13. The Armory.
The spoils of the Spanish Armada are still shown in the Tower. There are, amongst them, several kinds of arms and instruments of cruelty, designed for torturing their English prisoners; and the following list of them will prove the barbarity of Spain at that period.
THE SPOILS OF THE SPANISH ARMADA.
1. The pope’s banner, by him blessed and declared invincible.
2. A battle-axe for penetrating steel armour.
3. A spadole, used as a small sword, the point poisoned.
4. An anchove, for hooking men off their horses.
5. A lance.
6. A lance, with the current coin on the head.
7. A Spanish morning star: the points were poisoned, to keep people from boarding ships.
8. A lance, which the Spaniards vauntingly said was for bleeding the English.
9. A battle-axe with a pistol at the end.
10. A battle-axe.
11. A Spanish bilbo, to lock the English by the legs.
12. A thumb-screw, an instrument of torture.
13. A Spanish instrument of torture, called the cravat.
14. A Spanish shield with a pistol fixed in it.
15. A battle-axe, or scull-cracker, to make four holes at a blow.
16. The Spanish general’s shield of honour.
17. Spike-shot.
18. Bar-shot.
The figure of Queen Elizabeth in armour, forms a proper addition to the collection. She stands in a spirited attitude, by a cream-coloured horse, attended by her page. The axe that beheaded the unfortunate Ann Boleyn, wife of the cruel King Henry the Eighth, is also shown here. The small armoury contains stands of arms for one hundred thousand men, tastefully arranged in a variety of figures. The apartment is three hundred and forty-five feet in length, and is thought to exceed every thing of the kind in Europe.