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soldiers by birth The strength of their armies consist in their numerous cavalry, which is more capable of resisting fatigue than any in India; large bodies of them having been known to march fifty miles in a day. They avoid general engagements, and seem to have no other idea in making war, but that of doing as much mischief as possible to the enemy's country.

MOREAU, Fr. A species of bag which the drivers of mules use to carry their hay It is likewise the name of a celebrated French general, who by his able retreat out of Germany, durin, the most disastrous period of the French revolution, acquired a reputation, as a general, superior to Xenophon.

MORGLAY, a deadly weapon. MORTIER, Fr. See MORTAR. MORION, Fr. Donner sur le morion. This was a species of punishment which was formerly inflicted upon French soldiers for crimes that were not capital. They were shut up in a guard-house, and received a certain number of strokes with a halbert. The gantelope was substituted in its stead; but neither one or the other are practised in the present French

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MORT d'Eau, Fr. Low water.

MORTARS, are a kind of short cannon, of a large bore, with chambers: they are made of stone, brass, or iron.Their use is to throw hollow shells, filled with powder; which, falling on any building, or into the works of a a fortification, burst, and their fragments destroy every thing within reach. Carcasses are also thrown out of them. These are a sort of shells, with 5 holes, filled with) pitch and other combustibles, in order to set buildings on fire; and sometimes baskets full of stones, the size of a man's fist, are thrown out of them upon an enemy, placed in the covert-way during a siege. The very ingenious general Desaguliers contrived to throw bags, filled with grape-shot, containing in each bag, from 400 to 600 shot of different dimensions, out of mortars; the effect of which is extremely awful and tremendous to troops forming the line of battle, passing a defile, or landing, &c. pouring down shot, not unlike a shower of hail, on a circumference of above 300 feet. They are distinguished chiefly by the diameter of the bore For example, a 13-inch mortar is that, the diameter of whose hore is 13 inches. Ther are some of 10 and 8-inch diameters; and some of a smaller sort, as cohorns of 4.6 inches, and royals of 5.8 inches.

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See the word Chambers, for experi ments on the best form.

Ranges with French Mortars, at 45 Degrees, in French Weights and Measures.

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Medium Ranges with Brass Mortars, at 45 || Medium Ranges with the above Mortars, at Degrees. 1780.

15 Degrees.

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All English mortars are erroneously fixto an angle of 45 degrees, and custom has prevailed to lash them strongly with ropes to that elevation. In a siege, shells should never be thrown with an angle of 45 degrees, excepting in one case only; that is, when the battery is so far off that

Ranges with a 5 1-2 Inch Brass Mortar, at they cannot otherwise reach the works:

15 Degrees.

for when shells are thrown out of the trenches into the works of a fortification, or from the town into the trenches, they

Charge. Flight. First Graze. Rolled to should have as little elevation as possible,

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in order to roll along and not bury themselves; whereby the injury they do, and the terror they cause to the troops, is much greater than if they sink in o the ground. On the contrary, when shells are thrown upon magazines, or any other buildings, with an intention to destroy them, the mortars should be elevated as high as possible, that the shells may acquire a greater force in their fall, and consequently do more execution. The British are the only nation that fix mortars to an eleva tion of 45 degrees, the proper range is from 32 1-2 to 35 degrees.

The use of mortars is thought to be older than that of cannon; for they were employed in the wars of Italy to throw balls of red-hot iron, and stones, long before the invention of shells. It is generally believed, that the Germans were the first inventors, and that they were actually used at the siege of Naples, in the reign, of Charles the VIII, in 1435.. History informs us, with more certainty, that shells were thrown out of mortars at the siege of Wachtendonk, in Guelderland, in 1588, by the earl of Mansfield. Shells were first invented by a citizen of Venlo, who, on a festival, celebrated in honor of the duke of Cleves, threw a certain number, one of which fell on a house, an set fire to it; by which misfortune the greatest part of the city was reduced to ashes. Mr. Malter, an En, lish engineer, first taught the French the art of throwing shells, which they practised at the siege of Motte, in 1634 The method of throw. ing red-hot balls out of mortars, was first

put in practice, with certainty, at the siege of Stralsund, in 1675, by the elec. tor of Brandenburg; thou, h some say in 1653, at he siege of Bremen.

