713 



HORN-WORKS AND CROWN-WORKS. 



HOROLOGY. 



extend it considerably towards the country. Being however regarded 

 but as a work of secondary importance in the defence of a place, the 

 length of its front was seldom so great as that of the sides of the 

 polygon on which the fortifications of the enceinte were constructed, 

 and generally did not exceed 240 yards ; which, since the relief of its 

 rampart was necessarily nearly the same as that of the enceinte, scarcely 

 allowed the ditch before its curtain to be effectively defended. The 

 lengths of the branches or wings were regulated by the necessity of 

 having the ditch and covered-way in front of the salient angles of the 

 demi-bastions within the range of a fire of musketry from the collateral 

 works towards which the ramparts of the wings were directed ; and 

 occasionally the latter were broken, on the plan, so as to form short 

 flanks from whence a fire might be directed towards the nearest of 

 those salient points. 



That which has been found occasionally useful is too frequently, by 

 an improper application, converted into a positive evil ; this was the 

 case with the works now being described ; and at a very early period 

 the multiplicity and injudicious disposition of them were subjects of 

 animadversion among the best engineers. It often happened that they 

 were constructed at great expense in situations where no end whatever 

 was *o be gained by them, and so close together that the defenders of 

 their branches could not have avoided firing upon one another. 



In proportion as the means employed in the attack of places were 

 increased the earlier fortresses became* incapable of affording room for 

 the buildings necessary to lodge the troops, and contain in security the 

 quantity of artillery and stores which the corresponding augmentation 

 of the means of defence demanded ; and hence it was sometimes 

 found necessary to increase the extent of the advanced works about a 

 place. This was done, at first, not by enlarging the dimensions of the 

 half-bastions and curtain at the head of such works, but by making 

 that head to consist of two or more fronts of fortification, in which 

 case they took the name of double, triple, &c., horn-works, but more 

 generally CROWN-WORKS. At a later time however the importance 

 of advanced works was more highly appreciated ; and, both by an 

 improved disposition of them and by giving to their fronts dimensions 

 equal to those of the general fronts of the place, they became not only 

 free from the defects to which the old works were subject, but also 

 capable of making a defence equal to that of a regular fortress. 



The defects of the old horn-works consist in the expense of the con- 

 struction being greater than is warranted by the benefit to be derived 

 from them in the defence ; in presenting to the enemy a front which, 

 from its smallnesa, may be taken more easily than one of the fronts of 

 the enceinte ; in the revetment of the latter being liable to be 

 breached by a fire of artillery directed along the ditches of their wings 

 from batteries formed on the glacis opposite the salient angles of the 

 work ; hi the comparative security with which an enemy, after having 

 made a lodgement in the work, might carry on his approaches in the 

 interior in consequence of the protection afforded by the ramparts of 

 the wings against any attempt of the besieged to impede him by sorties 

 directed upon his flanks ; and, lastly, in the large place d'armes the 

 ditches afforded in which the assailants might assemble in large 

 numbers unnoticed and in security for an assault. It should be 

 observed, however, that Vauban, who constructed many such works, 

 appears to have entertained a favourable opinion of them. He gives 

 the preference to such as are formed immediately in front of a bastion ; 

 the wings being directed neither to that work nor to the collateral 

 ravelins, but towards the curtains adjacent to the bastion. By this 

 means the ditches of those wings are capable of being defended by the 

 artillery of the curtains, while the revetments of tne latter are covered 

 by the tenailles so as to render it impossible to breach them near the 

 foot by a fire of artillery directed along those ditches. But his best 

 application of a horn-work was made at Belfort, where he executed 

 one entirely in advance of the glacis of the place ; in consequence of 

 this disposition the revdtment of the enceinte is effectually secured 

 against being breached till after the horn-work is taken ; while, at the 

 gorge of the latter, the height of the terreplein above the ground at 

 the foot of the glacis ensures the work itself from being taken by an 

 assault hi that direction. 



A nearly similar disposition was adopted by Cormoutaingne in 

 executing the double crown-work at Metz. Beyond the glacis of that 

 place, on one side, the ground rises with a gentle inclination, till, at 

 some distance from thence, it forms one side of a deep valley ; and 

 along the brow are constructed, on nearly a straight line, three strong 

 fronts of fortification. The ground is terminated on the left by an 

 escarpment, which is crowned by a line of rampart with its covered- 

 way and glacis ; and on the right is a valley watered by a rivulet, 

 which, being dammed, forms a lake capable of securing the works 

 against an attack on that side. Each flank is further protected by a 

 detached lunette, or redoubt : that on the right, being surrounded by 

 water, is nearly inaccessible ; and that on the left is strengthened by a 

 system of counter-mines. 



The ample capacity of the bastions and the direction of their 

 which are such as to prevent them from being enfiladed ; the con- 

 traction of the ground before the works, by which the enemy would 

 be reduced to the necessity of making his attack on a smaller extent 

 of front than that of the defenders ; and finally, the measures taken to 

 secure the flanks, justly entitle this fortification to the character of 

 being the most complete of its kind in Europe. 



