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I am far from controverting, continued my uncle Toby, what historians agree in, that in the year of our Lord 1380, under the reign of Wencelaus, son of Charles the Fourth a certain priest, whose name was Schwartz, shew'd the use of powder to the Venetians, in their wars against the Genoese; but 'tis certain he was not the first; because if we are to believe Don Pedro, the bishop of Leon How came priests and bishops, an' please your honour, to trouble their heads so much about gun-powder?
On the 27th an attempt was made to destroy the Spanish admiral's ship in the port of Calao, by means of a fire-ship containing 2000 pounds of gun-powder, besides fire-works and shells, confined by a brick arch six feet thick; but after navigating her very near the galleon, a bank was found on the outside of her which they could not pass, and they were therefore obliged to retire.
On the left of Burnside, Warren concentrated ten thousand men, while the Eighteenth Corps, with that many more, were in the rear to aid and support the movement the whole being forty-three thousand men, with eight thousand pounds of gun-powder to first spring the mine. General Sheridan, with his cavalry, was to make a demonstration in our front and against the roads leading to Petersburg.
A. From fire-damp? Q. What is it? A. A sort of air that blows up like gun-powder. Q. From what more are they in danger? A. The roofs falling in. Q. From what more? A. From bad air which often smothers them. Q. What is made from coal to light the streets? A. Gas. Q. What is coal called after the gas has been taken from it? A. Coke. Q. Does coke make a good fire? A. Yes; very bright and strong.
They wrecked many houses and sorely beat the inmates. They burnt barns, and stacks, and homesteads, and in one case a poor man's donkey-cart with its load of oats. They exploded in people's homes metal boxes, leaden pipes, and glass bottles containing gun-powder, in such numbers as to be beyond reckoning.
My uncle Toby, tho' in the utmost distress for a comparison, most courteously refused Trim's offer till Trim telling him, he had half a dozen more in Bohemia, which he knew not how to get off his hands my uncle Toby was so touch'd with the pleasantry of heart of the corporal that he discontinued his dissertation upon gun-powder and begged the corporal forthwith to go on with his story of the King of Bohemia and his seven castles.
He very deliberately proposed to undermine the foundation of the front wall, and deposit there a cask of gun-powder, which he had brought with him for the purpose, so that he might blow the invaders to the devil, in case they should attempt anything like a forcible entry.
In an instant we could behold them scattered through the woods at some distance, roaring in agony, and moving about like so many Will-o'-the-Wisps, their paws and faces all on fire from the tar and the gun-powder.
Do we applaud the superior strength or cunning of Cain, or pretend that the discovery of gun-powder strengthened the arm of the good? No, neither loyalty, nor victory is the true test; it is by their fruits that God will know them. Let us, then, throw away this narrow, self-justifying doctrine of the survival of the fittest, and follow instead the noble counsel of Milton:
To have seen one would have been as a glimpse of the Holy Grail to a sworn knight. Those traderooms of my youthful imagination smelt of rum and gun-powder, and beside them were racks of rifles to repel the dusky figures coming over the bulwarks. The traderoom of the Morning Star was odorous, too.
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