must turn three-quarters round before it
quits the barrel, and must spin in its
subsequent flight, through the impulse thus
received. It is the principle of the arrow,
spirally feathered; and the result is the
same;—the missile goes straight and strong
to its mark. "We saw a more formidable
device still,—terrible as the belted ball looked
under the idea of its crashing into human
bones and flesh. We saw a specimen of the
Minié ball (of which we are now hearing so
much), and learned how the barrel was to be
fitted for it. The barrel is to have four
grooves instead of two; but shallower. The
ball is hollow, and of sugar-loaf form, with
three rims round its larger end. An iron
capsule fits into the hollow. By the pressure
of the discharge, the rims of the bullet will
be forced to fit the grooves. Half a turn in
a length of three feet is enough of a twist
in this case. As we are told, this ball reaches
its mark at a distance of sixteen hundred
yards. On a recent occasion of trial of
Birmingham rifles, on a common a few miles
off, a bit of wood, seven inches in diameter,
painted white, was placed against a bank, and
was perforated by five balls in eight, at a
distance of eight hundred yards. This looks
like knowing what we are about; and it
looks very little like the musket execution
we have been satisfied with hitherto. It is no
wonder that muskets are sent in large
numbers to be rifled at Birmingham; and that
the newspapers are teeming with letters on
the subject of the two weapons. We peeped
into a variety of barrels, admiring the smoothness
of all, and perceiving how the groove
of the rifle twists round in curious perspective;
—more curious in the case of two
grooves, perhaps, than of many.

Then we turned to the pistols. The most
ordinary pair costs six shillings; and it is
probably much' the same sort of harmless
affair that silly lads brandish when they shoot
at Queens in the streets—pistols that make
novices shudder, but are not likely ever to
kill any body. From this price, we saw pistols
of various dignities, mounting up to twelve
guineas; or twice twelve guineas, if inlaid
expensively with silver, adorned with
engraving. A gentleman may contrive to spend
a great deal of money on firearms, if he will
order ornament enough; and we could
understand the temptation, the engraving is so
beautiful. Every bit of metal left visible,
except the barrel, bears engravings, in the
most expensive pistols and fowling-pieces.
Not only graceful arabesques, but figures of
game, wild beasts, hunters, &c., are beautifully
executed by men who make from four
to five hundred pounds a-year by their art;
that is, three guineas a-week as wages, and
apprentice-fees to a large amount. The lowest
order of engravers earn about fifteen shillings
a-week. One little landscape, engraved on
a small steel plate of a fowling-piece, was
admirable for spirit and finish—a tiger in a
jungle, watching the approach of an elephant,
bearing a howdah, with two men in it. The
designer and engraver of this is one of the
artists who are making a handsome income
by their skill. They are so far from trying
to concentrate gas-light in water-bottles, that
they find gas-light too strong, and work by
the light of a candle sheltered from draughts.
There is a foreign gun on the premises, which
might excite the emulation of the most
skilful. Nobody knows where it comes
from. There is a tradition of its being
Persian; but this can hardly be true, the
owners think. It is inlaid with ivory, whereever
the wood can be made to admit the
ivory; and the arabesque patterns are
beautiful. The carving, along the upper ridge of
the barrel, is the wonder, however; it could
not be excelled, we were told, anywhere at
this day.

Among the pistols, we saw Colt's revolver;
and we compared it with the best English
revolver. The advantage of Colt's over the
English is, that the user can take a sight;
and the disadvantage is, that the weapon
requires both hands. The American has one
barrel, with a revolving chamber behind it,
that does not interfere with the eye. The
English consists of six (or fewer) barrels,
which revolve in the act of shooting; so that
the ball issues, not from the uppermost barrel,
but the next. Thus, if the user could take a
sight (which he cannot), the ball would baffle
his aim, by coming out on one side. But
then the advantage is great—for instance, to
an Irish land-agent on horseback, or to a
farmer riding or driving home, and attacked
by footpads—to have the left hand at
liberty for bridle or rein, while the enemy
is near enough to demand no very nice
aim.

It was amusing to observe, in this
manufactory, how small a proportion of warlike
ideas was involved in the discussion of
weapons. We were told that the parts made
on the premises were those of the best guns:
—the locks and other furniture of "the rest"
were made elsewhere, and principally in
villages round Birmingham. We found that
"the best" meant fowling-pieces, and "the
rest," weapons of war. This is natural
enough. The purchaser of a gun thinks
more of precision of aim in hitting a pheasant
than in going out against Sikhs and Kaffirs;
or he has done so till now, when we hear, on
a sudden, so very much of the rifle-practice
and skill of the French soldier and the Kaffir
skulker. We were, indeed, shown some
duelling pistols; and instructed in the mild
and prudent law of honour by which pistols
with the hair-trigger, and on full cock, are
decreed as the only admissible weapons,
because they are pretty certain to go off
before the duellist can take aim; especially if
they are to fire together. And, to be sure,
they do pop off so easily, that they shall
certainly be our weapon when we next go