TRAVERSING

motion; so that this platform, with the carriage and gun upon it, may be traversed with considerable ease in any direction. The length of the skids, or rail-way, on which the upper carriage recoils is sixteen feet, and the hinder part is somewhat higher than the front, so that by running up hill the recoil is reduced, and the facility of running the gun out again much increased. The late Sir William Congreve brought forward an improvement upon the traversing platform, by which the upper carriage is dispensed with; the necessary height for firing over the parapet being given by the lower carriage, or, as it is called, the platform itself. In this construction the gun recoils on trucks which work upon its trunnions, and which are allowed to turn as the gun runs out, but are palled by a strong catch concealed in the trunnion, which prevents their turning when the gun recoils; the elevation being regulated by a small cast iron cradle also attached to the trunnions. This construction not only very much reduces the expense of the traversing platform, by saving the upper carriage, but gives much greater ease in working the gun; for by palling the trucks the recoil is diminished, and by getting rid of the weight of the upper carriage the men have little more to move than the gun, instead of having in addition to it a heavy carriage also to run out. There is also a very important advantage attending this improvement, namely, the reduction of vulnerable space for the enemy's shot to strike; for not only is the length of the skids or platform itself reduced, but all the surface of the upper carriage is entirely done away with, at the same time that, by the diminution of the general weight, it is evident that it requires less labor to traverse the platform as well as to fight the gun. This system of mounting guns, by putting the trucks upon the trunnions, and placing those trucks immediately on the skids of the traversing platform, has been offered by Sir William Congreve as being particularly well adapted to the arming of the Martello Towers, which have been deemed too small for the number of guns originally intended, namely, one long gun and two short ones. The diameter of the interior of the top of these towers is twentysix feet it occurred to Sir William Congreve that his method of putting the trucks upon the trunnions of the gun brings the gun so near to the skids of the platform, that a platform so constructed might be laid upon the upper surface of the parapet of a martello tower, without exposing more or even so much surface as at present, where the platform is kept within the parapet; for the muzzle of the gun would be no higher in one case than in the other. On this principle, therefore, Sir William Congreve proposed to take four feet all round the tower for the ends of his platform to work upon, which would at once virtually make a tower of twenty-six feet in diameter equal to one of thirty-four feet; that is to say, it actually gives the area of a circle of thirty-four feet diameter for the guns to work in, instead of one of only twenty-six feet; and thus would afford abundant area for the three guns originally intended. But this is not all; for by this plan there is actually less of the space in the area within the parapet occupied by the three inprov

ed traversing platforms than by one on the old construction: the latter completely occupies a space of sixteen feet in length by five in breadth; whereas all the skids of Sir W. Congreve's three platforms, are above the men's heads, so that they may pass freely to and fro in all directions under them, having every where six feet six inches headway; nor is there any part of these platforms that takes up any of the space of the area, except two perpendicular legs of eight inches square to each platform, on which the rear of the platforms is supported. To these advantages are to be added the greater facility, as above explained, of working the gun, and also that the muzzle is by these means thrown forward beyond the parapet, which gives a power of greater depression, and prevents the possibility of accident to the parapet from the explosion of the gun when depressed.

There is another most important improvement in the practice of fortification, which Sir William's traversing platform has given rise to, and which was first matured with the assistance of captain Lefebure of the engineers, and brought before the committee of that corps upwards of two years since it is the inversion of the embrasures of casemated defences, that is to say, the presenting of the small aperture of the embrasure to the enemy instead of the large one. Thus, in an embrasure of this description, which Sir Wm. Congreve has constructed, he can fight a twentyfour pounder through an aperture only one foot six inches wide, and one foot ten inches high, preserving all the thickness of masonry entire, and allowing the piece a field or scope of 30° with the ordinary power of elevation and depression; to obtain all which on the common principle requires an exterior aperture of six feet high and six feet wide. Now the whole of this depends on the extraordinary compactness of the platform and its piece of ordnance, as mounted by putting trucks on the trunnions of the gun, or on the trunnion polt of the carronade, and to the greatly increased facility of working either, especially the latter, which the trucks afford; for by these means the gun or carronade, instead of being obliged, as in the common mode, to be worked in the body of the casemate, is here actually worked in the thickness of the wall itself; so that in the carronade, as well as in the gun, the muzzle is actually protruded through the embrasure and is fired in free space: whence result all the following important comparative advantages :

