_Pistols_ (Vol. viii., p. 7.).--In Strype's Life of Sir Thomas Smith,
_Works_, Oxon. 1821, mention is made of a statute or proclamation by the
Queen in the year 1575, which refers to that of 33 Hen. VIII. c. 6.,
alluded to by your correspondent J. F. M., and in which the words _pistol_
and _pistolet_ are introduced:
"The Queen calling to mind how unseemly a thing it was, in so quiet and
peaceable a realm, to have men so armed; ... did charge and command all
her subjects, of what estate or degree soever they were, that in no
wise, in their journeying, going, or riding, they carried about them
privily or openly any dag, or pistol, or any other harquebuse, gun, or
such weapon for fire, under the length expressed by the statute made by
the Queen's most noble father.... [Excepting however] noblemen and such
known gentlemen, which were without spot or doubt of evil behaviour, if
they carried dags or pistolets about them in their journeys, openly, at
their saddle bows," &c.
Here the _dag_ or _pistolet_ seems to answer to our "revolvers," and the
_pistol_ to our larger horse-pistol.