Here we see the particular object of this device: it was to act as a holy charm. In Canto 15, the boar seems also to be implied; and in this instance it is "fastened to the helm with wires." "About the crest of the helm, the defence of the head, it held an amulet fastened without with wires, that the sword, hardened with scouring, might not violently injure him when the shield-bearing warrior should go against his foes." Tacitus, in the _Germania_, has a passage curiously illustrating this superstition. The Æstii, he says, "Matrem Deum venerantur: insigne superstitionis, formas aprorum gestant. Id pro armis omnique tutelâ, securum Deæ cultorem etiam inter hostes præstat." Mr. Bateman, in opening a barrow in Derbyshire, was fortunate enough to meet with one of these Northern helms surmounted with the boar crest. The casque is made of iron and horn, with silver-headed rivets. The hog is of iron, having eyes of bronze. See Mr. Bateman's "Antiquities of Derbyshire" for a more full account of this curious relic[112]. The practice of adorning the helmet with a crest is of a very high antiquity, and is first observed among the Asiatics. The Shairetana, first enemies, then allies, of the Egyptian Pharaohs, "wore a helmet ornamented with horns, and frequently surmounted by a crest, consisting of a ball raised upon a small shaft, which is remarkable from being the _earliest instance of a crest_[113]." In the Assyrian monuments, the crested helmet is of frequent occurrence; the form of the crest being generally that of a fan, or of a curved horn, or a kind of crescent, with its cusps turned downwards. See Layard's "Nineveh and its Remains," for examples of all these. [Illustration: No. 18.]