Method Lay your budg-barrel or Cartrages of Powder to the Wind-ward and your Linstock with the fired Match to the Lee-ward placing your self on the right side of the Piece and having cleansed the Concave and the Touch-hole fill your Ladle but so as no Corns may scatter over then charge it into the piece as home as you can turning it by the end of the staff with your Thumb and Fingers being sure to keep your Body clear of the Muzzle and so drawing out your Ladle ram a wad by three or four quick stroaks of your Rammer to prevent the Powder from scatteâ—â—â—â— in the Chamber then put in the shot and after it a wad in like manner so that the Powder may be forced yet closer whereby it will deliver the shot with greater violence and prevent any Vacancy that may occasion the bursting of the piece and whilst this is doing you must cover the Touch-hole to prevent any accidental fire from falling into it then prime by drawing a Train to the base Ring and so give fire ever observing not to touch the Touch-hole with your Match-coal lest it blow both that and your Linstock out of your hand and disable it for some time of doing service especially if the Touch-hole be any thing large If you are required to shoot at a random mark or by Elevation you ought to understand that the Random of a piece is the intire distance from the place of discharge to the place where the Bullet first falls or grazes on the level Line or on the Ground by Artists termed the Horizential Plain and to obtain the true knowledge of this it must be practised in a level Ground where nothing may obstruct the level Line or leveling of the shot and therein observe the distances of the paces from the Piece to the fall then mount the Muzzle one degree and take again the like notice and in still mounting by degrees you will be capable of perceiving how far the piece will carry mounting or at the level with an equal proportion of Powder even to the tenth degree or so high as your piece is capable of mounting which will in a good piece advance thirty or forty paces of five feet to the pace through which means an experienced Gunner by his Map may be certain at what distance to make his shot whether into the Trenches or a Town or to dismount the Enemies Cannon or to batter a Wall Bulwark or the Ranks of an Army but if he would make a good shot at a party of moving Horse or Foot or at a Ship under sail Observe in the first place your length to know certainly whether or not you are within reach and if so it being in a straight Line in the second place consider the slowness or swiftness of the motion of the men or ship you intend to hit and thereupon lying upon an equal level neither too high nor too low fire at another mark some distance before it and beyond that so by the two motions the Bullet and the Mark you design to hit may meet for although the Bullet flys with incredible swiftness yet it requires some small time to accomplish its end But if you aim at any Light either on the Sea or on the Shoar in a dark Night then fix a piece of lighted Match or a bit of a Torch on the Muzzle of the piece and bringing that ánd the middle of the base Ring even with the light if it stand still or be passing on in a direct line and give fire by which means if your piece be steady and carry true you can hardly miss your aim If a shot by reason of over-rash charging with one above proportionable size stick in the piece whereby if it be fired hastily it indangers the breaking dissolve bay Salt in Vinegar and pour it in at the Touch-hole till it has melted the Powder then strike the piece where the Bullet sticks the piece being lowred with the muzzle downwards and it will fall out if not let the piece dry and then put Powder in at the Touch-hole till you find a small charge and so give fire having struck the Bullet before with your Rammer to loosen it It is worth observing that if a piece by reason of its being often shot off be very hot it loses much of its force every time after the second or third time lessening something of its motion as to the distance wherefore if the occasion will permit it is best to let them cool between every shot but if not cool them as well as you can with your Spong diped in Water c. If at any time a Gunner for want of skill or by mistake has placed his piece amiss so that the shot flys wide of the mark to mend it he must observe how much wide he was if the shot has hit any part near the mark and if it be too high then must he bring the piece a degree lower or according to the distances he perceives he erred in but if on one side then must the piece be breeched about and if too low it must be better leaveled ever observing that in making a true shot it is requisite to bring the middle of the base Ring even with the middle of the muzzle Ring both which being exactly measured may be notified by sticking up a nail by the help of a