A fitting conclusion to this chapter is, surely, a tribute to the armourers and founders and smiths of the Middle Ages, who worked so conscientiously and made their work lasting. It has retained its beauty and much of its ancient finish, notwithstanding atmospheric influences; indeed, some of it gained added beauty by oxidation. VI LATER METAL-WORK [Illustration: FIG. 12.--BRASS _COUVRE DE FEU_, A RARE EARLY PIECE.] (_In the Chadwick Museum, Bolton._) CHAPTER VI LATER METAL-WORK The influence of the Guilds--Architectural metal-work--The door knocker--Interior metal-work. In all branches of art there seems to be a break between the earlier mediæval and the later art which was the outcome to some extent of the great Renaissance or revival which swept over the Continent of Europe and brought with it such a change in everything appertaining to the beautiful. Whilst mediæval metal-workers produced grand examples full of design and ornament, influenced by the touch with Eastern nations which the Crusaders gave them, the later smiths and founders gradually evolved styles of their own, more English to our ideas. The Renaissance with its wealth of ornament did not so much apply to copper and brass as it did to the metal-work of the smith who forged that which was beautiful and ornate in iron on his anvil. Yet some of those florid designs were reproduced by the brassfounder. After the Restoration the art treasures which had been destroyed during the Commonwealth were replaced, as evidenced by the Regalia in the Tower, where there is so much silver-gilt and gold plate which represents the more decorative art of that period. In that famous collection of national Regalia, symbols of office, and vessels used on rare occasions, there is the alms-dish used for the distribution of the King's doles on Maundy Thursday. It bears the Royal cipher of William and Mary, and contrasts with the other plate in that it is remarkably plain, typical in its decoration with the earlier metal-work of the days of Queen Anne and those years which immediately followed her reign. When we walk through some of the once select, although now not much used, thoroughfares in London and admire the stately old houses which may be seen still in some of the Metropolitan squares, especially in the open thoroughfare known as Queen Anne's Gate, we are inclined to wonder whether after all "Queen Anne is dead." That hackneyed expression used in a humorous sense at times is certainly not true in so far as the remarkable developments in building operations and the characteristic decorations of Queen Anne's day live still not only in the old houses which are still undisturbed, but in the designs and characteristic patterns which were then adopted by metal-workers and others, their beauty and grace being recognized to such an extent that they are to-day among the much copied antiques. The Influence of the Guilds.