ARTILLERY. 
]being at fird ufed for battering down of walks and cities, 
and for counter-batteries, till at lad: they were ufed in the 
field to break the fquadrons and battailesof foot and horfe, 
fome carrying pieces, called fpingards, of foure foote and 
a lialfe longe, that (hot many bullets at once no greater 
than walnuts, which w'ere carried in the fields on little 
chariots behinde the troopes, and how foone the trumpet 
did fotinde, the enemy was thundered on, fir ft with thofe 
as with fhoures of haile done, fo that the enemies were 
cruelly affrighted with them, men of valour being fud- 
denly taken away, who before were wont to fight valliantly 
and long with the fword and taunce, more for the honour 
of victory, than for any delire of (hedding of blond; but 
now, men are marteryzed and cut downe, at more than 
half a mile of diftance, by thofe furious and thundring 
engines of great cannon, that fometimes fhoote fiery bul¬ 
lets able to burne whole cities, caftlcs, houfes, or bridges, 
wherever they chance to light.” Thus we have feen, that 
cannon were formerly made of a very great length, which 
rendered them exceedingly heavy, and their ule very trou- 
blefome and confined. But it has lately been found by 
experiment, that there is very little added to the force 
of the ball by a great length of the cannon, and therefore 
they have very properly been much reduced both in their 
length and weight, and rendered eafily manageable upon 
all occafions. They were formerly diftinguiflied by many 
hard and terrifying names, but are now only named from 
the weight of their ball; as a fix pounder, a twelve pound¬ 
er, a twenty-four pounder, or a forty-two pounder, which 
is the larged fize now ufed by the Englifh for battering. 
Upon the whole, it may be afferted, that cannon is one 
of the mod Angular difeoveries which have been made 
among ft men ; and by little and little it has changed the 
whole art of war, and of confequence influenced the whole 
Jyftem of policy in Europe. After the introduction of 
the modern artillery, the Spaniards were the fird who 
armed part of their foot with mufkets and harquebuffes, 
and mixed them with the pikes. In this they were foon 
imitated by mod other nations; though the Englifh had 
not entirely laid afide their favourite weapon the long-bow, 
and generally taken to the ufe of fire-arms, until after the 
reign of queen Elizabeth. The fird mufkets were called 
matchlocks; they were very heavy, and could not be fired 
without a red, as fliewn in the Artillery-Plate III. They 
had barrels of a wide bore, that carried a large ball and 
charge of powder, and did execution at a great didance. 
The mufketeers on a march carried only their reds and 
ammunition, and had a did ants to bear their mufkets after 
them, for which they were allowed great additional pay. 
They were very flow in loading, not only by reafon of the 
unwieldinefs of the piece, and becaufe they carried the 
powder and balls feparate, but front the time it took to 
prepare and adjuft the match; fo that their fire was not 
near fo brifk as ours is now. Afterwards a lighter kind of 
matchlock-mufket came into ufe; and they carried their 
ammunition in bandeliers, which were broad belts that 
came over the (houlder, to which were hung feveral little 
cafes of wood covered with leather, each containing a 
charge of powder ; the balls they carried loofe in a pouch, 
and they had alfo a priming-horn hanging by their fide. 
Matchlocks were, about the beginning of this century, 
univerfally difufed in Europe, and the troops were armed 
with firelocks ; to which, much about the fame time, the 
bayonet being added, pikes alfo were laid afide ; which 
latter change, whether it was for the better or not, is a 
point dill in difpute among the bed military writers. The 
old Englifh writers call thofe large mufkets calivers ; the 
harquebufe was a lighter piece, that could be fired with¬ 
out a red. The matchlock was fired by a match, fixed by 
a kind of tongs in the ferpentine or cock, which by pul¬ 
ling the trigger was brought down with great quicknefs 
upon the priming in the pas, over which there was a Hid¬ 
ing cover, which was drawn back by hand, juft at the 
time of firing. There was a great deal of nicety and care 
to fit the match properly to the cock, fo as to come down 
2 3f 
exactly true on the priming, to blow the afhes from the 
coal, and to guard the pan from tire fparks that fell from 
it: a great deal of time was alfo loft in taking it out of 
the cock, and returning it between the fingers of the left- 
hand, every time the piece was fired ; and wet weather 
often rendered the matches ufelefs. 
