Origin of a famous phrase

[mollinary]

I have often heard the phrase ' The first shot is for the devil, the second for God, only the third is for the King'  I had thought it was attributed to the period of Frederick the Great, but I have since heard suggestions it has its origins in the ECW, and others that it was first used by Napoleon Bonaparte. Do any of the knowledgeable gents on the forum have an answer to this old chestnut? If so, could you perhaps quote your source?

Mollinary

[Steve J]

Nothing I could find on it in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

[SV52]

Board of Wisdom says Napoleon Bonaparte.  So does Military Quotes site.  Both attribute it as referring to artillery.  Who is quoting whom is not discussed.

[Ithoriel]

Kraft Karl August Eduard Friedrich Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen in his "Letters on Artillery" (London 1888) mentions this quote as being prevalent as a saying among Prussian Artillerymen in the 1850's so Bonaparte would be a possible source.

At least according to a note I copied from an unrecorded source for reasons I no longer remember!

[grahambeyrout]

Bonaparte strikes me as being a very unlikely source since it refers to both God and King, rather than to the Emperor, and if it was a reference to the target, Napoleon had made half his family royalty. It just does not seem to reflect the spirit of the French of the Napoleonic  period

[Zippee]

Well Bonaparte was an artillery officer in the Royal Army. . . but as a famous artillery personage it's hardly surprising it gets ascribed to him. Very much doubt he's the originator though.

It's just an old fashioned version of the standard, one over, one under, one on target, which has been pretty much true of all artillery for ever. So some 17th century origin is likely - although you can't rule out it coming from older siege technology like trebuchets. Nor can you rule out a naval origin, although that seems less likely.

I'd be surprised if you can find a definitive origin - these phrases are nearly always lost in the mists

[Le Manchou]

I didn't know Napoléon was speaking english!

[Leman]

Never heard of it before today.