They Show Us Also Some Other Arms, Which Are Only Remarkable
For The Use They Have Been Put To; As
The two swords of state,
carried before the Pretender when he invaded Scotland in the year
1715; and the arms
Taken from the Spaniards who landed in Scotland
in the year 1719, &c.
The small arms were placed in this beautiful order by one Mr.
Harris, originally a blacksmith, who was properly the forger of his
own fortune, having raised himself by his merit: he had a place or
pension granted him by the government for this piece of service in
particular, which he richly deserved, no nation in Europe being able
to show a magazine of small arms so good in their kind, and so
ingeniously disposed. In the place where the armoury now stands was
formerly a bowling-green, a garden, and some buildings, which were
demolished to make room for the grand arsenal I have been
describing.
In the horse-armoury the most remarkable things are some of the
English kings on horseback in complete armour, among which the chief
are Edward III., Henrys V. and VII., King Charles I. and II., and
King William, and a suit of silver armour, said to belong to John of
Gaunt, seven feet and a half high. Here also they show us the
armour of the Lord Kingsale, with the sword he took from the French
general, which gained him the privilege of being covered in the
king's presence, which his posterity enjoy to this day.
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