Note 60 — Chapter II · THE SMOOTH-BORE GUN
Reading edition
Le Sieur Malthus, gentil-homme Anglois, Commissaire Général des Feux et Artifices de l’Artillerie de France, Capitaine General des Sappes et Mines d’icelle & Ingeniéur és Armées du Roy, published his Pratique de la Guerre in 1668. This notable but almost-forgotten artillerist introduced the use of mortars and bombs into France, in 1637. He was killed by a musket ball at the siege of Gravelines, as he elevated himself above the rampart of a trench in order to watch the effect of a bomb (St. Remy: Mémoires).