The common embrasure acts as a widely extended funnel to lead the enemy's shot into the body of the casemate, and is particularly objectionable on this account as to grape shot, and presents a large line of edge to be chipped and ruined by the enemy's shot. In the inverted embrasure the shot, whether round or grape, must strike a space of eighteen inches by two, and twenty inches to enter; a very small quantity of grape shot therefore can take effect, and a proportionably less line of edge is presented to be destroyed by round shot.

In the common embrasure the explosion of firing the gun takes place within the arch, from which not only is the masonry constantly shaken

by firing a few rounds, but the noise and smoke rebound into the body of the casemate greatly to the annoyance of the men. In the inverted embrasure, the muzzle when fired being projected into free space, no accident or jar can possibly happen to the masonry from the explosion: nor does the smoke or the report return into the casemate as above.

Another advantage is, that such an embrasure may be close to the bottom of the ditch without danger of being stormed, and that in fact it requires no prevention against such attack, as when the gun is in its place a man cannot possibly force himself in. Nor does there in fact appear any drawback to these obvious advantages; for the loading and firing goes on with the same rapidity or even greater than in the common mode; the gun or carronade necessarily recoiling, when fired, far enough to be loaded with perfect ease, and allowing, by the application of the trucks as already explained, of being run out again with even greater facility than by any other construction hitherto devised; insomuch that the heavier the nature of ordnance the greater is the comparative advantage.

Sir William Congreve has applied this same principle of gun and carronade carriage very successfully to naval purposes, several ships having already been armed on his plan. The following are the advantages proposed by it on ship board. 1st, Sir William Congreve has contrived, in the application of the principles of his traversing platform to the sea service, to give all the advantages of quick pointing, and of the diminution of labor in a space not exceeding that occupied by the common gun carriage, insomuch that the heavy guns in a line-of-battle ship will not require more than half the ordinary number of men to fight them, without taking up more room than is now required for the common carriage. 2dly, A gun mounted on this principle will recoil much more smoothly, and without jumping as the common gun carriage does when fired; not only because it is confined to the port sill and cannot rise, but because the plane on which it recoils is so much nearer the axis of the piece; for, as Sir William Congreve has demonstrated, the jumping of the common carriage is owing to the height of the gun above the plane of the deck on which it recoils; this height acting as a lever to tip the carriage over backwards when the gun is fired, and so producing a double motion in the recoil, first raising the fore trucks and then the hind ones off the deck; all which he proves to be obviated by putting the trucks on which the gun recoils on its own trunnions, and thereby getting rid of the lever which produces the mischief. 3dly, The actual weight of the sea service gun carriage is reduced by this mode of mounting ship guns. 4thly, The new carriage presents considerably less vulnerable surface than the common carriage, and consequently less is to be feared from splinters; nor has the new carriage the same liability to rot the decks, as the air circulates freely underneath it, instead of its causing a continual dampness as is the case with the present carriage; seamen will feel the force of this property. 5thly, By this construction the muzzle of a short gun may be run out as far as

