Note 419 — Chapter I · General Description of the Picture—The Death’s-Head—The Dagger—The Order of St. Michael—The Celestial Globe—The Terrestrial Globe

Besides the allusion already quoted from Brantôme, the literature of the time has many allusions to “la dague et l’épée,” the ordinary accoutrement at this period of the French gentleman. In 1530, when the children of France were released from captivity on the payment of their father’s ransom, it was ordered that the French and Spanish gentlemen who met on the Bidassoa to effect the exchange, were to be armed only with “dagger and sword,” i.e., to wear their every-day dress and not full armour, so as to forestall any possibility of treachery on either side. (Du Bellay, “Mémoires,” ed. Petitot, vol. ii., page 93.) See also for the mention of the same arms, the “Life of Benvenuto Cellini,” translated by Symonds, page 169. In pictures the double weapon is frequently seen: in England more especially among those representing persons who favoured Continental fashions. Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, wears dagger, tassel, and sword in the well-known portrait at Hampton Court. Instances could easily be multiplied. Planché (“Cyclopædia of Costume,” vol. ii., page 159) states that Rabelais attributes the origin of this fashion to Spain.