If not the most valuable as regards gold and precious stones, the most interesting part of the collection is the case of swords and battle-axes to the right of the en trance. Every one of them would be the fortune of a collector, for almoat every one of them has been worn by one of the Sultans. Most of them are very simple as regards the hilt and scabbard, but the whole form a unique collection of all that the art of the swordsmiths of Damascus and Khorassan could produce in the course of centuries. They are half drawn, so as to show the steel, and as every one of them has an inscription in gold, any one versed in Eastern eali graphy and its changes may assign the date of it. From the old Capidar cubic writing you may see the transition to the modern writing in all its ramifica tions — Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. One alone of the sword 3is without a scabbard. It is a fine blade of the older Damascus black steel, before Timur the Lame made a " razzia among the several smiths of Damascus and carried them off to Khorassan, where they perpetuated their art under the name of the " Black Taban." But that sword, with its dingy hilt of yellowish ivory, has a greater value as a historical curiosity than a* a speci men of Oriental swordsmiths' art, for it belonged to Mohamed 11., the conqueror of Constantinople, and is supposed tv have been in his hand when he animated his troops to the final assault. As regards money value, the most precious piece in that case is the staff of a commander, in green jade, beautifully carved. In the case to the right of the entrance is a collection of jars and flasks of every shape and size of jade, porcelain, crystal, silver, and gold, all richly ornamented with precious stones. There is enough there to drive any collectors of articles of vertu quite wild, and such persons might stand there for hours without getting tired, such is the beauty and endless variety of form and the pxquiaite delicacy and skill of ornamentation. 