118 
GUN 
Chviftopher afterwards lord Hatton, and then to fir 
hrancis Compton, whom he educated in a zealous at¬ 
tachment to monarchy and epifcopacy. 
After the reftoration of Charles II. Mr. Gunning’s 
ferylces in the cairfe of'the church of England were re¬ 
membered, and preferments flowed upon him in a rapid 
lucceffion. In 1660 he was reftored to his fellowffiip al 
Cambridge, and promoted to a prebend in the church 
of Canterbury. In the fame year he was created doc¬ 
tor ot divinity by the king’s mandate, and inftituted to 
•the rectories of Cotefmore in the county of Rutland, and 
of Stoke Brewen in Northamptonfhire. Thefe prefer¬ 
ments were followed, beforetheexpirationof the year, by 
3 iis appointmet to the malterfhip of Corpus-Chrifti col¬ 
lege, and to lady Margaret’s profeffbr'ftiip of divinity.’ 
In 1661, upon the ejedtment of Dr. Tucker, he was . 
created regius profefl'or of divinity at Cambridge, and 
fueceeded the fame gentleman in the mafterffiip of St. 
John’s college ; and in 1669, he was promoted to the 
fee of Chichefter. While he prefided over this diocefe, 
he was very zealous in enforcing the laws for conformi¬ 
ty, and on particular occafions acted the part ctf a civil 
magiftrate, by breaking himfelf the meetings, and fit¬ 
ting on the bench at the quarter.feffions, when non-con- 
formifts were to be tried for their delinquency. In 1674 
he was tranflated to the fee of Ely, of which he proved 
an adtive fuperintendent and bountiful benefadtor till 
his death, which took place in 1684, in the feventy-firft 
year of his age. He was unqueftionably a prelate of con- 
liderable learning and ingenuity, who was fincerely and 
ardently attached to the conftitution of the church of 
which he was a member; and, by his fufferings and zeal 
on account of it in troublous times, merited the prefer¬ 
ments to which he-was promoted .on its being reflored 
io a ftate of prolperity. His benevolence and charity 
were extenfively exercifed during his life-time, in the 
exhibitions and endowments which he granted for the 
fupport of fcholars at the univerfity, the improvement 
jhis fees, and the relief of the indigent and diftreffed ; 
and at his death the bulk of his remaining property 
was deviled for the augmentation, of poor vicarages. 
His publications, though chiefly controverfial, are full 
<0l intereft with refpedt to the times it which he lived. 
GUN'POWDER,/ a compofition of nitre, fulphur, 
and charcoal, mixed together, and ufually granulated. 
This readily takes fire ; and when fired, it rarefies or 
explodes with great vehemence, by means of its elaltic 
force. It is to this powder that we owe all the effedt 
and adlion of guns, and ordnance of all forts; fo that 
fortification, with the modern military art, in a great 
meafure depends upon it. Hence, (fays the late inge¬ 
nious captain Grole,) the invention of gunpowder, and 
its application to fire-arms, may be ranked among the 
molt important and beneficial of human difcoveries. 
