Note 390 — Chapter X · HAND AMMUNITION

According to Sir Walter Scott, the Scotch in the beginning of the last century still called crow’s-feet calthrops, a word which goes back to “Piers Plowman,” cir. 1393:—“The Rev. Dr. Heavysterne from the Low Countries sustained much injury by sitting down suddenly and incautiously on three ancient calthrops” (“Antiquary,” ch. iii.).