was still 
was con- 
)MBARDY, 
ather im- 
her own 
itants, at 
out three 
he forti- 
idence of 
Violiere— 
ere avec 
he gifted 
Jonaparte 
lady was 
e church, 
U, 
d to any 
b may be 
v s 
~ genuine, 
cially by 
thenticity, 
e by an 
f. Thus, 
when the 
ve say of 
- genuine, 
osition of 
e Bishop 
Trench’s 
, appears 
to say, ib 
n of the 
scientifie 
noun self. 
> subject, 
thers, the 
didactic ; 
1bject, as 
mmatical 
ity in the 
nh means 
d also a 
wtocracy, 
sole rule 
- mastery) 
hich the 
- and the 
es uncon- 
called an 
re of this 
1peror of 
s signi- 
t used the 
astery of 
was the 
ony that 
al at the 
h by the 
y Sunday 
often on 
ng of the 
signal to 
h it was 
| to it in 
work in 
est rank 
snance. to 
and even 
ke them- 
yrocession 
  
——— 
  
  
  
  
  
AUTOGRAPH—AUTOMATON. 
  
was led by the Dominicans, carrying the flag of the 
inquisition ; next followed the penitents, on whom 
only penance had been laid; behind them, and 
separated by a great cross which was borne before, 
came those condemned to death—barefoot, clad in 
the sanbenito, and with a pointed cap on the head ; 
then, effigies of the fugitives ; and lastly, the bones 
of dead culprits, in black coffins painted with flames 
and hellish symbols. The frightful train was closed 
by the army of priests and monks. The procession 
went through the principal streets to the church, 
where, after a sermon on the true faith, the sentence 
was announced. In the meantime, the accused stood 
before a crucifix with extinguished torches in their 
hands. After the sentence had been read to them, an 
officer of the inquisition gave each of the condemned 
2 blow on the breast with his hand, as a sign that 
they were given over by that tribunal to the secular 
power ; on which a secular officer took them in 
charge, had them fettered, and taken to prison. A 
few hours afterwards, they were brought to the 
place of execution. 1If they yet, at the last, made 
profession of the Catholic faith, they were so far 
favoured as to be first strangled; otherwise, they 
were burned alive, and with them the effigies and 
bones of the fugitive and dead culprits. As a rule, 
the king, along with his whole court, had to exalt 
by his presence the solemnity of the horrid transac- 
tion. The most splendid Auto da Fé took place at 
Madrid, under Charles IL, in 1680; the last was 
held as recently as towards the middle of last 
century. 
  
