and the blades and shanks are hardened by the usual process. The wire being stripped off, the blades are again sent to the grinder, and at last obtain in his hands the completion of their development. They are finally returned to the workman, who inserts the screw, and makes the scissors completely fit for use.

Upon the subjects of scythes and sickles, two important implements in agriculture, we must allow the author to descant in person:

Scythes and sickles, especially the former, are at present manufactured in various parts of the country. By far the greater proportion, however, of both of these descriptions of reaping instruments are made by workmen scattered over a district extending about six miles south of Sheffield, and which district has been the seat of this staple for at least three hundred years. The sanguinary persecution of the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands, which compelled so many protestant families to seek, as refugees in this country, the exercise of that liberty of conscience which, as citizens, they were denied in their own, was, as is well known, the means of bringing into England many of those useful arts which have ever since flourished. Amongst these fugitives came over a party of Flemings, whose occupation had been the manufacture of the class of instruments now under consideration. These artists were invited or encouraged by the then Earl of Shrewsbury, to fix their residence in the neighbourhood of the town, in the rising celebrity of which he felt so much interest. The patronage of a protestant nobleman, whose influence was so considerable, and the proximity of a town where the manufacture of edge tools was so largely carried on, were favouring circumstances: the foreigners accordingly settled themselves, the scythe-makers in the parish of Norton, and the sickle-makers in the parish of Eckington, parochial adjacencies forming together the northern extremity of the county of Derby.

In all probability, the first settlers divided their industry between manufactures and agriculture, an arrangement by no means obliterated among their descendants and successors at this day. The nearness of these artificers to the town of Sheffield enables them to take every advantage resulting from the cheapness or the qualities of iron and steel suitable for their purposes. On this account, and the goodness of the workmanship, the scythes and sickles of this neighbourhood are extensively known, and in high reputation both at home and abroad, especially the sicklesthe greater part even of those vended in the name of celebrated dealers in other districts of the country, being, in fact, furnished to such dealers either in a finished, or more generally in a rough state, by the sicklesmiths of Ridgway, Troway, or Mosbrough. Sickles, like most other edge tools, are usually marked with some distinguishing corporation or other monogram, which gives confidence to the purchaser, and, consequently, a value to the article in the market.

Scythes are composed of iron and steel; the former forming the back and thicker portion of the blade, and the latter constituting the edge. Good sheer steel ought to be used, the process of sheering having freed it from flaws by the welding of all loose parts; but bar steel in the blister state, or as it comes from the converting furnace, is not unfrequently worked up for this purpose, as being much cheaper than the other sort. The two metals, which have been manufactured of a sufficient substance to

form their respective portions of the blade, are cut into proper measures, and then welded together throughout their length; the iron rod being left so as to extend several inches beyond the steel, for the purpose of forming the tang of the scythe. The blade is then drawn out, by means of hammering on the anvil, to its proper size and shape, by the maker and striker, the back being at the same time left of considerable strength. This thick back is in the next place knocked up, or partially overlapped, so as to form a strong band or swell of iron along the outer margin, for the purpose of stiffening the blade. This operation is readily performed by the hammerman, who, placing the red-hot blade inclining a little with the edge upward, and the thick part upon the anvil, strikes it with the peal or sharper end of his hammer, the other workman, meanwhile, propping it on the opposite side with an iron tool, to prevent it from sliding along upon the anvil with every stroke. This bending or turning up of the back is still further perfected upon a shape-iron, and by finally squaring and making fine the work upon the acute edge of the anvil, which is adapted for this purpose. The blade is then smithed, i. e. cool-hammered, set, and hardened in the usual manner, and afterwards tempered, by drawing it carefully over the hearthfire after being again examined, it is carried to the grinding wheel.