The firelock is fo called, front producing fire of itfelf, 
by the aflion of the flint and fteel. The mod ancient 
invention of this fort is the wheel-lock, which we find 
mentioned in Luigi Collado’s Treatife of Artillery, printed 
at Venice, 1586, as then lately invented in Germany. This 
Tort of lock was ufed till within thefe hundred years, efpe- 
cially for piftols and carbines. It was compofed of a folid 
deel wheel, with an axis, to which was fadened a chain, 
which, by being round, it drew up a very drong fpringr 
on pulling the trigger, the fpring, aiding, whirled the wheel 
about with great velocity, and .the friction of the edge of 
it (which was a little notched) againft the done, produced 
the fire ; the cock was made lo as to bring the done upon 
the edge of the wheel, part of which was in the pan, and 
touched the priming; they tiled any common hard pebble 
for that purpofe, which ferved as well as flint. Thefe 
locks were inconvenient, took time to wind up (or (pan, 
as they termed it), and fometimes would not go off; as 
may be feen in Ludlow’s Memoirs. When the firelock 
was invented, is not afcertained ; it is called by writers of 
about the middle of the lad century, a fnaphane or fnap- 
hance, which, being the Dutch word for a firelock , Teems 
to indicate that it is a Dutch invention, and that we took it 
from them. The more modern writers call it a fufiee , from 
the French word fufil ; whence the name of fulileers is dill 
continued to feveral of our regiments which were the fird 
that were armed with them on the diftife of matchlocks. 
Figuerra, in his embaffy in 1518, relates, that the Per- 
fians would neither make ufe of infantry nor artillery, be. 
caufe by them the impetuodty of attack, and the facility 
of retreat, were equally incumbered and retarded : in 
thefe expedients alone their addrefs and their glory con¬ 
fided. This method of advancing and recalling is widely 
different from the prefent conduit of war, carried on by 
thefe ignivomous machines that mock the thunder; which, 
though they feem to be invented for the dedruction of the 
human race and the fubverfion of empires, have yet by 
their effects rendered war lefs favage and left fangifinary : 
political alliances have been more lucceftfully conciliated 
among all nations, conquefts are become lefs frequent and 
lefs rapid, and fucceffes in war have been more eafily re¬ 
duced to calculation. The change introduced in the mi¬ 
litary-art by the modern artillery. Dr. Smith, in his Wealth 
of Nations, oblerves, has enhanced greatly both the ex- 
ence of exercifing and difeiplining any particular nit tri¬ 
er of foldiers in time of peace, and that of employing 
them in time of war. Both their arms and their ammu¬ 
nition are become more expenfive. A mufket is a more 
expenfive machine than a javelin or a bow and arrows ; a 
cannon or a mortar, than a baiifta or a catapulta. The pow¬ 
der which is fpent in a modern review is loft irrecoverably^ 
and occalions a very confiderable expence. The javelins 
and arrows which were thrown or fliot in an ancient one, 
could eafily be picked up again, and were befides of very 
little value. The cannon and the mortar are not only 
much dearer, but much heavier machines than the balida 
or catapulta, and require a greater ex pence not only to pre¬ 
pare them for the field, but to carry them to it. As the 
fuperiority of the modern artillery too over that of the an¬ 
cients is very great, it has become much more difficult, and 
confequently much more expenfive, to fortify a town fo as 
to refid, even for a few weeks, the attack of that fnperior 
artillery. In modern war, the great cxpence of fire-arms 
gives an evident advantage to the nation which can bed 
afford that expence; and, confequently, to an opulent and 
civilized, over a poor and barbarous, nation. In ancient 
times, the opulent and civilized found it difficult to defend 
themfelves againft the poor and barbarous nations. la 
modern times, the poor and barbarous find it difficult ta 
defends 
