The first portable fire-arms were discharged by means of a match, which
in the course of time was fastened to a cock, for the greater security
of the hand while shooting. Afterwards a fire-stone was screwed into
the cock, and a steel plate or small wheel, which could be cocked or
wound up by a particular kind of key, was applied to the barrel. This
fire-stone was not at first of a siliceous nature, like that used at
present for striking fire, but a compact pyrites or marcasite, which
was long distinguished by that name. But as an instrument of this
kind often missed fire, a match till a late period was retained along
with the wheel; and it was not till a considerable time after, that
instead of a friable pyrites, so much exposed to decay, a siliceous
stone came into use with the improved cock or present lock. On each new
improvement, the piece, the caliber and length of which were sometimes
enlarged and sometimes lessened, obtained various new names; such, for
example, as _Büchse_, _Hakenbüchse_, _Arquebuse_; Matchlock, Musket,
Pistol, _Flinte_, &c. But I shall leave it to those who are versed in
matters of artillery to determine the difference between these kinds,
and shall here add only what follows.
The first name undoubtedly arose from the oldest portable kind of
fire-arms having some similarity to a box. There were long and short
_büchse_, the latter of which, as Hortleder says, were peculiar to
the cavalry. The long kind also, on account of their similarity to a
pipe, were called _rohr_. Large pieces, which were conveyed on cars or
carriages, were called _karrenbüchse_, but soon after also _canna_,
cannon. Instead of artillery-man, artillery and arsenal, people used
the terms _büchsenmeister_, _büchsenmeistery_, _büchsenhaus_, &c. The
_hakenbüchsen_ were so large and heavy that they could not be carried
in the hand; it was necessary therefore to support them with a prop,
called _bock_, because it had two horns, between which the piece was
fixed with a hook that projected from the stock[1303]. Hence arose
the name _hakenbüchse_, _hakenbüsse_, which the French and different
nations, along with many other German words, adopted, and corrupted
till they at length became _arquebuse_, _archibugio_, _archibuso_,
&c. From the passages of ancient writers collected by Daniel, it may
be concluded that these _hakenbüchsen_ with a wheel were invented
in Germany, in the beginning of the sixteenth century; and this is
confirmed by the testimony of Martin Bellay. Speaking of the league
formed between the emperor Charles V. and pope Leo X. against France,
and the siege of Parma undertaken in the year 1521, he says, “De ceste
heure là furent inventées les harcquebouzes qu’on tiroit sur une
fourchette.”
Pistols also, which at first had a wheel, seem to have been used at an
earlier period by the Germans than by the French. Bellay mentions them
in the year 1544, in the time of Francis I., and under Henry II. the
German horsemen, _des reiters_, were called _pistoliers_. De la Noue,
who served under both these kings, says, in his Discours Politiques et
Militaires, that the Germans first employed pistols. I know no probable
derivation of this term. Frisch conjectures that it may have arisen
from _Pistillo_ or _Stiopo_, because pistols used to have large knobs
on the handle. Daniel and others think that the name comes from Pistoia
in Tuscany, because they were there first made. He says he saw an old
pistol, which, except the ramrod, was entirely of iron.
Muskets received their name from the French _mouchet_, or the Latin
_muschetus_, which signifies a male sparrow-hawk. This derivation is
the less improbable, as it is certain that various kinds of fire-arms
were named after ravenous animals, such, for example, as _falconet_.
Daniel proves that they were known in France as early as the time of
Francis I. Brantome however asserts, that they were first introduced
by the duke of Alva, in the year 1567, when he exercised his cruelty
in the Netherlands, in order to overawe and keep in subjection the
people of that country; and that they were not then known in France. In
another place he says that they were first made general in France by M.
de Strozzi, under Charles IX.[1304]
That the lock was invented in Germany, and in the city of Nuremberg,
in 1517, has been asserted by many, and not without probability; but I
do not know whether it can be proved that we are here to understand a
lock of the present construction. In my opinion, the principal proof
rests on a passage made known by Wagenseil[1305], from an unprinted
Nuremberg Chronicle, the antiquity of which he has not determined. The
same year is given by J. Guler von Weineck[1306], Walser[1307], M.
von Murr and others. It is also certain that in the sixteenth century
there were very expert makers of muskets and fire-locks; for example,
George Kühfuss, who died in 1600, and also others, whose names may be
seen in Doppelmayer. I must not omit here to remark, that many call the
fire-lock the French lock, and ascribe the invention to these people;
yet as, according even to Daniel’s account, the far more inconvenient
wheels on pistols were used in France in 1658, it is probable that our
neighbours, as is commonly the case, may have made some improvement
in the German invention. In the history of the Brunswick regiments,
it is stated that the soldiers of that duchy first obtained, in 1687,
flint-locks instead of match-locks. It has often been asserted, that
fire-tubes, which took fire of themselves, were forbidden first in
Bohemia and Moravia, and afterwards in the whole German empire, under
a severe penalty, by the emperor Maximilian I.; but I have not found
any allusion to this circumstance in the different police laws of that
emperor.
