FORTE

(Ital.) In Music, a direction to the performer to execute the part loudly to which the word is affixed. It is indicated by the smgle letter F. If two F F's, thus, are used, the part is to be played or performed forti imo, very loud. FORTIFICATION, also called Military Architecture, is the art of constructing such works of defence as may enable a comparatively small number of men to maintain po e ion.of a city or place against the a aults of a superior force. The nature of constructions nece ary for defence will be determined by the means of aggre ion. In early ages, when the sling and the bow formed the principal weapons of offence, men considered themselves sufficiently defended by a single wall or a bank of earth, from behind which they could discharge their mi iles against their a ailants. In progre of time projecting towers were added, which served the double purpose of increasing the front of the besieged, and of enabling them to attack in flank the besiegers when approaching to scale the wall. The invention of the battering ram rendered no other change nece ary than that of increasing the thickne and strength of the wall. To aid the means of defence, projecting galleries were constructed at the summit of the wall and round the towers, through the pierced floors of which stones and other mi iles were showered dowm on the heads of the a ailants. These galleries were called machi coulis or ma e coulis, from the French couler des ma es; because they served the purpose of enabling the besieged to let fall heavy ma es, to which cords were attached, in order that they might be drawn up again and let fall anew when the enemy returned to sap. Apertures or loop-holes for the discharge of arrows and javelins were made in the battlements, or Hh 2 [s. 480]