_s._ _d._ Common musket barrel, or birding barrel 2 0 Lock 0 4 Stock 0 4 Stocking 0 5 Brass furniture 0 3-1/2 Screwing together, and finishing 0 9 Polishing and hardening, hammer, &c. 0 4 Steel rod 0 3 Browning and painting barrel and stock 0 4 Small items 0 3 ------------ Total 5 3-1/2 ------------ CHAPTER VI. THE PROOF OF GUN BARRELS. For a considerable period subsequently to the introduction of the manufacture of gunnery into England, there existed no public proof, or test, for the goodness and safety of barrels; further than that the feeling of the maker induced him to protect the limbs of his customer. Even so early as the seventeenth century, the bias of human nature to evil began to be displayed in the production of materials for guns, the use of which was attended with loss of both life and limb. In consequence of the frequent bursting of inferior guns, the Company of Gunmakers of the City of London instituted a proof-house, to which the barrels of respectable makers were all sent to be proved. The East India Company required all their muskets to undergo the same test; hence it became a custom to have barrels proved there: many also underwent an extra test on the premises of the manufacturer; so jealous were sportsmen, and so necessary was it deemed to provide against any possibility of accident. Thus it was shown clearly that laws are not always required to carry out certain results, but that it is sometimes preferable to allow matters of this kind to be arranged according to the knowledge of the parties interested; for frequently when an individual is aware that there is a law under which, in case of need, he can shelter himself--as many do at this day in case of guns bursting--he becomes careless: he has always a ready answer, “I can assure you the barrel was proved; and there must have been some unfortunate cause for her going: you could not have rammed the wadding home, or you must have put in an extra charge,” and such like excuses. It is never for a moment supposed that there was any insufficiency in the proof.