A LIVING HISTORY BLOG.

18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.

Monday 14 September 2015

Now fearch for Tow, and fome old Saddle pierce. No Wadding lies fo clofe, or drives fo fierce.


I have used leather wads for many years now, using my Father’s old 20 gauge wad punch. I started using leather wads not because of some historical documentation, but because it seemed the common sense and practicle thing to do. Leather will not take fire and be a danger in dry weather. Then recently I found this 18th century poem. It says in part:
PTERYPLEGIA:
Or, the art of
SHOOTING-FLYING. 1767.
Now fearch for Tow, and fome old Saddle
pierce.
No Wadding lies fo clofe, or drives fo fierce.

Old Saddle Pierce? This had me foxed for a while, and then I realised that this being a poem, it may not necessarily refer to an item per se but more of a procedure or action. So I searched the dictionary for the word “pierce”, and this in part is what I got:
Pierced. Piercing.
1.    to penetrate (something), as a pointed object does.
2.   to make a hole or opening in; perforate.
3.   To make (a hole or opening) by or as if by boring or perforating.

From this I deduct that “old saddle pierce” is most likely to be the cutting of leather wads from old saddle leather.

What are your thoughts?



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