very existence of this work is due, I am proud to admit the deepest indebtedness. The results of his learning and research, in all their thoroughness and exactitude, he has always ungrudgingly placed at my disposal. Well over a quarter of a century has passed since he and I became the closest and most affectionate of friends. Hundreds of happy hours we have spent together, he teaching and I endeavouring to learn something of the subject we both have so deeply at heart. The Baron has been my preceptor from the days of my early teens—never harassed by the eager questioning of a schoolboy, always ready to assist in any expedition where the study of arms was our goal. I can only say that it is almost entirely due to my close association with him for over twenty-five years, and to his splendid methods of expounding his knowledge, that I now feel confident to speak with authority as to the genuineness of a weapon or piece of armour.
His preface to this work, as my readers will not be long in discovering, is surely one of the happiest attempts to waken life and the humour of life among the old bones of antiquarianism.
To the researches of the late Sir William St. John Hope, three of perhaps the most interesting portions of this work owe their existence. They deal respectively with the achievements of Edward the Black Prince and of King Henry V, and with the more important State swords of England, and are entirely founded upon, and in some cases literally copied from, Sir William's illuminating accounts. It was through the kindness of their author that I have been allowed to make use of them, and here I acknowledge my indebtedness.
The Viscount Dillon, as befitted the sometime Curator of our National Armoury at the Tower of London, has written much, and with ripe scholarship, on the subject of his charge. From the many erudite articles that have come from his pen I am happy to confess that I have derived great profit.
His successor in the custodianship of the Tower Armoury is my friend, Mr. Charles ffoulkes. My debt to Mr. ffoulkes I am delighted to recall. His kindness in placing at my disposal his knowledge of the histories of the Tower Armoury has been of the greatest assistance to me. Indeed, I cannot adequately express my debt to him, for he has allowed me to consult at my leisure all the existing inventories of the Armouries of Greenwich and the Tower.
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