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different purposes; the first to driveaway the enemy.from their defences;and the second to dismount their guns.To produce these two effects, the batte-ries should not be above the mean reachof cannon-shot from the place : there-fore there is no possibility of construct-ing them, till the first parallel is formed;as that work is usually traced at 800toises from the place: therefore the bat-teries must be on this line, or betweenit and the town.

The completion of the batteries is insome services left to the officers of theroyal artillery, after the engineers havethrown up the mass of cover: but inthe British service the engineers finishevery part of them. They must beparallel to the works of the town whichthey are to batter. It is customary toplace the mortar-batteries and guu-bat-teries side by side, and in the same line,to the end that they may batter thesame parts. The use of both is to de-molish the enemy’s works, to dismounttheir guns, to penetrate into their pow-der magazines, and to drive the besiegedfrom their works and defences; as alsoto ruin and destroy the principal build—ings, by setting fire to the town ; andto fatigue and distress the inhabitantsin such a manner, that they shall pressthe garrison to surrender.

To sally at a siege is to go privatelyout of a besieged town, fall suddenlyupon the besiegers, and destroy part oftheir works, spike their cannon, and doevery other possible damage.

A sally, a secret movement which ismade out of a besieged town or place,by a chosen body of troops, for thepurpose of destroying an enemy’s out-works, &c. Sallies are seldom madewhen the garrison is weak; for althoughthey molest the enemy, and keep himon the alert, yet the chance of losingmen renders it prudent to keep withinthe works.

Saps. To sap , at a siege , is the me-thod of carrying on the approacheswhen so near the place as to be unableto work without cover. It is performedby men on their knees behind a mantletor stuffed gabion: they make the sap3 feet deep, and 3 feet 6 inches wide;then, common workmen widen it to theusual size, and it bears the name oftrench. 'There are various sorts of saps,viz.

Single sap , that which is made on

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one side only, or, which is the samething, has only one parapet.

Double sap has a parapet on eachside, and is carried on wherever its twosides are seen from the place.

Flying sap is that in which the work-ing parties of the besiegers place theirgabions themselves, and instantly fillthem with earth, and continue to workunder their cover: it is made where theworkmen are not much exposed, and inorder to accelerate the approaches.

Sap-faggots are a kind of fascines,only three feet long, and about six inchesin diameter.

Saucissons are another species of fas-cines, from 12 to 19 feet long, and from8 to JO inches in diameter, and are usedin making batteries, and repairing thebreaches.

Sortie. See Sallv.

Tail, or rear of the trench , (Queuede la tranchee, Fr.) is the first work thebesiegers make when they open thetrenches.

. Tambour , a kind of traverse, at theupper end of the trench, or openingmade in the glacis to communicate witiithe arrows. This work hinders the be-siegers from being masters of the arrow,or discovering the inside of the place ofarms belonging to the covert-way.

Traverse in a siege , a kind of re-trenchment which is made in the dryditch, to defend the passage over it.

Trenches are passages or turnings.dug inthe earth, in order to approach a placewithout being seen from its defences.

Wool-packs used in a siege differ fromsand-bags, in this only, that they aremuch larger, and, instead of earth, theyare filled with wool. They are used inmaking lodgments in places where thereis but little earth, and for other similarpurposes. They are about five feet high,and 15 inches in diameter.

Rear of an attack is the place where,the attack begins.

Front , or head of an attack , that partnext to the place.

Mantlets, are wooden fences, rollingupon wheels, of two feet diameter; thebody of the axle-tree is about four orfive inches square, and four or five feetlong; to which is fixed a pole of eightor ten feet long, by two spars; uponthe axle-tree is fixed a wooden parapet,three feet high, made of 3-inch planks,and four feet long, joined with dowel-pins, and two cross-bars ; this parapet