that of the long gun can be with the common carriage. 6thly, This carriage allows of very greatly more training than a common carriage, owing to the comparative difference of breadth and to its working on a fixed centre; thus it may be traversed 90°. This is a most important point gained; and yet, 7thly, it does not require, to give this power of training, a port so wide as the common port by nine inches of a side, which is obviously of great consequence both to the strength of the ship and the security of the men at the guns against musquetry and grape shot. 8thly, The span of this carriage is so much less than that of the common carriage that four of them, if required, might be put in the space of three common carriages, leaving the same intervals, yet it cannot be overset as it works on a fixed centre. 9thly, This carriage may be housed fore and aft so as not to take up more than two feet from the breadth of the deck, or in bad weather it may be secured athwart ship without occupying more room than the common carriage. It is however capable of better security, and may be housed so as to take off all strain whatever from the side of the ship, and to prevent the possibility of its stirring, as it allows of direct lashings to ring bolts on the deck, which the common carriage will not any how admit of, and must therefore always have some motion in a gale of wind. Lastly, Notwithstanding all these points, which would appear to be the result of a complicated machine, the construction of this carriage is so simple that it is actually easier repaired at sea than a common carriage, and is even less perishable: in fine, it requires nothing but common square scantling and the work of any ship carpenter. Sir William Congreve has published an account of this important improvement in mounting heavy artillery, with a series of plates explanatory of the different modes of construction and advantages, and we understand that he has a pa

tent for the invention.

TRAVESTRY, in literature, a name given to a humorous translation of any author.

TRAVIS (George), M. A. a learned English divine, born at Royton, in Lancashire; educated at Manchester, and St. John's College, Cambridge. He became vicar of Eastham, rector of Hanley in Cheshire, and archdeacon of Chester. He wrote Letters to Mr. Gibbon, in which he defended the authenticity of the controverted passage in 1 John v. 7. He died in 1797.

TRAUMATIC, adj. Gr. τραυματικός. nerary; useful to wounds.

Vul

I deterged and disposed the ulcer to incarn, and to do so I put the patient into a traumatick decoction. Wiseman's Surgery.

TRAUNVIERTEL (i. e. quarter of the Traun), a district of Upper Austria, along the Traun, and extending from the Danube to the borders of Styria. It has a territorial extent of 1955 square miles, with 170,000 inhabitants. The northern part is level and fertile, but the south full of lofty mountains. This part of the Traun abounds with salt and other mines. In 1809 the western part of this district was ceded to Bavaria, but was restored to Austria iz. 1815.

TRAY, n. s. Swedish tray. A shallow wooden vessel in which meat or fish is carried.

No more her care shall fill the hollow truy, To fat the guzzling hogs with floods of whey. Gay. TRAZ oz MONTES, a large province of the north-east of Portugal, extending in a form nearly square, having to the south the course of the Douro, to the north Spanish Galicia. Its territorial extent is about 5500 square miles, equal to four of our average counties; its population, much more thinly spread, hardly exceeds 350,000.

TREACH'EROUS, adj. French tricherie. TREACH'EROUSLY, adv. Faithless; perfidiTREACH'ERY, N. S. ous; guilty of deTREA'CHETOR, n. s. serting or betrayTREA'CHOUR. ing: the adverb and noun substantive corresponding: treachetor or treachour, is an obsolete synonyme of traitor. He bad the lion to be remitted

Unto his seat, and those same treacherous vile
Be punished for their presumptuous guile. Spenser.
Good Claudius with him in battle fought,
In which the king was by a treachetour
Disguised slain.

Thou hast slain

The flower of Europe for his chivalry,
And treacherously hast thou vanquished him.

Id.

TREA'CLE, n.. s. Fr. triacle; Belg. triuckle. A medicine made up of many ingredients: a syrup.

The physician that has observed the medicinal virtues of treacle, without knowing the nature of each of the sixty odd ingredients, may cure many patients with it. Boyle. Treacle water has much of an acid in it. Floyer. TREAD, v. n., v. a., & Pret. trod; part. TREADER, n. s. [n. s. pass. trodden. Saxon TREAD'LE. S nedan; Belg. treden; Gothic trudan. To set the foot; trample; walk in form or state; copulate, as birds: as a verb active, to walk on, press, or beat underfoot; crush; put in action by the foot: a tread is a footing; step with the foot; way: treader, he who treads: treadle, part of a machine on which the feet act; the sperm of a cock. Thou shalt tread upon their high places. Deut. xxxiii. 29.