Land-MORTARS, are those used in sieges, and of late in battles, mounted on beds; and both mortar and bed are transported on block-carriages. There is also a kind of land-mortars, mounted on travelling carriages, invented by count Buckeburg, which may be elevated to any degree; whereas the British as we have already stated, are fixed to an angle of 45 degrees, and are firmly lashed with ropes

Partridge MORTAR, is a common mor. tar, surrounded by 13 other little mortars, bored round its circumference in the body of its metal. The centre one is loaded with a shell, ard the others with grenades. The vent of the large mortar being fired, communicates its fire to the small ones; so that both shell and grerades go off at once. The French used them in the war of 1701, and more especially at the siege of Lisle, in 1708, and at the defence of Bouchain in 1702.

Hand-MORTARS, were frequently used before the invention of cohorns. They were fixed at the end of a staff of 4 1-2 feet long, the other end being shod with iron to stick in the ground: while the bombardier, with one hand, elevated it at pleasure, he with the other hand fired.

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Firelock-MORTARS, Bombards, small mortars, fixed at the end of a frelock they are loaded as all common firelocks are; and the grenade, placed in the mortar at the end of the barrel, is discharged by a flint-lock; and, to prevent the recoil hurting the bombardier, the bombard rests on a kind of halberd, made for that purpose. They were first invented by major-general Siebach, a German, about the year 1710.

Names of the several parts of a Mox

TAR.

Grand divisions exterior, viz.-The whole length of the mortar, muzzle, chace, reinforce, breech, trunnions.

best; the French say the frustrum of a

cone.

Sea-MORTARS, are those which are fixed in the bomb-vessels, for bombard. ing places by sea: they are made somewhat longer, and much heavier than the land-mortars.

Land-MORTAR-BEDS, are made of very solid timber, and placed upon very strong timber frames, fixed in the bomb ketch; to which a pintle is attached in such a manner, that the bed may tum round. The fore part of these beds is an arc of a circle, described from the same centre as the pintle-hole. Land-mortarbeds are now made of cast iron.

Stone-MORTARS, serve to throw stones into the enemy's works, when near at hand; such as from the town into the trenches in the covert-way, or upon the glacis; and from these trenches into the town. The bore is terminated by two quadrants of a circle, terminated by the reinforce and lines drawn from the ends of the cylinder, made to loge the tompions parallel to the axis of the mortar. The bottom of the conic chamber is terminated by an arc of 60 degrees, and the round part of the outside is a semi-cir cle.

Chambers in MORTARS, are of differ. ent sorts and dimensions. Mr Belidor mentions four; namely, the cylindric, the spheric, the conic, and the concave or bottled; to which a fifth may be added, the parabolic, invented by count de Lippe Buckeburg.

Cylindric chambers. Experience demonstrates, that concave chambers will throw the shell farthest of any with the same charge, yet, in this case, where but little powder is required, in the entrance would become too narrow, and consequently inconvenient to clean; whereas, when they are cylindric, the difference between the advantages of the one and the other will be but little, and not attended with any inconveniences.

Conic chambers, are generally made in a circular form at the bottom, so that the sides produced, meet the extremities of the diameter at the mouth.

Small divisions exterior. The vent, dolphins, vent astragal and fillets, breech ring and ogee, reinforce ring and ogee, reinforce astragal and fillets, muzzle as- Spheric chambers, are much inferior to the tragal and fillets, muzzle ring and ogee,cyli dic or concave; for it is well known muzzle moulding, shoulders.

Interior parts. Chamber, bore, mouth,

vent.

Chamber in MORTARS, is the place where the powder is lodged. There are different sorts, and made variously by different nations. The Spaniards use chiefly the spheric; the French, Germans, and Dutch, the conic, cylindric, and the concave or bottled; the Portuguese at present, the parabolic; and the English make them in the form of a frustrum of a cone.

Each nation has its reasons, good or bad, to prefer their make before that of others: among which the English say the concave and cylindric chambers are the

by the properties of geometry, that when a cylinder and a frustrum of a cone occupy equal spaces, the surface of the cone is always greater than that of the cylinder. Hence, if the entrance of these chambers be not made very narrow, contrary to practice, as demonstrated by Mr Muller, in his second edition of Artillery, page 38, of the introduction, and the examples that follow, we conclude that these and the conic chambers are the worst.

Concave chambers. The advantage of these kinds of chambers consist in this, that their entrance may be made narrower than that of any other form; and practice has sufficiently proved it. when the entrance is so small as not to

Yet,

admit a man's hand, they are not easily cleaned for which reason it is supposed that all 13 and 10-inch mortars should have concave chambers, and the others cylindric ones.

