(Ancient Universal History, vol. vi.) A number of other instances are mentioned soon after this time, in which machines of various descriptions were employed both for defence and attack, of which we may mention, in particular, the siege of Saguntum, by Hannibal (219 B. C.), in which the Saguntines prevented his soldiers from using the battering ram by a continual hurling of darts, stones, and other missiles. From this time, these warlike engines increased, both in number and in magnitude, to an almost incredible extent, of which the reader may form some idea by the inventory that different historians have given us of those found in certain cities, which had been obliged to capitulate to the enemy, and by the enumeration of those which accompanied particular armies. Thus we are informed that Titus employed, in the siege of Jerusalem, three hundred catapultæ, of divers magnitudes, and forty balliste, of which the least projected stones of seventy-five pounds weight. And, when the consul Censorius marched against Carthage, and obliged the inhabitants to give up their arms, they surrendered to him two thousand machines proper for throwing darts and stones; and, afterwards, when Scipio made himself master of the same city, there were no less than one hundred and twenty catapultæ of the larger size, two hundred and eighty-one of the smaller, twentythree of the larger ballista, fifty-two of a smaller kind, and an innumerable number of scorpions of different sizes, arms, and missile weapons. Two years previous to this, Marcellus had laid siege to Syracuse, a city proverbially fatal to the armies that attacked it. Archimedes was at that time resident in the city, and, at the earnest solicitation of Hiero, king of Sicily, exerted the powers of his mind in the invention of artillery, and other warlike instruments. Marcellus had brought with him an enormous engine, mounted on eight galleys, called sambuca, which Archimedes destroyed by discharging at it single stones of enormous weight, while it was at a considerable distance from the walls. This was effected by ballista; but he also employed crows, grapples, and scorpions, by the former of which the Roman vessels were lifted out of the water by the prow, and plunged to the bottom of the sea. It would be useless to record the numerous other sieges which took place between this period and the invention of cannon, where these instruments were employed. We shall therefore now endeavor to present the reader with the description of these several machines, according to the best authorities. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the account of many of them is so very obscure, that it may be questionable whether they are precisely such as those described by the ancient historians. The ancient artillery may be divided into three classes of machines, namely, first, those intended for projecting bodies; secondly, those for approach and demolition; thirdly, a miscellaneous class, used for various offensive operations. Of the first class, the most important are the ballista and catapultæ, which are, by some authors, confounded with each other; but, according to their etymology, ballista (from Baλw, to shoot or throw) is an engine for propelling stones, called also XitoBodos, TεTpoßodos, petraria, &c.; while catapulta (in Greek, karaniλrns, from eλrns, a spear or dart) was an instrument employed to dart forth spears or arrows. The force of the ballista was prodigious. The stones cast from them were of enormous weight, and of any form; and, for the further annoyance of the besieged place, they would throw into it from the ballista dead bodies of men and horses, heads, and detached limbs. Athenæus mentions one of these ballista that threw a stone of three talents, namely, about three hundred and sixty pounds weight. Cæsar employed these machines not only to destroy men, but to batter down strong and high towers. We have already mentioned the machines employed by Titus against Jerusalem, some of which, Josephus states, projected stones of a hundred weight; and Archimedes is said to have cast bodies of twelve hundred pounds, by means of his ballista, against the Roman fleet, in his defence of Syracuse. A ballista may be briefly described as a strong frame-work, susceptible of easy separation, for the purpose of conveyance, and then of being rejoined in frame, having on each side a toothed wheel. The wheels have each a strong cross-piece. A strong cord, well stretched, passes several times from the cross-piece of one wheel to that of the opposite wheel, and forms thus several intersecting twists, at the centre of one of which is inserted the handle or stem of a capacious spoon. The wheels are turned by means of pinions, and the cords fastened to the cross-pieces are made to twist more and more about each other. When, by this process, the twisted cords have received a sufficient tension, the wheels and pinions are retained in their places by the application of a pall or rachet. This done, the stem, which has waxed cord coiled closely about it to give it additional strength, is brought down to the horizontal position by means of a windlass, and retained there by another pall or detent. In this state of things, the body which it is intended to throw from the ballista, is placed in the cavity of the spoon. At a given word, the detent is struck away with a mallet, and the stem, obeying