When first introduced into England, the hand-gun, as it was termed, had already received a slight improvement, in having a covering for the pan which contained the priming, and a sight on the breech, to assist in giving greater certainty to the aim; it remained thus until the trigger of the cross-bow suggested a contrivance to convey, with equal certainty and greater rapidity, the burning match to the pan. The difficulty of using an instrument thus objectionably constructed, was in some degree obviated by the Germans; who, together with the Italians, were no doubt at this early period the principal manufacturers; they effected this, to a certain degree, by giving the stocks a crooked form, so that the breech could, with more ease, be brought to the level of the eye; this was, however, only an alteration of form, without involving any principle or leading feature of mechanical invention. Succeeding the match-lock, in the progress of improvement, came the “pyrites wheel-lock,” an invention then looked upon as exceedingly curious and ingenious; this also is ascribed to the Italians, and one of the first occasions of its being used, is said to have been when Pope Leo X. and the Emperor Charles V. confederated against France. Whether the Italians are fairly entitled to the merit of this invention is, however, a matter of doubt, as it is well known that wheel-locks were for a long period manufactured in Germany. The “_snaphaunce_” or fire-lock, is distinctly stated by Grose to be of Dutch origin,--hence the name. It was introduced into England in the reign of Charles II., though its general adoption is stated not to have taken place until the reign of William III., about 1692. Since that period, until the present, their use has been general in all the armies of Europe. How strange it seems that the Chinese and other Asiatics should have only the match-lock to the present day, while there can be no question that they used gunpowder some centuries before its introduction into our portion of the habitable globe! The Syrians were formerly celebrated for their skill in the working of iron. Damascus gun-barrels were not to be obtained, at certain periods, at a price less than their weight in silver. The elaborate mixtures in their barrels, swords, and other weapons, entitle them justly to the honour of being the best of iron workers, as we shall hereafter have occasion to show; and the splendour displayed in their inlaying attests their taste and ability: but as mechanicians, formers of complex machinery, they never reached mediocrity. Turkey and Greece, as well as other countries which were renowned as having been, in days of yore, nurseries of the arts, but which have, in later times, degenerated into a condition little better than semi-barbarous, were remarkable for the great labour and pains which they bestowed upon the exterior ornaments of their firearms; but they never succeeded in improving the machinery of the lock in the slightest degree.