Parabolic chambers. These chambers, being the widest of any, may therefore be included among the worst; as it is not the inward figure of the chamber, but its entrance, which produces the effect; because the smaller it is, the nearer it reduces the effect into the direction of the shell. It has however one advantage, namely that the shells will have no windage.

MORTAR, in military architecture, a composition of lime, sand, &c. mixed up with water, that serves as a cement to bind the stones, &c. of any building. Mine sand makes weak mortar, and the rounder the sand, the stronger the mor tar; and if the sand is washed before it is mixed, so much the better.

The proportion of lime and sand for making mortar is extremely variable. Some use three parts of pit-sand, and two of river-sand, to one of lime; others, a proportion of sand to quick-lime as 36 to 35. It should be well mixed, and beat every 24 hours for a week together, letting it then lie for a week more; and when it is used, must be beat and mixed again. By this means it will make good mo tar, though the lime is but indiffer

ent.

MORTAR for water-courses, cisterns, &c. is made of lime and hog's lard; sometimes mixed with the juice of figs, and sometimes with liquid pitch, which is first slaked with wine; and, after application, it is washed over with linseed oil.

MORTAR furnaces, &c, is made with red clay wrought in water wherein horse dung and chimney-soot have been steeped; by which a salt is communicated to the water, that binds the clay, and makes it fit to endure the fire. The clay must not be too fat, lest it should be subject to chinks: nor too lean or sandy, lest it should not bind enough.

roofs of houses, as well as the floors of their chambers, and the walls are covered with this composition, which, skilfully executed, bears a polish and smoothness like marble.

MORTES-Payes, Fr. Soldiers that were paid for the constant duty of a town or fortified place, both in the time of peace and war. Infantry regiments, which were occasionally stationed in citadels and garrisoned towns, took the right of the mortes-payes, and had the precedence in chusin odgings.

MORTISE, a hole cut in wood, so that another piece may be fitted into it. MORTS, Fr The dead on a field of

battle are so called.

MOT, Fr. Parole, watchword.This word bears the same import in French that it does in English. Sce

PAROLE.

Donner le MOT,

Fr. To give the parole,

or watch-word
Aller prendre le MOT, Fr. To go for
the parole or watch-word.

On l'envoya porter le MOT, Fr. he was sent with the parole or watch-word.

In the French service parole and countersign are frequently comprehended under the word mot, viz. Le mat qu'on avoit donné le jour du combat, étoit Saint Louis et Paris; which according to the English method of giving out orders would have stood thus :-Parole St. Louis, countersign Paris.

Mor de ralliement, Fr. Rallying word. MOTHIR al moolk. In Indian fortification, barricadoes, intrenchments, or breast works, are so called.

MOTION, is defined to be the continued and successive change of place.-There are three general laws of motion: I That a body always perseveres in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, till by some external force it be made to change its place: for as a body is passive in receiving its motion, and the direction of its motion, so it retains them without any change, till it be acted on by something external. 2. The second ge MORTAR, made of terras, puzolana, neral 1w of motion is, that the change of tile-dust, or cinders, is mixed and pre- motion is proportional to the force impared in the same manner as common mor- pressed, and is produced in the right line tar; only these ingredients are mixed in which that force acts. 3. The third with lime instead of sand in a due pro- general law of motion is, that action and portion, which is to be in equal quanti-re-action are equal, with opposite directies. As this mortar is to be used in tions, and are to be estimated always in the aquatic buildings, the lime should be the same right line. very best.

MOTION. A word bearing the same In fortifications, docks, or piers of har- signification as tems does in the French. bors, lay all the works under water with It is peculiarly applicable to the manual terras-mortar, and the rest of the facings, and platoon exercise; as, draw ramrod, both within and without, with cinder or which is done in two motions: -Tirez la tile-dust mortar, for about two feet deep. baguette en deux tems. Motion, in a miliThe East India MORTAR for building and tary sense, is distinguished from moveplaistering, is made with shell lime, brickment, inasmuch as the former applies dust pulverized, (called soorkee) washed sand, and the raw juice of the sugar cane, (called jaggeree.) The proportions of different kinds of work are different; but well made and mixed, surpasses all others; the

specifically to something done by an individual, with an instrument of war, as handling the firelock; whereas the latter is generally understood to mean the different changes, &c. which are made in evo

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