THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
29 
author, we are enabled to place before our readers. The appearance of 
Mons, when forming one of the “ Lions ” of the Tower, may be seen in the 
model which is still preserved in the Tower Armories. 
The engraving at page 30 is from a drawing also preserved in the Tower, 
the one furnished by Lieutenant Bingham, L.A., 3 for the purpose of con¬ 
structing that new carriage which, we have seen, was supplied in 1836. 
The Commanding Officer of Loyal Artillery, in forwarding this drawing 
from Scotland, communicates also the traditional account, that “ the fracture 
disclosing the longitudinal bars took place the last time the gun was fired.” 
It is scarcely necessary to say that the bursting of the cannon may be 
attributed to the increased strength of the powder of the seventeenth 
century as compared with “ a peck ” of that of the fifteenth. Of the 
extraordinary charges used anciently for various kinds of gonnes , there is no 
more curious instance than that cited by Captain Lave {Du feu Gregeois , &c., 
p. 158), from an old treatise of “ Canonnerie,” of unknown date, printed 
at Paris in 1561. To charge your “baston de canonnerie 
“ Vous debvez mesurer la longueur du baston par dedans, despuis la bouche 
dhceluy jusques au fond, et icelie longueur diviser en cinq parties egales; 
desquelles Pune sera pour mettre le tampon, et Pautre sera vuide, et les 
autres dernieres doivent estres chargees de bonne poudre.” That is, the 
charge of “ strong powder” is to occupy three--fifths of the barrel. 
The mode of construction of the Scottish Gun is plainly shown at the 
point where it has been “ riven.” Longitudinal strips of iron are ranged 
like the staves of a cask and welded together; and then a number of rings 
or hoops, also of wrought iron, are driven tightly over them. The thickness 
of the bars is 2J inches; that of the hoops, 3| inches. There is no core 
beneath the strips, as in some early bar-and-hoop guns (for instance, Nos. 
118 and 119 of the collection at the Loyal Military Lepository at 
Woolwich); but the welded staves themselves form the concave cylinder. 
The magnitude of this engine, the contrivance of its parts, and the nice 
proportions of its outline, show* that it is by no means one of the earliest 
efforts of the gunsmitlPs art. Cannon at first were conical in form, a curious 
example of which will be found in a Sloane manuscript in the British 
Museum, No. 2433, vol. B, fol. 113; figured by Strutt in his Dress and 
Habits , and by the Emperor of the Erench in his Etudes sur VArtillerie. 
When first made cylindrical, the gun would probably be of equal thickness 
throughout. The next step would be to strengthen the portion near the 
charge. Eurther experiences would show that the action of the powder on 
the various parts of the piece would be best met by a graduated con¬ 
struction ; and thus we arrive at the plan of the gun before us; consisting 
of chamber, first and second reinforce, and chase. To such a model one 
can scarcely accord a higher antiquity than about the middle of the fifteenth 
century. 
Monstrelet, under the year 1478, has an amusing account of the trial of 
a “grosse bombarde,” carrying a ball of “ccccc livres de fer,” made at 
Tours; which may be consulted by those who find interest in the details of 
the early days of “ Canonnerie.” 
2 Col. Charles Bingham, R.A., Deputy-Adjutant-General. 
