The _canons a ruban_, or _riband barrels_ of the French, very much resemble the English twisted barrels. The process pursued in their formation is very troublesome, and seems to possess no countervailing advantage. A plate of iron about the twelfth part of an inch in thickness is turned round a mandril, and welded its whole length in the same manner as a plain barrel: upon this small and light barrel, which is called lining, a stripe or plate of iron, about an inch in breadth, and bevelled off at the edges, is rolled in a spiral direction, by means of successive heats—this spiral is termed the riband, and its thickness must correspond with the part of the barrel it is to constitute. As a riband of sufficient length to cover the lining from one end to the other would be very difficult to manage, it is formed in several pieces, and so soon as one piece is nearly rolled on, another is welded to the end of it, and the operation continued until the whole of the lining is covered. The edges are bevelled so much, that one edge overlaps the other about a quarter of an inch. When the riband is all rolled on, the barrel is heated by two or three inches at a time, and the turns of the spiral united to each other and to the lining, by being welded in the same manner as a twisted or plain barrel, but requiring more care and accuracy in the operation. It is afterwards bored, so that almost the whole of the lining is cut out, and scarcely anything left except the riband with which it was covered. * * * * * _Lazarini Barrels_, so called after the maker, were formerly celebrated throughout the greatest part of Europe. They were very long, and of a very small calibre. Lazarini lived at Brescia, about a hundred and fifty years ago. He did not forge these barrels himself, but he finished them with great accuracy, and ornamented them in a rich and elegant manner. At the time, however, when these barrels were in high estimation, there were numerous counterfeits bearing the name and mark of Cominazzo, and it requires some acquaintance with the genuine barrels not to be deceived by the spurious ones. The true Lazarini are now to be found only in the repositories of the curious.