in our Countrey-men Mr. Bate and Mr. Babington c. That which I intend to do is to teach you how they may be made by hand or by help only of a Rouler to Roul the Paper upon let it be turned to the thickness you intend only let the Rouler be 8 times the Diameter in length If it be three quarters of an inch in thickness the length will be three inches Roul your Paper hard on the Rouler until the thickness be one inch and a quarter Rouler and all then glue the uppermost paper and the Case is made On the choaking or contracting the paper together at one end within one Diameter of the end except only a little hole about one quarter the Diameter of the bore thereof to contract these Cases on this manner do thus wet the end about one inch in water then put the Rouler in again and tye a great packthread about the wet within three quarters of an inch of the end put another thing almost of the same Diameter with the Rouler in at the wet end about half an inch hold it there get some other body to draw the packthread together you holding the Rouler and Rammer one put down to the end within one inch and the Rammer which must be little less than the Diameter to meet with that end within half an inch in which the contract or choaking must be the packthread having drawn it together tye it fast on that place take out the Former let it dry and it is done when the hole is contracted together make it so wide as is before taught with a round bodkin which you must provide for that purpose CHAP. II. How to make Compositions for Rockets of any size THese ways which I will teach you I take them not upon trust out of every Author but such as are men of known experience as that Casimier before spoken of and others of the like repute And first for Rockets of 1 ounce you must use only Cannon-powder dust being beaten in a Morter and finely sifted and this will rise swift and will make a great noise but carries no tayl Those of most beauty in their operation are made of 1 ounce of Charcoal-dust eight ounces of Powder this Composition will hold for Rockets of one two or three ounces but for those of four take three ounces of Charcoal-dust to one pound of Cannon-powder dust continuing that Rule until you come to Rockets of ten ounces and from thence to Rockets of a pound for there used to be one pound of Powder-dust to 4 ounces of Charcoal-dust But for better satisfaction observe these Rules For Rockets of one pound Take Powder 18 l. Salt-Peter 8 l. Charcoal 4 l. Sulphur 2 l For Rockets of two or three pound Take of Salt-Peter 60 l. Coal 15 l. Sulphur 2 l. For Rockets of four or five pound Take of Salt-Peter 64 l. Coal 16 l. Sulphur 8 l. For Rockets of six seven or eight pound Salt-Peter 35 l. Coal 10 l. Sulphur 5 l. For Rockets of nine or ten pound Salt-Peter 62 l. Coal 20 l. Sulphur 9 l. For Rockets from eleven to fifteen pound Salt-Peter 32 l. Sulphur 8 l. Coal 16 l. For Rockets from sixteen to twenty pound Salt-Peter 42 l. Coal 26 l. Sulphur 12 l. For Rockets from thirty to fifty pound Salt-Peter 30 l. Coal 18 l. Sulphur 7 l. For Rockets from sixty to a hundred pound Take Peter 30 l. Sulphur 10 l. Coal 10 l. CHAP. III. To fill the Rockets with this Composition PLace the mouth downwards where it was choaked and with a knife put in so much as you can of the receits provided for that size at one time then put down your Rammer which must be longer and narrower than the Former or Rouler upon which you made the Cases and with a hammer of a pound weight give three or four indifferent knocks then put in more composition with your knife until it be full at every time knocking the like as before with the Rammer until the composition come within one diameter of the bore of the top there put down a peece of pastboard and knock it in hard prick three or four little holes therein then put fine pistol powder in almost to the top and upon that another cap of paper upon which put a peece of leather that it may be tyed on the top of the Rocket and fast glued on then get a streight twig and bind it upon the Rocket with strong packthred it must be no heavier than being put upon your finger two or three fingers breadths from the mouth of the same it may just ballast the Rocket then it is prepared for use CHAP. IV. How to give fire to one or more Rockets SEt your Rockets mouth upon the edge of any peece of timber battlement of a wall top of the Gunners carriage wheel or any dry place whatsoever where the rod or twig may hang perpendlcular from it then lay a train of powder that may come under the mouth thereof give fire thereunto and you have done But if you would fire more Rockets than one that as one descendeth the other may ascend by degrees make this composition following of Roch peter 8 ounces Quick Brimstone 4 ounces and fine Powder dust 2 ounces which lay in a line from one Rocket to another they being placed ten inches or a foot one from another give fire to this composition and it will work your desire by causing one to mount into the air when the other is spent but before you place your Rockets remember to prick them with the bodkin CHAP. V. Divers and sundry Compositions for Stars A Composition for Stars of a blew colour mixed with red TAke of Powder mealed 8 ounces Salt-Peter 4 ounces Quick Brimstone 12 ounces Meal all these very fine and mix them together with two ounces of Aqua-vitae and half an ounce of Oyl of Spike which let be very dry before you use it Another Composition which maketh a white and beautiful fire Take Powder 8 ounces Salt-Peter 24 ounces Quick Brimstone 12 ounces Camphire 1 ounce Meal these Ingredients and incorporate them Now to meal your Camphire take a brass pestle and morter wet the end of the pestle in a little of the Oyl of Almonds and it will meal to powder then keep it close from the air else it will become of no use Another white fire which lasteth long Take Powder 4 ounces Salt-Peter 16 ounces Brimstone 8 ounces Camphire 1 ounce Oyl of Peter 2 ounces Meal those that are to be mealed and mix them according to the former directions CHAP. VI. The manner of making Stars and to use them TAke little four square peeces of brown paper which fill with the composition you approve of best of the three last taught so double it down rouling it until you make it round about the bigness of a nut or bigger according to the size of your Rocket that you intend them for prime them withdrawing thorow them
