JVGGL1NG. 
490 
amufe the vulgar. Among- thefe are the marionettes, as 
they are called, the different parts of which are put in 
motion imperceptibly by a thread. Of a ftill snore inge¬ 
nious contraction are tirofe which are moved by the turn¬ 
ing of a cylinder, as is the cafe in the machines with 
-which fome of, the old miners in Germany earn a liveli¬ 
hood ; but the moll ingenious of all are thofe which are 
kept in continual movement for a certain time, by the 
help of wheels, with a weight 1 or fpring. The latter are 
called automata ; and, when they reprel'ent human figures, 
androides. Under the former general name are compre¬ 
hended our watches, the moll ufeful of all; and alfo jacks, 
with many others. The latter appellation is given to final! 
puppets, which, when their inner works have been wound 
up, ran upon the table or pavement, and as they advance 
move their heads, eyes, and hands. They have been ex¬ 
hibited fometimes under the name of courante Margarethe, 
which gave rife perhaps to the word marionette. When 
docks were brought to perfection, fome artifts added to 
them figures, which, at the time of ftriking, performed 
various movements; and, as they fucceeded in thefe, fome 
attempted to make, detached from clocks, fugle figures, 
which either moved certain limbs, or advanced forward 
and ran. In the middle of the lixteenth century, when 
Hans Bullman, a padlock-maker at Nuremberg, con- 
ftruded figures of men and women which moved back¬ 
wards and forwards by clock-work, and beat a drum, and 
played on the lute according to mufical time, they excited 
univerfal aftonifhment as a new invention. See the arti¬ 
cle Automaton, vol. ii. That Daedalus made ftatues, 
which could not only walk, but which it was neceffary 
to tie in order that they might not move, is related by 
Plato, Ariftotle, and others. The latter lpeaks of a wooden 
Venus ; and remarks, that the fecret of its motion con¬ 
fided in quickfilver having been poured into it. It is afto- 
nifhing that the Chinefe fhould alfo have fallen upon the 
invention of giving motion tp puppets by means of quick- 
filver, and in fo ingenious a manner, that Mufchenbroek 
thought it worth his while to defcribe their whole con- 
ftruclion, and to. illuftrate it by figures. The firlt ftatues 
of the Greeks were imitations of thofe of the Egyptians, 
for the isioft part clumfy figures, with their eyes fhut, 
their arms hanging down elofe to the body on each fide, 
and their feet joined together. Thofe made by Daedalus 
had their eyes open, as well as their feet and hands free; 
and the artift gave them fuch a pcfture, that they feemed 
either reclining, or appeared as if ready to walk or to run. 
As Anacreon, (truck with wonder, exclaimed, when he 
faw a waxen image of his beloved objeft, “ Be gone, wax, 
thou wilt fcon. lpeak !” the altoniflied Greeks, in like 
manner, cried out, when they beheld the ftatues of Dae¬ 
dalus, “They will foon walk.” The next generation af¬ 
firmed that they really walked ; and their pofterity, ad¬ 
ding ftill to what was told them, affirmed that they would 
have run had they not been bound. 
Having fafhioned puppets that could walk, the next 
flep was to make them fpeak. This alfo has been accom- 
plifhed ; and the fpeaking figure is an ingenious fpecies 
of juggling, which, however old it may be, ftill excites 
aftonifhment, and has often impofed upon the credulity of 
men of learning who have not directed their ftudies to 
the fcience of acouitics. Thefe machines, according to 
appearance, anfwer various queftions propofed to them, 
fometimes in different languages, ling, and even blow a 
buntfinan’s horn. The figure, or only a head, is often 
placed upon a box, the fore part of which,, for the better 
deception, is filled with a pair of bellows, a founding-board, 
cylinder, and pipes, fuppofed to reprefent the organs of 
fpeech. At other times the machine is only like a pe¬ 
ruke-maker’s block, hung round with a Turkifli drefs, 
furnifhed with a pair of arms, and placed before a table ; 
and fometimes the puppet Hands upon the table, or againil 
<a wall. The. founds are heard through a fpeaking-trum- 
pet, which the figure holds in its mouth. See the article 
Acoustics, vol.i. p. 90. 
