MR. DUNCAN'S TAMBOURING MACHINE. 287 



though it may lie long unproductive in the un- 

 genial till of human knowledge, it will some 

 time or other evolve its germ, and yield to man- 

 kind its natural and abundant harvest. 



Did the limits of so popular a volume as this 

 ought to be permit it, I should have proceeded 

 to give a general description of some of these 

 extraordinary pieces of machinery, the construc- 

 tion and effects of which never fail to strike the 

 spectator with surprise. This, however, would 

 lead me into a field too extensive, and I shall 

 therefore confine myself to a notice of three very 

 remarkable pieces of mechanism which are at 

 present very little known to the general reader, 

 viz., the tambouring machine of Mr. Duncan, the 

 statue-turning machine of Mr. Watt, and the 

 calculating machinery of Mr. Babbage. 



The tambouring of muslins, or the art of pro- 

 ducing upon them ornamental flowers and figures, 

 has been long known and practised in Britain as 

 well as in other countries ; but it was not long 

 before the year 1790, that it became an object of 

 general manufacture in the west of Scotland, 

 where it was chiefly carried on. At first it was 

 under the direction of foreigners ; but their aid 

 was not long necessary, and it speedily extended 

 to such a degree as to occupy, either wholly or 

 partially, more than 20,000 females. Many of 

 these labourers lived in the neighbourhood of 

 Glasgow, which was the chief seat of the manu- 

 facture ; but others were scattered through every 

 part of Scotland, and supplied by agents with 

 work and money. In Glasgow, a tambourer of 

 ordinary skill could not in general earn more 

 than five or six shillings a week by constant 

 application ; but to a labouring artisan, who had 



