Part 8

The _English stub barrels_ are deservedly celebrated for their superior elegance and strength, as well as for the accuracy with which they throw their ball or shot. The iron employed in them is formed of stubs, which are old horse-shoe nails, procured from country farriers, and from poor people who gain a subsistence by picking them up on the great roads leading to the metropolis. These are originally formed from the softest, toughest iron that can be had, and this is still farther purified by the numerous heatings and hammerings it has undergone in being reduced from a bar into the size and form of nails. They cost about ten shillings the hundred weight, and twenty-eight pounds are required to make a single barrel of the ordinary size. A hoop of iron about an inch broad, or six or seven inches diameter, is placed perpendicularly, and the stubs, previously freed from dirt by washing, are neatly piled in it, with their heads outermost on each side, until the hoop is quite filled and wedged tight with them, the whole resembling a rough circular cake of iron. This is put into the fire, until it has acquired a white heat, when it is hammered either by the strength of the arm, or by the force of machinery, until it coalesces, and becomes one solid mass of iron. The hoop is then removed, and the heatings and hammerings repeated, until the iron, by being thus wrought and kneaded, is freed from every impurity, and rendered very tough and close in the grain. The workmen then proceeds to draw it out into pieces of about twenty-four inches in length, half an inch or more in breadth, and half an inch in thickness.

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_Damascus barrels_ are thus described by _Hawker_:—“I saw the process of making them, the mixture of iron and steel for which is beat out in long bars, and then, previously to being wound round the anvil, twisted by a kind of turning lathe, (similar to wringing clothes when wet), and then beat flat again. Although these are by far the dearest barrels that are made, yet the price of one in Birmingham is very trifling, viz.:—

Forging £1 10 0 Boring and grinding 0 5 0 Filing and patent breech 0 11 0 Proof 0 1 6 ———————— £2 7 6

The stub barrels, which are generally used for best guns, cost about sixteen shillings each.”

The Damascene barrels are now unfashionable, and never had anything to recommend them, but as being a pretty novelty.

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_On boring of barrels_ there has been much diversity of opinion; and if Colonel Hawker’s theory be correct, the bore should not be perfectly cylindrical.

With respect to the common sized guns, which are usually made for the sports of the field, there are two good ways of boring; the one is, to leave a cylinder for about three-fourths of the barrel, (always taking care, however, to preserve a tightness for a little friction just where the shot first moves), and let the remaining part be gradually relieved to the muzzle. For instance; suppose a barrel to be two feet eight inches long, we would say (beginning at the breech end) about six inches tight, twenty-one inches a cylinder, and the remaining five inches relieved to the muzzle. All this must be done with the most delicate possible gradation, and in so small a degree, that even some gun-makers could scarcely discover it. How natural, then, is it, that many sporting authors should be so far deceived, as to fancy the best guns are bored a true cylinder, and therefore, argue in its favour. This relief has the effect of making the gun shoot as close as it can do, compatibly with the strength and quickness required, which should, however, be increased as much as possible by the best constructed breechings.

The other plan is, to make the barrel regularly tighter all the way down, so that, in firing, the shot goes progressively easier as it approaches the muzzle. All this relief must be given in a very trifling degree, because, should the barrel be too much opened in any part, it would admit of the powder escaping between the wadding and the sides of the calibre, by which the shooting of the gun would be rendered weak. For this reason, I should even object to having a hole through the wadding that covers the powder, which many do to prevent the confined air from resisting the ramrod.

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The imperfections to which a barrel is liable in forging, are of three kinds, viz., the _chink_, the _crack_, and the _flaw_. The _chink_ is a solution of continuity running lengthwise of the barrel. The _crack_ is a solution of continuity more irregular in its form than the chink, and running in a transverse direction, or across the barrel. The _flaw_ differs from both; it is a small plate or scale, which adheres to the barrel by a narrow base, from which it spreads out as the head of a nail does from its shank, and, when separated, leaves a pit or hollow in the metal.

