96 
GUN. 
and twenty. They were tried in the prefence of the entpe- with iron ordnance, or bombardas, discharged by means 
ror, who fo greatly approved the Cervices of Verbieft, that 0 f fire, with great effe£l upon the enemy. From this 
he loaded him with honours. The Jefuits, inreturn, fixed circumftance the author infers, that the inftruments of 
on a day for blefling his labours. Drelfed in his religi- deftrudtion which we now denominate artillery, muff 
ous habit, he nine times proftrated himfelf, and beat his have exifted among the Mahometans many hundred 
forehead againft the ground. He had previoitfiy fixed years ago. There is alfo a paflage of Elmakine, (tranf- 
a crucifix on an altar before the train of artillery, which lated from Arabic into Latin, by Erpenius,) which 
he baptized piece by piece, and gave to each the name (hows that the ufe of battering machines was known to 
of fome male or female faint, taken from the calendar the moft ancient Arabs; for he tells us, that in the 
of his own church. Though gunpowder was unquef- year of the Hegira 71, ,(of Chrift, 690,) Hejaje befieged 
tionably of very early, invention in China and in India, Mecca, anddeftroyed, by means of fire, the holy Caaba, 
yet till the time above-mentioned it was never applied to ufing manganas or mortars, with fire and naphta, 
any other ufes than fire-works on feftive occafions, in The firft hint of the invention of guns in England, is 
which the Cliinefe (till excel all the reft of the world.” in the works of Roger Bacon, who flourilhed in the 
It is, however, fufficiently known by thole who have thirteenth century. And though it is certainly known 
made ancient tadtics the lubjedt of their ftudy, that ^he compofition of gunpowder is alfo deferibed by Ba¬ 
the Greeks and Romans ufed millile fires, Inch as burn- con in the faid work, yet the invention has ufually, 
ing arrows, and other inftruments of fiery deftrudtion, though improperly, been aferibed to Bartholdus 
which they either call by meaas of engines and ma- Schwartz, a German monk. See the article Gunpow- 
chir.es, or flung with the hands into the places befieged. per. 
Vegetius in his book De rc rtiilitari, and Leo in his Tac- Soon after the time of Schw artz, gunsbecame the gene- 
tica, treat very fully of thefe fadts. The former, among . ral inftruments of war ; and were dignified with very high 
his precepts to thole who ftudy the art of war, has the names, and uncommon appellations. Thus Louis XII. 
following jpajflage : “If there lliould be houfes in the in 1503, Jfiad twelve bral's cannon of an extraordinary 
fortrefs, or place befieged, of fuch materials as may be fize, called after the names of the twelve peers of France. - 
ealily kindled, you may 1 burn them by means of fiery The Spanilh and Portuguefe honoured them with the 
arrows directed various ways, efpecially if the wind titles of their faints. The emperor Charles V. when 
blow violently. You,may alfo ufe fquared ftones full he marched againft Tunis, founded twelve cannon 
of fire, and mdnganica alucotia, which projeElJlones &c. which he called the twelve apoftles. At Milan there 
Among the Greeks and Romans we do not find any is a feventy-potinder, called the Pimontelle; and one at 
mention of pubis nitratus, or gunpowder; though the ~Bois-le-duc, called the Devil/ A fixty-paunder at Do- 
famous Greek fire mu ft have partaken intimately of its ver-caftle, is called Queen Elizabeth’s pocket piftoh 
nature and compofition ; and probably of the muriatic An eighty-pounder in the Tower of London, 'brought 
acid. See the article Artillery, vol. ii. p.232. ■ there from Edinburgh-caftle, is called Maunt’s-meg. 
