32
Ramble of the Gods
Next, at the Gun Works, they, surpris'd, beheld
The lusty Cyclops musket barrels weld;
Whilst peals, like rattling thunder, shook the roof,
When nit'rous powers proclaim'd them Standard[1] Proof.
The dread explosions, wing’d by echos round,
Made Gods themselves to startle at the sound.
To see the Buckle Works they next repair'd,
'Twas ere that Fancy Trade was so impair'd;
When all the Makers had a full employ,
Which made some thousand hearts to dance for joy;
For Buckles then , by high and low were wore,
Nor were, by Sprigs of Fashion, deem'd 'a Bore.'[2]
A fatal epithet, however gloſs’d,
For thousands, by that Word, their bread have lost.
- ↑ In 1796, His Majesty's Honorable Board of Ordnance, in order to save time, and get more Arms, established an Ordnance Office here, for proving Musket Barrels, and viewing materials for them in setting up; experienced View Masters were sent down from the Tower; and Government must be aware of the amazing advantages accruing to the State by having them proved on the spot; as formerly all were sent up to London for that purpose. The iron and fuel, and every material for welding Gun Barrels being had in the neighbourhood, Birmingham, of course, must be able to produce excellent Muskets, and at a cheaper rate than any other place in the kingdom. There are, upon an average, 4200 muskets examined and set up every Month at the Ordnance Office for the use of Government, exclusive of those proved and finished by the rest of the eminent Gun-makers in Birmingham, for home consumption and for exportation. See plate E, Magnificent Directory, for those Gentlemen who sent their Names for insertion.
- ↑ Bore, is a Sublime epithet, used by the more enlightened Ephemerals of the animal creation, to expreſs any thing Unfashionable, in contradistinction to the superlative Tippy, which signifies all that is elegant and in the Ton. Sic transit gloria Mundi!
