content_output-097_3 (Q6975)

These arms show that not only was the strength of the gun studied, but attention also directed towards symmetry and artistic embellishment. Specimens of German ornamentation have already been shown and remarked upon; but to make even more clear the talent and knowledge of these industrious artisans two other illustrations are appended, wood-cuts that have taxed the skill of the best engravers to produce. In these weapons the artists have given free play to their fancy both in shaping and ornamenting their stocks. The utile limbs, especially the trigger and its guard, exist in the cruder forms—a curved bit of wire or a bent metal ribbon serve as limbs which, in later days, have exercised the fancy of the leading gunsmiths of Europe: the shaping of triggers and guard being now esteemed as of almost equal importance as the lay and shape of stock.