reasonable to pass into the Air and to elevate it self on high without any difficulty and in such a sort that those bundles may not by any means give hinderance or stoppage to their rising in a streight line and take care most exactly that the Fuzee be not so big but that they may retain as near as you can a Pyramidal or Conical form when all its weight that may be is adjoyned to it 20. Men ought to shun as much as possible those nights that are rainy moist and when the Sky is darkned with black clouds as being very incommodious and offensive to the Fuzees And more than that avoid impetuous Stormy winds and the Whirl-winds hinder no less than the first 21. You may not reject above other causes the different effects which are produced by sundry Fuzees although they be charged with one and the same Composition no otherwise than thus that they were not made with an equal diligence either in the Charging or Peircing or in the other Circumstances which you were obliged to observe or in this that it may be some may have been kept in a more moister place than the others where they have acquired too much moisture which causeth to them effects much different one from another as well in Rising as in Consuming 22. If you would make appear in the Air streams of fire or a quantity of burning sparks or stars or long large rayes to dart from the Fuzees there is accustomed to mix with the Composition some small quantity of powdered Glass grosly beaten filings of Iron Sawdust One may also represent fire of divers colours as we have shewed before in the fifth Chapter but more particularly thus if you put a certain portion of Camphire in your Composition you will see in the Air a certain fire which will appear white pale and of the colour of Milk if you put Greek Pitch which is a light yellow Pitch used in Plaisters called Pix Burgundy it will represent unto you a red flame and of the colour of Brass if you put in Sulphur the fire will appear blew if Sal-Armoniack the fire will appear Greenish if from Crude Antimony the flame will be Red Yellowish and of the Colour of Honey if the filings of Ivory be added they will render a Silver-like White and shining flame yet something inclining to a Livid Plumbous colour if the powder of Yellow Amber be added the fire will appear of the same colour with the Citrine lastly if black Pitch be added it will throw forth an obscure smoaky fire or rather a smoak that is black and thick which will darken all the Air. CHAP. XIV Of Odoriferous Aquatick Balls CAuse to be made by a Turner Balls of wood hollow within about the bigness of a Wild Apple which you must fill with some one of these Compositions hereunto annexed and they being all prepared and charged you may throw them into the water after they are lighted but it ought to be done in a Chamber or close place that the fume may be the better kept together and this must be done with some small end of our Match made of prepared Flax or Hemp to the end that the Composition which is shut up in the Globe may take fire with the greater facility The Compositions are these that follow viz. Take Salt-Peter Storax Calamite one Dram Incense one ounce Mastick one ounce Amber half an ounce Civet half an ounce of the Sawings of Juniper wood two ounces of the Sawings of Cypress wood two ounces Oyl of Spike one ounce Make your Composition according to the Art and Method given Or Take of Salt-Peter two ounces of Flower of Brimstone Camphire half an ounce powder of yellow Amber half an ounce Coals of the Teile tree one ounce Flower of Benjamin or Assa sweet half an ounce Let the matters that may be beaten be powdered afterwards well mingled and incorporated together CHAP. XV. Compositions to Charge Globes or Balls that will burn as well under as above water FIrst take Salt-Peter reduced into fine meal 16 l. Sulphur 4 l. of the sawings of wood which hath been first boyled in a Nitrous water and afterwards well dryed 4 l. Of good Corned powder half a pound of the powder of Ivory 4 ounces Or thus Salt-Peter 6 l. Sulphur 3 l. of beaten powder 1 l. Filings of Iron 2 l. of Burgundy pitch half a pound Or thus Salt-Peter 24 l. of beaten powder 4 l. Sulphur 12 l. of Sawdust 8 l. of yellow Amber half a pound of Glass beaten in gross powder half a pound of Camphire half a pound For that which concerns the manner of preparing all these Compositions it differs nothing from what we have prescribed in the making of Rockets only 't is not necessary that the materials be so subtilly beaten powdered nor sifted as for those Fuzees but nevertheless to be well mixed one among another Care must be taken that they be not too dry when you charge the Globes or Balls and for that purpose they may be moistned with Linseed-oyl Oyl of Olives Petrole Hemp-seed Nuts or any other fatty humour that is receptible of fire Note that amongst all these Compositions of matters that will burn in the water which I have here proposed