1546), who "caused to be made certain mortar pieces being at the mouth eleven inches unto nineteen inches wide, for the use whereof to be made certain hollow shot of cast-iron, to be stuffed with firework or wild-fire, whereof the bigger sort for the same had screws of iron to receive a match to carry fire kindled, that the firework might be set on fire for to break in pieces the same hollow shot, whereof the smallest piece hitting any man would kill or spoil him." The missile is to all intents the firework shell of the present day, except that the modern shell has a papier-maché case.
The reference to "firework" without further explanation seems to indicate that by this time the word was well established in use. Shakespeare makes three references to fireworks. In "Love's Labour's Lost," Act V, Scene 1, Don Armado says: "The King would have me present the Princess with some delightful entertainment, or show, or pageant, or antic, or firework." In "Henry VIII," Act I, Scene 3, we read of "fights and fireworks"; and again in "King John," Act II, Scene 1: "What cracker is this same that deafs our ears?"
However, nothing in the nature of a firework display appears to have taken place, at least in this country, before the time of Elizabeth.
The use of fire for theatrical purposes, as in Mystery Plays to represent the "gate of Hell," has been taken by some to refer to fireworks, but this seems doubtful as flames are mentioned, and it is more probable that a torch or similar contrivance was used.
When, however, we read a description of a barge at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, in 1538, carrying a dragon "casting forth wild fire—and men casting fire," the reference to some pyrotechnic effect, however primitive, seems fairly obvious.