piece of Wax or Clay and both those brought even with the mark only the top of the former to be seen give fire and your Expectation if the piece be a clever shooter will be answered Many it is true leavel their Ordnance by Rule and indeed it is the exactest way though somewhat tedious yet may it be done without any Rule by the help of a steady Eye especially if the piece be true and a far shooter only it requires the Gunner to be skilful in guessing at the distance of the mark whither it be in a right Line mounting or declining by bringing the mark even with the Muzzle and Base-ring exactly in the middle It is not the least of the Gunners care to procure good powder such as may easily take fire and retain its full strength for powder in long lying taking unseasonable wet or the like will lose so much of its strength that a pound and a half will not work the effect of one pound nay that which is at the bottom of the Barrel is much more forcible than that which is at the top and the reason is because the force of the Salt-peter if it be not moved or stired about tends downward now to know good powder from bad observe these Rules First feel whether the Corns are well dryed being of a dark blewish colour and taste much of the fire secondly take some of the Corns and lay them upon a sheet of white paper and if when you fire them they leave a black mark or yellow sindge behind them then is the powder gross and earthy and will neither endure
Wings of the Lithuanian Horse and placed the Foot behind the Men an Arms to support them and so riding from Rank to Rank he admonished them to do their utmost for the Honour of their King and Country and not by any Cowardize in them be a means to lose a Battel upon which depended their Lives and Liberties c. He would have proceeded but whilst he was speaking the Moscoviâ— sounded the Charge whereupon commanding the Captains in the Vaunt-guard to break in upon the Enemy with their Spears mauger their shot of Arrows each battel moved furiously and although the Arrows flew thick as Hail yet the Poles passed on though some yet but a few oâ— them were slain so that the Archers being frustrated in a trice they brought iâ— to the Sword so that the Lithuanian stretching out their Wings and theâ— straitning them made good their Archers who sorely gauled the Moscovites who being on all sides in a manner oppressed could neither give back nor brake through in the front and those that were behind still thrusting them forward break their Array bearing out side-ways upon the Wings of the Lithuanians so at one time they attacked two Incounters in divers places so that the fight being hot on all parts and the Duke finding himself over-charged sent to Command the Horse-men in Ambush to advance who soon discovered themselves and came on with horrid crys and sounds of Trumpets to be thought more dreadful in their number which the Polonian General perceiving ordered his Battel to stand firm yet Polosky a Palatine of that Kingdom turned on them a squadron of Foot-men which had not been much shaken and sustaining the first shock of their Arrows gave Command for all the Harquibusiers to fire at once and so by a swift advance came to the push of Pike and Halbert causing the Moscovite Horse-men to recoil yet their Ranks being close they could not expand themselves or travers their Ground by reason of which they were obliged to sustain the fight in that narrow compass with great slaughter so that it was a pitious sight to see Men and Horses dead lying on heaps weltering in Blood and groaning out their last whilst in that part where the General fought the Ranks of Moscovites were broken and disordered and the Right Wing of Horse almost all cut in pieces so that the middle Battel wherein was yet the Person of the Great Duke was attacked on all sides and the foremost Ranks pierced through so that he despairing to restore the fight gave back and now the Foot that had routed his Ambushment of Horse having nothing to do charged upon his Battel of Succour and entring their Ranks who had been shaken before by the Lithuanian Horse they with their Pikes and Scimiters made a miserable slaughter putting them in all parts to the rout of which the Duke having notice and how those Horse he had laid in Ambush were likewise defeated whom he scarce thought as yet to have made their attack he with a Troop of his Nobles that were his Guard retired out of the Battel and left his Men to shift for themselves making all the speed he could to escape that Ruin and Desolation into which he had brought his Army which once known nothing but flight and confusion followed whilst the Poles had the Execution of them for many Miles with great slaughter In this Battel fought on the eighth of September 13000 men were slain and many of them of Note all the Baggage and rich Pavilions with the Great Dukes Standard taken as