His [Congreve's] plots were constructed without much artifice.
Craik.
4. Crafty device; an artful, ingenious, or elaborate trick. [Now the usual meaning.]
Those who were conscious of guilt employed numerous artifices for the purpose of averting inquiry.
Macaulay.
Ar*tif"i*cer (&?;), n. [Cf. F. artificier, fr. LL. artificiarius.] 1. An artistic worker; a mechanic or manufacturer; one whose occupation requires skill or knowledge of a particular kind, as a silversmith.
2. One who makes or contrives; a deviser, inventor, or framer. "Artificer of fraud." Milton.
The great Artificer of all that moves.
Cowper.