ART 



ART 



toward which the chamber of London gave above 300/.; 

 it was furnifhed with five hundred fets of arms of extra- 

 ordinary beauty, which were all loft in the civil wars. 

 Their captain, daring a part of thofe affrighted times, was 

 a Mr. Manby, who irrecoverably detained for his own pur- 

 pofes, the arms, plate, money, books, and other goods of 

 the company. The prottftor was in vain folicited to en- 

 force their being reftored. (Ellis's Hift. of Shored, p. 349.) 

 In 1640 they quitted their old field of difdpline, and 

 entered upon a plot of ground in Bunhill-fields, leafed to 

 them by the city. 



This company, at prefent, forms a regular battalion of 

 infantry, confifting of a grenadier, light infantr)', and hat 

 divifions ; together with the matrofs divifion for the ufe of 

 two field pieces, prefented in the year 17S0, by the city. 

 There is alfo kept up a divifion of archers ; archerj- being 

 the art cultivated by the company in days when the bow 

 was an inftrument of war. The command of the battalion 

 is veiled in ofBcers who are annually eleded. This muni- 

 cipal corps is authorized and privileged by m.any royal pa- 

 tents and warrants ; and particularly by one of his prefent 

 majefty, under the royal fign manual, wherein his royal 

 Lighncls the prince of Wales is declared captain-general. 

 Tt confids of gentlemen of charadter and property, bound 

 by a folemn declaration and obligation of attachment and 

 fidelity to the king and conftitution, and of readinefs to 

 join in fupporting the civil authority, and defending the 

 metropolis. It is egulated by a court of affiftants, confill- 

 ing of a prefident, vice-prefident, treaiurer, the field officers; 

 the lord mayor, aldermen, and Hieriffs for the time being, 

 and twenty-four elective members.^ (See the company's 

 addrefs to the inhabitants of London.) 



Artillery is alfo ufed for what we otherwife czW pv'o- 

 technla, or the art of fire-works, with the inllruments and 

 apparatus belonging to it. 



ARTINGAL, in Geography, one of the Pelew IJlands 

 in the Pacific ocean. 



ARTIS, in Aiicknt Geography, a place of Afia Minor, 

 in Ionia. 



ARTISAN. See Artist, and alfo Artificers, and 

 Manufacturers. 



ARTISIGA, in j4ncient Geography, a village of Africa, in 

 Mauritania-CvEfarienfis, fituate on the fca-coall north-weft of 

 the mouth of the river Malva, about 27 miles weft of Siga. 



ARTISCUS, in JlTeJicine, from ccf.o;, tread, denotes a 

 troche, but more particularly that prepared of viper's flefti, 

 mixed up with bread, to be ufed iu the compolltion of Ve- 

 nice treacle. Thefe are more p?.rticularly called artifci the- 

 ria.i, or ther'ia-al troches. They «ere formerly in great 

 vogue, and brought with much parade from Venice; but 

 Zwelfer difcovered their vanity ; fince which time viper's 

 powder has been generally fubftituted for them, in the pre- 

 paration of the treacle. 



ARTISON, m Natural Hiftory, a common name among 

 the French for various kinds of infeits that injure furniture, 

 ftins, ftufFs, &c. fuch as the Dernieftes, Mites, &c. 



ARTIST, in a general fenfe, a perfon fl<illed in fome art; 

 or, according to Mr. HaiTis's definition, a perfon poffefiing 

 an habitual power of becoming the caufe of fonie effect, 

 according to a fyftem of various and well-approved precepts. 

 In this fenfe, we fay, an excellent, a curicus artift. The 

 pre-eminence is difputcd between ancient and modern artifts, 

 Specially as to what relates to Iculpturc, painting, and 

 the hke At Vicenza, we arc told of a privilege granted 

 to artiib, like that of clergy iu Eiigland ; in virtue of this, 

 criminals adjudged to death fave their lives, if they can 

 prove thea.felvcs the moll excellent and coufummate work- 



men in any ufeful art.> This benefit is allowed them in 

 favorem art'is, for the firft offence, except for fome particu- 

 lar crimes, of which coining is one. The exception is juft, 

 fince here the greater the artift, the more dangerous the 

 perfon. Evelyn's Difc. of Medals, ch. vii. p. 237, &c. 