Under this head we might include fome of the ancient 
oracles, which, by various contrivances, formed a molt 
refined fpecies of juggling; affording us ample tefti- 
mony of the antiquity of the art we are treating of. The 
credit of thefe oracles was fo great, that in all doubts and 
difputes their determinations were held (acred and invio¬ 
lable ; whence vail numbers flocked to them for advice 
about the management of their affairs; and no bufinefs of 
any confequence was undertaken, lcarcely any peace con¬ 
cluded, any war waged’, or any new form of government 
inftituted, without the advice and approbation of fome 
oracle. The anlwers were ufually given by the interven¬ 
tion of the prieft or prieftefs of the god who was confult- 
ed ; and generally expreffed in fuch. dark and unintelligible 
phrafes, as might be eafily wrefted to prove the truth of 
the oracle, whatever were the event. It is not, therefore, 
to be wondered at, that the priefts who delivered them 
were in the higbeft credit and efteem, and that they ma¬ 
naged this reputation fo as greatly to promote their own 
particular advantage. They accordingly allowed no man. 
to confult the gods, before he had offered ccftly facri- 
fices, and made rich prefents to them. And to keep up 
the veneration for their oracles, and to prevent their be¬ 
ing taken unprepared, they admitted perfons to confult 
the gods only at certain Hated times; and fometimes they 
were fo cautious, that the greatell perfonages could ob¬ 
tain no anfwer at all. Thus Alexander him fell was pe¬ 
remptorily denied by the Pythia, or prieftefs of Apollo, 
till lhe was by downright force obliged to afcend the tri¬ 
pos ; when, being unable to refill any longer, lhe cried 
our, “ My fon, thou art invincible;” and thefe words were 
accepted inftead of a farther oracle. 
Of the ambiguity of oracles, the following, out of a 
great many examples, may be mentioned. Crcefus having 
received from the Pythonefs this anfwer, That, by palling 
the river Halys, he would dellrcy a great empire; he un- 
derltood it to be the empire of his enemy, whereas he de- 
ftroyed his own. The oracle confulted by Pyrrhus gave 
him an anfwer, which might be equally underftood of the 
victory of Pyrrhus, and the viflory of the Romans his 
enemies: Ato te, JEacida, Romanos vincere pojfe. The equi¬ 
vocation lies in confirmation of the Latin tongue, which, 
cannot be rendered in Englilh. The Pythonefs adviled 
Crcefus to guard againft the mule. The king of Lydia 
underftood nothing of the oracle, which denoted Cyras, 
defcended from two different nations : from the Medes, 
by Mandana his mother, the daughter of Allyages ; and 
from the Perfians, by his father Cambyfes, whofe race was 
by far lefs grand and illullrious. Nero had for anfwer, 
from the oracle of Delphos, that feventy-three might prove 
fatal to him. He believed he was fafe from all danger 
till that age ; but, finding liimfelf deftrted by every one, 
and hearing Galba proclaimed emperor, who was feventy- 
three years of age, he was fenfible of the deceit of the 
oracle. 
_ When merr.began to be better inftrufted by the lights 
philofophy had introduced into the world, the falfo ora¬ 
cles infenfibly loft their credit. Chryfippus filled an en¬ 
tire volume with falfis or doubtful oracles. Oenomaus, to 
be revenged of fome oracle that had deceived him, made 
a compilation of oracles, to Ihow their ridiculous vanity. 
Eufebius has preferved fome fragments of this criticil'm 
on oracles by Oenomausv “ I might (fays Origen) have 
recourfe to the authority of Ariftotle and the Peripatetics, 
to make the Pythonefs much fufpeHed: I might extrafl 
from the writings of Epicurus and his fedlators an abun¬ 
dance of things to difcredit oracles-; and I might (how 
that the Greeks theml'elves made no great account of 
them.” 
The reputation of oracles was greatly leffened when 
they became an artifice of politics. Themiftocles, with a 
defign. of engaging the Athenians to quit Athens, and to 
embark, in order to be in a better condition to refill Xer¬ 
xes, made the Pythonefs deliver an oracle, commanding 
them to take refuge in wooden walls, Demofthenes laid, 
that 
