FORTIFICATION. 
considering every circumstance attendant 
Upon the ancient mode of assault, and the 
nature of their weapons. 
The invention of gunpowder does not ap- 
pear to have made any important change 
for several years, nor indeed until heavy 
artillery formed a part of the assailants’ 
means, as may be proved by an examina- 
tion of the remaining castles, towers, 
keeps, &c. the dates may be traced be- 
yond the middle of the fourteenth century. 
Such were the solidity and the hardness of 
many ancient buildings, that the stone shots, 
originally used, produced a very slight ef- 
fect ; nor was it until iron balls were brought 
into use, that the powers of cannon were, 
in any measure, ascertained. 
That point being gained, the whole sys- 
tem of defence was necessarily made to 
conform to the destructive engines which 
now were added to the common practices 
of assault. The sword, buckler, lance, 
dart, javelin, sling, bow and arrow, lost 
their wonted estimation, and, dwindling 
into insignificance on the great scale, were 
reserved for individual contest, or for the 
lesser purposes of desultory warfare. The 
great object was to construct such stupen- 
dous bulwarks as might not only oppose the 
newly devised missiles, but, at the same 
time, support similar means of destroying 
the invading army. 
Hence arose the formation of ramparts, 
and, gradually, the necessity for deep 
ditches, and various outworks ; whereby 
considerable delay and difficulty might be 
Created. 
The fortifications of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, although to a certain extent new mo- 
delled, and made conformable to the neces- 
sity imposed by the invention and use' of 
cannon, nevertheless did not display any 
ingenuity in regard to mutual defence. 
That great principle was little understood, 
and the minutiaj of the science remained, 
for a long time, miserably defective. Men 
of genius, at length, in part remedied the 
errors of the old school, and opened the 
way for that exactness of proportion, and for 
that systematic arrangement, which cha- 
racterize the works of modern times. The 
impregnable fortresses to be seen in various 
parts of Europe, cannot fail to transmit 
the names of their several engineers to 
posterity j unhappily, not unaccompanied 
by those of the traitors and poltroons who, 
even since the commencement of the pre- 
sent century, have shamefully abandoned 
VOL. HI. 
the posts of honour, and yielded to inferior 
powers. 
The immense armies now constantly 
brought into the field, and the heavy trains of 
artillery by which they are, in almost all cases, 
attended, occasion not only an adequate pre- 
paration for resistance, but the necessity 
for establishing lines of communication, of 
depots, ;&c. all of which must be on the best 
construction for defence, containing safe 
lodgment for a sufficient garrison, together 
with ample and secure magazines for pro- 
visions and for stores. Hence the province 
of the engineer becomes peculiarly impor- 
tant ; it comprizes various branches of in- 
formation, and requires that readiness of 
computation, of discernment, and of ap- 
propriate resource, which rarely combine 
in the same individual. The merely plan- 
ning in the closet, and the laying down on 
the soil such defences as may perhaps be 
void of fault, so far as relates to mutual 
support, and to the great work of procras- 
tination, will avail nothing, if the other 
essentials are neglected ; and even when 
they are not, the whole may be rendered 
abortive, and become contemptible, merely 
from a want of judgment in point of lo- 
cality. 
Fortification is generally considered un- 
der two heads, i. e. natural and artificial. 
The former relates entirely to those inva- 
luable situations which, being either com- 
pletely inaccessible, or nearly so, require 
but few additions, and demand only such 
guards as may prevent surprise. For want 
of that precaution, stone posts have been 
taken, which no army, however numerous 
and well provided, could have forced to 
capitulation. Perhaps of all the instances 
that could be adduced in regard to so for- 
tunate a position as should defy assault, the 
fortress of Ootradroog, situated in the do- 
minions of the late Tippoo Saheb, sultan of 
the Mysore, may be justly considered as 
the most worthy of being cited. It stands 
on a plain, no hill or eminence of any con- 
sideration being within several miles. It is, 
in fact, insulated, and consists of a solid 
rock, rising, on an average, about eight 
hundred' feet above the adjacent level ; its 
sides are nearly perpendicular throughout 
its whole circumference, which measures 
nearly a mile. The ascent into it is by 
stone steps, intermixed with occasional 
breaks for temporary ladders, the whole of 
which could he destroyed by the fall of a 
few large stones, always kept on the para- 
O 
