content_output-052_6 (Q6245)

was one, the “Helfant” another, the “Endorfferen” made for Sigismund of Tyrol in 1487, and was a pair with “Bassina” of the Paris Museum. A still larger cannon was the “Faust bucleae” of Frankfort, made in 1399 and used at the siege of Tannenburg Castle. Its bullet is said to have weighed 8½ cwt. The “Mons Meg” of Edinburgh Castle is supposed to have been of the same general construction as the cannon which in 1460 killed James II. of Scotland. “Mons Meg” was made at Mons, from which town it takes its name; it is now badly broken. It weighs nearly four tons, and its stone shot is calculated to have weighed over 350 pounds. The touch-hole is placed a little in front of the powder chamber; and runs in an oblique direction. These large cannon all appear to have been muzzle-loaders; ordinarily the powder chamber was of about one-third