ART 



ART 



per, form matches much superior to the 

 common srt. For the method of making 

 them, see the articles MATCH and PORT- 

 FIRE. 



For the construction of iron guns for 

 battering pieces, and garrison and ship 

 guns, mortars, howitzers, and for other 

 particulars relative to artillery in general, 

 see the articles CANNON, MORTAHS, HOW- 

 ITZERS, GUNNERY, and PROJECTILES. 



It would appear, at a superficial view, 

 that the adoption of cannon and gunpow- 

 der in war had rendered it more bloody 

 and destructive than the method of fight- 

 ing and the arms formerly in use ; but the 

 reverse of this will be found in reality to 

 have taken place. The chief contest in 

 modern warfare is for posts and stations, 

 where artillery can have such command 

 of the adjoining ground, as to give a ma- 

 terial superiority ; and as the chief com- 

 bat is carried on from a distance, on a re- 

 verse of fortune the defeated have more 

 opportunities of safe retreat. Hence 

 mere extermination of an enemy ceases 

 to be the ultimate design of war : when 

 a post is seized, those under its influence 

 no longer think of contending ; the odds, 

 against their success, are so excessive, 

 that it ceases to be any disgrace to yield, 

 and those become prisoners of war, who, 

 in the ancient warfare, must have been 

 devoted to massacre. In the history of 

 remote periods, we often read of 200,000 

 or more men entering the field of battle, 

 and not more than a dozen or two escap- 

 ing alive, and in a few instances not even 

 so many. Such sanguinary terminations 

 to engagements never now occur, and 

 it often happens, that in a long campaign 

 not more lives are lost than formerly have 

 perished in a single battle. 



The following observations of Dr. Smith 

 on the subject shew still more the advan- 

 tage to mankind in general of the use of 

 cannon, and other modern instruments 

 of war. 



" In modern war, the great expense of 

 fire-arms gives an evident advantage to 

 the nation which can best afford that ex- 

 pense ; and consequently to an opulent 

 and civilized over a poor and barbarous 

 nation. In ancient times, the opulent and 

 civilized found it difficult to defend them- 

 selves against the poor and barbarous na- 

 tions. In modern times, the poor and bar- 

 barous find it difficult to defend themselves 

 against the opulent and civilised. The in- 

 vention of fire-arms, an invention which 

 at first sight appearsso be so pernicious, is 

 certainly favourable both to the permanen- 

 cy and to the extension of civilization. 



This circumstance alone reduces the 

 VOL. II. 



Tartar hordes to comparative insignifi- 

 cance, who in ancient times were so 

 formidable to the civilized world : who 

 more than once have reduced it to pri- 

 mitive ignorance and barbarity, by the in- 

 discriminate destruction of men of science 

 and artists ; and whose numbers, which 

 have procured that part of the world they 

 inhabit the name of the officina gentium, 

 might be still an object of terror, but for 

 the use of cannon. 



ARTILLERY, flying, a species of it call- 

 ed so from the celerity with which it is 

 moved from station to station. 



Seats are contrived in the carriage and 

 limbers of guns of this sort for the men 

 who work it, and a sufficient number of 

 horses are added to carry the whole at a 

 gallop, when the ground will admit of 

 this pace. Each horse is in general rode 

 by a separate driver, and the men are all 

 trained either to drive or work the gun, 

 as occasion may require. 



Flying artillery were first used by the 

 French, shortly after their revolution, 

 and materially assisted them in some of 

 their most signal victories. Their use has 

 now become general in Europe, and may 

 be expected to increase. 



ARTIST, in a general sense, a person 

 skilled in some art ; or, according to Mr. 

 Harris's definition, a person possessing an 

 habitual power of becoming the cause of 

 some effect, according to a system of va- 

 rious and well-approved precepts. In this 

 sense, we say, an excellent, a curious 

 artist. The pre-eminence is disputed be- 

 tween ancient and modern artists, especi- 

 ally as to what relates to sculpture, paint- 

 ing, and the like. At Vicenza, we are 

 told of a privilege granted to artists, 

 like that of clergy in England ; in virtue 

 of this, criminals adjudged to death save 

 their lives, if they can prove themselves 

 the most excellent and consummate 

 workmen in any useful art. This benefit 

 is allowed them in favorem artis, for the 

 first offence, except for some particular 

 crimes, of which coining is one. The 

 exception is just, since here the greater 

 the artist, the more dangerous the person. 

 Evelyn's Disc, of medals, ch. vii. p. 237, 

 &c. Artists are persons who practise 

 those arts which must necessarily be 

 combined with a considerable degree of 

 science, distinguishing them from such as 

 are properly artizans or mechanics. Ar- 

 tists are, particularly, those who study and 

 effect what are termed the polite arts, i. e. 

 painting, sculpture, and architecture, to 

 which may be added engraving. It ap- 

 pears that all civilized nations in every 

 age have produced artists, and that with 



