404 THE CENTURY, 



following altered reading to his improvements applying 

 to guns, thus : &quot; To make certain guns or pistols, which 

 in the tenth part of one minute or an hour, may, with 

 a flask contrived to that purpose, be recharged, the 

 fourth part of one turn of the barrel, which remains 

 still fixed, fastening it as forcibly and effectually as a 

 dozen threads of any screw, which in the ordinary and 

 usual way require as many turns.&quot; See Appendix B. 



. 61. 



A third way, and 8 particular 9 for 

 Mufquets, without taking them from 

 their Rests to charge or prime, to 

 a like execution, and as faft as the 

 Flafk, the mufquet containing but 

 one Charge at a time. 



8 and omitted. 9 particularly. P. 



[A way for Musquets.~\ The heavy firearms of the 

 seventeenth century afforded the Marquis fine scope for 

 the exercise of his versatile ingenuity. Muskets were 

 originally matchlocks $ long, heavy, and requiring a 

 tall forked rest to steady them in firing. Eventually 

 their bore was reduced for bullets of eighteen to the 

 pound. It is curious to observe the difference between 

 the drill practice of those times compared with the 

 present. In &quot; The compleat Gentleman,&quot; by Henry 

 Peacham, M.A., published in 1627, among his other 

 &quot; Military Observations,&quot; he gives the following: &quot; The 

 postures of the Musquet. 1. March with your Musquet 

 and Eest shouldred ; 2. Prepare your Eest ; 3. Slipp 

 your Musket ; 4. Pease your Musket ; 5. Joyne your 

 Eest and Musquet ; 6. Take out your Match ; 7. Blow 

 your Match ; 8. Cock your Match ; 9. Try your Match ; 



