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Brydone, Patrick; Beckford, William
A Tour Through Sicily And Malta: in a series of letters to William Beckford ; in 2 vol. (Band 1) — 1775

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6094#0331
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5o8 A TOUR THROUGH
for a beau. I am very apprehensive the
French will get the start of us in this signal
invention; as I have been allured long ago,
that few of their men ever go to the field,
without first providing themselves with one
of these little warlike engines, the true use
of which, happily for us, they are as yet
unacquainted with. You will easily per-
ceive, that if this experiment succeeds, it
mull alter the whole system of fortification
as well as of attack and defence; for every
part of the city that is exposed to the view
of the besiegers, may be ealily set in a
ssame; and the besieged would have the
same advantage over the camp of the be-
sieging army*.

* Since the writing of these letters, the author has
been informed, that Mr. Buffon actually made this
experiment.— He constructed a kind of frame, in
which were fixed four hundred small mirrours, disposed
in such a manner, that the rays resseded from each of
them fell exactly on the same point. By means of this
he melted lead at the distanceof 120 feet, and set fire
to a havstack at a much greater difiance.
We
 
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