A seventh, tried and approved before the late king (of ever blessed memory), and an hundred lords and commons, in a cannon of eight inches and half a quarter, to shoot bullets of sixty-four pounds weight, and twenty-four pounds of powder, twenty times in six minutes; so clear from danger, that, after all were discharged, a pound of butter did not melt, being laid upon the cannon britch, nor the green oil discoloured that was first anointed and used between the barrel thereof, and the engine having never in it, nor within six foot, but one charge at a time. _Vide_ Article XXIX. No. LXV. A way that one man, in the cabin, may govern a whole side of ship muskets, to the number (if need require) of two or three thousand shots. NOTE. The plan of this and the following Articles, though not of much practical utility, may yet be acted upon with a certainty of success. The powder may be ignited by the means of a powerful electrifying machine made to communicate with each separate piece, and the charging must be performed by conducting wires or rods made to act upon the magazine lever described in Article LVIII. Since writing the above, an article has appeared on the subject in one of the French Journals, of which the following is a translation: At two o'clock in the afternoon M. Bouche made an experiment in the _Jardin des Plantes_ at Paris, to try the effect of electricity applied to gun batteries. Instead of guns he had fixed about one hundred rockets on long sticks, disposed in the garden. The rockets were all connected by an iron wire, and the same spark produced a spontaneous explosion. The concourse of people was very great, the weather being remarkably fine. This new invention is not intended to increase the destructive powers of those formidable weapons; but it is expected to afford the means of using them without exposing gunners to the fire of the enemy. No. LXVI. A way, that against the several avenues to a fort or castle, one man may charge fifty cannons, playing and stopping when he pleaseth, though out of sight of the cannon. _Vide_ last Article. No. LXVII. A rare way likewise for muskettoons, fastened to the pommel of the saddle, so that a common trooper cannot miss to charge them, with twenty or thirty bullets at a time, even in full career. NOTE BY THE AUTHOR. When first I gave my thoughts to make guns shoot often, I thought there had been but one only exquisite way inventible; yet, by several trials, and much charge, I have perfectly tried all these. No. LXVIII.