  
written with the person’s own hand, and not by an 
amanuensis. In relation to manuscripts, it is used 
in opposition to a copy. The collection of autographs 
has, especially in recent times, become an object of 
eager pursuit, and consequently they form a branch 
of literary trade. Their value is determined by the 
interest felt in the writer, the scarcity of such relics 
of him, and the contents of the writing. Besides 
portraits of famous persons, we wish, particularly in 
the case of distinguished contemporaries, to possess 
a specimen of their handwriting, or ab least their 
signature, as the peculiarity of the style—the 
physiognomy of the handwriting—completes our 
knowledge of their personality. Lithography is 
particularly serviceable in this matter, not only by 
supplying fac-similes for biographical and historical 
works and for portraits, but also by multiplying 
impressions of collected autographs, such as have 
appeared in England by Smith, in Holland by 
Nathan, and in Germany by Dorow. But deserving 
mention before all others are the Isographie des 
Hommes Célebres (3 vols. Par. 1828—1830), to which 
01D, %ZT 
Signature of Richard ITI. (Ricardus Rex). 
From the Paston Letters. 
AU'TOGRAPH (Gr.) is a term applied to what is \ 
a supplement appeared in 1839 ; and the Aufographen- 
Prachtalbum zur 200 jirigen Geddchinissfeier des 
Westfiilischen Friedensschlusses (fol. Leip. 1848). We 
possess an uninterrupted succession of the royal 
autographs of England from King Richard IT. down- 
wards. = Fac-similes are to be found in Autographs 
of Royal, Noble, Learned, and Remarkable Person- 
ages, Conspicuous in Hnglish History, Jrom the Reign 
of Richard II. to that of Charles I1., by John Gough 
Nichols (fol. Lond. 1829). The preface to the work 
conmilg some interesting notices. 
AUTO'LYCUS, a Greek astronomer and mathe- 
matician of Pitane in Aolia, about 330 B.c., wrote 
on the Revolving Sphere, and on the Rising and 
Setting of the Fixed Stars. Both works, printed 
in Dasypodius’s Propositiones Doctrine Spherice 
(Strasb. 1572), contain, for the most part, only such 
propositions of spherical astronomy as can be solved 
by means of a globe; and, instead of presupposing 
the knowledge of spherical trigonometry, they seem 
rather to prove that A. himself was unacquainted 
with it. 
AUTO'MATON is derived from two Greek words 
signifying self-movement, and is usually applied to 
machinery constructed to represent human or animal 
actions. The construction of automata has occupied 
the attention of mankind from very early ages. 
Archytas of Tarentum is reported, so long ago as 400 
B.C., to have made a pigeon that could fly. Albertus 
Magnus and Roger Bacon, in the 13th c., are said— 
but there is some dubiety about the matter—to have 
made respectively a porter to open the door, and a 
speaking head ; while Regiomontanus, in the 15th c., 
is declared to have been successful in imparting life- 
like motion to a fly. In France, in the beginning 
of the 18th c., many persons busied themselves in 
the construction of automata; and among other 
things, a pantomime, in five acts, was represented by 
actors moved by machinery. An automatic carriage 
group, made by M. Camus for the amusement of 
Louis XIV., is stated to have been very perfect ; but 
it is doubtful whether it was so complete as it is 
represented to have been. The most perfect A. 
about which there is absolute certainty, was one 
constructed by M. Vaucanson, and exhibited in 
Paris in 1738. ~ It represented a flute-player, which 
placed its lips against the instrument, and produced 
the notes with its fingers in precisely the same man- 
ner as a human being does. In 1741, M. Vaucanson 
made a flageolet-player, who with one hand beat a 
tambourine ; and in the same year he produced a 
duck. This was a most ingenious contrivance, the 
mechanical duck being made to conduct itself in 
every respect like its animated pattern. It swam, 
dived, ate, drank, dressed its wings, &c., as naturally 
as its live companions ; and, most wonderful of all, 
by means of a solution in the stomach, it was actu- 
ally made to digest its food! Maelzel made a 
trumpeter, which, about 1809, was exhibited in 
Vienna, and played the Austrian and French cavalry 
marches with much skill. ~ An A., produced by M. 
Droz, drew likenesses of public characters ; and, some 
years ago, Mr Faber contrived a figure, exhibited in 
various places, Edinburgh among others, which, by 
means of certain keys, was made to articulate simple 
words and sentences very intelligibly, but the effect 
was not pleasant. The inventor first mentally divided 
the word or sentence into its distinct sounds—as a 
phonographer would do in writing—and having 
determined the sounds, pressed one after the other 
the keys which admitted the air into the various 
compartments containing the mechanism constructed 
%o imitate them. The chess-player of Kempelen was 
long regarded as the most wonderful of automata. 
It represented a Turk of the natural size, dressed in 
the national costume, and seated behind a box 
resembling a chest of drawers in shape. Before the 
game commenced, the artist opened several doors in 
the chest, which revealed a large number of pulleys, 
  
  
wheels, cylinders, springs, &e. The chessmen were 
produced from a long drawer, as was also a cushion 
for the figure to rest its arm upon. The A. not being 
able to speak, signified when the queen of his anta- 
gonist was in_danger by two nods, and when the 
| king was in check by three. The A. succeeded in 
beating most of the players with whom it engaged ; 
but it turned out afterwards that a crippled ]5171718812\,[1