from my own particular experience every one may make them as pleaseth himself best provided he always take the materials in proportion one to the other as they ought But nevertheless I shall counsel you to experience from time to time your Compositions for the greater surety before you expose them to the publick view of the world It is also amongst the rest very necessary that you learn the force and strength of every material you put into the Compositions whereby you may at your pleasure know how to alter and vary your proportion as you shall judg fit CHAP. XVI Of Stars and fiery Sparks called by the Germans Stern-veuer and Veuerputzen I Have shewed the Composition of Stars in Chap. 5. I have also shewed the way of making them up and their use and also I have shewed the manner of giving to them various Colours as in the 22 Rule of the 13 Chapter where I had an intent to say no more of these things But finding in Master Cazimier's Artillery these Compositions which I judge may prove very excellent therefore I thought good to insert them that I might leave out nothing that might make more perfect any thing we treat of First you must know that between fiery Sparks and Stars there is this difference that the Stars are greater and are not so soon consumed by the fire as the Sparks are but do subsist longer in the Air and do shine with greater substance and with such a light that by reason of their great splendor they are in some manner comparable with the Stars in the Heavens They are prepared according to the following Method Take Salt-Peter half a pound Sulphur two ounces Yellow Amber powdered one Dram Antimony Crude one Dram
How to prepare Match or Low for Artificial Fires MAke Cords of Tow Hemp or Cotton which you please of two or three twists not made too hard put them in a new Earthen pot Vernished pour upon them Vinegar made of good white Wine four parts of Urine two parts of Aqua vitae one part of Salt Peter purified one part of Cannon Powder reduced to Meal one part Make all these Ingredients boyl together upon a great Fire to the Consumption of all the Liquor then spread upon a great smooth Plank or Board the Meal or Flower of the most excellentest Powder that you can get Having drawn your Match out of the Pot roul them in the Powder and then dry them in the shade or Sun for it matters not which and the Cords or Match that are thus prepared will burn very quick Francis Jouchim Prechtelin in his second part of his Fire-works Chap. 2. describes a certain Match which is extream slow in burning and is thus made take Mastich two parts Colophonia one part Wax one part Salt-Peter two parts Charcoal half a part then having melted all and mixed them well upon the fire take a Match made of Hemp or Flax of a sufficient bigness and draw it through this Composition making it go down to the bottom of the Vessel drawing it often through until it hath gotten the bigness of a Candle and when you desire to use it light it first and when it is well lighted blow it out and there remains none but a burning Coal CHAP. VIII Of certain Antidotes excellent and approved against the burning of Gun-powder Sulphur hot Iron melted Lead and other like accidents drawn from the particular Experiments of Cozimu Nowicz SECTION I. BOyle Hogs grease in common water over a most gentle fire the space of some time then take it from the Fire and let it cool and after expose it to the fair and clear weather three or four nights after having put it into an Earthen pot melt it again upon a small fire and being melted strain it through a Cloath into cold water after wash it many times with good clean and fresh water until it come as white as snow this done put it into a glazed pot to serve you at your occasions The use is thus you must annoint the burnt part as soon as you can and you will see a quick and admirable effect SECT II. Take Plaintain water Oyl of Nuts of Italy of each as much as you please SECT III. Take Mallows water Rose water Plume Allum of each as much as is necessary and mix them well together with the white of an Egg. SECT IV. Take a Lixivium made of Calx Vive and common water add to it a little Oyl of Hempseed Oyl Olive and some whites of Eggs mingle all well together and annoint the burnt place with this Composition All these Oyntments cure burnings without causing any pain These I have often experimented upon my self Some Receipts from divers Authors Take Oyl of Olives Oyl of sweet Almonds Liquid Vernish each one part juice of Onions two parts with these chafe the part affected If there be already blisters raised and Ulcerations in the parts this following Oyntment is most excellent Boyle a great quantity of the second Rind of Elder tree in Oyl of Olive then pour it through a Linnen cloath add to it a little after two parts of Cerus or burnt Lead of Lytharge of Gold of each one part put them into a Leaden Morter and then stir them about and mix them so that they become in the form of a Linament Take melted Lard pour it into two Ounces of Morrel water and one Ounce of Oyle of Saturn then mingle them well together ' this Remedy is soeveraign Take the Mucilage of the Roots of Henbane and of the Flowers of Poppies of each one Ounce Salt Peter one Ounce mingle them all with Oyl of Camphire and make a Linament according to Art Or take the juyce of Oynions rosted in embers two Ounces Nut Oyle one Ounce mingle them all well together Or take of the Leaves of Ivy two m. or handfuls well beaten up with Plaintain water Oyl Olive one pound make all boyl with four Ounces of good white Wine until the Consumption of the whole Wine at the end of the decoction add Wax as much as is necessary to