Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II.
Still rolling round and round and round,”
--298~~~ Exclaimed Dashall, as he advanced from the breakfast table
towards the window, when a pleasing and singular street-exhibition
presented itself, which had attracted around a numerous audience, of all
ages and conditions.
An itinerant purveyor of novelties was in the act of showing forth to an
admiring crowd, the docility of a tame hare. On a table in the street,
on which was placed a drum, the little animal stood, in an erect
posture, and with surprising tractableness obeyed the commands of its
exhibiter, delivered in very broken English, with which, nevertheless,
it seemed perfectly conversant.
“Vat mattiere now, dat you be so solky, and no take notice of your goot
friends?--Come, Sare, shew your politesse, and salute de genteelmens
at de window, who so kind as come to look at you.--Make way dere, goot
peoples and leetel childer, dat de genteelmens sail see,--dat vill do.
Now, sare, begin;--do your beisance all round.”
The animal, without any apparent instruction to whom to give the
precedency of obeisance, immediately faced “de genteelmens at de
window,” and saluted them with a conge of particular respect; which
being acknowledged with a motion of the hand by Dashall, the intelligent
animal expressed its sense of his complacency, by a second obeisance,
more profound than the first.
The spectators applauded, and the performer testified its gratitude by a
bow, all round.
“Dat all goot. Now, sare, tree role on de drom for _le Roi
d'Angletterre:--Vive le Roi d'Anglettere!_”
This command the animal very promptly obeyed, by substituting its fore
feet for sticks, and giving three prolonged rolls of the drum, each in
distinct succession.
“Now den for Messieurs.”
~~299~~~ With equal alacrity this hint was attended to, and as _le Roi
d'Angletterre_ had three, so de genteelmens at de window were honoured
with two rolls of the drum.
The like compliment was paid to all de Englise peoples; and the minor
salute of one roll was given to the surrounding spectators.
The indefatigable drummer was next required to give a token of regard
for the Cook; but this he declined to do, and the order, though
frequently given, was as frequently uncomplied with.
“Vill you take notice of me, den?”
This question was instantly answered by the accustomed mark of respect.
“Genteelmans at de window, and peoples on de street, my leetel drommer
no love de cook,--no show her de respect dat he show you--he know dat de
cook be no friend of de pauvre hare; “--then turning towards the animal,
--“Vat,” said he, “must I speak all de tanks mineself?”
In deficiency of speech, the animal reiterated its obeisances--
“Diable!” exclaimed the exhibiter--“here comes de cook, to kill and spit
you!”
The hare instantly hastened to its hiding place, and thus terminated the
exhibition.
“This epitome of the world,” observed Tallyho, “lacks nothing to gratify
every sense of man! Here industry is on the alert to accumulate wealth,
and dissipation in haste to spend it. Here riot and licentiousness
roll triumphantly in gilded state, while merit pines in penury and
obscurity;--and here ingenuity roams the streets for a scanty and
precarious subsistence, exhibiting learned pigs, dogs, and so
forth, that will cast accounts with the precision of an experienced
arithmetician; and a tame hare that will beat a drum, and make a bow
more gracefully than a dancing-master. This last instance of human
ingeniousness, by which the poor Frenchman picks up a living, would
almost induce a belief that the power of art is unlimitable, and that
apparently insurmountable difficulties may be overcome by diligent
perseverance!--Who, besides this foreigner, would have thought of
divesting a hare of its natural timidity, and rendering it subservient,
by a display of intelligence, to the acquirement of his subsistence?”
~~300~~~ “And who,” said Dashall, “would have thought, but a German, of
training canary-birds to imitate military evolution,--make a prisoner
of one of their fellows as a deserter,--try and condemn him to
death,--apparently execute the sentence, by shooting him with a small
gun,--and finally, bear away the motionless and seemingly lifeless body
on a wheel-barrow, for interment!--Nay, who would think of inverting the
order of nature, by creating and cementing a union of friendship between
cats and birds and mice, associating them together, within the confines
of a cage, in the utmost harmony of social intercourse?--And who shall
presume to set bounds to the human art, that from a deal board has
constructed the figure of a man that will beat at the difficult game of
chess, the first players in Europe;{1} and created a wooden musician,
that in a solo from the trumpet, will excel the best living performers on
that instrument!”
1 It appears by the following letter from Presburg, in
Hungary, that this wonderful automaton was originally
invented and exhibited there:--
“During my stay in this city, I have been so happy as to
form an acquaintance with M. de Kempett, an Aulic Counsellor
and Director General of the salt mines in Hungary. It seems
impossible to attain to a more perfect knowledge of
Mechanics, than this gentleman hath done. At least no artist
has yet been able to produce a machine, so wonderful in its
kind, as what he constructed about a year ago. M. de
Kempett, excited by the accounts he received of the
extraordinary performances of the celebrated M. de
Vaucanson, and of some other men of genius in Prance and
England, at first aimed at nothing more, than to imitate
those artists. But he has done more, he has excelled them.