The records contained in leveral Arabic manulcripts Two curious fixty-pounders in the arfenal at Bremen, 
depofited in the Efcurial library, thus d.efcribe the va- are called the Meflengers of bad news. And an uncom- 
. nous inftruments of deftru&ion ufed in 1249 among the mon feventy-pounder in the caftle of St. Angelo at 
Arabians: “Scorpions twifted round and blazing with Rome, made of the nails that fattened the copper plates 
nitrous powder, creep along, hiding as they go, and at which covered the ancient Pantheon, has this inferip- 
length exploding, they fend forth flames like lightning, tion upon it, Ex clavis trabalibus porticils Agrippa. In the 
and burn : then you may behold a manganum difeharged, beginning of the 15th century thefe fanciful appellations 
ftretching like a cloud through the air, making a noife were aboliflied, and the following more appropriate 
like thunder, and vomiting out fire on all fides, over- names applied, viz. 
throwing, burning, and reducing all things to allies.” Names. Pounders. Cwt.of the guns*.\ 
From this palfage it would appear that the author al- Cannon royal, or carthoun, 48 - ' 90 
luded to the bombs of iron, burft by means of artificial Baftard cannon, or J carthoun, 36 - 79 
■fire; for he ufes the words naphta and barud, of which, Demi-carthoun, - - 24 - 60 
in-thofe times, gunpowder was compofed. By the word Whole culverius, * - 18 - 50. 
barud, the Perfians, Turks, and Arabians, formerly un- Demi-culverius, - .9 - 30 
derftood nitre. At prefent they ufe it to exprels ni- Falcon, - 6-25 
irons powder, or gunpowder. A noble writer of Gre- flargeft fize 8 - 18 
nada, Abu Abdallah Ebn Alkatib, in his Hiftory of Saker •« ordinary • 6-15 
Spain, (about the year of Chrift 1312,) fpeaking of the 1 0weft lort 5 - 13 
globes or balls exploded by means of naphta over the Bafililk - 48-85 
heads of enemies, has the following paflage: “ Abal- Serpentine - - 4 8 
valid ll'mael ben Nailer, at that time king of Granada, Afpic - - - 2 7 
moving his camp, laid fiege to the town of Beza, where Dragon - ■ - 6 - 12 
he exploded at the fortified tower, by means of fire, an Syren - - - - - 60 - 81 
immenfe machine furnilhedWith naphta and a globe or. Falconet - - 3, 2, and 1 15,10,5 
"ball, makinga loud noife.” Robinet - - 1 
Tiiat the early ufie.of fuch infti'uments of war obtain- Moyens - - io-or 12 oz> 
ed among the Arabs,* may be gathered from the Chroni- Thefe curious names of beafts and birds of prey were 
cleof Alfbnfo XI. c. 223, wherein we read, that whilft not injudicioufly applied, on account of their fwiftnefs 
Algezira was befieged, in 1380, the Moors difeharged in motion, or of their cruelty ; as the falconet, falcon, 
many peals of thunder upon the army, calling iron balls faker, and culverin, &c. for their fwiftnefs ; the bafi- 
equal jn fize to very large apples, fome of which went lilk, ierpentine, afpic, dragon, fyren, See. for their cru- 
fo far as to pafs the ftation of the troops, &c. In the elty. But now all cannon take their names from the 
'fame work, c. 227, the matter is more clearly exprelfed: weight of their proper ball. Thus a piece that dif- 
■ “ In the year 1382, five veflels entered the port, laden charges a call-iron ball of twenty-four pounds, is called 
with corn, honey, butter, and the powder with which a 24-pounder; one that carries a ball of twelve potindr 
thunder was darted forth,” &c. Of the former tranf- .' 4 “-- 5 "' 
action Peter Mexia takes notice in his Sylva Varite LeElio- 
tnis, lib. 1. c. 8. but he is filent on the other: proving, 
however, the great antiquity of thole machines, he men¬ 
tions a fea-fight between the Tunifians and Spaniards, 
m which the; (hips of the Mahometans were furnilhed 
is called a 12-pounder; and fo of the reft, divided into 
the following forts, viz. S^-guns, confining in 42, 3 6, 
32, 24, 18, 12, 9, 6, and 3, pounders. Garrij'on- guns, in 
42, 32, 24, 18, 12, 9, and 6, pounders. Battering- guns, 
in 24, 18, and.12, pounders. Field-pieces , in 12, 9, 6, 3, 
2, jt, 1, and £, pounders. 
Mortars, 
