1, 2, 3. Suggested reinforcements of chain mail by leather thongs. 4. Rings covered with leather; 5, section of same. 6. Meyrick’s suggestion; 7, section of same. 8. From _Romance of Alexander_, Bib. Nat., Paris, _circ._ 1240. 9. Effigy at Newton Solney, Derbs; 10, section of same.] An important point on all representations of banded mail is that, when part of the garment is shown turned back, the back is the same as the front. The most practical suggestion was put forward by the late J. G. Waller,[70] who considered that it was simply chain mail with leather thongs threaded through every row or every alternate row of links. This would give a solidity to an otherwise too-pliant fabric, and would keep the mail in its place, especially on the arms and legs. It would also show the same arrangement of rings back and front. The drawing from the _Romance of Alexander_ goes far to prove that Waller’s theory is the right one, for here the thongs are not shown on hands and head, where greater pliability of the mail was required, and yet these defences appear to be part of the same garment which shows the “banded” lines. It is almost superfluous to add that no specimen of this kind of defence survives to-day, but Oriental mail is sometimes found stiffened in this manner with leather thongs. The wearing of mail survived longer than is generally supposed. Holinshed, writing in 1586 (page 90 of the present work), mentions shirts of mail as part of the ordinary equipment of the foot-soldier. On Plate 8 of Derricke’s _Image of Ireland_ the mounted officer wears mail sleeves, and in an inventory of Hengrave Hall, Suffolk, taken in 1603, we find gorgets and shirts of mail, and barrels for cleaning the same. Edward Davies, writing in 1619 (_The Art of Warre_), distinctly states that the arquebussiers wore a shirt of mail (see page 115). [Illustration: _PLATE XII_ ARMOUR PRESENTED TO HENRY VIII BY THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN, MADE BY CONRAD SEUSENHOFER, 1514] The Brigandine and splinted armour were made by riveting small plates or horizontal lames on to a fabric foundation. In the former the fabric was outside, and rich ornamentation was obtained by the gilt rivet-heads which held the plates to the outer covering (see page 150). In the latter case the metal was on the outside and was riveted on to a foundation of linen. In some cases the rows of small plates are divided by strips of fine mail. There was no particular craft needed in making the brigandine, but the metal used was often of proof and was marked with the maker’s name to attest it. As may be seen on Plate XI and Fig. 36, the small plates of the brigandine are wider at the top than at the bottom, and overlap upwards. The reason for this is that the human torse is narrower at the waist than at the chest, and the plates could not overlap each other and yet conform to the lines of the figure if they overlapped downwards.