the enormous elastic force which now acts upon it, remounts, and discharges the projectile with great impetuosity. At the moment of the discharge, the stem strikes against the frame at a point where, to soften down the shock, a thick horse-hair cushion is placed. The machines called by the Romans tormentum were only varieties of the ballista, and served to project stones and other ponderous masses. According to Vitruvius, the cords employed in these machines were made sometimes of hair, at others of the bowels of animals, prepared like our catgut. All were not twisted by the same process, but sometimes by means of a windlass, at others by toothed wheels. The ultimate effects, however, were the same in all cases. Of the Catapulta. These, as we have before observed, were employed in throwing darts or arrows, which, it is said, were sometimes poisoned, and at others set on fire. A catapulta of the smaller kind consists merely of an immense bow of elastic wicker work, placed on a suitable carriage, and having its upper part drawn down by the force of several men applied to a strong rope. Several arrows are lodged upon a suitable frame, and at different elevations. The tightened cord being set at liberty by drawing out a pin, the bent surface, recovering itself by its natural elasticity, advances to its original vertical position, and thus drives before it all the arrows with considerable velocity. This kind of catapulta is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, as being employed at the siege of Cyprus. Catapultæ of the larger kind were much more powerful, and were used to shoot darts and arrows of great length and weight. It is not unaptly assimilated to a broken bow, although there is this difference, that, in the latter, the elastic force resides in the bow itself, whereas here, as in the ballista, the elastic force is in the twisted cords, between which the two arms are inserted, not vertically, as in the stem of the ballista, but horizontally. At the extremity of the two arms is attached a strong rope. The twisted cords receive their tension by means of wheel work, and are kept at the requisite twist by means of detents, as in the ballista. The arms are also strengthened by ligatures of waxed cord, as in the latter machine. The impulsive energy of these machines far exceeds the ideas we should form of them from their description. It is said that Montfaucon possessed a small model of a catapulta only five inches in length, which projected its dart to the distance of four hundred feet; and Folard, the learned editor of Polybius, had a model only a foot in each dimension, which propelled its dart with such force as to cause it to enter and remain in hard freestone at the distance of thirteen hundred feet. Cæsar also relates that, at the siege of Marseilles, the besieged propelled, from the top of their walls, beams of twelve feet long, armed at one end by pointed iron heads, which pierced four ranks of stout hurdles, and then stuck firmly into the earth.-Of the Scorpion. This is another of the propelling machines of the ancients, and is probably of anterior date to those we have been describing, being far inferior to them in its action, although still a very powerful engine. The propelling power was produced by the descent of the weight placed at the shorter arm of the machine, which raising the longer arm, the stone was delivered from the sling attached to it with a very considerable force; but, as we have stated above, by a very inferior one to that produced by the twisted cord in the ballista and catapulta. It is needless to add that the stone being discharged, the long arm was drawn down by manual strength, and the machine recharged by another stone. This is by some authors called a fundiballe.-The arcoballista is a smaller propelling apparatus, which might be worked by one man. It is little more than a fixed bow, with a simple mechanical contrivance for bringing back the line. The above are the principal machines which the ancients possessed for distant means of annoyance. It still remains for us to describe those employed on a near approach to an enemy's works for the demolition of the same, and the opposing engines of the besieged.-Machines of Approach and Demolition. Of the Battering Ram. The ancients employed two different machines of this kind, an account of which will be found under the head Battering Ram.-Movable Towers, Tortoises, &c. The movable towers employed by the ancients in their sieges, and which they called helepoles, were often of an astonishing magnitude. Vegetius de scribes them as being formed of strong planks. To preserve them from risk of fire thrown from the walls of the besieged place, they were covered with raw hides, or with pieces of woven horse-hair. Their height was proportional to the dimensions of their bases, which were sometimes thirty feet square, and their height forty or fifty feet. Sometimes their height was still greater, that they might be above the walls, and even above the stone towers of the city. They were supported upon several sinal wheels, by means of which they might be moved from place to place, notwithstanding their enormous size and weight. It was generally reckoned that the besieged place was in imminent danger whenever the besiegers had succeeded in placing one of these near the walls. The helepolis was supplied with ladders, by which to mount from stage to stage; and each stage presented its particular means of attack. In the lower one, there was commonly a ram; and the middle stage, or a higher one, was furnished with a bridge, made of mutually-intersecting levers, which could be easily projected out, and thereby form a communication between the tower and the wall. Sometimes baskets, fixed to projecting levers, carried men, who were let down upon the wall. On the upper stages were soldiers armed with halberts, and archers, who continually played upon the besieged. Vitruvius states that the weight of the helepolis brought against Rhodes by Demetrius weighed 260,000 pounds, and that to man and manoeuvre it, employed 3400 soldiers.