Page:A record of European armour and arms through seven centuries (Volume 3).djvu/181

 different ways. If the small button under the tiller be pressed, the barrel, which in this case is shaped as a lion, moves forward but still holding the string, and the bolt is discharged; if, however, the large trigger (sear) be pressed upward, the lion's forepaws are raised, and the string thus released acts on the bolt direct. It is difficult to see what is the object of having two different methods of releasing the string, unless it be that by the first more rapid discharge may be attained, the string being always held by the lion and the bow being bent by a single motion; while by the second method, though greater force is exerted on the string, more time would be taken in readjusting the lion barrel in order to bend the bow. (Fig. 941b, the crossbow discharged.)

Wallace Collection (Laking Catalogue, Nos. 1287 and 1291)

It is not difficult to realize that these complicated contrivances for winding the bow of the crossbow made shooting a very slow business. For