the weapons became obsolete in the rapid improvements that took place. There is a connecting link between early artillery and hand-guns in various weapons from the small elementary semi-portable cannon fixed to the end of a long wooden shaft, and fired from a forked support or from a wall; and later, large models of guns of the harquebus type manipulated in the same manner. The latter form was the “arquebus à croc,” weighing up to sixty pounds, and was from five to six feet long. This class of weapon was much used in sieges, and they were sufficiently portable to be carried and worked by three or four men. Most national collections contain specimens of these firearms. Mr. John Hewitt figures an early hand-gun, taken from the Burney MS., which is simply a replica of the weapon found at Tannenberg. Hand-cannon were being made at Augsburg in 1381. An early weapon of this kind is figured on a piece of tapestry in the church of Notre-Dame de Nantilly, Saumur. The piece is served by two soldiers, one holding it with both hands, while his comrade applies a hot coal. The form of the visored bassinet worn by these soldiers would fix the date as being late in the fourteenth century, and actual specimens of this time may be seen at the Historische Museum at Berne, and at the Germanische National Museum at Nuremberg. In the collection at the Königl. Zeughaus, Berlin, is a hand-gun dating from late in the fourteenth century or early in the fifteenth, consisting of a stock and barrel. The former is rudely cut for the shoulder, like the butt of a crossbow, while the latter is a tube between three and four feet in length, with a touch-hole on the right side; calibre, 16mm. Some drawings of about 1430 in the Hauslab Library show similar pieces. This weapon is to all intents and purposes the prototype of the modern hand-gun, and is, in fact, a very early form of “Hakenbüchse,” one of the many names for the harquebus. Late in the fourteenth, or early in the following century, hand-guns like small culverins, with a touch-hole on the right side, were in use and discharged from the shoulder. The weapon was fired by applying a match to the touch-hole, and the soldier had to find his way to it while he took aim. Like the Berlin example, this class of weapon was rudely fashioned to the shoulder. The hand-cannon consists of a small bombard fixed to a wooden shaft, and fired by means of a match. The following items occur in a roll of purchases of the Castle of Holy Island, in Northumberland, for the year 1446:-- “Bought ij hand-gunnes de ere iiijs. Item, gonepowder iiijs.”