GUNS AND GUNMAKERS. 5 



as well as if you had spared no expense. You should, 

 however, first try and examine it, as the gunmakers 

 themselves, as well as the broken-down gentry, are fre- 

 quently obliged to have a little commerce with pawn- 

 brokers. 



Parsons, of Salisbury, stands as high as ever in the 

 west of England, and many of the country makers are 

 giving great satisfaction. So much for the detonating 

 sys'tem. What a change from the time of Joe when he 

 lived in Davies-street ! In those days we had but one 

 gunmaker now they are " all ALL" gunmakers !!! 



Within these very few years the detonaters have been 

 much improved in shooting, in consequence of their 

 being bored differently from flint-guns. They now de- 

 tain the shot longer in the barrel, in order that the 

 powder may have time to kindle, which is done to such 

 a degree as to occasion an increase of recoil, and a 

 liability to become " leaded" with much firing. Many 

 waddings have been invented to counteract this, arid I 

 shall hereafter speak of them in another part of the 

 book, as they have their merits ; but still none of them 

 will make a detonater, of equal weight with, shoot quite 

 so strong and regular as a flint-gun. Though, like the 

 rest of the sporting world, I have long been kidnapped 

 into the constant use of detonaters, still I have no reason 

 to alter the opinion I gave in 1822 ; and, were my time 

 to come over again, I might probably be content with 

 the flint ; though I have of course, as every one does, 

 shot more accurately, and missed fewer quick shots, 

 with the detonater. But, to return more generally to 

 the subject of all guns, let me observe, as before, in an- 

 swer to those who deprecate the idea of giving a good 

 price for a gun, that the workmen employed by the first 



