HE celebrated Lamennais has said: "The mechanic rises before day, lights his little lamp, and labours diligently to gain a livelihood for himself and his children." When Lamennais inscribed

this sentence in his admirable Words of a Believer,

he gave a complete summary of a working-man's life. Work, work on, work ever: such is the inscription which glit

ters on the standard of every mechanics' association.-At the first glance, such an existence wears a melancholy aspect; but soon, in enlarging its objects, and in consecrating all its hours to laborious occupation, it adds a new and continually increasing lustre to the already brilliant crown of industry.

I have thought it a great and honourable task, to write the history of the mechanic, the humble and modest annals of the working-man, who has devoted all his faculties to manual labour; and I think this task will be appreciated by all, because it is great; understood by all, because it is honourable.

I had originally divided this work into three great historical periods-from the time of Francis the First, to 1789;-from the Republic to the revolution of 1830,-and from 1830 to the present day. But at the time of preparing the work, the first of these great divisions, although perhaps one of the most curious, eluded all research. If we turn to history, we find nothing there. Mechanical ingenuity seems to have had no existence in the early ages, or at least an obscure and unimportant one. If we seek the date of a disastrous war, the historian is scrupulously exact; but if we inquire of him a brief account of the progress of arts, he is silent, or gives uncertain and incomplete data, as if he were ashamed to enter upon so insignificant a subject.

From the time of Francis the First until the end of the eighteenth century, industry has had no historians. I have not therefore been able to enter fully upon my subject, until after this epoch, and have been obliged to content myself with giving a general sketch of the first memorable advancement of manual labour, that queen of nations.

The history I am about to

Let me not be misunderstood. publish is not written in a biographical style; I am fully aware that such would be tedious and uninteresting, as well as unnecessary. The illustrious mechanics will contain an account of the labourer at his work-bench, tools in hand, and every piece of handicraft whose object has been the improvement of any one

art will be here recorded; and if the subject sometimes diverges into the privacy of families, it will be but for the sake of casting a few flowers on the lonely path of some who have been most unjustly the victims of adversity.

When an architect has decided upon a plan for the foundation of his edifice, he reflects long and well upon it, lest it should present to the eye of an observer any defect in the arrangement; nor is he satisfied until the slightest details harmonize and form a perfect whole. In striving to bring my work to perfection, a work of a popular nature, and one conceived in the liberal and progressive spirit of the age, I have deemed it advisable to give a place in it to every man of low birth, who, by manual labour, by deeds of generosity or of self-devotion, has rendered his name distinguished. Such are the illustrious mechanics.

Thus, side by side with the mechanic Jacquarel, the agriculturist Graugé, &c., the reader will find the illustrious Ney, Duke of Elchingen, and Prince of Moscowa, entitled in battle, the bravest of the brave; Lannes, the dyer's apprentice, who, after enjoying all the grades of military honour, was made Duke of Montebello by Napoleon; Augereau, general of the Empire, son of a Paris fruit-seller; Bernadotte, son of the humble citizen of Bearn, placed upon the throne of Sweden, under the name of Charles John; Murat, the intrepid soldier, who woke up one morning King of Naples-he, the child of the tavern-keeper! and numbers of others.

Other names will also be registered in our work, names not less known, nor less beloved by the people.

Monthyon, for instance, the beneficent man, whose devotion to the virtuous and meritorious classes was so great.

Jacques Lafitte, who, previous to becoming the aid and support of the necessitous, understood by experience the pains and penalties of manual labour.

Neither shall I omit to mention those who have made a noble use of hereditary or acquired wealth, by devoting it to the succour of the labouring classes, at periods of public distress. At

the head of these stands the little blue cloak. The illustrious mechanics will be, according to the "Siècle," a sort of Pantheon of the working classes, and the benefactors of industry.

There are two illustrations of our subject. One consists of a rich man who voluntarily gives up a portion of his time to the exercise of manual labour. Among these we may enumerate Peter the Great, who, a hatchet on his shoulder, and the broad belt of a slave round his waist, repaired to a timber-yard, at Saardaam, to learn stone-cutting and carpentry.

Let us enter a work-room. A bench with richly carved legs stands in front of an open window, whose blue silk curtains are confined by cords of gold. On this bench glitter ivory-handled tools, inlaid with gold. Arm-chairs and sofas, of splendid form and materials, give the place the air of the boudoir of a lady of rank. Two men, whose hands are carefully covered with gloves, are engaged in examining a lock: one has the common courtier face, which always wears a mingled expression of devotion and servility: the other has a noble countenance, a royal one, although it expresses no great firmness of character. This workroom is that of the locksmith Louis XVI.

INTRODUCTION.

So much for the first illustration.

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The other consists in a daily, an hourly, a momentary labour. The man who leads this life wears no gloves; his hands are hardened, his face is care-worn. Look for no luxury in his little room with its bare walls, no silk curtains on his little window. Which of these examples does the most honour to the arts? The white and perfumed hands of the nobleman of rank are in no wise better in the sight of God than the coarse and blackened ones of the common labourer.

Think not that the name of one of the nobles of the earth can ennoble labour; it may give it a temporary sort of vogue, among courtiers, but this is all; without it, the art would have prospered as well, perhaps a little later, but that is all.

About to begin my work, enveloped as it was in a cloud of difficulties, I hesitated... my thoughts refused to follow my pen. In fact, in the laborious life of the mechanic, I beheld but one long well-beaten track, one continual belief, one melancholy consolation, and these three had one object . . . that of incessant labour. But soon, in full view of the physical and moral sufferings of the working classes, a strong desire to repair a public injustice inspired me with courage to complete my task. I had asked myself the question, "Why should not the working-man enjoy equal privileges with the man of opulence?" It was in answering this question that difficulties arose; and in this state of indecision, mistrusting my own, perhaps too youthful powers, I applied for assistance to one of the greatest of modern philanthropists. The following is the answer I obtained:

Paris, October 25, 1838. SIR-You have done me the honour to inquire if I would consent to allow a history of illustrious mechanics to be published under my auspices.

I thank you for the sentiment which has induced you to offer me this dedication. You have believed, and justly, I am sure, that such a subject would excite my sympathy; on this, trust me, you may depend.