likewise was Michael Goliza but Smolensco being strongly fortified could not be regained Thus Blood still flows thus cruel Mars still raves And Drowns the Plains with Seas of Purple Waves A Description of the Great and Memorable Battel fought in Persia near the City of Coy or Coios between Hysmael the Persian Sophi and Selymus the First of that Name Emperour of the Turks SElymus to obtain the Diadem having caused his Father Bajazet the Second to be poysoned and to secure himself in the Throne strangled his three Brethren being grieved that his two Nephews Amurath and Aladine yet lived the one by securing himself in the Persian Court and the other in that of the AEgyptian Sultan upon the former's making some Inrodes into Capadocia he took an opportunity to quarrel with Hysmael the Persian Sophy and thereupon raising an Army of 300000 Horse and Foot and under pretence of his having aided his Rebels he marched to invade his Country and so drawing his People after him over the huge Mountains of Scodrasci Moscii and Ante-Taurus he passed along the Banks of the River Euphrates holding his way Eastward till he came to the River Araxis where he found all the Country wasted and destroyed by the Persians upon which the Army began to fall into great want of many things so that the Souldiers were forced to feed upon wild Fruits when in the mean time Vsta-Ogli the Persian General approached him with an Army of 80000 Horse and whilst either Army was at some distance one from the other Hysâ—ael came in Person to his Camp and from thence sent a Heraulâ— to Selymus to know why in a Hostile manner he had entred his Country having no Title thereto to which the Turk hautily reply'd That his Grandfather his Uncle and himself had greatly endamaged the Ottoman Empire by making several Incroachments Inrodes and Invasions and aiding the Rebels in the Reigns of Mahomet Bajazet and his own yet he esteemed them not a sufficient ground of War but sought after his Enemy young Amurath his Brother's Son who had lately wasted Cappadocia whom if he would quietly and friendly deliver into his Hands he would withdraw his Forces but if he refused to gratifie him therein he would with Fire and Sword not only destroy the Confines of Armenia but the very heart of Persia Notwithstanding these promises and Threats the Persian refused to comply with his demands in delivering up the young Prince to certain Death yet for that day both Armies lay in their Trenches but the next day they drew out and each being put in Battel-Array and incouraged by moving Orations to do their utmost the bloody blast was sounded after which the Persian Horsemen came on with great Futy over-setting the Vaunt-guard and overthrowing the Asapi by heaps these are a sort of ordinary Souldiers placed by the Turks for the most part to dull the Swords of the Enemy with their Blood and often set formost in Assaults to fill up the Trenches with their dead Bodies when they besieged a Town that the Janizaries may pass the easier over them nor was that all for the Persians at the same time charged the Spahi or Turkish Horsemen in either Wing causing them in some Confusion to give Ground which Selymus perceiving and finding they would soon charge the Battel of the Janizaries in the middle of which himself remained he caused the Orders to open to the right and the
beaten Brimstone in which is a great wad of Hemp and ends of Rope which being fired and thrown on board breaks upon the Deck with a stream of flame sending withal such a stench and noisome smoke that it not only indangers the Ship which it many times fires but forces the Men from their stations and gives the throwers an opportunity to enter Carcasses now much in use are made up with Leather and Canvas strongly bound glewed and pitched filled with a composition of Powder Brimstone Salt-peter Rozin Pitch Turpentine and the like and thrown out of Mortars and Engins The Art of making and preparing Artificial Fire-works for Recreation after the newest and best Invention in sundry forms and manners pleasant and profitable c. AS for Artificial Fire works there are sundry sorts relating to Recreation but in general I may reduce them under three heads viz. those that ascend in the Air those that expire on the Earth and such as swim in the water and these again I may as properly divide into three particular sorts viz. Those for the Air are the Balloon the Sky-rocket and the flying Saucission for the Earth the fiery Lances the ground Rocket and the ground Saucissions for the Water double and single Rockets Globes or Balls but before I proceed to the composition I shall say something of the Moulds c. If the caliber or bore of your Mould be an Inch in Diameter then ought it to be six Inches in length being made for a Rocket of the Air and the breech one Inch and a half the Broach being no less than 3 Inches long and in