13. The arms taken from Sir William Perkins, Sir John Friend, Charnock, and others concerned in the assassination plot, in 1696; among which they shew the very blunderbuss with which they intended to shoot King William near Turnham Green, in his way to Hampton Court: also the carbine with which Charnock undertook to shoot that Monarch, as he rode a hunting.
14. Lastly, the Highlanders arms, taken in 1715, particularly the Earl of Mar’s fine piece, exquisitely wrought, and inlaid with mother of pearl: also a Highland broad sword, with which a Highlander struck General Evans, and at one blow cut him through the hat, wig, and iron skull cap; on which that General is said to have shot him dead; others say he was taken prisoner, and generously forgiven for his bravery. Here is also the sword of justice, with a sharp point, and the sword of mercy, with a blunt point, carried before the Pretender on his being proclaimed King of Scotland, in 1715. Here are likewise some of the Highlanders pistols, the barrels and stocks being all iron; also a Highlander’s Loughabor ax, with which it is said Col. Gardner was killed at the battle of Preston Pans.
A discerning eye will discover a thousand peculiarities in the disposition of so vast a variety of arms, which no description can reach, and therefore it is fit that every one who has a taste for the admirable combinations of art, should gratify it with the sight of the noblest curiosities of this kind in the whole world.
The Royal Train of Artillery. Upon the ground floor under the small armoury, is a large room of equal dimensions with that, supported by twenty pillars, all hung round with implements of war. This room which is twenty-four feet high, has a passage in the middle sixteen feet wide.
At the sight of such a variety of the most dreadful engines of destruction, before whose thunder the most superb edifices, the noblest works of art, and numbers of the human species, fall together in one common undistinguished ruin, one cannot help wishing that these horrible inventions had still lain, like a false conception, in the womb of nature, never to have been ripened into birth. But when, on the other hand, we consider, that with us they are not used to answer the purposes of ambition; but for self defence and in the protection of our just rights, our terror subsides, and we view these engines of devastation with a kind of solemn complacency, as the means providence has put into our hands for our preservation.
1. You are shewn two large pieces of cannon employed by Admiral Vernon before Carthagena; each of which has a large scale driven out of their muzzles by balls from the castle of Bocca Chica.
2. Two pieces of excellent workmanship, presented by the city of London to the young Duke of Gloucester, son to Queen Anne, to assist him in learning the art of war.
3. Four mortars in miniature, for throwing hand granadoes, invented by Col. Brown. They are fired with a lock like a common gun, but have not yet been introduced into practice.
4. Two fine brass cannon taken from the walls of Vigo in 1704, by the late Lord Cobham. Their breeches represent lions couchant, with the effigy of St. Barbara, to whom they were dedicated.
5. A petard for bursting open the gates of a city or castle.