Would I had never trod this English earth, Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it! Full of briars is this working world.

Id.

The dancer on the rope, with doubtful tread, Gets wherewithal to clothe and buy him bread. Dryden.

They bill, they tread; Alcyone, compressed, Seven days sits brooding on her floating nest.

Id.

The farther the fore-end of the treadle reaches out

beyond the fore-side of the lathe, the greater will the sweep of the fore-end of the treadle be, and consequently the more revolutions are made at one tread.

Moxon's Mechanical Exercises.

He died obedient to severest law; Forbid to tread the promised land he saw. Prior. At each end of the egg is a treadle, formerly thought to be the cock's sperm. Derham. Where'er you tread, the blushing flowers shall rise. Pope. Tread the stuff out on the floor to prevent stinking. Swift. French trahison. An of

TREA'SON, n. s.

TREA'SONABLE, adj. TREA'SONOUSs.

fence committed against the dignity and majesty

of a commonwealth: see below: the adjective corresponding.

Athaliah cried, Treason, treason.

2 Kings, xi. 14. He made the overture of thy treasons to us.

Shakspeare.

Him by proofs as clear as founts in July I know to be corrupt and treasonous.

Id. Henry VIII. This being a treason against God, by a commerce with his enemy.

Holyday.

Most men's heads had been intoxicated with imaginations of plots and treasonable practices.

by the law, to denote not only offences against TREASON, a general appellation, made use of the king and government, but also that accumulation of guilt which arises whenever a superior reposes a confidence in a subject or inferior, between whom and himself there subsists a natural, a civil, or even a spiritual relation; and the inferior so abuses that confidence, so forgets the obligations of duty, subjection, and allegiance, as to destroy the life of any such superior or lord. Hence treason is of two kinds, high and petty.

TREASON HIGH, or TREASON PARAMOUNT (which is equivalent to the crimen læsæ majestatis of the Romans), is an offence committed against the security of the king or kingdom, whether by imagination, word, or deed. The stat. 25 Edw. III. c. 2, defines what offences

paths, our very petticoats will catch them.

Id. As you like it.

hends all kinds of high treason under seven branches. 1. When a man doth compass or

imagine the death of our lord the king, of our lady his queen, or of their eldest son and heir,' the stat. requires that the accused be thereof upon sufficient proof attainted of some open act by men of his own condition. Thus, to provide weapons or ammunition for the purpose of killing the king, is held to be a palpable overt act of treason in imagining his death. To conspire to imprison the king by force, and move towards it by assembling company, is an overt act of compassing the king's death. It seems clearly to be agreed that by the common law and the stat. of Edw. III. words spoken amount only to a high misdemeanor, and no treason. If the words be set down in writing, it argues more deliberate intention; and it has been held that writing is an overt act of treason. But, even in this case, the bare words are not the treason, but the deliberate act of writing them. 2. If a man do violate the king's companion, or the king's eldest daughter unmarried, or the wife of the king's eldest son and heir.' By the king's companion is meant his wife; and by violation is understood carnal knowledge, as well without force as with it. 3. The third species of treason is, if a man do levy war against our lord the king in his realm.' And this may be done by taking arms, not only to dethrone the king, but under pretence to reform religion, or the laws, or to remove evil counsellors, or other grievances whether real or pretended. 4. If a man be adherent to the king's enemies in his realm, giving to them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere.' he is also declared guilty of high treason. 5. 'If a man counterfeit the king's great or privy seal,' this is also high treason. But if a man takes wax bearing the impression of the great seal off from one patent and fixes it to another, this is held to be only an abuse of the seal, and not a counterfeiting of it. 6. If a man counterfeit the king's money; and if a man bring false money into the realm counterfeit to the money of England, knowing the money to be false, to merchandise and make payment withal.' But gold and silver money only are held to be within this statute. It is held that uttering counterfeit money without importing it, is not within the statute. 7. If a man slay the chancellor, treasurer, or the king's justices of the one bench or the other, justices in eyre, or justices of assize, and all other justices assigned to hear and determine, being in their places doing their office.' But this statute extends only to the actual killing of them; and not to wounding or a bare attempt to kill them. The barons of the exchequer, as such, are not within the protection of this act; but the lord keeper or commissioners of the great seal now seem to be within it, by virtue of the stats. 5 Eliz. c. 18, and 1 W. and M. c. 21. The new treasons, created since the stat. 1 M. c. 1, and not comprehended under the description of stat. 25 Edw. III., may be comprised under three heads. The first species relates to Papists; the second to falsifying the coin or other royal signatures, as falsely forging the sign manual, privy signet, or privy seal, which shall be deemed high treason.-1 M. stat. ii. c. 6. The third new species of high treason is such as was created for the security of the Protestant

