THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 65 



send their order, for exactly such a piece as they require, 

 accompanied by the precise measure of a stock which suits 

 them, to Mr. Bishop of Bond Street, when they will pro- 

 bably procure what will satisfy them, as well as the others 

 would satisfy me, at a far lower price. What the exact 

 price of Westley Richards' best guns is at this moment, I 

 do not accurately know ; but I presume that it is from 

 30 to 35, from 150 to 175 dollars, with case and appur- 

 tenances, not including freight or duties; which would 

 bring his best work here to the price of two hundred dol- 

 lars, more or less. Mr. Lang's best double gun is stated 

 by Stonehenge to be sold, in case complete, for 38, or 

 190 dollars, cash on the spot ; and he further asserts, that 

 " certainly it will be admitted that, for all the essentials 

 desired by the crack shot, Mr. Lang's gun may lay claim 

 to as high a standard as those of any of his rivals." 



Besides Mr. Richards, there are other Birmingham 

 makers, who turn out reputable work to order, and who 

 are not to be confounded with the perpetrators of the 

 detestable rubbish which finds its way into the United 

 States, and is sold at almost every price from one dollar 

 to one hundred. 



Every principal shire-town in England, or nearly so, 

 has some maker of high, at least, local celebrity ; and some 

 of these, as Parsons of Salisbury, Cartmel of Doncaster, 

 Patrick of Liverpool, and others, whose names I do not 

 remember, have become known and of good repute 

 throughout England. Others have doubtless succeeded to 

 these, since I have been a dweller in America, but little 

 of their work has been, or is likely to be, imported ; and 



