Colonel Ubomas TEbornton 83 



honour of making the first experiment, which was to 

 take place in a narrow passage adjoining his shop. 

 He loaded the piece with the utmost exactness, and, 

 by his appearance, he would cheerfully have re- 

 linquished the honour to me ; but I thought it no 

 more than justice that the inventor should be first 

 gratified. Accordingly he placed himself, and took 

 exact aim ; but the subsequent concussion was so 

 great, and so very different from the firing of any 

 other gun, that I thought the whole shop was blown 

 up, and fully expected, when the smoke dispersed, to 

 find that the piece had burst. This, however, was 

 not the case ; it appeared that the whole force of the 

 powder, being insufficient to drive the balls, had come 

 out through the touch-holes, and, what was very 

 extraordinary, the gun was uninjured. 



This circumstance affording an indisputable proof of 

 the excellency of the metal, and the firmness of the 

 touch-holes, we took out the breech, and then gently 

 forced the balls, which had only moved six inches. 

 It was now, therefore, sufficiently obvious that to use 

 this in competition with a seven-barrelled gun was 

 quite out of the question." 



When subsequently bored for shot, however, this gun 

 proved very effective, and the Colonel states that one 

 kill he made with it "was supposed to have been upwards 

 of a hundred yards"! Had any of those who "sup- 

 posed " ever stepped out a hundred paces, I wonder ? 



The Colonel was introduced to Napoleon, then First 

 Consul, who was as affable to him as he had been a 

 month before to Assheton Smith, whom he presented 



