denotes the act of finding anything new, or even the thing thus found. Thus we say, the invention of gunpowder, of printing, &c. The alcove is a modern invention owing to the Moors.

The Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, are of Greek invention; the Tuscan and Composite of Latin invention. Janus ab Almeloemus has written an Onomasticon of inventions; wherein are shown, in an alphabetical order, the names of the inventors, and the time, place, &c., where they are made. Pancrillus has a treatise of old inventions that are lost, and new ones that have been made; Polydore Virgil has also published eight books of the inventors of things. De Inventoribus Rerum.

Invention is also used for the finding of a thing hidden. The Roman church celebrates a feast on the 4th of May, under the title of, Invention of the Holy Cross.

Invention is also used for subtlety of mind, or somewhat peculiar to a man's genius, which leads him to a discovery of things new; in which sense we say, a man of invention.

painting, is the choice which the painter makes of the objects that are to enter the composition of his piece. See PAINTING.

poetry, is applied to whatever the poet adds to the history of the subject he has chosen; as well as to the new turn he gives it. See POETRY.

rhetoric, signifies the finding out and choosing of certain arguments which the orator is to use for the proving or illustrating his point, moving their passions, or conciliating the minds of his hearers. Invention, according to Cicero, is the principal part of oratory: he wrote four books De Inventione, whereof we have but two remaining. See ORATORY.