poverty upon their heads by his invention; so that the unfortunate man, terrified and discouraged by the treatment he met with, and despairing of being able to overcome their prejudices, shut up his admirable mechanism in a garret, and waited till more fortunate days should give him an opportunity of meeting with justice."

The above statement is strictly true. The new invention was publicly destroyed, and the life of the inventor three times endangered. The great advantages attendant upon this important discovery were obstinately overlooked; for no one had any regard to the diminution of hands employed, to economy in workmanship, or to the alleviation of the sufferings of some of the labourers, which, in one process, were very severe. A malicious jealousy only saw, in his ameliorations, a loss of salary for the greatest number, and was careful to spread this opinion. Nor did these prejudices cease until France began to feel the effects of competition with other countries, when Jacquard's method was adopted; and at the present day it is the only one in use at Lyons.

Jacquard, in his improvement, combined two principles of mechanism, which, employed separately, tend to the same object, but without success. Formerly, the threads which were to be lifted up together to form the figure of the stuff, were moved by cords pulled by a child, to whom the weaver was obliged to point them out. The new method remedied this inconvenience by a regular mechanical process, aided by a moveable pedal.

The Jacquard invention, although in common use at Lyons, was not generally known until long after, and at the exhibition in 1801, it only obtained a bronze medal and a slight notice; nor was full justice done to it until eighteen years later, when, surmounting all difficulties, neglects, and criticisms, it gained the victory over the old laborious, extravagant, and unhealthy methods. The commissioners in 1819 decreed to Jacquard a gold medal, and, still further, the cross of honour.

This process is now used not only for silk, but for all varieties of woven stuffs.

Jacquard was remarkably modest and disinterested; omitting to derive any advantage from the various patents he obtained. He was the inventor of a machine for making fishing-nets, but which never brought him any profit, owing to his negligence. When mention was made to him of those who were rapidly increasing their fortunes by means of his inventions, he would reply,

"I do not complain; it is enough for me to have been useful to my fellow-citizens, and to have a claim upon their esteem."

ARALLEL with the progress of science in other departments, were the improvements made in optical instruments. Before 1789, Europe procured all her astronomical instruments from England; France having no able artist in that line. Herschel, a Hanoverian, and a musician in a regiment,

was made director of an organ in Bath, where, after employing his leisure time for ten years in constructing gigantic and powerful telescopes, he discovered, not a new star, but the mobility of one hitherto ranked with the fixed stars. Such an event taught France the necessity for instruments proportioned to the advanced state of science. The engineer and musician, Lenoir, distinguished himself by still further improvements in this valuable branch. It was he who obtained the first prize at the exhibition in 1798, for portable reflecting circles.

At the subsequent exhibitions he was equally successful, receiving prizes for large astronomical instruments, amongst which was a fine Borda circle.

Sebastian Erard, in giving France that fine musical instrument, the piano, created an important branch of commerce, and obtained for his own name an eminent place among those of illustrious mechanics.

Before his fortunate importation, the spinnet and the harpsichord, with their harsh and discordant sounds, were much in vogue. Erard's pianos altered the nature of musical harmony; and, according to M. Castil Blaze, the harpsichord was consigned to the garret, there to remain until needed for fuel.

Sebastian Erard, born at Strasbourg, in 1750, was originally destined to architecture. Fortunately for the lovers of good music, reverses in business obliged him to become a mechanic. Arrived in Paris, at the age of sixteen he apprenticed himself to a harpsichord-maker, in whose service he soon became a skilful workman.

Upon leaving this place, another harpsichord-maker, acquainted with the young man's remarkable talent, made him a proposal to execute an instrument of different construction from the common harpsichord; but by a private arrangement, the master's name was to appear upon it. When it was completed, the amateur who purchased it, delighted with its excellence, returned to ascertain if the harpsichord-maker was the true originater of the improvements, and asked numerous questions concerning the in

ternal mechanism. The man, taken by surprise, was at a loss. how to reply, and was in the end forced to admit that it was the work of young Erard.

Erard's reputation spread rapidly. The Duchess of Villeroi, a patroness of the arts, took the young artist under her protection; and it was at her house that he constructed his first piano. This instrument, recently invented in Saxony, by Silberman, was then almost unknown in France. The Duchess of Villeroi wished to have one, and also that it should be of French make; she asked Sebastian Erard if he thought he was able to make one. This was a sort of challenge, which the artist, confident. in his own powers, accepted without hesitation, and the piano. was soon completed. It was thus, says a biographer, that a great lady and a young artist introduced this valuable musical instrument into France.

Listened to in Madame de Villeroi's saloon, where all the talent of Paris was accustomed to assemble, it produced a great