-The tortoise was a kind of moving sheet, used to defend the assailants in their advance upon the place. These were also of great magnitude. One of those employed by Cæsar, at the siege of Marseilles, was sixty feet long, and served to cover the space between the helepolis and the city wall. In some instances, a long rank of these was placed end to end, and served as a complete protection to the soldiers. They were covered, as we have already said, with raw hides, or with moistened horsehair, to protect them from the fire of the besieged.-Miscellaneous Machines. Of Crows (corvi) and Cranes. As, in the application of the engines last described, it was necessary for the besiegers to approach close under the walls of the besieged city, it was natural that the latter should attempt a means of annoyance, or defence against their enemy, which might counteract their efforts. This prob ably gave rise to the machines we are about to describe, which were of different kinds, some being used in sieges, and others in engagements at sea. The description we have of these engines, and of the effects produced by them, is scarcely credible. Plutarch informs us that, when Marcellus had advanced his galleys close under the walls of Syracuse, Archimedes directed against them enormous machines, which, being projected forward, there were let down suddenly from them large beams, from which were suspended long vertical arms of rope, terminated with grappling hooks, which, laying hold of the vessels, and rapidly elevating them, by the operation of counter weights, upset and sunk them to the bottom of the sea; or, after raising them by their prows, and setting them as it were on their poops, plunged them endwise into the water. Others, it is said, he swung round towards the shore by the application of his cranes, and, after whirling them in the air, dashed them to pieces on the rocks beneath. Although it is impossible not to suspect some degree of exaggeration in these statements, yet we cannot, at the same time, doubt that very powerful means of this kind were employed in this celebrated siege, in which Archimedes, the prince of Grecian mathematicians, performed an important part, and where he at length fell beneath the sword of one of the soldiers of the conqueror.-The telleno was a machine employed for raising a few soldiers higher than the top of the enemy's wall, to ascertain what was going on within them, and sometimes for taking possession of them, and thus facilitating the escalade. In the former instance, it was formed by a great pile driven into the ground, which served as a fulcrum to a long lever, which was placed across it and balanced. At one of its extremities was a light wooden or wicker case, capable of holding a certain number of men, who, when the opposite end was drawn down by cords, were raised so as to be enabled to look over the walls, or to mount upon them. Others were mounted on carriages. Of modern Artillery. At what time gunpowder was first employed for the purposes of war, is very uncertain; but it is pretty evident that cannon were in use very early in the fourteenth century; but they were, of course, of the rudest and most uncultivated character. (See Gunpowder.) Their first denomination was bombarde, from Boußos, or bombo et ardore, on account of the great noise produced by the discharge. In the early use of these machines, they were employed like those they supplanted, and which we have described, in throwing enormous stones. They were therefore of immense calibre; and, as the means of boring iron masses of such magnitude were then wanted, they were necessarily formed of iron bars, fitted together lengthwise, and confined by strong hoops of iron. Sometimes the bars were soldered together; but, still, the hoops could not be dispensed with. There are some specimens of these early cannon preserved as curiosities in the repository and royal arsenal at Woolwich. All the ancient cannon are unnecessarily long and clumsy; and we may easily imagine that their carriages and appointments were equally heavy and unmanageable. We are informed, indeed, by Guicciardini, in the first book of his history, that so cumbrous and unmanageable were the cannon in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, that they could only be discharged at considerable intervals, namely, two or three times in a day; so that the besieged had sufficient time to repair, at their leisure, the damage which they had sustained; and it not unfrequently happened that the pieces burst, and thus did more injury to those who employed them than to those they were intended to annoy. In 1453, when Mahomet II battered the walls of Constantinople, he is said to have