64 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
them having no relationship to the departed worthies, nor 
has the mantle descended on the pretenders. 
To those who cannot afford the London prices, then I 
recommend the best provincial makers of England, unless 
they prefer, as I should, to build a gun in America, under 
my own eye, at the best provincial price. 
Of the provincial gunmakers, the best, probably, and 
at all events the most generally known, is Mr. Westley 
Richards; for it is idle, although he has a London estab- ; 
lishment, with Mr. Bishop at its head, to speak of him as 
a London gunsmith, since his guns are notoriously made 
and finished at Birmingham, and sold at Birmingham 
prices. Mr. Richards’ guns are well liked, and, as it is 
evident from the general favor in which he is held, give 
satisfaction; I have seen many handsome, well-finished, 
and strong-shooting guns from his shop, though the tout 
ensemble of their fitting and finish does not, as in fact it 
cannot be expected to, come up to the highest priced 
London guns. 
My greatest objection to his guns is, that I think I 
have observed them to be soft. I do not mean soft- 
metalled, for that I regard aga merit, not a defect; but 
incapable of enduring hard usage, and liable to yield and 
give out disproportionately soon, as considered in refer- 
ence to their price relatively to London guns. So far am 
I, however, from desiring to disparage his work, that, for 
persons who cannot afford to pay £50 or upward for a 
Purday, a Lancaster, or a Moore, or who consider that 
price enormous and absurd, as I know that some men do, 
T have nothing better to recommend, than that they should 