6

succession in the house of Hanover. For this purpose, after the act of settlement was made, it was enacted by stat. 13 and 14 W. III. c. 3, that the pretended prince of Wales, assuming the title of king James III., should be attainted of high treason; and it was made high treason for any of the king's subjects to hold correspondence with him or any person employed by him, or to remit money for his use. And, by 17 Geo. II. c. 39, it is enacted, that if any of the sons of the pretender shall land or attempt tc land in this kingdom, or be found in the kingdom or any of its dominions, he shall be adjudged atta nted of high treason; and corresponding with them, or remitting money to their use, is made high treason. By 1 Ann. stat. 2, c. 17, the offence of hindering the next in succession from succeeding to the crown, is high treason; and, by 6 Ann. c. 7, if any person shali maliciously, advisedly, and directly, by writing or printing, maintain that any other person hath any right to the crown of this realm, otherwise than according to the act of settlement, or that the kings of this realm with the authority of parliament are not able to make laws to bind the crown and its descent; such person shall be guilty of high treason. The punishment of high treason in general is very solemn and terrible. 1. That the offender be drawn to the gallows, and not be carried or walk; though usually (by connivance, at length ripened by humanity into law) a sledge or hurdle is allowed, to preserve the offender from the torment of being dragged on the ground or pavement. 2. That he be hanged by the neck, and then cut down alive. 3. That his entrails be taken out, and burned while he is yet alive. 4. That his head be cut off. 5. That his body be divided into four parts. 6. That his head and quarters be at the king's disposal. The king may, and often doth, discharge all the punishment except beheading, especially where any of noble blood are attainted. But where beheading is no part of the judgment, as in murder or other felonies, it hath been said that the king cannot change the judgment. In the case of coining, the punishment is milder for male offenders; being only to be drawn and hanged by the neck till dead. But, in treasons of every kind, the punishment of women is the same, being different, and perhaps more terrible than that of men. Their sentence, until of late years, was to be drawn to the gallows, and there to be burned alive. This barbarous punishment, to the disgrace of the law of England, was actually inflicted upon a poor woman, at London, so late as the year 1786. The woman fainted when led to the place of suffering. This circumstance excited the humanity of Martin, esq. M. P. to bring in a bill for its abolition, which passed both houses during the winter sessions in 1788, See ATTAINDer, Forfeiture, and CORRUPTION of BLOOD.