That the first fire-stones were pyrites, appears from various accounts;
and as a siliceous kind of stone was introduced in its stead, this
circumstance gave often rise to confusion, some instances of which are
related by Henkel, so that many applied to the stone what was related
by our forefathers of pyrites. In the greater part of Europe[1308]
people use at present that _hornstein_ called by Wallerius _Silex
igniarius_, and by Linnæus _S. cretaceus_. In Germany it was formerly
called _Flins_ or _Vlins_, which some consider as more proper; and in
the Swedish, Danish and English, _Flinta_ and _Flint_. This appellation
is of great antiquity; for the Wends had a pagan deity of that name,
which they erected on a stone called _Flynstein_[1309]. In some
districts of Germany this word has been still retained; for example,
white or grey ferruginous spar, _Minera ferri alba_, is called in
Styria _Flins_, or, as it is often improperly written, _Pflinz_; and
in Bayreuth that fire-stone is still called flint-stone[1310]. In
our neighbourhood the same name is still used by the stone-cutters.
It cannot be doubted that the weapon which is fired by the help of
this stone, obtained from it, in German, the names of _Flintgewehr_,
_Flint_, or _Flinte_; but since the old name of the stone has been
forgotten, it is in general named from the weapon flint-stone. Those
acquainted with the German and northern antiquities, know that the
knives employed at the ancient sacrifices, and other articles, were
made of this kind of stone, as appears by the remains still found in
old barrows and between urns[1311]. This proves that these stones
were much used by the ancients. In England and France old buildings
constructed of them are still to be seen, and the stones appear to
have been cut with the greatest care[1312]. The above articles, which
have lain in the earth more than a thousand years, and these edifices,
among which some at Norwich were inhabited in 1403, show the wonderful
durability of this kind of stone. Some imagine that the art of working
it has been lost; but though our artists prefer employing their talents
and dexterity on stones which have a more beautiful appearance and
less brittleness, they are able to cut also the flint-stone. Enamel
painters, for the most part, rub their glass enamel on plates made of
it; but they are obliged to purchase them at a very dear rate[1313].
Many of my readers will perhaps be desirous to know in what manner our
gun-flints are prepared. Considering the great use made of them, it
will hardly be believed how much trouble I had to obtain information
on this subject. One would laugh were I to repeat the various answers
which I obtained to my inquiries. Many thought that the stones were cut
down by grinding them; some conceived that they were formed by means
of red-hot pincers; and many asserted that they were made in mills.
On the least reflection it may be readily conjectured, that the double
cuneiform shape is given to these stones without much labour, because
they are so cheap; and as every country, at all times, with whatever
other it may be engaged in war, can obtain them in sufficient quantity,
no nation can have an exclusive trade in them. It is nevertheless
difficult to discover the places whence they are procured; and in works
which give an account of the different articles of merchandise they
are not named. The best account with which I am acquainted, is that
collected by my brother, and published in the Hanoverian Magazine for
the year 1772. Shepherds, and other persons who gain little by their
service, break the flint-stone merely by manual labour, and chiefly in
Champagne and Picardy. Some years ago, Gilbert de Montmeau, a merchant
at Troye, carried on the greatest trade with them, and sold them at
the rate of five livres six sous per thousand. The Dutch always buy
up large quantities of them, which they keep in reserve, in order to
sell them when the exportation of them is forbidden by France, in
the time of war. Savary, however, relates that the largest quantity
and best stones come from Berry, and particularly the neighbourhood
of St. Agnau and Meusne. I know also that a great many are made at
Stevensklint in Zeeland[1314], and exported from that country. In the
year 1727, the chancery of war at Hanover sent some persons to learn
the art of breaking flints; but after their return, it was given out
that our horn-stone was unfit for that purpose. It is possible that
those stones which occur in continued veins may be split easier in any
required direction than those found in single pieces, as it appears to
me that the latter are harder and more compact than the former. Perhaps
the case is the same with flints as with vermilion, the preparation of
which we endeavoured to learn from the English and Dutch, though from
the earliest periods it had been made better in the very centre of
Germany than anywhere else.
That stones were used at least in the middle of the sixteenth century,
is confirmed by the account of an ingenious Italian, named Francis
Angelerius. This artist had constructed a short piece of wood, to
which he applied a wheel, and instead of a cock substituted a dog,
which held the stone in its mouth, the whole so ingeniously made, that
a person who appeared with it at a masquerade was arrested by the
guard, because it was considered to be a real pistol[1315]. I have
thought it proper to mention this circumstance, because it proves that
the wheel was then invented and known under the appellation of pistol.
In old arsenals and armouries, large collections of arms with the wheel
are still to be seen. I have inspected those preserved in the arsenal
at Hanover. What I consider to be the oldest, have on the barrel the
figure of a hen with a musket in its mouth, because perhaps they were
made at Henneberg. A pistol of this kind was entirely of brass without
any part of wood, and therefore exceedingly heavy. On the lower part of
the handle were the letters J. H. Z. S. perhaps John duke of Saxony. A
piece with a wheel, which seemed to be one of the most modern, had on
the barrel the date 1606.
Together with fire-stones, properly so called, pyrites, which is
sometimes named fire-stone, continued long in use. In the year 1586,
under duke Julius of Brunswick, when abundance of sulphureous pyrites
was found near Seefen, the duke caused it to be collected, and formed
it himself into the necessary shape, though in doing so he often
bruised his fingers, and was advised by the physicians not to expose
himself to the sulphureous vapour emitted by that substance.
[The use of flint-locks to guns has, within the last few years,
been almost entirely laid aside in this country; the percussion- or
detonating-lock being substituted for it. The certainty and rapidity
with which the discharge takes place, gives them a very great
superiority. This ingenious invention belongs to a Scottish clergyman,
the Rev. Mr. Forsyth, minister of Belhelvie in Aberdeenshire, but
it has since received some great improvements, especially in the
application of the copper cap, to which indeed may be attributed all
its superiority.--_Brande._]