[Footnote 92: On this subject modern testimonies cannot be
trusted. The original passages are collected by Ducange,
(Gloss. Latin. tom. i. p. 675, Bombarda.) But in the early
doubtful twilight, the name, sound, fire, and effect, that
seem to express our artillery, may be fairly interpreted of
the old engines and the Greek fire. For the English cannon
at Crecy, the authority of John Villani (Chron. l. xii. c.
65) must be weighed against the silence of Froissard. Yet
Muratori (Antiquit. Italiae Medii Aevi, tom. ii. Dissert.
xxvi. p. 514, 515) has produced a decisive passage from
Petrarch, (De Remediis utriusque Fortunae Dialog.,) who,
before the year 1344, execrates this terrestrial thunder,
nuper rara, nunc communis.]