give him the form and consistency of a Linament Again take old Lard let it be melted over the flame and poured into two Ounces of the juyce of Beets and Rue of the Cream of Milk one Ounce Mucilage of Quince-seeds and Gum Tracanth of each an Ounce and a half mix them well together and make thereof a Linament This remedy is none of the worst we took it from Joseph Quercetanus in libro Sclopetrio CHAP. IX Of Hand Granadoes THe Hand Granadoes respecting their form are Globically or perfectly round and hollow in their interior part in manner of a Sphere they are called Hand Granadoes or Handy Granadoes because they may be grasped in the hand and thrown to the Enemies and if we should dwell upon the denominations of the Latine we may call them as they do Granades Palmares they are commonly of the bigness of a Bullet of Iron of 5 6 and 8 l. they weigh sometimes 1 l. and sometimes one pound and a half some are of two pounds and others of three pounds there is given to these sort of Globes the names of Granadoes by reason of the great resemblance they have with the Fruit Punique which we call Pom-granad for as these do shut up in their rinds a great quantity of grains so our Military Globes are filled with a number of Grains of Powder almost innumerable the which having received the Fire do break into a thousand and a thousand shivers leaping against the Enemy and piercing if it could all such things as it meets opposing its violence They are generally made of Iron or Copper carrying in its Diameter about three Ounces being about the length of a Barly Corn in thickness of Metal they are filled commonly with Gun-Powder and sometimes of other Compositions there is added to its Orifice a small Pipe commonly called a Fuse which is filled with a matter or Composition that is slack or slow in burning but nevertheless very susceptible of the Fire and capable to hold fire some time for fear that it should break in the hands of those that mannage it and intend to throw it There is amongst Fire-Masters accounted three sorts of Hand Granadoes the first and most common are made of Iron others are made of Brass allayed with other Metals in the melting the third sort is of Glass If you cause them to be made of Iron take such as is most fragile and as little wrought as possible you can get if you will cast them of Copper you must allay six pound of Copper with two pounds of Tyn and half a pound of Marcasite or you may put one part of Tyn with
leave the most terrestial part and such as is useless in the Sand which water again put into the Cauldron and boyl it up as formerly until it may be fit to congeal and in the end pour it into wooden long flat Vessels as before and in two or three dayes 't will be shot into Christals as formerly which if you would have purer you must reiterate this work once more or you may put upon this Peter Lyme-water filter it and boyl it up according to Art and it will be pure Salt-Peter may be purified thus put your Salt-Peter in a Vessel of Copper Iron or Vernish't Earth I like a Crucible best which being put to a small fire augment it gradually until all the Salt be melted and boyl'd then take common Sulphur finely pulverised and throw it upon the liquified Salt-Peter which will quickly take fire and burn and by the same means consume all the gross and viscous humours with the terrestrial Salt remaining useless amongst the Salt-Peter before the rectification besides you may reiterate this work by putting on fresh Sulphur many times until such time all the strange humours be quite consumed in the end the Salt-Peter being well melted and well purified pour it upon well polished Marble or Plates of Iron or Copper or glazed Earth and let it cool and you will have a Salt-Peter congealed almost resembling in colour and hardness the true Alabaster CHAP. XI How Salt-Peter Meal is made without any beating for the making of Gun-powder SAlt-Peter well purified must be put in a Kettle upon a furnace over a fire then moderately increase the fire with Bellows to such a degree of heat until it begin to smoak and evaporate until the Salt begin to lose its humidity and obtain a whiteness and so keep continually stirring it with a wooden or Iron Ladle for fear it should return into its pristine form and hereby will be taken away all its fatty greasiness that may be commixt This being done pour so much water into the Kettle as will cover the Salt-Peter and when it shall be dissolved and it has obtained the consistence of a thick Liquor then with a wooden stick or Ladle keep continually stirring it without any intermission until all its humidity be evaporated and all be reduced into most dry white Meal CHAP. XII To make Salt-Peter with the flower of Did Walls of Caves Cellars Uaults c. GAther together a good quantity of this Flower which you may find upon the Surface of Old Walls which are in moist places under the Earth you may also make provision with a certain Salt which sticks to Lyme or upon ruinated Walls which Peter one Sardi a Roman took notice of was alwayes well practised at Bruxells in Brabant as he confesseth in his fifth Book of Artillery Chap. 49. First see how much Salt-Peter matter you have then take one fourth part so much of quick Lyme pour upon it warm water boyl it well and clarifie it according to custom then put your Salt-Peter matter into a Tub with a tap in it and a little Earthen Dish before the hole of the tap within pour into this Tub the Lye and stir it well with a stick until all the Salt Peter be dissolved in the Water then let it distil leisurely into a Vessel that stands under the tap and at last being all dissolved and run out put this water