different parts of the globe; for my part, if I had been blown from
Europe to Asia from the mouth of a cannon, I should have boasted less
of it afterwards than he has done of only firing off a Turkish piece of
ordnance. What he says of this wonderful gun, as near as my memory will
serve me, is this:--"The Turks had placed below the castle, and near the
city, on the banks of Simois, a celebrated river, an enormous piece
of ordnance cast in brass, which would carry a marble ball of eleven
hundred pounds weight. I was inclined," says Tott, "to fire it, but I
was willing first to judge of its effect; the crowd about me trembled at
this proposal, as they asserted it would overthrow not only the castle,
but the city also; at length their fears in part subsided, and I was
permitted to discharge it. It required not less than three hundred
and thirty pounds' weight of powder, and the ball weighed, as before
mentioned, eleven hundredweight. When the engineer brought the priming,
the crowds who were about me retreated back as fast as they could; nay,
it was with the utmost difficulty I persuaded the Pacha, who came on
purpose, there was no danger: even the engineer who was to discharge
it by my direction was considerably alarmed. I took my stand on some
stone-work behind the cannon, gave the signal, and felt a shock like
that of earthquake! At the distance of three hundred fathom the ball
burst into three pieces; the fragments crossed the strait, rebounded on
the opposite mountain, and left the surface of the water all in a foam
through the whole breadth of the channel."

This, gentlemen, is, as near as I can recollect, Baron Tott's account
of the largest cannon in the known world. Now, when I was there not long
since, the anecdote of Tott's firing this tremendous piece was mentioned
as a proof of that gentleman's extraordinary courage.

I was determined not to be outdone by a Frenchman, therefore took this