THE SWORDS OF MODERN WARRIORS. BY ERNEST W. Low. "The voice of every people is the sword E must be a very bigoted or ficial study of that history this fact is Remembering this, it is not difficult to understand the feeling with which men regarded the weapon in the days when the world was young, and when the discoveries of science to provide still more powerful instruments of destruction were as yet undreamed of. The sword in those primitive days was not looked upon as an abstraction, but as a wondrously endowed personality, having the passions and the virtues of a human being as well as the higher attributes of the gods ! It was the earliest symbol of might and majesty. Who does not remember the terrible power of the sword of Odin, so graphically depicted in the Sagas, some vestige of which remains to this very day in the "Sayf Allah," signifying the "Sword of Allah," the highest title which a Moslem can bestow. To pass on from these remote times; the days of chivalry opened up a new era in the life of the sword. The sword in the hand of a chevalier or a paladin became the embodiment of a new faith-the religion of Honour. The old "consecration of valour" it was in a measure, but with a difference. The principle of those who wielded the sword in the days of the Vikings was slaughter for slaughter's sake; now the rude ancient idea of valour was to be tempered with the power of mercy and love. In this did the true difference lie, that those who wielded the sword of chivalry did so in defence of an ideal-mistaken perhaps, but still an ideal, of which we have tangible proof in the sobriquets of knightly swords, some being given feminine appellations in memory of the owner's lady-love, others dubbed by some phrase signifying the mission the bearer had undertaken to carry out. So, with slight Tennyson. variations, did it continue until the early part of the 16th century, when the sword reached the zenith of its power in Europe, and from which time the art of fence may be said to date. It may offend our feeling of national pride, but it must be said that in England the art never reached perfection. Indeed, anything like a scientific use of the weapon seems at all times to have been almost repugnant to us. A few gentlemen who had travelled on the Continent and taken lessons from a French or Italian professor of the art, perhaps acquired a certain amount of expertness in the management of the rapier. But the ordinary fighting man preferred to use a heavy awkward arm, such as the pike or halberd, or even a stout cudgel, with which he could lay about him in his own particular fashion rather than take the trouble to make himself master of the delicate, but far more deadly, "beautiful white weapon.” Says Sir Richard Burton in his "Book of the Sword:" "The history of the sword is that of humanity; " and humanity requires more than a magazine article or many such to do it justice! But there are in the possession of distinguished men swords which should not be without interest to the people of a nation which has ever been pre-eminent in the arts of war. Some of them have been acquired under curious circumstances and in strange lands, others will be noticeable as affording illustrations of the craftmanship of savage races, and, lastly, some have an abiding interest in the fact that they have been carried-and used by men whose deeds it is not well that we should forget. In the magnificent collection of the Duke of Cambridge there is one sword which has special claims to our regard. It was presented to the Commander-in-chief by a distinguished officer at the conclusion of the operations against China in 1864. weapon is of a peculiar shape, broad and flat, and of no great length; it has a wooden scabbard, beautifully carved with the strange beasts ordinarily associated with native The Perhaps His Royal the one which Sultan of wick Wilof his gallant mémorable where he comcontingent. curved shape, scabbard, hea gold. The the hilt are with diamonds, shape of a cross, being of exceрbeauty. The grip knob with a hole knot, and this again with a border of the stones. Sir Fenwick was deservedly proud of weapon, and inserted a clause in his will, by which, at his death, it passed into the possession of its present royal owner. SWORD LEFT TO H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE BY SIR FENWICK Another sword, of which an illustration is given, was presented to the Duke by the Shah of Persia, when he visited this country some twenty years ago. Many will remember the ceremonials that took place in connection with the visit, con The Shah was visibly impressed, and expressed his feeling of delight in a warm manner, winding up by taking off his sword on the spot, and in truly royal fashion presenting it to his host. It would be impossible to describe a tithe of His Royal Highness's swords, which are of all sorts and shapes and come from many climes. A large number have been presented to him from time to time by officers who have acquired them abroad, and the whole collection is arranged in a huge case, the general effect being a very fine one. 1 General the Right Hon. Lord Roberts, G. C. B., G. C. S. I., G.C.I.E., V.C., or, as all readers of Mr. Kipling have come to affectionately think of him, "Bobs," sets particular store upon an Afghan sword which graces his billiard-room. It is a souvenir of his father, the late General Sir Abraham Roberts, who, if he did not attain to such eminence in his profession as the hero of Kandahar, yet occupies a high position in the roll of officers who helped to establish and maintain our Indian empire. During the war which broke out in 1888, when we were engaged in prosecuting the claims of the Shah Sujah, the rightful heir to the throne, against the usurper, Dost Mahommed, Sir Abraham Roberts was in command of the former's contingent, and in 1841, when there was a lull in hostilities, he BROUGHT FROM resigned his post. This was the occasion of the presentation of the sword in question, which CAMBRIDGE'S apart from these surroundings has nothing remarkable about it. It is the ordinary sword of a native chief, having SWORD CHINA BY SIR HOPE GRANT. (DUKE OF COLLECTION.) spicuous among them being a grand review under the Commander-in-chief at Windsor. an ivory hilt and a leather scabbard, with the bands to which the rings are attached |