He has constructed an Automaton, which can play at chess
with the most skilful players. This machine represents a man
of the natural size, dressed like a Turk, sitting before the
table which holds the chess-board. This table (which is
about three feet and a half long, and about two feet and a
half broad) is supported by four feet that roll on castors,
in order the more easily to change its situation; which the
inventor fails not to do from time to time, in order to take
away all suspicion of any communication. Both the table and
the figure are full of wheels, springs, and levers. M. de
Kempett makes no difficulty of shewing the inside of the
machine, especially when he finds any one suspects a boy to
be in it. I have examined with attention all the parts both
of the table and figure, and I am well assured there is not
the least ground for such an imputation. I have played a
game at chess with the Automaton myself. I have particularly
remarked, with great astonishment, the precision with which
it made the various and complicated movements of the arm,
with which it plays. It raises the arm, it advances it
towards that part of the chess-board, on which the piece
stands, which ought to be moved; and then by a movement of
the wrist, it brings the hand down upon the piece, opens the
hand, closes it upon the piece in order to grasp it, lifts
it up, and places it upon the square it is to be removed to;
this done, it lays its arm down upon a cushion which
is placed on the chess-board. If it ought to
take one of its adversary's pieces, then by one entire
movement, it removes that piece quite off the chess-board,
and by a series of such movements as 1 have been describing,
it returns to take up its own piece, and place it in the
square, which the other had left vacant. I attempted to
practise a small deception, by giving the Queen the move of
a Knight; but my mechanic opponent was not to be so imposed
on; he took up my Queen and replaced her in the square she
had been removed from. All this is done with the same
readiness that a common player shews at this game, and I
have often engaged with persons, who played neither so
expeditiously, nor so skilfully as this Automaton, who yet
would have been extremely affronted, if one had compared
them to him. You will perhaps expect me to propose some
conjectures, as to the means employed to direct this machine
in its movements. I wish I could form any that were
reasonable and well-founded; but notwithstanding the minute
attention with which I have repeatedly observed it, I have
not been able in the least degree to form any hypothesis
which could satisfy myself. The English ambassador, Prince
Guistiniani, and several English Lords, for whom the
inventor had the complaisance to make the figure play, stood
round the table while I played the game. They all had their
eyes on M. de Kempett, who stood by the table, or sometimes
removed five or six feet from it, yet not one of them could
discover the least motion in him, that could influence the
Automaton. They who had seen the effects produced by the
loadstone in the curious exhibitions on the Boulevards at
Paris, cried out, that the loadstone must have been the
means here employed to direct the arm. But, besides that
there are many objections to this supposition, M. de
Kempett, with whom I have had long conversations since on
this subject, offers to let any one bring as close as he
pleases to the table the strongest and best-armed magnet
that can be found, or any weight of iron whatever, without
the least fear that the movements of his machine will be
affected or disturbed by it. He also withdraws to any
distance you please, and lets the figure play four or five
moves successively without approaching it. It is unnecessary
to remark, that the marvellous in this Automaton consists
chiefly in this, that it has not (as in others, the most
celebrated machines of this sort) one determined series of
movements, but that it always moves in consequence of the
manner in which its opponent moves; which produces an
amazing multitude of different combinations in its
movements. M. de Kempett winds up from time to time the
springs of the arm of this Automaton, in order to renew its
MOVING FORCE, but this, you will observe, has no relation to
its guiding FORCE or power of direction, which makes the
great merit of this machine. In general I am of opinion,
that the contriver influences the direction of almost every
stroke played by the Automaton, although, as I have said, I
have sometimes seen him leave it to itself for many moves
together; which, in my opinion, is the most-difficult
circumstance of all to comprehend in what regards this
machine. M. de Kempett has the more merit in this invention,
as he complains that his designs have not always been
seconded by workmen so skilful as was requisite to the exact
precision of a work of this nature; and he hopes he shall,
ere long, produce to the world performances still more
surprising than this. Indeed one may expect every thing from
his knowledge and skill, which are exceedingly enhanced by
his uncommon modesty. Never did genius triumph with less
ostentation.”
~~302~~~ “London is a rare place for sights,--always something
new;--where the spirits need never flag through want of amusement. Let
me recapitulate,--there is the automaton chess-player and the automaton
trumpeter,--the family compact, alias amicable society of cat, birds,
and mice,--the military canaries, and an hundred phenomena besides, of
which we shall make the round in due time. In the meanwhile, let us