TREASON, PETTY, or PETIT, according to the stat. 25 Edw. III. c. 2, may happen three ways: by a servant killing his master, a wife her husband, or an ecclesiastical person (either secular or regular) his superior, to whom he owes faith and obedience. Whatever has been said with respect to wilful murder is also applicable to the

crime of petit treason, which is no other than murder in its most odious degree; except that the trial shall be as in cases of high treason, before the improvements therein made by the statutes of William III. But a person indicted of petit treason may be acquitted thereof, and found guilty of manslaughter or murder. The punishment of petit treason in a man is to be drawn and hanged, and, in a woman, to be drawn and burned: the idea of which latter punishment seems to have been handed down to us from the laws of the ancient Druids, which condemned a woman Perto be burned for murdering her husband. sons guilty of petit treason were first debarred the benefit of clergy by stat. 12 Henry VII. c. 7, which has since been extended to their aiders, abettors, and counsellors, by stat. 23 Henry VIII. c. 1, and 5, and 5 P. and M. c. 4. TREA'SURE, n. s. & v. a. TREASUREHOUSE, n. s. TREASURER,

TREA'SURERSHIP, TREA'SURY.

French tresor; Latin thesaurus. Wealth hoarded; riches in store: treasurehouse,

the place of this deposit : treasurer, a depositary of treasure: treasureship, his office or dignity: treasury, a place devoted to the storing or regulating treasures: used for the treasure itself by Shakspeare.

Let there be any grief or disease incident to the soul of men, for which there is not in this treasurehouse a present comfortable remedy to be found.

An inventory, importing

Hooker.

The several parcels of his plate, his treasure,
Rich stuffs.
Shakspeare. Henry VIII.
Thou silver treasurehouse,
Tell me once more, what title dost thou bear?

This is my treasurer, let him speak

That I have reserved nothing.

Shakspeare.

Hakewill.

The state of the treasury the king best knows.

Locke.

power, with the comptroller and other officers of the green-cloth and the steward of the marshalsea, to hear and determine treasons, felonies, and other crimes committed within the king's palace. See HOUSEHOLD. There is also a treasurer belonging to the establishment of her majesty's household, &c.

TREASURE-TROVE, in law, derived from the French word trover, to find, called in Latin thesaurus inventus, is where any money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion, is found hidden in the earth or other private place, the owner thereof being unknown; in which case the treasure belongs to the king: but if he that hid it be known, or afterwards found out, the owner, and not the king, is entitled to it.

The TREASURY is the place in which the revenues of a prince are received, preserved, and disbursed. In England the treasury is a part of the exchequer; by some called the lower exchequer. The officers of his majesty's treasury, or the lower exchequer, are the lords commissioners, one of whom is chancellor, two joint secretaries, private secretary to the first lord, two chamberlains, an auditor, four tellers, a clerk of the pells, ushers of the receipt, a tally-cutter, &c. See CHANCELLOR, TELLER, &c. TREAT, v. a., v. n. & n. s. TREAT ABLE, adj. TREATISE, n. s. TREATMENT,

TREAT'Y.

Fr. traiter; Lat. tracto. To negociate; settle; dis

course on; manage; entertain:

the verb neuter and noun substantive correspond: treatable is, moderate; manageable: treatise, a discourse; tract: treatment, usage: treaty, negociation; act of treating; supplication; petition; compact made.

The king treated with them.

2 Mac. xiii. 22.

A virtuous mind should rather wish to depart this world with a kind of treatable dissolution, than be suddenly cut off in a moment; rather to be taken than snatched away.

The time has been, my fell of hair Would at a dismal treatise rouze, and stir As life were in 't.

I must

Hooker.

Shakspeare.

To the young man send humble treaties, dog, And palter in the shift of lowness.

Id.

Scarce an humour or character which they have not used; all comes wasted to us: and, were they to entertain this age, they could not now make such Id. plenteous treatment.

Absence, what the poets call death in love, has given occasion to beautiful complaints in those authors who have treated of this passion in verse. Addison's Spectator.

Echion then

Lets fall the guiltless weapon from his hand,
And with the rest a peaceful treaty makes. Id. Ovid.
Prior.
If we do not please, at least we treat.

He pretends a great concern for his country, and insight into matters; now such professions, when recommended by a treat, dispose an audience to hear

reason.

Collier.