into a Kettle and boyl it over the fire until so much be consumed that the remainder being dropped upon a Tyle-stone or Board do congeal and be of hardness but not too hard for if it be very hard the water is burnt but if too soft not enough When 't is well boyled and scummed take it from the fire and proceed with it as in the tenth and eleventh Chapters CHAP. XIII How to examine the goodness of Salt-Peter PUt upon a Wooden Table or any clean and smooth Board a little Salt-Peter then give fire to it with a live coal and observe these Rules following viz. If it make the same noise in burning as the common Salt doth when it is thrown upon live coals it is a sign it holds yet much common Salt If it hold a thick and fat scum it is a sign 't is fatty and viscous If after the Salt be consumed there resteth yet crass and filthy matter upon the board it is an infallible sign that the Salt contains yet a quantity of earthy matter and so much the more if you see much dregs after the combustion of the Salt-Peter is past and therefore the less powerful and active But by contraries if it render a cleer long flame divided into many streams and that the superficies of the board remain neat without any filth or that it be consumed so that nothing is left but a white clean ash without making much noise or great trembling you may then conclude that the Salt-Peter is good and well cleansed and in its perfect preparation CHAP. XIV The true way to purifie Salt-Peter and separating it from all offending and superfluous matter as common Salt Uitriol Allum and all fatty and viscous humours TAke Two pound of Quick-Lyme Two pound of common Salt One pound of Verdigrease One pound of Roman Vitriol One pound of Sal-Armoniack beat them all together after put them into an Iron Vessel and pour upon them a good quantity of Vinegar or in default of them good clear water and make a Lixivium which you shall let rarifie and clarifie of it self standing the space of three dayes after put your Salt-Peter in a Kettle and pour upon the same as much of this Lixivium as will well cover the Salt-Peter put it upon a fire sufficiently moderate at first increasing it until it boyl to the consumption of half take it then away from the fire and pour it by gentle inclination into a wooden Vessel and throw away all the dregs and Salt which remaineth in the bottom of the Kettle That done let the Salt-Peter water cool and continue your preparation as we have given before where we treated of refining Salt-Peter CHAP. XV. How to clarifie common Sulphur and to know its goodness WE experience often and without contradiction that not only Salt-Peter is filled with terrestrial qualities but Brimstone also which is not only of a fatty certain oleganious humour but likewise a noysome quality which is in the compound common to one and the other of its matters from hence if we desire to be curious in our work we judge it may be necessary to purifie Sulphur and to procure to it by power of clarification a nature most sublime subtile fiery and volatile The order and method that ought to be used in this is thus in Vessels of Iron or Copper melt your Sulphur with a very gentle fire over Coals well lighted and not flaming and when it is melted with a Ladle skim neatly off all that riseth on the top and swimmeth upon the Sulphur then not long after let
Sir I pray show me how you would batter the point of a Bulwark as the figure 28 following demonstrates and give me some reasons aswel defensive as offensive Capt. I am willing to give your Lordship content and say If I were to batter the point of a Bulwark or a Bastion I would have the same number of battering Canon and planted in the same form and manner as they were for the Curtain and to shoot sloap and cross-wise also and if your approaches were advanced so far they should be planted upon the very brink of the moat and upon the Counterscharfe I would plant 4 of them so that they should dismount the Enemies Canon in their Casemates or any if they had sunk them in their Falsebray which should wait upon that occasion Gen. I am of your mind and prefer such a battery before all others who are of the opinion that they had rather choose a Curtain than a Bulwark to be battered Capt. You have heard my reasons for that and see the figures following traced out to you But as for your Bulwark the besieged may cut it off as you may mark in the figures of Retrenchments and Cuttings off in the second part of this book for indeed it will be a hard matter to force an Enemy out of a Bulwark who is resolved to loose it by peecemeal and degrees and there is not so much danger in assaulting of a Curtain which being once well battered and beaten down with your Ordnance you have an easier way and entrance to fall on with your Troops of men to enter the Town or Fortress but for the defence which is made from your Flanking Bulwarks or your Casemates you must make Batteries upon the brink of the moat against them as is said to dismount the Enemies Pieces and to flanker with your Ordnance the Parapets of the Bulworks to beat them about their ears that the Bulworks may lye the more open to you and I think this way is the least danger Gen. But the Besieged their cuttings off may they not be made aswel upon a Curtain as upon a Bulwark Capt. No for the Rampire being thinner you have neither so much ground nor the like accommodation in a Curtain as in a Bulwark and indeed a Governour of a Town or of a Fortress if he were put to his choice had rather to be assaulted on a Bulwark than on a Curtain by cutting it off into the form of a half moon that he might make a new resistance and defend it with a less number