THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
time the ignition remained uncertain, and the system was looked on with 
much prejudice. It was well known in England from the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, but in spite of various attempts to introduce it as 
the arm of the troops, conservatism long prevailed. The view of those in 
authority was, that though it was simpler and easier to use than the wheel 
lock, it was less certain to fire the charge. It was to some extent used in 
the Civil War, and underwent much improvement in 1650, but it was not 
till 1692 that the flint lock began to supersede the match lock in the British 
Army. 
The gun had been recognized as a sporting weapon abroad before 1515, 
in which year the “ Ordonnance des Chasses ” of Francis I speaks of 
“ Escopettes ” or light sporting firearms. Claude Gaucher’s poem, “ Le 
Plaisir des Champs,” 1583, mentions various kinds of shooting with the 
gun, as at partridges, ducks, wild boar, roe, etc., but does not allude to 
shooting flying. A book on shooting, published in Rome in 1669, mentions 
that shooting on the wing had been known there for about eighty years, 
i.e., since about 1590. It seems clear that this only became possible when 
the flint lock was well developed, after which the wheel lock did not long 
survive for sporting weapons. The flint lock became known as the ‘‘ fusil,” 
from the Italian ” focile,” meaning a steel for striking fire. 
The sporting weapons used in England at this period were made by 
continental craftsmen, for there were excellent gunmakers in Germany, 
Italy, France and Spain. Captain Vita Bonfadini, in a treatise on game 
shooting with the arquebus published at Bologna in 1640, gives an 
interesting comparison between the various locks. For deliberate 
shooting, he thinks highly of the match lock, as giving the quickest dis- 
charge. He does not care about the wheel lock, which is unpractical. The 
chain is liable to break, so may the hook attaching it to the wheel. The 
spanner is detached, and if it is lost the arquebus is useless; dirt must 
get into the lock by the hole in the pan and may hamper the turning of the 
wheel; the inside of the lock must be constantly cleaned and polished to 
keep it in working order. For the shooter at game, the fusil or firelock, 
as now commonly used, is the best, if it be well made; a single piece of 
flint suffices for as much as thirty shots. The best gunmaker in Italy 
he considers to be the Fleming called II Parigietti, of Florence. The 
experience and technical knowledge of guns which Bonfadini shows is 
in odd contrast to the view of Raimondi, of Brescia, who in an elaborate 
treatise on hunting and fowling (1626), alludes to the arquebus only to 
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