With regard to the soundness of the barrel, the chink and flaw are of much greater importance than the crack, as the effort of the powder is exerted upon the circumference, and not upon the length of the barrel. In a sword or bow, the very reverse of this takes place, for if a crack, though but of a slight depth, occurs in either, it will break at that place, when bent but very little, because the effort is made upon the fibres disposed longitudinally, whereas, if the fault be a chink, or even a slight flaw, the sword or bow will not give way. The flaw is much more frequent than the chink, the latter scarcely ever occurring but in barrels forged as above, in which the fibres of the metal run longitudinally. When external and superficial, they are all defects in point of neatness only, but when situated within the barrel, they are of material disadvantage, by affording a lodgment to moisture and foulness that corrode the iron, and thus continually enlarge the excavation, until the barrel bursts, or becomes dangerous to use.

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Colonel Hawker says, “that a barrel may be pretty good, and perfectly safe, and yet not able to bear the scientific inspection of a first-rate maker or judge. That is, to hold the barrel up to the window, and gradually raise it, till the shade from above the window runs along its surface, by which inspection you will easily discover the most trifling want of finish.”—_Essay on Shooting._

BASILICON, _s._ An ointment; called also tetrapharmacon. It is now called ointment of yellow resin; it is a digestive.

BASIN, _s._ A small pond; a part of the sea enclosed in rocks; a dock for repairing and building ships.

BASKET-HILT, _s._ A hilt of a weapon, so made as to contain the whole hand.

BASSET, _s._ A game at cards.

BASTARD, _s._ Any thing spurious.

BASTARD, _a._ Spurious, supposititious, adulterate.

BAT, _s._ A heavy stick; an implement used in playing cricket; an animal having the body of a mouse, and the wings of a bird; not with feathers, but with a sort of skin which is extended. It brings forth its young as mice do, and suckles them.

Bats flitting about late in the evening, in spring and autumn—at which seasons they are most commonly seen—foretel a fine day on the morrow; as do door-beetles, and some other insects. On the contrary, when bats return soon to their hiding-places, and send forth loud cries, bad weather may be expected.—_Foster._

BAT-FOWLING, _s._ Bird-catching in the night time.

This sport we call in England, most commonly bird-batting, and some call it _low-belling_; and the use of it is to go with a great light of cressets, or rags of linen dipped in tallow, which will make a good light; and you must have a pan or plate made like a lantern, to carry your light in, which must have a great socket to hold the light, and carry it before you, on your breast, with a bell in your other hand, and of a great bigness, made in the manner of a cow-bell, but still larger; and you must ring it always after one order.—If you carry the bell, you must have two companions with nets, one on each side of you; and what with the bell, and what with the light, the birds will be so amazed, that when you come near them, they will turn up their white bellies: your companions shall then lay their nets quietly upon them, and take them. But you must continue to ring the bell; for if the sound shall cease, the other birds, if there be any more near at hand, will rise up and fly away.—This is an excellent method to catch larks, woodcocks, partridges, and all other land-birds.—_Burton._

BATH, _s._ A bath is either hot or cold, either of art or nature; a vessel of hot water, in which another is placed that requires a softer heat than the naked fire.

BATHE, _v._ To wash in a bath; to supple or soften by the outward application of warm liquors; to wash with any thing.

Both the warm and the cold bathings of dogs are attended, in many cases, with the happiest effects. When a _warm bath_ is used for a dog, the _heat_ should be regulated according to the case. In inflammations it should be considerable, and in rheumatisms also; but it must be remembered that, from habit, many persons can bear, without inconvenience, a heat that would be most distressing to a dog; consequently, when it is attempted to ascertain the heat by the hand alone, this circumstance should be considered.

The water bath should come all over the animal, except the head; and when any one particular part is more especially affected, that part ought to be rubbed during the bathing, with the hand. The dog being removed from the water, the utmost care should be observed to avoid his taking cold by exposure. He should be first rubbed as dry as may be by a change of cloths, and then be put into a clothes-basket, wrapped up in a blanket, and there confined till thoroughly dry.