of men Besides in a Bulwark the Besieged have this advantage over the Assailants which is very dangerous for them that they may make a Mine within the bowels of their Bulwark when an Enemy shall attempt to assault it and thinking to enter the Breach and take the Town they may be blown up into the Air by a Countermine the like also may happen to the Besieged the Assailants springing their Mine also in a Bulwark when they think they stand upon their best defence Gen. May not the like be done also in a Curtain Capt. No it will not take the like effect as in a Bulwark for a Breach being once made in a Curtain for as an Enemy may assault it at large so they may bring a greater number of men to fight to help to defend it whereas in a Bulwark they are pen'd up and straightned in a narrow place which may be cut off and will require a fewer number of men to defend it whereas those which are to force it must be constrained to bring up a great many men to assault who in an instant may be in danger of blowing up Gen. Your reasons Good Captain are not to be slighted but as for me I hold it safer to batter and assault the breach of a Bulwark than of a Curtain For though the besieged may cut it off and defend it with a fewer number of men yet the Assaulters have this advantae over the Besieged defendants that they have more place and elbow room and may find a less resistance than in a Curtain seeing that one may make as a great a breach in a Bulwark as in a Curtain because your Ordnance may beat it flat and level with the ground and choosing rather a Bulwark I will herewith conclude this discourse and now shew you the figures both of the one and of the other in this following plate How one must Batter a Courtine How one must Batter a Bulwarke betwixt 86 and 87 CHAP. XXV Containing the demonstration of Morters and the use of them YOur great and small Morters are not only serviceable in a War offensive by shooting and casting of great Granadoes as of 100 150 170 pound weight and smaller of 40 and 50 pound but also by casting of Fire-balls Stones old Rubbidge and Pieces of Iron into Cities Towns and Fortresses and may be used also defensively to be shot from Towns and Forts into any Enemies works and approaches especially they are of singular use when an Enemy hath covertly approached and lodged himself under some Bulwark Tower or Turret and is a beginning to undermine them which if they do you may plant one of these Morters at a reasonable distance on the inside of your Wall and shooting your Granado as it were bolt upright into the air by its natural fall it may light just into the Enemies works and there with great violence breaking among them it will make them cry fly and forsake the place you may also fire them out of a place by casting good store of Hand Granadoes down among them and so annoy them that the work will be too hot for them Two of these Morters are represented unto you in the Plate and Figures following number Now for the shooting a way of your great Granadoes or Fireballs you must ever remember but to take â…• or 1 7 parts of fine Powder of the weight of your Granado or thing which you shoot but if you are to shoot away a Bullet without any Fire-works in it or some massie stone or such like solid thing then you must take but half the weight of it in fine Powder which having given fire to the Morter will send it going merrily The use of them is not to shoot in a right line as other Ordnance do but in an oblique line as you may see by the two Figures following unless your Morter be mounted to 90 degrees mounting them usually above 45 degrees namely to 60 70 80 and sometimes more or less as the distance and fall of your Granado or Shot shall require Having before shown you the making and use of the Quadrant it remains now that I come to the charging and use of a Morter now before you put in your Powder it must be well sponged and cleared whether you charge it with loose Powder or Cartouch turning the mouth almost bolt upright the Powder being put into the Chamber you must stop it with a Wadd either of
Cotton-week and they are prepared You may also make them after this manner you must have a rouler which must be as big as an ordinary arrow which shall be to roul a length of paper about it and with a little glue past it round when it is dry draw out the rouler and fill it by little and little with a thimble still thrusting it down every filling of a thimble with the rouler which being filled cut it in short pieces about half an inch long then having in readiness either hot glue or size mingled with red lead dip therein one end of your short peeces lest they take fire at both ends together and because that it may not so easily blow out these being thus finished set them to dry until you have occasion to use them and then putting the open end in powder on the top of the Rocket in that place after the first pastboard or cover is placed in a Rocket next the composition where I taught you before to put powder for to make a report which now you must leave out to place in these Stars after this manner make two or three holes in that pastboard which prime with powder-dust and thereupon put a little Pistol powder to blow the Stars out when the Rocket is spent after the powder put as I have said before the open ends of these Stars down upon that powder when you have put them so close as they can stick one by the other put a little small corned powder on the top of them to run between them and put another tyre of Stars upon that and in like manner a third tyre upon them till you come to the top of the Rocket-case there put a paper over the head of it and tye it close about