SPOHTSMEN, FATtlMERS, &C. 145 



leaves off, and shoots with no certainty what- 

 ever. I would not give one farthing for a 

 rifle, which would not throw a ball, to a 

 certainty, into the space of about three or 

 four file of men, at four hundred yards, 

 provided the wind was not strong ; and then 

 riflemen know how to regulate their aim. 



I have told you the proportionate weight 

 of the barrel and the ball : I assure you, 

 you w^ill find it just as I have stated ; and 

 I have the greatest expectation that some 

 of you will adopt the principle. I would 

 not lead you into error and expense, by 

 theoretical ideas : w hat I have stated, / have 

 tried, hundreds and hundreds of times, I al- 

 wavs try my rifle-guns directly down the How to \rv 



. " * " Rifle-Guns. 



Wind : bat this cannot be done near Lon- 

 don ; it must be done on the sea-coast, on 

 the sands : there you have scope, and an 

 advantage on the sands, I mean when the 

 tide is going out, w^here the sands are wet. 

 At whatever distances you fire, if you will 

 fix the low er side of your target on the moist 

 sands, you must see whether you shoot on one 

 side or not ; and, at long distances, whe- 

 ther your ball falls short of the target, and 