-Artifts are perfons who praftife thofe arts which mull 

 necefiarily be combined with a confiderable degree of 

 fcience, diftinguiihing them from fuch as are properly artifans 

 or mechanics. Artifts are particularly thofe who Rudy and 

 effeft what are term.ed the polite arts, i.e. painting, fculpture, 

 and architeSure, to which m.ay be added engraving. An 

 account of the moft eminent artifts, ancient and modem, 

 will be found in this work alphabetically arranged, to which 

 our readers are referred. It appears that all civilized 

 nations in every age have produced artifts, and that with a 

 degree of excellence generally anfwerable to their civiliza- 

 tion and opulence. In every nation where the arts have 

 flourilhed, the artifts have made but rude effays, and by 

 degrees they have been nurtured up to excellence, except 

 in fuch inftances where they have been tranfplanted, as from 

 Greece to Rome. It is univerfally acknowledged refpecking 

 ftatuary and architefiuie, that ancient Greece has produced 

 the belt artifts in the world; their works which have efcapcd 

 the ravages of time are the ftanding mcnum.ents of their 

 fame, and are ilill confidered as the models of perfectioi? ; 

 there is however an uncertainty whether their painters were 

 equally flcilled with their ftatuaries. With fome reafon, 

 many judicious perfons have fuppofed they were not, while 

 others contend, that fo much excellence produced in one 

 branch, muft have contemporary artifts who would excel 

 in the other alfo. While we cannot doubt of the genius of 

 the Grecian artifts, and of their ability to produce works 

 of excellence, yet it may not be aOowed that this argument 

 will be found to be fo conclufive as it mav at firft appear, 

 fince Chinefe and Indian models are found in a more perfect 

 ftate than either their drawings or paintings. Sir Jofhua Rey- 

 nolds I'.as given a hint upon this fubjeft in his notes to Mr. Ma- 

 fon's tranflation of Du Frefnoy, which may be confulted upon 

 one fide of the queftion : and Mr. Webb, on the other, will not 

 fail to intereft any reader who may be inclined to believe in 

 favour of ancient painters. When the Goths overran Italy, the 

 arts were deftroyed ; and, with Grecian architeifture, painting, 

 and fculpture, lay in one common grave forgotten, until they 

 revived under fome artifts in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 

 turies, who ought not to be named as artiits,but forthefuc- 

 ceeding effects to which their efforts prepared the way, and 

 in a ftiort time after produced Michael Angelo, Raphael, 

 Corregio, Titian, Algardi, Bernini, &c. painters, fculp- 

 tors, and architects, to whofe works the Un'ng artifts are 

 almoft as much indebted as thefe illuftrious charafters were 

 to the ancient monuments they dug from the i-uins of old 

 Rome. V/hile painters continued to purfne their wretchedly 

 dry and barbaroufly gothic method of defign, prior to 

 thefe enlightened artiils, even then, the bronze gates of the 

 baptiftiy of the church at Florence were produced ; upon 

 a fight of which, M. Angelo cried out with emotion when 

 he faw them, that they deferved to be the gates of para- 

 dife ! Cafts of thefe gates may be feen in the Roval Aca- 

 demy in London. This we notice to juftify a remark which 

 we have made, that painting does not always accompany 

 with equal fteps the efforts of fculpture. 



An Engliftiman will obferve with pleafure the progrefs 

 which has lately been made, and is ftill making under 

 the protection of our gracious fovereign, in this once 

 barren land, by artifts in painting, fculpture, and archi- 

 te<fture. 



Artist, art'Jla, in an ac:idemical fenfc, denotes a phi- 



lofopher 