thickness a quarter of an Inch circumference the Rowler in this case must be three quarters of an Inch Diameter and the Rammer half an Inch being hollow at one end to receive the Broach for the carroush coffin must be loaded the Broach being in if the bore be two Inches Diameter the Rocket must be a Foot long if but half an Inch it must be in length but three Inches and so proportionable as it is more or less in the Diameter as also the Breech must be coherent or else they will never mount well In the composition of a Sky-Rocket the principal thing to be considered is an exact and proportionable mixture therefore for the composition of middle sized Rockets add no more than two ounces of Charcole to a pound of Powder both being bruised and searced through a fine Sieve of Lawn or such a like material with which fill your Rocket the Head and Broach being in putting in the Powder by degrees and pressing it down between each filling with your Rammer then try it and if it break or burn out too fast add more Charcole dust but if it burn dull and refuse to mount then add more Powder and so order it till you find it answer your expectation and for defect of Charcole you may use Seacole finely beaten but it will not make so bright a Tail for as the Powder forces the Rocket to mount so the Charcole makes the fiery train If you would have it sparkle much in mounting you may put some Salt-peter meal into it if you would have your Rocket give a Report after the Fuse is spent you must put a piece of Paper when it is three parts charged with the composition and making a hole in the middle of it put after it a Pistol charge or so much as will fill it of corned Powder unbruised and so doubling in the breech seal it down with wax pitch or glow observing always the Cases be well choaked in the Primer or you may for want of wax or the like choak the But end with a Cord and so cut it off To fire your Rocket for the Air fasten to it a straight wand sufficient to poise it and fix it with the mouth and the Tail of the wand downward upon some place above your height and so with a Fuse or Match give fire or by a Train you may fire six or seven together making them spread in the Air like fountains of fire Ground Rockets as to their Moulds are made in the manner of the former but the composition somewhat differs for in this case Powder dust and Salt-Peter-meal very fine sifted are required which must be forcibly rammed by degrees till within an Inch of the Top and then a Pistol charge of corned Powder being put in Choke up the end exceeding close with a small cord and cutting off what hangs over leave it picked In this manner Serpents commonly used to adorn great Fire-works are made but if you intend them to mount let your filling be only beaten Powder well fisted and if you design them with a Train then it will require some Charcole dust at least an ounce to six ounces of Powder To make the Resemblance of Golden Rain and Stars of divers sorts having filled a great Rocket for the Air with a charge of hard Powder make upon the breech of him a kind of a Gallery by drawing over a greater case or pasting on stiff paper then having filled about thirty or forty Goose quills or so many as it will hold with beaten Powder Brimstone and Salt-peter bore the end of the Rocket full of holes and paste them into that vacancy that they may not fall off till the Rocket is spent and then by some Powder scattered under them they taking fire will appear to those that are on one side of the like the streamers of a Comet or golden rain and to such as are under them like a show of fire As for Stars they are especially two sorts made of dry and wet Powder to make the first of these take a pound of Salt-peter half a pound of Brimstone a quarter of a pound of bruised Gun-powder beaten finely and well sifted sow up as much of this composition in a double Rag pierced full of holes as the quantity of a Walnut and wet the Rag over on the ourside with the Oyl of Petrolum fix of these six or eight upon the head of a great Rocket so that when it is at its highest they may take fire at what time they will expand themselves in flame and appear for a time to the Spectators like real Stars The second sort of Stars are compounded of Salt-peter half a pound of Brimstone and half a pound of Powder grosly bruised and wet with the Oyl of Petrolum and made up into Pellets as big as Wall-nuts dry them by rowling in the dust of dry Powder and fix five six or seven of them upon a great Rocket and send it up into the Air by which means when it is spent these Stars will fire yet will not blaze bright as the former but fall more like a body of Fire by reason of the Composition of moisture Stars there are of an other sort which give reports at the going off like Pistols and these are composed of Salt-peter Brimstone and Powder made into Wildfire with Aqua fortis and