EARLY STANDING POSITIONS

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shoulder, and thus additional steadiness is gained. In what we have called the foreign position, the rifle is supported much more nearly parallel to a line passing through both shoulders, than in the Hythe standing position, and the liability to bruises from the recoil with a heavy charge is much greater.

The rules of our own National Rifle Association provide that the whole of the left hand must be in front of the trigger guard at the time of firing. This is a very practical restriction, intended to limit the artificial character of the position. There can be no doubt that if any degree of rapidity is desired the simple English position is best, and that it lends itself far better than the other to shooting at a moving object.

The illustration already referred to (Plate XXII) of an American marksman, which is taken from Chapman's Modern American Rifleman,' shows an excellent position, and a very steady man firing in it with a telescopic sight. Nothing, on the other hand, could be less practical than the position described in The Perfection of Military Discipline after the Newest Method . . . or the Industrious Souldier's Golden Treasury of Knowledge in the Art of Making War' (1690), from which the following quotation may be given :

Present. In this case, fall back with your right Leg, so that the left Heel be against the middle of the right Foot, suffering the Butt end to rise to your Shoulder, setting it fast, your right elbow, even with the height of the Peice, being ever ready to pull the Trigger with the Fourth Finger of your right hand, bending the left Knee a little, and keeping the right very steady, levelling breast high.'

Fire. Here you must keep true motion in drawing the Trigger, doing it all together, so that the Fire of a Battalion may give but one Report, or appear to be no more than one Flash, the body steady, and the Musket close to the Shoulder till the next word of command,'

The fashion of bending one knee and drawing back the right foot dates possibly from the time when a rest was used with the musket, and it was necessary to lower the shoulders and head so as to bring the barrel to the right elevation. We find it in the very beautiful plates of the manual exercise for musket and caliver in J. de Gheyn's book (1608). Plate XXIII,

which is taken from The British Soldier's Guide or Volunteer's Self-Instructor,' 1803, showing the positions for firing in three ranks, serves to indicate how unimportant a steady position was with the musket. The ranks are well closed up, the front-rank man kneeling on his right knee, and having the feet of the man next behind him on each side of his right leg. The man in the third rank locks up close, with his left foot forward and his right foot well behind him, and only touching the ground with the toes, the knee being bent. All ranks alike seem to ignore the rule that the left elbow should be underneath the weapon; they raise it and keep it well away to the left. At such close quarters it was very necessary that the piece should be held in front of the soldier's body while being cocked, and pointed straight up into the air until the word 'present' was given. A long barrel must have been a great preventive of accidents in firing in three ranks. It should be noticed that the front-rank man has his bayonet fixed. There is an element of leisurely dignity in the aspect of the figures which seems lacking in the rank and file of the present day; we can find no time to cultivate repose of manner in the ranks. The modern Volunteer does not, like him of 1803, have to live up to the privilege of being exempt from the tax on hair-powder. The following description of the standing position is quoted from the same book: The rifleman half faces to the right, the butt is placed in the hollow of the right shoulder, the right foot steps back about eighteen inches behind the left, the left knee is bent, the body brought well forward, the left hand without having quitted its hold, supports the rifle close before the lock, the right elbow raised even with the shoulder, the fore-finger on the trigger, the head bent, and cheek resting on that of the rifle, the left eye shut, the right taking aim through the sight.'

The Swiss shooter is described by Dr. Scoffern as bringing his rifle down gradually upon the bull's-eye, and firing when it reaches the right level. A more common method, and one, to our thinking, far better, is to bring the sights gradually up to the mark. It is a sound principle never to lose sight of the object to be hit, nor can quick shooting be made unless the rifle is pitched up, so that the aim is at once on, or a little