the top that none of the powder come from under or between the Stars How to prepare the Cotton-week to prime the first sort of Stars Take Cotton-week such as the Chandlers use for Candles double it six or seven times double and wet it thoroughly in Salt-peter water or Aqua-vitae wherein some Camphire hath been dissolved or for want of either in fair water cut it in divers pieces roul it in mealed powder dry it in the Sun and it is done CHAP. VII How to make silver and golden Rain and how to use them NOw I shew you the order of making golden Rain which is after this manner you must provide store of Goose-quills which being provided you must cut them off so long as they are hollow the composition to fill these must be made thus two ounces of cole-dust to one pound of powder well mixed having filled many of these quills you shall place them in the same place as I taught you to put the powder and Stars first putting a small quanity of Pistol powder under them to blow them out when the Rocket is spent upon this put your quills as many as will fill the top of the case with the open end downwards so soon as the Rocket is spent you shall see appear a golden showre which by some is called golden Rain The like way you may make silver Rain filling the quills with the Composition for white Stars CHAP. VIII How to make Fisgigs which some call by the name of Serpents and to use them YOu must provide a small rouling pin about one quarter of an inch in thickness upon which roul seven or eight thicknesses of paper fill them four inches with powder dust sometimes putting between the filling a little of the Composition for Rockets of 10 ounces and at the end of four inches choak him fill two inches more with Pistol powder then choak the end up at the other end put in a little of the mixture for Stars and choak between that and the composition and you have done put divers of these with the Starry end downwards upon the head of a Rocket as you did the quills with powder to blow them out when the Rocket is spent they will first appear like so many Stars when the Stars are spent taking hold of the powder dust they will run wrigling to and fro like Serpents and when that Composition is spent they will end with every one a report which will give great content I shall have occasion to speak of these Fisgigs in other Fire-works CHAP. IX How to make Girondels or as some call them Fire-Wheels A Fire-Wheel is often required in great Works for pleasure and therefore I have thought fit and necessary to set down their description as well as of all other sorts of Fire-works First you must make a Wheel of Wood so big as you please to make Girondels and unto these bind Rockets very fast of a mean bigness with the mouth of one towards the tail of another thus continuing until you have filled your Wheel quite round which done cover them with paper pasted very curiously that one taking fire they may not take fire all together and daub Sope upon them quite round leaving the mouth of one of them open to give fire thereto for the first Rocket having burned will give fire to the next keeping the Wheel in continual motion until they be all spent there may be bound fire Lances to these Girondels either upright or neer overthwart which will make to appear diversity of fiery Circles Your care must be to place the Girondels at a convenient distance from other Fire-Works lest they should cause confusion and spoil all your Work CHAP. X. How to represent divers sorts of Figures in the Air with Rockets I Have taught you to make a report upon the head of a Rocket and also to place golden or silver Hair or Rain or Stars or Fisgigs which when you have divers Rockets to make for a great Fire-work let one be with a report the next with Stars another with Gold Hair or Rain one with Silver Hair or Rain for standing just under the Rocket it appeareth like Rain but being aside hand like Golden or Silver Hair and upon the head of another Rocket place the Fisgigs which when the Rocket is spent will first appear like so many Stars after they are ended they will shew like Serpents wrigling to and fro and lastly give every one his report It is a rare thing to represent a Tree or Fountain in the air which is made by putting many little Rockets upon one great one passing all the rods of the little ones thorow wires made on purpose upon the sides of the great one or some other way as your industry will discover now if the little ones take fire while the great one is mounting up they will represent a Tree but if they take fire as the great one is descending or turning down again towards the ground then they will be like a fountain of fire if there be two or three little Rockets amongst others that have no rods they will make divers motions contrary to the rest very pleasing If before you put the Fisgigs upon the head
