BILLIARDS.
In the 16th and 17th centuries the "cannon" in England was distinctively a large piece, smaller natures of ordnance being called by various special names, such as culverin, saker, falcon, demi cannon, etc. We hear of Cromwell taking with him to Ireland (1649) "two cannon of eight inches, two cannon of seven, two demi-cannon, two twenty-four pounders," etc.
Sir James Turner, a distinguished professional soldier contem porary with Cromwell, says : "The cannon or battering ordnance is divided by the English into Cannon Royal, Whole Cannon and Demi-Cannon. The first is likewise called the Double Cannon, she weighs 8,000 pound of metal and shoots a bullet of 6o, 62 or 63 pound weight. The Whole Cannon weighs 7,000 pound of metal and shoots a bullet of 38, 39 or 40 pound. The Demi Cannon weighs about 6,000 pound and shoots a bullet of 28 or 3o pound. . . . These three several guns are called cannons of eight, cannons of seven and cannons of six." The generic sense of "can non," in which the word is now exclusively used, is found along with the special sense above mentioned as early as 1474. A war rant of that year issued by Edward IV. of England to Richard Copcote orders him to provide "bumbardos, canoees, culverynes . . . et alios canones quoscuinque, ac pulveres, sul f er . . . pro eisdern canonibus necessarias." "Artillery" and "ordnance," how ever, were the more usual terms up to the time of Louis XIV. (c. 1670), about which time heavy ordnance began to be classified according to the weight of its shot, and the special sense of "can non" disappears.