II 



KI'lTHAI.. \MICM. 



KPUOL'VETTK. 





but degree striking and solemn, a* it flowed naturally from the religion 

 then bettered, and awakened in the reader sentiment* of benevolence 

 for the deceased, aud of concern for hi* own happine**. There was 

 nothing trifling or liidicrou*, nothing that did not tend to the propa- 

 gation of piety and the increase of devotion. 



With the reformation of religion thi* ceased. The reign of Elizabeth 

 afford* but few instance* to the contrary ; though it U angular that 

 two occur beginning " pray for the soul," upon monument* at Stauton 

 Haroourt, in Oxfordshire, one dated 1506, the other 1560. 



After thin period the diffusion of learning gave a classic turn even to 

 the epitaph ; and though the reign* of Elizabeth and James I. can 

 furnish but few of a pure standard, there ia one of Ben Jonson's 

 on the Counted of Pembroke which scarcely yield* to any in the 

 Anthologia : 



fnderneath this nble hetne 



Lit* the subject of all rent : 



Sidney'! siter, Pembroke'! mother. 



Death, ere thou const find another, 



Good, and fair, and wise as she, 



Time shall throw a dart at the*. 



The epitaph on Sir Christopher Wren need hardly be repeated, 

 though it U said to have been borrowed. In real merit it is probably 

 surpassed by the latter part of that in King'* College Chapel, Cambridge, 

 over the resting-place of Thomas Crouch : 



Aperlet Du tamnlos; et cducct 



Nos de sepulchris. 

 Quails cram, dies isthooc cum 



Venerit, scies. 



Wit and humour have also marked the composition of the epitaph in 

 almost all age*. Innumerable instances will be found in all the printed 

 collections. Margaret of Austria composed for herself the following 

 couplet, when in imminent danger of shipwreck : 



Cy gist Margot, noble demoiselle, 

 Deux fois maricc, et morte pueelle. 



Collections of epitaphs, ancient and modern, are numerous ; there 

 are many of great merit in the Greek Anthologia. A very large col- 

 lection of epitaphs will be found in ' Theatrum Funebre, exhibens per 

 varias scenas Epitaphia nova, antiqua, seria, jocosa, &c., in quatuor 

 partes distinctmn, extructum a Dodonn Kichea (sen Ottonc Aicher),' 

 4 to, Salisburgi, 1675 ; Racket's ' Select and Remarkable Epitaphs on 

 Illustrious and other Persons," 2 vols. 8vo, 1757 : and Le Neve's ' Monu- 

 menta Anglicana,' probably preserve the best English collections. 

 Many curious and interesting epitaphs will be found in the volumes of 

 'Note* and Queries' for 1858, and preceding years. The Society of 

 Antiquaries in June, 1858, invited the contribution from all quarters of 

 authentic copies of monumental inscriptions, with a view to their 

 preservation, and probably publication. 



The funeral orations of the Greeks were called by the name of L6go 

 Ejiit&phiot (\6yot 'Enrd<tos), or a discourse over the tomb made at 

 the time of interment. It is only necessary to mention this to prevent 

 any confusion of this kind of epitaph with that which is the subject of 

 the present article. 



KHTHALA'MIUM (*ri0a\a/uor, from M, "at" or "near," and 

 6oAo^ot, " chamber," especially that of a new-married couple), a poem 

 i olpceed in honour of amMMMi It v, .1- .-uni; Ky yutlis anil m.-iiili ns 

 conjointly, at the door of the bridal chamber, after the bride and bride- 

 groom had entered, and also before they rose in the morning. The 

 first Greek epithalatnium known to have been written was a poem by 

 Hesiod, now lost, on the marriage of Thetis and Peleus. The most 

 remarkable extant are those of Catullus, who has left three beautiful 

 specimens of this sort of composition. The first, on the marriage of 

 Julia and Torquatus, U the most curious and interesting as an illustra- 

 tion of manners. That on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, which is 

 probably only a fragment, is one of the most beautiful extant specimens 

 of Latin poetry. Among the Hebrews, as well as the Greeks and 

 Komaiix, this specie* of rejoicing wan in use. The subject U hardly in 

 accordance with modern manners. Spenser has treated it beautifully 

 and delicately in hi* Prothalamium and Epithalamium on the marriage 

 of the Ladies Somerset. Many other English specimens may be found, 

 especially among the writers of the 17th century : but we know of 

 none remarkable enough to require notice. 



EPOCH. (Astronomy.) This term is frequently applied to signify, 

 not a moment of time, but the longitude which a planet has at 

 that moment of time. In order to predict the longitude of a planet 

 at any epoch, some preceding epoch must be taken, at which the 

 longitude is known. Thi* latter ia called, par excellent*, the epoch ; 

 and the term longitude at the epoch has been abbreviated into epoch. 

 i:i'"' II. "i chronology, j ,KllA.] 



EPOUE (in Greek *r4ai, after-mag, from M, " on " or " upon," and 

 >fil> " ng") i one of the three divisions of the Greek ode. [CHORUS.] 

