VAUCANSON'S PIPE AND TABOR-PLAYER. 205 



lever enabled the tongue to stop up the orifice of 

 the flute. 



Such is a very brief view of the general mecha- 

 nism by which the requisite motions of the flute - 

 player were produced. The airs which it played 

 were probably equal to those executed by a living 

 performer, and its construction, as well as its per- 

 formances, continued for many years to delight 

 and astonish the philosophers and musicians of 

 Europe. 



Encouraged by the success of this machine, 

 M. Vaucanson exhibited in 1741 other automata, 

 which were equally, if not more, admired. One 

 of these was the automaton duck, which per- 

 formed all the motions of that animal, and not 

 only ate its food, but digested it ; * and the other 

 was his pipe and tabor-player, a piece of mecha- 

 nism which required all the resources of his fertile 

 genius. Having begun this machine before he 

 was aware of its peculiar difficulties, he was often 

 about to abandon it in despair, but his patience 

 and his ingenuity combined, enabled him not only 

 to surmount every difficulty, but to construct an 

 automaton which performed complete airs, and 

 greatly excelled the most esteemed performers 

 on the pipe and tabor. 



The figure stands on a pedestal, and is dressed 

 like a dancing shepherd. He holds in one hand 

 a flageolet, and in the other the stick with which 

 he beats the tambourine as an accompaniment to 

 the airs of the flageolet, about twenty of which it 

 is capable of performing. The flageolet has only 

 three holes, and the variety of its tones depends 

 principally on a proper variation of the force of 

 * See Letter XI. 