_Cold bathing_ is also, in some instances, very useful, particularly in the spasmodic twitchings that succeed distemper; and in some other cases of habitual weakness, as rickets, &c.: but for dogs in health, I am convinced that bathing is not so salutary as is often supposed.—_Blaine._

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_In Falconry._—Hawks should bathe every five or six days, in a clear stream, or pool, of water, that is shallow at the edge; but when these are not at hand, eyesses may be made to bathe in pans sufficiently large for the purpose.

A moderate quantity of food is to be given to the hawk, before he is taken to the stream; a creance is to be tied to the leash, and fastened to the ground; he is then to be unhooded, and placed near the water. The falconer must then retire to a distance. When the hawk has bathed, he should be left to plume himself on the beach, as long as he remains quiet, but he must be cautiously taken up the moment he shows signs of uneasiness, lest he should _bait in the creance_ with a full crop, which is always to be prevented by every possible precaution.—_Sebright._

BATOON, _s._ A staff or club.

BATTLE-DOOR, _s._ An instrument with a round handle and a flat blade, to strike a ball or shuttlecock.

BATTU, _s._ The shooting of preserved game by a numerous company.

Those huntsmen who are so fond of unnecessarily getting blood and wasting foxes, would doubtless have been much gratified at the hunting match given by the Prince Esterhazy, Regent of Hungary, upon the signing the treaty of peace with France—a day’s sport that bids fair to vie, in point of blood (if the King of Naples’ slaughter be excepted), with any of those recorded in modern history; as there were killed, 160 deer, 100 wild boars, 300 hares, and 80 foxes. The king had a larger extent, and a longer period for the exercise of his talents, and it was proved that during his journey to Vienna, in Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia, he killed 5 bears, 1820 boars, 1960 deer, 1145 does, 1625 roebucks, 1121 rabbits, 13 wolves, 17 badgers, 16,354 hares, and 354 foxes; the monarch had likewise the pleasure of doing a little in the bird way, by killing, upon the same expedition, 15,350 pheasants, and 12,335 partridges.

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After leaving Lucknow, we directed our course towards Baraeech; our kafeela consisted of about 40,000 men, and 20,000 beasts, composed of 10,000 soldiers, 1000 cavalry, and near 150 pieces of cannon; 1500 elephants, 3000 hackeries, and an innumerable train of camels, horses, and bullocks; a great number of ruts, filled with the Nawalis women; many large and small boats carried on carts, drawn by fifty, forty, thirty, or twenty bullocks; tigers, leopards, hawks, fighting-cocks, quails, and nightingales; pigeons, dancing-women, and boys; singers, players, buffoons, and mountebanks. In short, his excellency had everything, every object which could please or surprise, cause a smile, or raise a sneer, attract admiration, fix with wonder, or convulse with laughter; captivate the eye, lull the ear, or tickle the palate. Above five hundred coolies were employed to carry his shooting apparatus, guns, powder, shot, and et ceteras; he had above a thousand double-barrelled guns, the finest that Manton and Nock could make, and single-barrels, pistols, swords, and spears, without number.

After a gay scene of every species of oriental amusement and dissipation, we returned to this place, having killed in our excursion eight tigers, six elephants, and caught twenty-one. To enumerate the other kinds of game would require a sheet as ample as the petition which was presented to Yenghis Khan, and might perhaps be treated by you in the manner that conqueror treated the petition.—

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Ashbridge Castle, Hertfordshire, the seat of the Earl of Bridgewater, was lately a scene of great gaiety. The sports of the field, on the three days of the Duke of York’s sojourn, were never before equalled. The Duke of Wellington’s double-barrelled gun brought down everything before it. During the last four days, a party of gentlemen killed 623 head of game. Killed from eight guns, in three days, 1093 head of game:—

1st day, 7 guns, 627 shots, 326 killed. 2nd .. 9 .. 956 .. 511 .. 3rd .. 8 .. 388 .. 251 ..

The best shots were, the Duke of York, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Bridgewater, and Lord Verulam. The Duke of York killed, on the first day, forty-seven head of game.