4< Perhaps, at firft fight, the affertion of its being a bene- 
jicial difcovery, may feem fomewhat paradoxical; but 
let any one compare the daughter of ancient battles, 
with the killed and wounded in modern engagements, 
and the length and confequent miferies of fieges before 
and fince the invention of gunpowder, where equal ar¬ 
mies were engaged, or the fame or fimilar places at¬ 
tacked, and I flatter rnyfelf the propriety of the epithet 
beneficial will be apparent. War is now carried on at a 
diftance, and in large and diftindt bodies, fo that the 
leaft advantage becomes inftantly obvious; whereas 
formerly troops engaged hand to hand, whereby they 
were fo intermingled as to be with difficulty feparated ; 
and befides the vidtor had no other certainty of his fuc- 
cels, than by finding no more of the enemy to daugh¬ 
ter : in fieges, a numerous train of artillery, with a tew 
barrels of this wonderful powder depofited in a mine, 
foon batter and throw down the ftrongeft walls ; and we 
now rarely hear of thofe long fieges, where thoufands 
are deftroyed by famine and fatigue. Indeed the great- 
G U N 
eft effedls towards a vidfory or capitulation, is by gun¬ 
powder and artillery, brought about without any mif- 
chief or daughter, but folely by the terror raifed by 
thenoife, few men having fufficient firmnefsto Hand their 
dreadful thunder; and it is undoubtedly a faft, that 
a battle or a town is won, more by the flight of thofe 
who are terrified at the noife of the cannon, than from 
the lofs of thofe killed or wounded by them.” > 
The firft introduction of gunpowder into Europe has 
generally been attributed to Roger Bacon, who wrote 
a treatife in 1280, in which we find the firft hints for 
the application of it to the purpofes of war. In 1320* 
Bartholomew Schwartz, a monk, is faid to have re-in- 
. vented it in Germany, by accidentally pounding in a 
mortar the ingredients of which gunpowder is made, 
and into which a fpark of fire falling, blew the mortar 
to pieces. This opinion has lately been contradicted in 
France by citizen Langles, who contends, in a memoir 
read in the French national inftitute, that the know- 
ledge of gunpowder was conveyed to us from the Arabs 
on the return of the ct ufaders into Europe, and that the 
Arabs, as we-have feen- above, made ufe of it to dis¬ 
charge their manganas or mortars at the liege of Mecca 
in 690; that they derived it from the Indians, who, in 
their facred books forbidding the ufe of it in war, may 
reafonajfiy be concluded to have known it for ages. 
However this may be, it feems probable that gunpow¬ 
der was early known in India ; for, in whatever country 
nitre abounds, there its deflagrating quality is likely to 
be firft obferved. Sir George Staunton, vol. ii. p. 292, 
fays, “The knowledge of gunpowder in China and In¬ 
dia feems coeval with the molt diftant hiftoric events. 
Among the Chinefe it has at'all times been applied to 
ufeful purpofes, as blafting rocks, &c. and in making 
of fire-works ; although it hasnot.been directed through 
ftrong metallic tubes, as the Europeans did very foon 
after they had difcovered it.” 
The honourable George Napier procured fome gun¬ 
powder made in China, and on the average analyfis of 
two ounces of it (960 grains), he found it to confift of 
faltpetre 720 grains, charcoal 141 grains, and fulphur 
89 grains. Here he found a deficiency of ten grains in 
the procefs. Now, admitting' the deficiency to be in 
equal proportions to each ingredient, and bringing the 
fame to the proportion of one hundred parts.of gunpow¬ 
der, there will be, 
Saltpetre ... - 75-7 
Charcoal - - „ 14; 4 
Sulphur - 9-9 
Total ioo-o 
Hence it will be feen that their proportion differs very 
little from the Engliffi proportion. 
PROCESS of MANUFACTURING GUNPOWDER 
in ENGLAND. 
The ingredients which form the fubftance of gunpow¬ 
der, according to the prefent improved ftate of the ma¬ 
nufacture, are combined in the following proportion: 
to each 100 parts of gunpowder, faltpetre 75, char¬ 
coal 15, and lulphur 10. The objedt principally to be 
attended to, is the purity of thefe ingredients; for, if 
they are defective, the gunpowder can never be good, 
though ever fo well manufactured. 
The faltpetre to be preferred is that ufually imported 
from the Eaft Indies. It is refined by -folution, fil¬ 
tration, evaporation, and cryftallization; after which it 
is fufedj taking care not to ufe too much hekt, that 
there may not be any danger of decompofing the nitre.; 
by this means it is not only rendered more pure, but 
the water of cryftallization is more completely got rid 
of. The principal objedt in refining the nitre 1$, to get 
it freedom the earths and halts it is combined with in 
i>ts rough of grovgh ftate.; and which, by deliquefcing. 