HORNPIPE, a rustic musical instrument, still, we believe, known 

 in Wales, consisting of a wooden tube, with holes, and a reed. At 

 each end is a horn ; one to collect the wind blown into it by the 

 performer, the other to augment the sound. The Hon. Daines Bar- 

 rington states, (' Archrcologia,' vol. iii., 1770) that " the tone, considering 

 the materials of which the instrument is composed, is really very 

 tolerable, and resembles an indifferent hautbois." In the Welsh lan- 

 guage its name is pib-corn, which signifies, literally, pipe-horn. Sir 

 John Hawkins quotes Chaucer to show that the hornpipe was a real, 

 not an imaginary instrument ; but in the ' Tatler,' No. 157. is a proof 

 not only of its reality, but its actual existence so late as 1710. 



Hornpipe is also the name of a dance ; and Barrington is of opinion, 

 that the dance-tunes called Hornpipes were originally composed for the 

 instrument known by the same name. Hawkins says, that the horn- 

 pipe was invented in this country. It appears, from the ' Dancing- 

 Master,' 17th edit. 1721, to have been in triple time, six crotchets 

 in a bar ; but the well-known tune, The College Hornpipe, is in duple 

 measure. 



HOROLO'GIUM (Constellation), the Clock, a southern constellation 

 of Lacaille. It is cut by a line passing through Canopus to the southern 

 part of Eridanus. Its principal stars (of which it is not worth while 

 to make a table) are a and /3, 34 of Piazzi and 229 of Lacaille, or 1315 

 and 956 of the ' B. A. Cat.,' both of the fifth magnitude. 



HOROLOGY (from the Greek &pa, time or hour, and \6yos, a dis- 

 course), is an explanation of the principles of the measurement of time ; 

 but hi its modern sense the term is usually applied as descriptive of 

 that art which comprehends a knowledge of the action of the various 

 machines used for the purpose of measuring time. 



Sun-dials, which show apparent time, and clepsydra, which give a 

 rude approximation to mean time, were the earliest machines used in 

 the measurement of time. [CLEPSYDRA ; SUNDIAL.] We shall in this 

 article only treat of those pieces of mechanism, used for the measure- 

 ment of time, which are kept in motion either by the constant action 

 of gravity through the medium of a weight, or by the elastic force 

 of a spring, and which have received names varying according to the 

 duties they have to perform. Thus, the term timepiece is applied 

 to any piece which is intended merely to mark the time without 

 striking the hour ; a dock is one which, in addition to showing the 

 tune, strikes eveiy hour, on a bell or spring, a number of strokes 

 corresponding to the hour of the day or night indicated by the hands at 

 the time ; a quarter clock is one which also strikes the quarters as the 

 hand successively arrives at them ; a natch is a pocket timepiece ; 

 and a repeater is a watch which by means of any mechanical con- 

 trivance can at pleasure be made to repeat the hour, or hour and 

 quarters. 



Hutory of Clocks and Watcltet. The early history of clocks and 

 watches is enveloped in so much obscurity, that it would be almost 

 impossible to point out any individual who could with propriety be 

 called the inventor. The term horolor/ium was used very early in 

 different parts of Europe ; but this word being formerly applied indis- 

 criminately to a sun-dial, as well as a clock, nothing decisive can be 

 inferred from its use. Striking clocks were known in Italy as early as 

 the latter part of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century. A fine 

 imposed on the chief-justice of the King's Bench in 1288, was applied 

 to the purpose of furnishing a clock for the famous clock-house near 

 Westminster Hall. In the reign of Henry VI., the king gave the 

 keeping of this clock to William Warby, dean of St. Stephen's, 

 together with 6it. per day to be received at the exchequer. St. Mary's 

 at Oxford was furnished with a clock in 1523, out of fines imposed on 

 the students of the university. The middle of the 14th century seems 

 to be the time which affords the first certain evidence of the existence 

 of what would be now called a clock, or regulated horological machine. 

 The first clock at Bologna was fixed up in 135C. Henry de Wyck, a 

 German artist, placed a clock in the tower of the palace of Charles V. 

 about the year 1364. Mention is made in Rymer's ' Foedera," of pro- 

 tection being given by Edward III. to three Dutch horologers who 

 were invited from Delft into England in the year 1368. Conradus 

 Dasypodius gives an account of a clock erected at Strasburg about 

 1370. According to Froissart, Courtray had a clock about the same 

 period, which was taken away by the Duke of Burgundy in 1382. 

 Lehmann informs us that there was a clock at Spire in 1395. Niirnberg 

 had a clock in the year 1462 ; Auxerre had one in 1483, and Venice in 

 1497. It appears, from a letter written by Ambrosius Camaldulensis 

 (lib. xv. epis. 4) to Nicolaus of Florence, that clocks were not very 

 uncommon in private families on the Continent about the end of the 

 15th century; and there is good reason for supposing that they began 

 to become general in England about the same period. The conclusion 

 to be drawn from the evidence here adduced is, that a regulated 

 horological machine is neither of so ancient a date as some writers 

 suppose, nor yet the more recent invention of the last two centuries ; 

 and that the inventor is not certainly known. Ferdinand Berthoud 

 was of opinion that a clock, such as that of Henry de Wyck, is not 

 the invention of one man, but a compound of successive inventions, 

 each worthy of a separate contriver. This supposition is confirmed 

 by analogy ; for the clocks and watches of the present day have been 

 brought to their present degree of perfection by a series of successive 

 inventions and improvements upon what may now be called the rude 

 clock of DC Wyck, the most ancient clock of which we have a 



