After the commencement of the seventeenth century, it becomes more difficult to fix approximate dates for swords with any precision, and many weapons are freely attributed to that century which really belong to the eighteenth. It is the blade that bears the stamp, and many blades were transferred to other hilts; besides, the armourer was often permitted to give considerable rein to his fancy, and not unfrequently reverted to older forms. As in armour, it is an uncommon advantage to meet with weapons with the date inscribed, although, of course, many armourers’ marks serve this purpose, when they can still be deciphered; still, their presence is rarely conclusive without general characteristics being also taken into account. The complete transformation of the sword may be said to have been effected during the eighteenth century, since which time it cannot be said to have advanced either in balance or general efficiency. Very little is known as to the early history of sword-making in England, but Sheffield was a very early centre for the industry. It was not until towards the end of the last century that English-made swords established their reputation as the best in Europe, when in an order for the East India Company, 2,650 English swords were tested in the machine already referred to in these pages, and only four failed to bear the test; while out of 1,428 German swords as many as twenty-eight were rejected. PART XVII. THE DAGGER. The dagger is a short sword in great variety of form; it is a weapon for thrusting only. We meet with it in the ages of “stone” and “bronze,” and it was in use among almost all the great nations of antiquity. The scramasax, a short two-handed sword or dagger, is an ancient Germanic weapon of varying length. In form it resembles a single-edged cutlass. There are examples in some of the German museums; one was found in a barrow near Andernach. Mr. John Hewitt, in his work on _Ancient Armour and Weapons_, refers to a dagger preserved in Durham Cathedral, which was supposed to have belonged to Bishop Anthony Bek in 1283, bearing the inscription “Anton Eps Dunholm.” This is doubtless the dagger now at Auckland, which was exhibited to the members of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Society at the Castle on the 28th December, 1892. The blade, which seems originally to have been longer, is now eighteen inches in length; while the haft measures five inches. The quillons do not project far beyond the blade, and curl slightly upwards at one extremity, and downwards on the other. The authenticity of this weapon is more than doubtful, and Baron de Cosson even suspects who the forger was, and when it first appeared at Auckland. The forgery is one of the clumsiest, for it is so obvious what the hilt originally was, viz., portions of a Scotch basket-hilt.