In the foregoing, we have merely touched upon the subject of collecting military prints, but enough has been said in these few pages to show that this branch of curio-hunting is full of fascination and deep interest and is well worth the attention, not only of readers who possess artistic feeling, but of those who are desirous of adding to their store of knowledge concerning the military dress of bygone periods. [Illustration: A SINGULAR TRAIT OF BUONAPARTE'S FAVOURITE MAMELUKE. By Cruikshank.] CHAPTER XII MEMORIAL BRASSES OF MILITARY INTEREST Classes of military brasses--Rubbings, and how to make them--Floor brasses: their characteristics--Palimpsest brasses--What may be learnt from brasses--Mural tablets In many of our churches and public buildings are to be found numerous memorial brasses which possess undoubted interest for the collector of military curios. These memorials of the dead largely fall into two classes: those which are let into floors, and those which are fixed to walls. The former class, as a rule, are of some antiquity, are memorials to individuals rather than to groups of soldiers, and are to be found almost entirely in churches. The latter class are modern, are often erected to a number of soldiers, and are located in such public buildings as town halls and guild halls as well as churches. The floor brasses, as a rule, are flat but often deeply engraved, whilst the mural tablets are lightly engraved and frequently embellished with a sculptured framework. To obtain facsimiles of memorial brasses, many collectors take "rubbings" of them, much after the fashion that children imitate coins by superimposing a sheet of paper and running a soft pencil over the covered surface. The necessary outfit for making a rubbing consists, first and foremost, of a permit obtained from the proper authorities, a supply of heel-ball, as sold by any leather dealer or cobbler, a small clothes brush, a duster, and some paper. The latter must not be too flimsy nor too stout, and it must be large enough to cover the brass. A roll of light grey wallpaper usually serves admirably, but there are times when the width of the roll is too narrow for the brass. In these cases, a full-size sheet of paper as used by printers should be procured. The first operation is to wipe away all dust and foreign matter from the metal surface; this is a very necessary precaution when the tablet is a floor-inset The next thing is to place the sheet of paper in position; if the memorial is fixed to the wall, the sheet must be held by an assistant, or at the expense of much arm-aching by the person who does the rubbing; if the tablet is let into the floor, two weights placed at the head of the brass serve the purpose admirably.