52 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



its parts ; of its finish, engraving, the filing, buffing, and 

 working of its locks, and by testing its firing, will be 

 able to pronounce, with something nearly approaching 

 to certainty, on the value of a fine gun ; and, from 

 its value and its finish, to satisfy himself whether it 

 be or be not turned out of the shop of the builder 

 whose name it professes to bear ; since, be it known, 

 the names of makers of guns are forged much more 

 easily, much more frequently, and with much less risk 

 of detection, or of punishment if detected, than are those 

 of the makers of securities and powers of attorney. 



I have certainly seen many hundreds of guns, un- 

 questionably short of three English pounds sterling value, 

 to the original Birmingham wholesale manufacturer, bear- 

 ing the names of Richards, Lancaster, Moore, and Joe 

 Manton, sold in the United States, and shown by the pur- 

 chasers as authentic productions of those makers, at prices 

 varying from 50 to 150 dollars; for no one of which 

 would I have given a ten-dollar bill and this in the teeth 

 of the fact, which every one knows, or might know, if he 

 chose to learn, that not one of those makers ever sold a 

 gun at home, for much less than twice the largest sum 

 mentioned. 



Now, having satisfied himself, by examination of the 

 finish, and by fixing the actual value of the gun, that it is 

 the work of such and such a maker which, if much 

 acquainted with the work of eminent makers, he will do 

 the more readily, that all of these have in some sort a 

 peculiar style and character of their own an amateur 

 may at once rest content, that the workmanship is not out 



