Towards the end of this century (the sixteenth) defensive armour had reached its highest point of development. Tassets gradually became lowered to cover the knees in a series of lobster-shell plates, as on a brass of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, that of Sir William Harper, in St. Paul’s Church, Bedford. Examples of these elongated cuisses occur, however, much earlier. Jambs and sollerets were at length laid aside in favour of jackboots, and plate armour fell gradually into disuse, mainly owing to the new tactics rendered necessary by the general use of firearms, and the growing desirability of lightly-armed squadrons and companies; indeed, before the accession of Elizabeth the use of armour in campaigning had ceased to be a _sine qua non_, and, all regulations notwithstanding, a constantly increasing proportion of campaigners, especially among the infantry, insisted on discarding it. It became at length more used for purposes of display rather than for actual service, and hence armour became more and more decorative. There is a scarcity of plate armour of the fourteenth century, and but little remains of the fifteenth. This is not surprising, as the quantity made in those days was strictly limited; but what does seem strange is the scarcity of armour of the sixteenth century, and especially of the first half, over which time such immense quantities were in use. One explanation of this may be found in _Archæologia_, vol. li., p. 222, when Viscount Dillon gives examples of great quantities of armour having been converted, during Elizabeth’s reign, into “targets” and “jacks” for the navy. * * * * *