Defensive armour may be considered as now totally laid aside, unless, as we have understood, the open hel met has, very recently, been assumed by the French im perial guard. The gorget, the only part retained in Bri tain, is a mere ornament, or worn as a badge of distinc tion by officers. We cannot view the monstrous, ill &wised, and cumbrous caps of the cavalry, in the light of a genuine helmet. Surely it would require little in vention to contrive a better safeguard for the head, and one less injurious to the wearer. It has generally been concluded, that the eradication of armour has ensued from the universal use of fire-arms. Perhaps it may be so : but we are prone to ascribe it also to the love of novelty, to that incessant change of customs evinced by nations truly civilized, and more especially by the inha bitants of these islands. Whether it would be expe dient to revive any part of the ancient armour, unques tionably merits consideration. A commander of emi nence, in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, attempted to render the use of shields general, when almost totally laid aside on the continent and it may safely be asked, Whether, at the present period, half the weight of the helmet of the British cavalry might not be usefully transferred to a shield or breastplate? Armour, it is true, would present a fruitless obstacle to to cannon balls : but how few soldier; fall by them in action. If only one musket ball in forty takes effect, even with a ready aim, and if only one in four hundred is fatal, according to the computation of distinguished military characters, the destruction of cannon must be small in comparison. There are two points which we
acknowledge our wish to see deliberately discussed : First, considering the wonderful improvement of the arts, what is the least weight of which a coat of mail could be made, sufficient to resist musket balls ? And, secondly, whether it would not be beneficial to guard the more vulnerable parts of the body, those easily sus ceptible of lethal wounds, by some impenetrable ob stacle ? We apprehend that a metallic plate of extreme thinness, and well tempered, if externally coated with a soft substance, such as leather, gradually dimini-oring the force, will present a more powerful resistance than can easily be conceived.
See Daniel, Histoire de la Malec Fran Poise. Froissart, Histoire et Chronigue. Fauchet de la Mince et des Armes. Grose on Ancient Armour. Barbour's Life of Robert the Bruce. Strutt on the Dress and Habits of the Peo ple of England. Gough's Sepulchral Monuments. Plu tarch in Vita Alexandri. Du Cange Glossarium. Pat ten's Expedition of the Duke of Somerset into Scotland, 1547. Collins's Account of Botany Bay, vol. i. Wnite's Voyage to De Lagoa Bay. Meares' Voyage to the North west Coast of America. La Billiardiere Voyage in search of Perouse. Dixon's Voyage. Woodard's Narra tive. (c)