288 
MINUTES OF PKOCEEDINGS OF 
While the unwieldiness of the carriage was to a great extent the result 
of the extraordinary length and weight of the gun, the size of the gun 
itself was a necessary consequence of the feebleness of the powder. The 
proportions used in its manufacture were five pounds of saltpetre, one pound 
of coals (or charcoal), and one pound of brimstone; and the details of the 
process, hardly worth quoting here at length, may be found in Norton, 
p. 144. The testing of the powder was a simple operation. “ If it be of 
a blewish colour, a little inclining to red, it is good; if it do not black 
much your hand, it is a good signe. Also if it have a sharp biting taste 
upon the tongue, and if it burn with a sudden flash, it is good.”—(Eldred 
p. 26). I find no mention of proof-charges in works on artillery before 
Binning's " Light to the Art of Gunnery,” 1689; but the following passage 
from Dryden's “ Annus Mirabilis” proves that fire-proof was known at 
least as early as 1667, the year in which that poem was published :— 
Our careful monarch stands in person by. 
His new-cast cannons firmness to explore; 
The strength of big-corned powder loves to try, 
And ball and cartridge sorts for every bore.” 
Bound shot, as we may learn from Shakespeare, were made of three 
materials—iron, stone, and, for small pieces occasionally, lead* 
The following table, giving their relative weights, is from Eldred 
Diameter of 
shot. 
Iron. 
Lead. 
Stone. 
ins. 
lbs. 
oz. 
lbs. 
oz. 
lbs. oz. 
4 
8 
15 
11 
5 
2 13 
6 
30 
10 
45 
0 
11 14 
8 
72 
10 
106 
8 
26 12 
10 
138 
. 0 
207 
0 
51 10 
Besides round shot, many other kinds of projectiles were in use. 
During the first siege of Bristol, 1643, “ Captain Eawcett planted his 
mortar piece upon a battery and much tore the fort against him with 
grenades . . . But Captain Clerk, Ancient Hodgkinson, and some 
others, running upon our men with fire-pikes, neither men nor horses were 
able to endure it. The fire-pikes did the feat.”f Case shot were used at 
the second siege of the same city in 1645, J and mortar shells did execution 
as well at the unsuccessful attempt on Latliom House in 1644 as at the 
* Henry Y. Act. I. Sc. 2. Love’s Labour Lost, Act. III. Sc. 1. King John, Act. II. Sc. 1. 
f Warburton’s “Prince Kupert, &c.” Yol. II. p. 163. 
J Carlyle’s “Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell,” Yol. I. p. 246. 
