences known as "miliars' coats."

It has not been satisfactorily ascertained at what period, or by whose direction, any collection of remarkable armours and Weapons was formed at the Tower, or became a military display, similar to those armories in foreign parts, which already began to claim the notice of the curious, in the sixteenth century. Sir Samuel Meyrick is disposed to associate the name of Henry VIII. with those of Maximihan, Charles V., and Erancis I., as the sovereigns to whom the foundation of the armories of Europe is to be attributed^[4] Positive evidence does not appear to have been adduced, but it may readily be supposed that either at Windsor, or in the Green Gallery at Greenwich, the favourite scene of the splendid festivities of Henry's reign, some display of martial equipments might have been commenced^[5]. One of the earliest armories of note in Germany appears to have been that formed by the archduke Ferdinand II., at the castle of Ambras, near Inspruck, during the reign of Elizabeth, about 15G0. The invitations personally addressed on that occasion by the archduke to the princes and distinguished military characters of the age, requesting them to contribute suits which they had worn, would naturally