h the trial of bringing out an idea involving in its conception a
great public benefit.

Lieutenant Busk, in hid "Hand-Book for Hythe," says, "I cannot imagine a
much more helpless or hopeless position than that of an individual who,
having determined to expend his ten or twenty guineas in the purchase
of a rifle, and, guided only by the light of Nature, applies to
a respectable gun-maker to supply his want. I never hear of an
inexperienced buyer in search of a rifle without being reminded of the
purchaser of a telescope, who, on asking the optician, among a multitude
of other questions, whether he would be able to discern an object
through it four miles off, received for reply, 'See an object _four_
miles off, Sir? You can see an object four-and-twenty thousand miles
off, Sir,--you can see the moon, Sir!' In like manner, if you naively
inquire of a gun-maker whether a particular rifle will carry two hundred
yards, the chances are he will exclaim, emphatically, 'Two hundred
yards, Sir? It will carry fifteen hundred.' And so no doubt it may. The
only question, is, How?"

The questions which have been addressed to me for a few weeks past have
given me a keen appreciation of the difficulties alluded to, in which
multitudes are at this moment plunged, to whom I shall be but too happy
if it is in my power to extend a helping hand.

At the outset, however, it is but fair to declare my conviction that
no man who has any just appreciation of the subject would attempt to
_choose_ a gun for another, any more than he would a horse, or, I had
almost said, a wife; but he may lay down certain general rules which
each individual must apply for himself, exercising his own taste in the
details. Thus, I have elsewhere declared my own predilection for Colt's
rifle; and I hold to it notwithstanding a strong prejudice against it
which very generally exists. I do not mean to assert that it is a better
shooter than many others, and still less would I urge any one else to
procure one because I like it, but I simply say that its performance is
equal to my requirements, and that the whole construction and getting-up
of the gun suit my fancy; and the fact that another man dislikes it is
no reason why I should discard it.

I have known men who were continually changing their guns, and seemed
satisfied only with novelties. With such a taste I have no sympathy,
but, on the contrary, my feeling of attachment to a trusty weapon
strengthens with my