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In “Die Moderne Gewehr Fabrikation,” by F. Brandeis, the following short history of gun ornamentation is given:—“In the earlier times Mythology furnished the best subjects for the embellishment of weapons, and of fire-arms more particularly. The goddess of the chase, Diana, for a sporting gun; Vulcan, the fire-god, for a fire-lock; Vesta, as tutelar goddess of smiths, for a percussion gun; whilst Venus, Mars, and Neptune supplied other needful and very ingenious allegories. Ancient stories also furnished the Middle Ages with ample designs for both chiselling and engraving the gun. Thus it was the fashion to ornament the lock-plate with dragons, serpents, tigers, griffins, and leopards, and finally with devils, pigmies, and other comical and unbeautiful figures. Afterwards, and certainly for a long time, were devils and gods wholly ignored, and the ornamentation confined to representations of sporting scenes and game with various foliage and scroll-work combinations, which style originated in Paris and gradually extended over Europe.”