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In October, 1807, at Up Park, Sussex, the seat of Sir H. Featherstonhaugh, the extraordinary quantity of five hundred and one brace of game was shot, from Wednesday morning, the 7th, to Saturday night, the 10th instant, by a party visiting at the above mansion.

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Lord Rendlesham and party killed three thousand seven hundred and seventy-five head of game, during the last week in the season of 1807.

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On the day before one of the annual parties at Clumber broke up, two sets went out, each consisting of three persons, and a bet was laid which should kill most game. It was computed that, on an average, each man of the six got sixty shots; total, three hundred and sixty. The winning triumvirate killed three birds! The shooters were, Lord Lincoln, General Philips, Captain (afterwards General) Lascelles, Reverend Mr. Lascelles, Mr. Cotton, and Lieutenant Colonel Stricland. Here the game had a complete triumph over their adversaries.—_Daniel_—_Sporting Anecdotes._

BAWREL, _s._ A kind of hawk. _Obs._

BAWSIN, _s._ A badger. _Obs._

BAY, _a._ A colour.

Of the bays, there are many varieties, and they include the very best of our horses of every description. The bright yellow bay, although very beautiful, and especially if his mane and tail are black, is the least valuable, because the lightness of his colour seems to give him some tenderness of constitution. The proper bay, with no white about him, and black from the knees and the hocks to the feet, is the most desirable of all colours; he has generally a good constitution, naturally good feet, and, if his conformation is not faulty, will turn out a valuable horse for almost every purpose.—_The Horse._

BAY, _s._ An opening in the land; the state of anything surrounded by enemies; a tree.

BAY, _v._ To bark, as a dog, at the moon; to shut in.

BAY SALT, _s._ Salt made of sea water, which receives its consistence from the heat of the sun, and is so called from its brown colour.

BAYARD, _s._ A bay horse.

BEACH, _s._ The shore; the strand.

BEADLE, _s._ In _forestry_, is an officer that warns all the courts of the forest, executes process, makes all proclamations, &c. &c.

BEAGLE, _s._ A small hound, with which hares are hunted.

This is the smallest of the dogs of the chase which go under the general denomination of hound; meaning that kind which have the innate property of finding their game and pursuing it by what sportsmen call scent, which seems to be an impregnation of the atmosphere with certain effluvia issuing from the pores of the skin, and acting upon the olfactory membrane of the dog’s nose.

Although the beagle is far inferior in point of speed to the harrier, yet his sense of smelling a hare is equally exquisite, and he pursues her with indefatigable vigilance, energy, and perseverance. Every winding and all the mazes are traced by him with a degree of exactness which must be seen to be properly understood and justly estimated, while the soft and melodious tones of his voice afford ecstatic pleasure to the lovers of the chase, and is thus finely described by Somerville:—

“Hark! from yon covert, where those towering oaks Above the humble copse aspiring rise, What glorious triumphs burst in every gale Upon our ravish’d ears! The hunters shout, The clanging horns swell their sweet winding notes, The pack wide opening load the trembling air With various melody; from tree to tree The propagated cry redoubling bounds, And winged zephyrs waft the floating joy Through all the regions near. The puzzling pack unravel, wile by wile, Maze within maze.”

Much emulation prevailed in former times among sportsmen in the breeding of beagles, and it was then the greatest merit to rear dogs of the smallest growth. Amongst amateurs of hunting, beagles were so carefully selected in point of size, that they seldom exceeded ten or eleven inches in height; and they were so well matched with respect to speed, that during the chase a good pack might be covered with a sheet. This is with all kinds of hounds a sure mark of excellence.

Although beagles are slow in speed, they are uncommonly eager; for, if the scent lies well, a hare has little chance of escape from them. Their slowness, however, is the principal reason of their being almost totally discontinued in packs, and that they are now seldom to be met with beyond a few couples, used in some of the southern counties of England to ensure finding more certainly in greyhound coursing.

Hunting with the beagle was admirably adapted for ladies and gentlemen up in years; and, besides, afforded much amusement to rustics, and other pedestrian hunters; for there were few male persons of any activity who could not keep up with them.

