156 DANA— NOTES ON CANNON. [April 20. 



pointed against a door and wall. The spectators heard a " cruel 

 noise," but the antics of the connoile remain a mystery. 



In quite another part of the city of Tournay, an industrious 

 fuller was busily at work; when lo, along came the erratic quarrel, 

 with its two pounds of lead, — and the guild of Fullers gave their 

 deceased brother one of those picturesque funerals for which the 

 good town is so celebrated. When Peter of Bruges heard of this 

 mishap, he fled into sanctuary and gave himself up for lost. Then 

 followed a solemn session of the consuls. Contributory negligence 

 could not be charged against the Fuller, for if ever bolt came " from 

 the blue " it was this one. After a long discussion the conclusion 

 arrived at was : Peter of Bruges fired the connoile at the order of 

 the consuls ; he was not known to have harbored any ill feeling 

 against the fuller ; — they might have added that neither ill feeling 

 nor skill in aiming would have enabled Peter to hit the far-oflf 

 fuller. The consuls thereupon held Peter blameless, merely remark- 

 ing that the event was a misfortune and a sad pity. 



A curious point is brought out by the list, dated 1347, of artillery, 

 in its broader sense, for the defense of the castle of Brioul in France. 

 At the fag end of the list we are told that one man managed two 

 cannons, and that the efficiency of their projectiles, and of stones 

 thrown from the towers by hand, was considered about equal. 



Before glancing at the great bombard of Caen, 1375, which 

 marks a considerable step in advance, let me say that during the 

 fifty years we have glanced at, there have been cannon of wrought 

 iron, occasionally of brass. The largest of the former did not weigh 

 over 120 lbs. Breech-loaders were common, and the projectiles were 

 bolts, or balls of lead — iron balls are referred to, but never stone. 



March 20, 1375, an order was received at Caen, in Normandy, 

 from Jehan Le Mercier. one of the King of France's councillors, 

 for the building of "a great cannon of iron." ]\Iarch 21 work 

 began by erecting three forges in the market place, and surrounding 

 them with a wooden paling to keep the curious at a proper distance. 

 March 22, the four smiths with their eight helpers began to draw 

 wages. Fifteen men worked for six weeks, sometimes at night. 

 April 3, Jehan Nicolle, a master smith, said to have been the best 

 in Normandy, arrived from " Sap." 2,110 pounds of wrought iron, 