:

The stones used for the grinding of scythes are of the largest size, being from six to eight feet in diameter, and ten or twelve inches in thickness. The neighbourhood of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is celebrated for excellent grindstones, including some of a peculiar grit used by the scythe makers. The face, instead of being quite flat, is convex; or a segment of a circle, nearly agreeing with the concave line of the edge of the blade, which is shaped by an application to the stone. The stone runs in a trough of water, and in a direction contrary to that of grindstones in general; namely, towards instead of from the workman, who consequently sits before rather than behind the stone. His position, however, can hardly, with propriety, be called sitting; for, although he has a sort of seat or saddle firmly chained to the timbers, like a knife-grinder's horsing, he, at the same time, rests upon his feet, his body hanging in such a position over the stone, that he is enabled to throw his whole weight upon the work. The blade, during this operation, is held with the back from the grinder, under a strip of wood extending nearly over its entire length. After having been passed over a glazier of emery, and set, by striking it with a hammer on an anvil, or a block of wood, somewhat after the manner of setting a saw, the blade is varnished on the back, and oiled on the bright parts, after which it is ready for packing. Scythes, when made up for the market, are tied in bundles of a dozen together, and closely wrapped over with a straw band from the heels to the points, the maker's name being struck upon that part which is exposed.-vol. ii. pp. 51–53.

In the history of military weapons, our author is under the necessity of penetrating very far back into the obscurity of early times, to trace the original application of the metals as instruments of defence. Those formerly used in warfare, before the invention of gunpowder, consisted of spears, axes, and swords. Spain, at the era of what are called the middle ages, was celebrated for its manufacture of swords, and to this day a prejudice exists in favour of such Spanish articles. The manufactory of Toledo, which once

supplied the chivalrous hosts that proceeded to Jerusalem to support the crusades, is still subsisting. The sabres which have been for centuries almost renowned in military history, are those of Damascus; these were easily known from all others by the extraordinary keenness of their edge, great flexibility, singular grain of fleckiness observable on the surface, and a peculiar musky odour given out when the blade was either bent or rubbed. The great peculiarity, however, which has always attracted attention, is the freckled or wavy appearance of the surface of these sabres; but what that appearance is owing to, is not yet quite made out. The odour ascribed to these blades is not uniformly met with, and most certainly cannot be incorporated with the real structure. The twisting and intertwisting of the apparent fibres of the metal, are the characters by which the Damascus swords are generally decided upon as genuine. The sword now used by British officers is of that sort which is technically called long cut and thrust: it is an imitation of the sword most commonly used in the Austrian service, and was introduced into our regiments so lately as the period of the last war. The sword trade of England dates its flourishing existence no farther back than the era of the Revolution, and its great centre has been, from the beginning, in Birmingham.

In the chapter on fire-arms, we have an elaborate history of the rise and progress of that well-known implement of war, the musket. The name, according to Beckmann's conjecture, is derived from the French word mouchet, or the Latin one, mouchetus, which in English signify a male sparrowhawk; at all events, the first time we hear of them in any authentic history, is at the siege of Rhege, in the year 1521. Again we find, that in the reign of Henry VII., the musketeers formed a considerable part of the army; they gradually increased, and after James I. ascended the throne, the whole of the army became constituted only of musketeers and pikemen. The rise of the musket was the downfall of archery. Our first guns bearing this name were obtained altogether from Spain, which remained as the source of such imports until the period of the civil wars. At that era we began to procure them from Holland, nor was it until the accession of William III. that any attempt was thought of at manufacturing the article at home. This king, it is reported, was one day lamenting that guns were not manufactured in his own dominions, when a courtier named Sir Richard Newdigate overheard his majesty's exclamation. The baronet assured his majesty, that genius resided in Warwickshire, and that he thought his constituents would answer his majesty's wishes. It so happened that this reply proceeded from a member for the county; and, upon finding that King William was pleased with what he had said, he posted off to Warwick, and soon obtained a specimen of workmanship in the branch of gun-making, such as completely satisfied the monarch. The result to Birmingham is well known; but it is not so well or extensively understood, that

the manufacturers were in the habit of marking their arms with the word London.' We entirely agree with the quaint, but just and conscientious Hutton, the laureate of Birmingham, that the manufacturers, in assuming this mask, were marching under false colours, and that their adoption of it rested on no better grounds than expediency, inasmuch as it deviated a little from the direct line of right. The apparent want of integrity in this act was at last noticed by the legislature, and a Bill was brought into the Commons, in 1813, for the purpose of obliging every manufacturer of fire-arms to mark them with his real name and abode. But the Birmingham gun-makers successfully opposed the Bill, by showing that they made the component parts of the gun, and that these were only put together and marked in London. The discussions to which this Bill gave rise, caused the official establishment of a proof-house in Birmingham, and all fire-arms manufactured there and in its vicinity, are subjected to the proof required by the Board of Ordnance.