 The performer* in singing it stood still ; it was not, like the strophe 

 and antiatrophe, symmetrical with another member of the ode ; so 

 that the poem was unfettered as to its length and a* to the choice of 

 measures. The epode, however, i* not essential to an ode ; many of 

 the Greek choruses have none. Most of Pindar's odes, on the contrary, 

 have an epode interposed between each antiatrophe and the following 



iitrophe. Kpode, according to the grammarian*, is a: .1 t, nu 



given to those measure* in which a short verse follow - 

 of which the former ia called prootlif, the la r ll.m-e the 



fifth book of Horace's Ode* ia called the Book of Epodeg, because 

 nearly all of them are written in that sort of measure: as, for in 

 stance, 



" Jbl< LiburnU Inter alia naviom, 

 Amice, propugnaeula." 



EPROUVETTE is an apparatus for determining the strength of 

 gunpowder. Eprouvcttes are of two kinds : the gun < 'prouvi ttr. whii-h 

 gives the strength by the length of recoil ; and the mortar eprouvette, 

 which gives it by the distance an accurately turned heavy I nil is 

 thrown by a small charge of powder. Mr. Robins (' New Principles of 

 (Mimicry') first proposed the employment of such a machine; but 

 Dr. Mutton, of Woolwich, afterwards considerably improved its 

 construction. 



The gun is fixed near it centre of gravity to the lower extremity of 

 an iron rod, which may be about 7 feet 6 inches long, and its base is 

 attached by a short brace to an arm which project* from the rod, an 

 adjusting screw being provided for the purpose of keeping the I 

 the bore perpendicular to the same rod. Sometime*, however, a frame 

 of iron, like the letter A, serves to suspend the gun, which is then 

 fixed at two places in collars at the lower extremities of the frame. 

 To the upper part of the rod or frame is attached a horizontal axle of 

 steel, about which the gun is to vibrate; and each extremity of thi 

 axle rests in a socket at or near the top of the frame which constitutes 

 the stand or support of the gun and it* suspending apparatus. 



From the lower side of the gun projects downwards a rod or style of 

 iron, which is pointed at its lower extremity, the point being in a line 

 drawn from the middle of the horizontal axis of suspension through 

 the centre of gravity of the gun. Under the latter, and resting on the 

 ground, is a block of wood, in the under surface of which is cut a 

 groove, in a vertical plane, in the form of a portion of a circle whose 

 centre is at the middle of the axis of suspension ; and this groove being 

 filled with soft wax, the point of the rod projecting below the gun, in 

 the recoil of the latter, scratches on the wax a circular arc : the measure 

 of this arc gives, of course, the angle of the recoil. 



Instead of this pointed rod and grooved block, a quadrant of brass of 

 any convenient radius, as 12 inches, is sometimes fixed in a vertical 

 position to the rod or frame which carries the gun, the horizontal axis 

 of suspension passing through its centre ; the quadrant, whose an; is 

 graduated, vibrates with the gun, and an index at the extremity of a 

 bar on that axis remains at rest till the gun has recoiled as far as the 

 force of the fired gunpowder can impel it ; when, by a simple con- 

 trivance, it is made to return with the quadrant, showing, by the 

 degree in coincidence with it, the extent of the recoil. 



In the eprouvette constructed by Dr. Hutton, the quadrant had on 

 it three graduated arcs : one of these showed the degrees in the angle 

 of recoil; another showed by inspection the length of the dim <1 ; an<l 

 the third showed in like manner the length of the versed sine of tin- 

 arc of recoil. 



In using the instrument, the gun is charged with a given quantity of 

 powder, which is.introduced without a cartridge, and is fired, when 

 exactly in a horizontal position, by means of a piece of quick match : 

 the extent of the arc of recoil is then to be measured or read. 



The velocity acquired by a body on describing half a vibration in a 

 circular arc, varies (by mechanics) with the square root of the v> 

 height, or with the chord of the half vibration : hence, if by the explo- 

 sions of equal charges of different kinds of powder in a suspended gun, 

 the latter be made to recoil from a vertical position through arcs or 

 angles which are measured in degrees, the velocity resulting from the 

 force which produced the recoil being equal to that which the gun 

 would have acquired in descending by gravity from the upper extre- 

 mity to the lowest point of the arc ; it follows that the chords of those 

 arcs or angles will express the relative velocities produced by the 

 different kinds of powder. Again, by mechanics, the forces are as the 

 squares of the velocities ; and these, when produced by a body descend- 

 ing on circular arcs, are as the versed sines of the arcs ; therefore the 

 angles of recoil, or the half vibrations, being found from the experi- 

 ments, their versed sines will express the relative forces of the different 

 kinds of powder. 



A gun suspended in the manner above described has been employ <-<l, 

 instead of the ballistic pendulum, to determine, by its recoil, the initial 

 velocity of the shot fired from it with a given charge of im<l<-i. 

 [BALLISTIC PENDULUM.] 



The mortar eprouvette generally consists of an eight-inch ( . 

 mortar, fired with a very small charge (2 to 4 ozs.) and an accurately 

 turned iron shot. The range required for 4 ozs. of powder is about 

 880 feet. This method is the one usually adopted for testing powder, 

 aud is employed for testing the powder made for government by con- 

 tractors. Its comparative results for different powders, unless the 

 powders arc of the same size grain, are, however, wholly fallacious. A 

 small charge of powder fine grained will give a much greater range than 

 the same charge of the same powder cpane grain"/. When, however, 

 the charges are large, the coarse-grained powder gives the greatest 

 range ; the interstice* between the grains being large, allow the heated 

 gas to find its way through and inflame the whole charge more rapidly, 



