MACHINE. 



« Scatters from her piclured urn. 



Thoughts that breathe, and nolcs that burn," 



•would be giving permanence to ideas which refleAion can 

 never find, nor memory retain. 



The firfl idea of fuvh a contrivance being prafticable was 

 fug^efted to the Royal Society of London, in a paper writ- 

 ten by the late Rtv, Mr. Creed, and fent to the prcfident, 

 1747, under the foUowinij title : 



"A demonflration of the poffibility i>i making a machine 

 that fliall write exlnnpore vjhintarks, or other pieces of mulic, 

 as fall as any mailer Ihal! he able to play them, upon a:i or- 

 gan, harpfichord, &c. and that in a cl arjcter more natural 

 and intelligib'e, and more expreffive of all the varieties tliofe 

 inllrnments are capable of exhibiting, than the charafter now 

 in ufe." 



This paper was publiflied the fame year in the Philofo- 

 phical Tranfaflions, N" 183, and, afterwards, in Martyn's 

 Abridgment, vol. x. p. 266 ; and the author's idea always 

 appeared to us fo feafible, that we have long wondered at its 

 not having been executed by fome ingenious Eiigiilh ree- 

 ■chanic. 



The firft mention that we can find to have been made at 

 Berlin, of fuch a contrivance, was in 1752, in a printed 

 "Weekly Account of the mod remarkable Difcoveries in 

 Nature and Science." In 175.5, an ample defcription of 

 fuch a machine appeared in the fame weekly publication : 

 and here, in an elaborate preface, the author point.s out the 

 great want of fuch a piece of mechanilm, its utility, and 

 properties ; and concludes with faying, that this mnchii.e, 

 io big with advantages to mufic aati mui'cians, is the particu- 

 lar in-vcntiou, BcfouTiCce CrIiiiTiune, of M. Uiiger. 



The defcription preceded the execution fome time. The 

 invention was here only recommended to the public, and of- 

 fered to be completed, and applied to a keyed inftrument, at 

 a fmall expence. It was M. Hohlfeld who afterwards con- 

 llrufted the machine, and rendered it fo perfeft, that we were 

 alTured by a great performer, who tried it upon a clavichord, 

 that there was no rellnement in mufic which it could notex- 

 prefs, except tempo rubato. 



The defcription of the Berlin machine fo much refemblcs 

 that pj-opofed'by Mr. Creed, that we (hall not infert it here, 

 but refer our readers to the Philofophical Tranfaftions, where 

 he w.U find that the machine was to confill of two cylinders, 

 ■which were to be moved by clockwork, at the rare of an inch 

 in a fecond of time ; one of thefe was to furmlli paper, and 

 the other was to receive it when marked by pins or pencils, 

 fixed at ths ends of the feveral keys of die inllrument to 

 which the machi'.e was applied. The paper was to be pre- 

 vioufly prepared with red lines, which were to fall under their 

 refpeftive pencils. 



The chief difficulties in the execution, wliich have oc- 

 curred to Englifh mechanics, with whom we have converfed 

 on the fubjcft, were, the preparation of the paper for re- 

 ceiving the marks made by the keys ; and the kind of inftru- 

 ment which was to ferve as a pencil, and which, if hard and 

 pointed, would, in the forte part", tear the paper ; and if 

 foft, would not only be liable to break when ufed with vio- 

 lence, but would be worn unequally, and want frequent cut- 

 ting. • 



In the Berlin machine the pencils were approximated ac- 

 cording to Mr. Creed's idea, and made to terminate m a very 

 narrow compafs, fo that 'paper of an uncommon fize was 

 not requifite ; but it was not found necefl'ary to prepare the 

 paper, as propofed in the Philofophical Tranlaftions ; for 

 the degree of gravity or aculeiicfs of each found was afcer- 



tained by a ruler applied to the marked paper, when lake?! 

 off the cylinder. 



About the year 1780, the late ingenious and marvellous 

 mechanic Merlin, ftimulated by the reports ot this machine 

 having been '"ucccfsfully conllrufted in Germany, and by 

 our earned recommendation of the undertaking, went to 

 work, and apparently vanquiflicd all the difficulties of con- 

 ftruclion, except the time inevitably necdlary for its com- 

 pletion ; as he was never able to fimplity the mechanifm fo 

 much as to render its appropriation within the reach of 

 great compofers and voluntary players in general, to whof; 

 ufe only it feems to belong ; he difpoled of his model to a 

 foreign nobleman, who had it conveyed to Germany, and 

 we believe never fabricated another machine of the fame 

 kind. See Mkblin. 



/ Machine, in Dramatic Poetry, is when the poet brings 

 fome divinity or fiiperr.atural being upon the llage ; to per- 

 form fome exploit, or folve fome difficulty, out ot the reach 

 of human povver. 



The machines of the drama arc gods, angels, ghofls, &:c. 

 They arc fo called from the machines or contrivances by 

 which they are reprcfenled upon the Ihigc, and afterwards 

 removed again. 



PIciice the ufe of the word machine has alfo paffcd into the 

 epic poem ; though the reafon of its name be there want- 

 ing. It denotes, in both cafes, the intervention or miniltry 

 of fome divinity ; but as the occafion of machines in the one 

 and the other is I'ome what different, the rules and laws of 

 managing them are different likewife. 



The ancient dramatic poets never brought any machine 

 on the ftage, but where there was an abfolute lu-cellity for 

 the prefence of a god ; and they were generally laughed at 

 for fufft-ring themfelves to be reduced to iuch a neccffity. 

 Accordingly, Arillotle lays it down as an exprefs law, that 

 the unravelling of the piece fhould arife from the fable it- 

 felf, and not from any foreign machine, as in the Medea. 

 Horace is iomewhat lefs fcvere, and contents himlelr with 

 faying, that the gods fiiould never appear, unlefs where the 

 nodus, or knot, is worthy of their prefence ; " Nee deus 

 interlit, nili dignus vindice nodus — inciderit." But it is 

 quite otherwife with the epopea ; in that there muft be ma- 

 chines every where, and in every part. Homer and Virgil 

 do nothing without them. Petronius, with his ufual fire, 

 maintains, that the poet (hould deal more with the gods 

 than with men ; that he (liould every where leave marks of 

 his prophetic raptures, and of the divine fury that poffeffes 

 him ; that his thoughts (hould be all full of fables, that is, 

 of ahciiorics and figures ; in fine, he will have a poem dif- 

 tinguiilied from a hillory in all its parts; not fo much by 

 the verfes, as by that poetical fury, which expreffes itfelf 

 wholly by allegories ; and does nothing but by machines, 

 or the minillry of the gods. A poet, therefore, mull leave 

 it to the hiftorian to fay, that a fleet was difperfed by a 

 tt(n-m, and driven to foreign (bores ; and mult himfelf lay, 

 with Virgil, that Jnno went to feek ^olus ; and that this 

 god, at her requell, turned the winds loofe againll the Tro- 

 jans : he muft leave the hiilorian to write, that a young 

 prince behaved with a great deal of prudence and difcretion 

 on all occafions ; and muft fay, with Homer, that Minerva 

 led him by the hand in all his enterprizes : let' an liifto- 

 rian fay, that Agamemnon, quarrelling with Achilles, hath 

 a mind to Ihew him, though railtakenly, that he can take 

 Troy without his affiilance ; the poet mull fay, that Thetis, 

 piqued at the affront her fon had received, flies up to heaven, 

 thire to demand veni;eauce of Jupiter; and that this god, to 

 fatisfy her, lisnds the god Ssmirjs, or Sleep, to Agamemnon, 



to 



