He undertook to do by simple me-
chanism, what had been attempted in
vain by a very complicated one ;
and taking for his model a machine
of Vaucanson, he produced the fa*
mous Jacquard loom.
" He returned to his native town,
rewarded with a pension of 1,000
crowns ; but experienced the utmost
difficulty to introduce his machine
among the silk weavers; and was
tljree times exposed to imminent
danger of assassination. The Consdl
des PrudhommeSy who are the official
conservators of the trade of Lyons,
broke up his loom in the public
place, sold the iron and wood for old



OF SILK. 133

materials, and denounced him as an
object oif universal hatred and igno-
miny. Nor was it till the French
people were beginning to feel the
force oi foreign competition^ that they
had recourse to this admirable ' aid
of their countryman ; since which
time they have found it to be the.
only real protection and prop of their
trade.*

" It is in the production of the pat-
terns of silk goods that the French

* It may not be generally known that tbe
Jacquard loom is the machine by which all fig-
ured goods are now made. It is really a won-
derful machine, by which a novice in the art
of weaving may execute the most beautiful pat-
terns when once mounted. The pattern is cut

12*



134 MANUVACTURE

have a decided advantage over the
British; — ^they have probably little
or none after the design is put into
the loom.
" The modes in which taste is cul-
tivated at Lyons deserve particular
study and imitation in this country.