used bombards which projected masses of twelve hundred pounds weight; and even during the late wars, the Turks employed enormous stone mortars to protect the passage of The French had two four-pounders. constructed, we are not informed. Notwithstanding the improvements thus introduced in the formation of cannon, yet they were still, from a mistaken idea of the necessity of great length, exceedingly large and unwieldy. Louis XII had one cast at Tours which carried a ball of one hundred pounds. One of these extraordinary cannon was taken at the siege of Dien, in 1546, by don John de Castro, and was very lately preserved in the castle of St. Julian de Barra, near Lisbon. The length of it is twenty feet and seven inches; its diameter, in the middle, is six feet and three inches; and it threw a ball of one hundred pounds. There is a Hindoostan inscription upon it, which says it was made A. D. 1400. Although, during the sixteenth century, the size of cannon was considerably diminished, and a more tasteful form given to their exterior, still some few were made of what we now consider a prodigious magnitude, highly ornamented, and bearing a variety of mottoes, and dignified with names of various import. (See Cannon.)—Artillery for the Field. This was formerly divided into three classes, namely, battalion guns, artillery of the park, and horse artillery. The battalion guns included all the light pieces attached to regiments of the line, which they accompanied in all their manoeuvres, to cover and support them. In the English service, there were two sixpounders attached to each battalion. the Dardanelles. To trace, however, the various changes that have taken place in the construction, management, &c., of these arms, would far exceed the limits of this article. We must pass, therefore, from these early applications of cannon to the purposes of bombardment, to the time when they began to be employed in the open field, at which period they must have undergone considerable changes and improvements. The English appear to have been the first to employ cannon in the field; and, as early as 1346, at the celebrated battle of Cressy, five of them were placed on a small hill near that village, and which are said to have greatly contributed to the attainment of that victory. Cannon, however, were not cast in England till some time in the sixteenth century, namely, brass cannon about the year 1535, and those of iron in 1547. We read, indeed, of brass guns of a much earlier date; but whether they were formed of bars, or in what other way they were 40 VOL. XIII. The Danes 66 66 66 66 Per Battalion. two three-pounders. three six-pounders. S six pounders, two first line. Sthree-pounders, second line. two three-pounders. two 66 66 The Hanoverians This practice is, however, now discontinued in the British service; and, in lieu of battalion guns, the artillery is formed into brigades of foot, and troops of horse artillery, the former being attached to the infantry, and the latter to the cavalry. This change has taken place on the supposition that the condensed fire of these brigades and troops produces a much greater effect than could be expected from the divided action of battalion guns. The brigades of foot artillery have either five medium twelve-pounders, and a heavy five and a half inch howitzer; five ninepounders, and a heavy five and a half inch howitzer; five long six-pounders, with a heavy five and a half inch howitzer; five and, indeed, no rule can be made to apply H. (See Elec HADRIAN. (See Adrian.) HALIFAX, MARQUIS OF. (See Saville, HARDWICKE, LORD. (See Yorke, Philip.) HARVEST FLY. (See Locust.) light six-pounders, with a light five and a Mortars (8-in. to 13-in.), about one third. 6 twenty-four-pounders. 20 five and a half inch mortars. These numbers, it will be perceived, do not exactly agree with the above rule; HAUSER, Kaspar. On the twenty-sixth of May, 1828, a youth of about sixteen or seventeen years of age, who was unable to speak, and seemed almost incapable of walking or standing, was found in the streets of Nuremberg, by one of the citizens of that place. In his hand was a letter addressed to the captain of one of the cavalry companies there. He was entirely ignorant of the uses of different objects, had little or no command over his hands and feet, and, when spoken to, he understood nothing that was said to him, and only replied by a few words of unintelligible gibberish. As he appeared hungry and thirsty, food and drink were brought to him; but, on tasting a bit of meat that was offered to him, he rejected it with signs of disgust, which were repeated on his taking a few drops of beer into his mouth. On a pen being put into his hand, he wrote, in plain letters, Kaspar Hauser. The letter, which we have before mentioned, was dated "Bavarian Frontiers, place nameless:" its purport was, that the boy had been left with the writer, who was a poor laborer, in October, 1812, and who, not knowing his house, without allowing him to stir out had brought him up in his parents, of it. A note, accompanying this letter, contained these words: "His father was one of the light cavalry: send him, when he is seventeen years old, to Nuremberg, for his father was stationed there. He was born April 30, 1812. I am a poor girl, and cannot support him: his father is dead." The lad was about four feet nine inches in height, well formed, and |