THE great demand for this work having exhausted 

 the third and fourth editions in so short a space of time, 

 I was resolved that the printer's devil and I should have 

 absolution from sporting subjects for at least a year or 

 two, and therefore inflicted on my publishers a treble 

 dose of copies ; or, seriously speaking, I gave a very 

 large impression of the fifth edition. About three years 

 and a half have elapsed since that was in the press ; and 

 in this little time what a complete revolution has taken 

 place in the sporting world! or at all events among 

 the gunmakers ! ! Joe Manton, the life and soul of the 

 trade, obliged to dispose of all his valuable machinery, 

 and sell off every thing in Hanover-square ; then rallied 

 at Marylebone Park-house, where all was again soon 

 wreck and confusion ; and the best workmen in the 

 world left wandering about like a disbanded army! 

 Poor old Asell, the father of the working-trade, died in 

 Marylebone hospital his son started off as a regimental 

 armourer John Hussey, the flash borer of the age, 

 obliged to fly, with his lathe, from the Philistines, and 

 get a crust for his family where he could the prince 

 of lock-finishers, Penn, driven to do bye-jobs for tem- 

 porary subsistence, and others condescending to go 



