Note 129 — Chapter VIII · THE ARCHÆOLOGY OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.

The pistol was originally a German invention, so named because its calibre corresponded with the diameter of the old coin, “pistole.” They were first used by German cavalry at the battle of Renty (1554), and contributed greatly to the defeat of the French. After that they were introduced into the French army, and later into the English. They were at first furnished with a matchlock, and fired by a match. This was followed by a wheel-lock, wound up like a clock, and having a piece of iron pyrite, and later, a piece of flint, for producing ignition. The wheel-lock was superseded by the trigger and the hammer, still with flint. The percussion cap, invented by the Scotchman, Alexander Forbes, was introduced about 1820 (“Notes on Arms and Armour,” by C. Boutell). The pistol found at High-hall is inscribed with the two French words “Shermand Brevete” (patentee). The earliest pistol preserved in the United Service Museum is supposed to date from Charles I. (Haydn, “Dict. of Dates”), and it is known that, at that period, the French gunsmiths were much in advance of the English.