The material for a gun-barrel is first reduced to a plate of iron called skelp, which is cut and rolled; it is then welded. This is the process with respect to a common barrel; but as for a twist barrel, it is quite a different thing altogether. The metal, in the latter case, is rolled into long strips, which resemble iron hooping, but are much stouter. The workman places one of these strips on one end of a machine, which being turned, will cause the metal to roll up in a spiral manner, so as that it is afterwards easily welded together. When welded, the barrel is carried to a particular workman, who examines it with care, and sets it perfectly straight; he also tries its soundness by putting one end into a bucket of water, and sucking the water up by the other, thus filling the barrel with the fluid. If there be any interstice through which the water can ooze, the moisture will soon be distinguished on the external surface. In the next place, the barrel is transferred to the boring mill, which is a complicated apparatus, destined to hollow out the barrel by means of one of the instruments called a drill. During the first operation, or that of rough boring, the barrel becomes excessively hot, so that a contrivance for pouring cold water upon it all the time, forms an essential part of the machine. After the rough boring, the external part is smoothed either on the grindstone, or by turning it in a lathe, and applying cutters, which operate on its surface as it revolves. The turning operation has greatly abridged labour and trouble, and it is stated to be more equal in its power-that is to say, lessens the thickness around more equally; and is, instead of being an unwholesome process, as the grinding is, a really healthy one. After this operation, the barrel is fine-bored, which is effected by another form of drill, which is merely destined to perfect the opening produced by the other. The barrel being fitted with the breech screw, is sent to be tested by the government officers, and if answering the required VOL. II. (1833) No. II.

N

conditions, it is returned with the government mark. The gun breeching is that plug which stops up the touch-hole end of the barrel, and has been the source of the display of a great variety of mechanical ingenuity. It was formerly screwed in, so as that its end should come immediately to the touch-hole; sometimes a groove was made in it in this situation, in order to allow of a greater quantity of powder to be placed within the barrel in immediate connexion with the touch-hole. This again was improved by boring a hole through the centre of the plug, and bringing the touch-hole to it in a right angle. But the Mantons have decided the point of perfection, by introducing a plug in which the breeching is completely solid, with the exception of the touch-hole, and a small perforation. When the piece is charged, this perforation becomes charged with the powder, and thus the ignition of the main body of the charge takes place in a spot which is removed a considerable distance from the touch-hole.

The process called stocking is the next one to which the barrel is subjected. The gun stock is of wood, most commonly the walnut, but sometimes it is fabricated from some of the finer pieces of the American maple, which, when stained and polished, presents a most beautiful appearance. All the barrels are first placed in the hands of a workman who files and shapes the breech of each, to accommodate it to the stock. The barrel then is handed over to the stock-maker, who ploughs out the bed of the barrel and the bed for the lock, with such exquisite precision, that no sort of fastening is necessary sometimes to preserve a permanent and harmonious union between both. In this exemplary state (which is worth a jewel as an incitement to all husbands and wives) the stock and barrel are transferred to another workman, who does not let it out of his hands until it is shod with brass-until the trigger-guard and other appendages, useful or ornamental, are let into the wood, and every article bored and fastened with screws. Now some barrels, after these operations, are, or used to be, polished, and others browned. When the first was to be done, the gun was usually given up to women, who filed and burnished the barrels. In the early part of the present century, a great deal of the time of the soldier was occupied in keeping up the polish of his barrel; but the Duke of Wellington, a remarkable economist of time, gave a dispensation from this duty to the army in Spain, and allowed the barrel to be browned; hence the familiar title of "Brown Bess," which was given to the musket by the men during the peninsular war. The browning of the barrel is, therefore, another distinct process, the method of performing which is detailed by the author. The browning is produced by the application of a mixture, which consists of half an ounce of nitric acid, half an ounce of sweet spirit of nitre, one ounce of spirit of wine, two ounces of blue vitriol, and one ounce of tincture of steel. It is applied several times, until the barrel, when rubbed with a hard