THE EOYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
297 
but we can scarcely feel surprise at the brief and casual notice bestowed on 
this arm by the writers of the 17th century, when in the famous military 
history of the 19th century, Napier’s ff Peninsular War/' the services of 
the Artillery, with the single exception of Norman Ramsay’s glorious 
exploit at Puentes d’Onore, 1 * * * § are persistently and entirely ignored. Finally, 
the violent party spirit of the combatants casts a doubt over the credibility 
of every history of the civil war written at the time, or afterwards, by those 
who had taken any part in the struggle. For instance, the Royalists declare 
their fire at one of the sieges to have been accurate and effective, while a 
Roundhead writer speaks of the same fire in the following terms :—“ The 
enemy have made above 1000 great shots against the town, and yet slain 
with them but one old man that was making his will just as the bullet hit 
him (the like at Gloster, where but one old woman and a pig was killed 
with a cannon) and they consumed at least 200 barrels of powder in 
shooting in the great and lesser guns.”t 
Before entering on the Great Rebellion, the Scotch invasion of 1640, 
the “ bellum episcopate,” demands a short notice. 
The Scots crossed the border under the command of Alexander Leslie, 
“ that old, little, crooked soldier,” who had served with distinction as 
Felt-Marshal under Gustavus Adolphus.J Lord Conway, the English 
leader, was ordered to dispute the passage of the Tyne and the occupation 
of Newcastle, and he consequently threw up some field works on Stella- 
haugh. These works were quickly demolished by Leslie’s artillery, and 
under cover of its fire a party of Scotch cavalry advanced across the river* 
The English horse charged and drove back the enemy, but were in turn 
themselves checked by the Scotch artillery. The Scots again crossed the 
river, and the English were finally obliged to retire after suffering some 
loss from the Scotch battery. This battery was composed of leather guns, 
introduced probably by Leslie, “ an invention of white iron, tinned, and 
done about with leather, and corded so that they could serve for two or 
three discharges. They were light and carried on horses, and when they 
came to Newburn” (the affair just described), “ the English army that 
defended the ford was so surprised with a discharge of artillery, some 
thought it magic, and all were put in such disorder that the whole army 
did run with so much precipitation that Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had a 
command in it, did not stick to own that till he crossed the Tees his legs 
trembled under him.”§ These guns may possibly have been manufactured 
in Scotland, as it has been asserted that the leather guns of Gustavus 
Adolphus were devised by Robert Scot, a Scotch officer in his service* 
Leather guns were afterwards used in England by the Roundheads. “ At 
Cropredy bridge and thereabouts we overtook Waller’s army which we 
engaged and beat, took Weemes, General of their Artillery, prisoner, and 
* Ramsay was not even mentioned in dispatches for Fuentcs d’Onore. Tempora mutantur. 
f “ Letters from a Sub. Officer of Lord Essex’ army,” Archasol, 36, 231. Vicars, “ God in 
the Mount,” Par. Chron. 3, 230. 
X Gust’s “ Warriors of the Civil Wars,” Vol. II. p. 613. 
§ Bishop Burnet’s “ History of my own Times,” Book 1; 
