PERCUSSION LOCKS. 153 



deep flaw in the inside of the metal ; for the wounded man 

 declared that he had not loaded the gun beyond the customary 

 charge. 



It proved to be one of those wretched affairs which are 

 constantly smuggled into Ireland, and sold under the denomi- 

 nation of London guns, but which, it is well known, are fabri- 

 cated in Birmingham ; and the extent to which this dangerous 

 imposition upon public safety is carried, would scarcely be 

 credited. There is a constant demand in this unhappy country 

 for fire-arms ; the well affected and disaffected seek them for 

 very different purposes; one wants them for defence, the 

 other requires them for aggression ; and every steamer that 

 arrives from Liverpool has generally some stands of contraband 

 arms on board. 



That our times should be as far distinguished for increased 

 effect and superior elegance in the formation of fire-arms, as 

 for any other mechanical improvement, will be admitted by all 

 but the most prejudiced of the old school. Antique gunners 

 may still be found, who are obstinate in preferring the flint to 

 the percussion plan ; but any person who has suffered the 

 disappointments that the best guns on the former principle 

 will entail upon those that carry them, and particularly in 

 wet and stormy weather, will freely admit the wonderful ad- 

 vantages that simple and effective invention, the copper cap, 

 confers upon the modern sportsman. The misery entailed 

 upon the man who in rain and storm attempts to load and 

 discharge a flint gun, may be reckoned among the worst upon 

 the human catalogue ; and if he who has suffered repeated 

 disappointments of eternal misses and dilatory explosions, from 

 a thick flint and a damp pan, tried the simple and elegant 

 improvement now in general use, he would abandon the stone 

 gun for ever. 



It has been said that gun-making is only brought to perfec- 

 tion in London, and that the Irish are not able to compete 

 with their English rivals. I am of this opinion, I confess, 

 and decidedly partial to a London gun; and while I admit 

 that I have occasionally met with excellent fire-arms produced 

 by Dublin makers, yet they are, in finish and elegance, far 

 behind those which one gets from any of the leading artists 

 in the great metropolis. To point to any particular name, 



