ACCESSARY

(Lat. accedo,/a/)/)j-oflcA.) In Law, an acce ary to an offence is one who is not the chief actor, or present at its performance, but is concerned therein, either before or after the fact. An acce ary before the fact, is one " who, being absent at the time of the crime committed, doth yet procure, counsel, or command another to commit a crime." An acce ary after the fact, is one who, knowing that a felony has been committed by another, receives, relieves, comforts, or a ists the felon. (iSeeLAW,CRiMiNAL.) Acce ary, or Acce ory. (Fr. acce oire). In Painting, and the fine arts, is a term which extends to •every thing introduced into a work that is not absolutely nece ary. In an historical picture, for instance, the figures which are in action are the principal objects; by them the story is told, all the rest are acce ories. Especial care is to be taken, that they be so selected and disposed, as not to interfere with the principal group; hence the ancient painters and sculptors were very shy of using them, lest the eye should be drawn away from the principal group, and its interest be thus le ened or destroyed. [s. 21]