C be perpendicular to the Wall Because now the Space A C is past by the Ball in the Time A C and the Space A B that is the parallel Motion deducted the same Space A C is past in the Time A B the Forces shall be reciprocal to the Times that is the force along A C shall be as A B â— and along A B shall be as A C. By Supposit 3. 3. Projects shall then have the same force in battering when the Impetus's shall be as the Secants of the Complement of the Incidencies For if the Impetus's along A B and A C shall be as the Spaces A B and A C the Moveables shall in the same Time pass the two Lines A B and A C that is the same By Supposit 2. perpendicular Approximation A B. Therefore they shall have the same force against the Wall Yet let all this be spoken abstracting from a certain Effect of Pliancy or Refraction that Projects produce in passing with Inclination from the Rare Medium to the Dense the Line incurvating contrary to that of the Refraction of Light and visible Species FINIS TO THE INGENIOUS Student IT being well known among the Learned that the late famous Mersennus of France a most diligent Collector and Publisher of the choicest Mathematical inventions of that time hath among his Physico-mathematical Reflexious and Mechanicks divers material Experiments and Theories relating to the Art of Gunnery it was thought fit for the Readers benefit to cause the same to be translated and submitted to his censure Moreover that Author giving all his distances in feet or paces of three feet or fathoms of six foot It was thought likewise expedient to put the Reader into a capacity of reducing the same to our English measure to which purpose there being an accurate experiment made some time since by the most learned and Reverend Doctor John Wallis Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford take an account thereof as the Doctor communicated the same to a friend of his here namely that he hath formerly compared the French and English foot very exactly both measures being as he was assured very exact to the Standards of each Nation and he found the French foot to contain of ours 12 4 5 Inches not missing so much as 1 100 part of half an Inch. OF THE Swiftness OF SOUND The swiftness of Sound is greater than the swiftness of Bullets shot off and finishes 230 fathonâ—s in the space of one second minute WHosoever would try the swiftness of Sounds by night and by day either in valleys woods or mountains either with or against the wind or when it is rainy or fair weather shall find in all respects as I have tried it that there will be alwayes the same swiftness of Sound But after that you have searched out a second by 230 fathoms he that shoots off a lesser Gun may again retire 230 fathoms so that he may be gone back from you 460 fathoms the same or the like Sound in passing over that way will spend two seconds which when it shall be five times multiplied by us that we should hear the Sound 1150 fathoms the flash by night breaking forth from the mouth of the Gun is alwayes seen at that distance before the Sound is heard five seconds of time And seeing we make a French league to be 2500 fathoms and the circuit of the Earth 7200 of such leagues you may easily conclude in what time the sound does pass over one whole or several leagues for the swiftness of the sound is not diminished by its debility whenas the last part of the Sound that may be heard does emulate the swiftness of the first The Sound of the Gun therefore will pass over a league in the space of 11 seconds seeing a league contains 11 times 230 fathoms the space passed over in a second minute less onely by 30 fathoms which are here scarce worth consideration because that they are passed over by the Sound in the seventh part of a second From which many things may be gathered first that a Souldier attentive my decline or shun the shot of a Gun at one hundred fathoms is he foresaw the flash of it which I thus demonstrate It is evident from observation that a Bullet in flying 100 fathoms does at the least spend a second of time and the Sound of it in passing of them does at the most spend but half a second Therefore the Souldier from the fire seen if Vision can be in an instant hath a whole second wherein he my easily go three or four paces before that the bullet can fly so far also there remains to him half a second from that point of time in which he hears the Sound until the coming of the Bullet although I would not advise any one to try that unless he first fortifie himself with a shield helmet and all other kind of Armour that he may be out of all danger But any one may try it behind a wall to which the Sound will come before the Bullet Secondly from the Sound and fire observed may be known how much the Guns are distant that are shot off against the besieged or besiegers even as to the ingenious Gunners there will not be wanting matter to promote their Art Thirdly by hearing the Sound of Thunder and seeing the lightning go before may be known how far it is off so that if the Thunder be not changed from the place where the lightning was seen for how many seconds whether measured by the pulse which exactly continues a second or by a Pendulum or any other Watch there are between the Lightning and the Sound so many 230 fathoms are to be reckoned so that if you number five seconds it may be distant from you half a league if ten seconds a whole league whether the distance shall be upright or side-wayes and oblique for it matters nothing Fourthly If by the turnings and windings or Circles in the air a sound in the same manner may be considered and caused as we see circles extendeâ— in the water struck with the finger or a little stone as all almost believe and if from the swiftness of bodies in like manner moved we my ghess at their crassitude thickness and weight we may say that water is 1380 times thicker and heavier than air for as much as the Semidiameter of Circles of the Water in any manner struck which is made in a second of time scarce exceeds a foot in which time the semidiamiter of Circles in the air made also by any percussion is 1380 foot that is 230 fathoms which proportion of gravities come very near to observations by him mentioned There is yet one thing that may cause some doubt which is that the Sound of greater Guns moves more slowly than of lesser whereas our Geometer in the siege at Theodonis observed that their Sound was heard from the fire seen after thirteen or fourteen seconds of time when yet he was