The late Colonel Hardy once had a pack of beagles amounting to ten or twelve couples, and so diminutive in size, that they were always carried to and from the sporting field in a large pair of panniers slung across a horse. This curious pack was lost to the colonel in a rather singular manner. It was kept in a barn which was one night broken open, when all the hounds and the panniers were stolen; and, notwithstanding the most diligent search, no trace of either could ever be discovered.—_Brown._

BEAK, _s._ The bill or horny mouth of a bird.

BEAN, _s._ The common garden bean; the horse bean.

Beans contain but five hundred and seventy parts of nutritive matter, yet they add materially to the vigour of the horse. There are many horses that will not stand hard work without beans being mingled with their food, and these not horses whose tendency to purge it may be necessary to restrain by the astringency of the bean. There is no traveller who is not aware of the difference in the spirit and continuance of his horse if he allows or denies him beans on his journey. They afford not merely a temporary stimulus, but they may be daily used without losing their power, or producing exhaustion. Two pounds of beans may, with advantage, be mixed with the chaff of the agricultural horse, during the winter. In summer, the quantity may be lessened, or the beans altogether discontinued. Beans are generally given whole. This is very absurd; for the young horse, whose teeth are strong, seldom requires them; while the old horse, to whom they are in a manner necessary, is scarcely able to masticate them, swallows many of them whole which he is unable to break, and drops much corn from his mouth in the ineffectual attempt to break them. Beans should not be merely split, but crushed; they will even then give sufficient employment to the grinders of the animal. Some postmasters use chaff with beans instead of oats. With hardly-worked horses they may possibly be allowed; but in general cases, the beans, without oats, would be too binding and stimulating, and would produce costiveness, and probably megrims or staggers.—_The Horse._

BEAN GOOSE, _s._

This species differs very little in its general appearance from the grey lag goose, the chief distinction between them being in the bill; which in this is small, much compressed near the end, whitish, and sometimes of a pale red in the middle, and black at the base and nail: the latter is shaped somewhat like a horse-bean, from which it has obtained the name of Bean Goose.

These birds arrive in the fen counties in the autumn, and take their departure in May. They are said to alight in the corn-fields, and to feed much upon the green wheat while they remain in England.

They are reported to breed in great numbers in the Isle of Lewis, and no doubt on others of the Hebrides, and also at Hudson’s Bay.—_Bewick._

BEAR, _s._ A rough savage animal.

BEARWARD, _s._ A keeper of bears. _Obs._

BEARD, _s._ The hair that grows on the lips and chin; sharp prickles growing upon the ears of corn; a barb of an arrow.

BEAST, _s._ An animal distinguished from birds, insects, fishes, and man; an irrational animal, opposed to man. In _forestry_, there are five beasts which are properly beasts of forest, or venery; _viz._ the hart, hind, hare, boar, and wolf.

BEAT, _s._ A stroke, or a striking. In sporting phraseology, it means the place or country a man passes over in pursuit of game.

BEAT, _v._ To move in a pulsatory manner; to dash, as a flood or storm. To look for game.

BEATER, _s._ An instrument with which any thing is beaten; a person attending a sportsman, as in pheasant or cock-shooting, to beat the covers and flush the birds.

BEE, _s._ The insect that makes honey.

BEE-EATER, _s._ (_Merops apiaster_, LINN.) A bird that feeds upon bees. Of this genus only one species is British.—_Montagu._

BEE-HIVE, _s._ The case or box in which bees are kept.

BEES-WAX, _s._ Much used in forming ointment.

BEECH, _s._ A tree. _Beechen_, _a._ Consisting of the wood of the beech.

BEEF, _s._ The flesh of black cattle prepared for food; an ox, bull, or cow.

BEER, _s._ Liquor made of malt and hops; a useful vehicle for tonics and cordials. When good it is an excellent restorative for a fatigued horse. Heated with spirits and ginger it relieves colic, gripes, &c.

BEET, _s._ The name of a plant.