Monograms are not often seen on armour of English make, but they were common in Germany towards the end of the fifteenth century, when armour was occasionally inscribed with the year. The comparatively few instances of dated armour are intensely valuable, as we have then no inferences or doubtful ancestral legends, but the actual year of make. Examples of both fifteenth and sixteenth centuries occur at Nuremberg and Berlin. There is an idea generally prevailing that the stature of the men of the middle ages was shorter than nowadays. After the comparison of many suits, both at home and abroad, it is certain that this is not the case, but the average development of the calf of the leg is greater now. An ordinary-sized leg of to-day would not fit into the average cuisse and jamb of the sixteenth century, but it must be remembered that a very large proportion of the suits preserved, made in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, were for Italy, South Germany, France, and Spain. The build and stature of these peoples were slighter than that of the Englishman. The wearers spent such a large proportion of their time on horseback, that the calves of their legs were naturally like those of the “horsey” man of to-day. From early in the sixteenth century the changes were greatly matters of detail, the differences in suits being principally those of form. The shell or tile-formed tuilles, after having been in use for nearly a century, gave place to the more comprehensive tassets of overlapping plates. Épaulières developed into pauldrons, which gradually increased in size, covering both shoulders and upper-arm, and at length extended over each breast, and then diminished again in size. Pikeguards were introduced to protect the neck from pike thrusts, and there are instances of these plates as early as the middle of the century. Sometimes they are double on each shoulder--see the brass at Qui, Cambridgeshire. In cases where a pikeguard appears on one shoulder only, a close examination will generally reveal holes for the fixing of its fellow. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, or a few years later, the so-called “Maximilian” armour superseded that termed “Gothic,” when a large proportion of this armour (the “Maximilian”) was fluted everywhere except the jambs. It had pauldrons, with pikeguards, and great “bear-paw” or “cow-mouth” shaped sollerets. This style became _à la mode_, in imitation of the prevailing fashion in dress, which was then largely puffed and slashed. It must be understood, however, that fluted suits were in a majority of the armour made, but not to the exclusion of plain armour. The cuirass is shorter than in the later Gothic form; it is more globose, with the top cut straight, and the breastplate is usually in one piece. The headpiece is the armet and burgonet. Sliding rivets (Almayne) gave increased elasticity to armour of this period. As may be seen from some notes in _Archæologia_, vol. li., p.