244 0'^ t^-'<^ Antiquity anl 



In my opinion ihcv had regulations refpefling fires before 

 they had engines ; and the iornier do not lecni to be older 

 than the beginning or middle of the fixtcenth century. The- 

 oldeft for Lhe city of Franekfort on the Mayn, with which I 

 am acquainted^ are of the year 1460*. The firfl general order 

 in Saxony rcfptfting fire, is that of dnke Geors;e in the year 

 1521 i. The firft for the citv of Drefden,. and which was 

 to fervc for the whole country, is of the vear 1529 I- In 

 many cities, . the firll ordinances publifhed by government for 

 the purpofe of preventing danger from t]re, mav be found 

 perhaps among the regnhitions in regard to Suildins:, which, 

 appear to be foniewhat older than the jrarti'cular ones rcfpeft- 

 ing fires. At Auulburgr an exprefs rcoulation in rcjr^ird to 

 building was drawn up and publiflied fo early as 1447 §. 

 On turnino: over the old chronicles it is obfcrved that p;reac 

 fires began to be fcfs fre^]uent in the fixteenth century; a 

 circuniliancc whith beyond all doubt muft lie ufcribed to the 

 iuiprovcments in building ||, the regulations made by go- 

 vernment for the guarding againft fires, and tlie introdu6tioa 

 of apparatus for extinguiihing thenr. But by the invention 

 of fire engines every thing in this refpeft has been fo mucli 

 changed, as to render it neccflarv' to revife and entirelv alter 

 the old regulations made in regard to fires/ and it is not im- 

 poffible that the firft mention of public fire engines will occur 

 in the new regulations refpecling fires made, ia the fixteenth 

 and feventeenth centuries. 



Mr. Von Stetten has remarked, that the firft mention of 

 fire engines at Augfburg occurs in the building accounts 

 of the city for the year 1518. Thev are called there itijlru- 

 menfs for Jircs, ivater Jyr'mges ufcful at jires ^; ; and thefe 

 names feem to announce that the machine was then in its 

 infancy. At that time they were conftrufted by Anthony 

 Blatner, a goldfmith of Friedberg, but who in the above 

 year was a citizen of Augfburg. From the obfervation 

 added, that the wheels and poles (levers) were made by a 

 whecl-wrigbtj and by the largenefs of the fum put down \i\ 



* A paflage from it is (^oted in Orth's Anmerkungen ubcr die erneuerte 

 Reformation dfr Suull Frankfurt 1751.410. iii. 404. 



f It is iutitled BcgreyfF der Fewer Ordcnuiinc, four pages folio. It is 

 •wanting in the Codex Angvjlcus, but its contents may be found in Canzlor 

 und Mcifner fiir alteie Litteratur und neucre Lcftiire, Lipf.. 1785. 

 i.vo. iii. 3. p. 97- 



+ W'ccken's Befchrtibung und VoiftcIIung dcr Rcfidenz Drefden, 

 p. 481. 



§ Von Stetten Kunftgefchichtc der Stadt Augfburg, i. p. 87. 



!l Thus, in the year i46(> ftraw rhatcli was forbidden at Franekfort j 

 and in the year 1474 roofs conftriidlcd of fhinglcs. Lirjntr, \i% p. 22. 



Q K, unftgcfchithte der Scadt Augrt^urg, ii. p. iiz. 



the 



