In the Memoirs of the French Academy, a little essay on this subject is
sufficiently curious; the following contains the facts:--
FIREWORKS were not known to antiquity.--It is certainly a modern
invention. If ever the ancients employed fires at their festivals, it
was only for religious purposes.
Fire, in primæval ages, was a symbol of respect, or an instrument of
terror. In both these ways God manifested himself to man. In the holy
writings he compares himself sometimes to an ardent fire, to display his
holiness and his purity; sometimes he renders himself visible under the
form of a burning bush, to express himself to be as formidable as a
devouring fire: again, he rains sulphur; and often, before he speaks, he
attracts the attention of the multitude by flashes of lightning.
Fire was worshipped as a divinity by several idolaters: the Platonists
confounded it with the heavens, and considered it as the divine
intelligence. Sometimes it is a symbol of majesty.--God walked (if we
may so express ourselves) with his people, preceded by a pillar of fire;
and the monarchs of Asia, according to Herodotus, commanded that such
ensigns of their majesty should be carried before them. These fires,
according to Quintus Curtius, were considered as holy and eternal, and
were carried at the head of their armies on little altars of silver, in
the midst of the magi who accompanied them and sang their hymns.
Fire was also a symbol of majesty amongst the Romans; and if it was used
by them in their festivals, it was rather employed for the ceremonies of
religion than for a peculiar mark of their rejoicings. Fare was always
held to be most proper and holy for sacrifices; in this the Pagans
imitated the Hebrews. The fire so carefully preserved by the Vestals was
probably an imitation of that which fell from heaven on the victim
offered by Aaron, and long afterwards religiously kept up by the
priests. Servius, one of the seven kings of Rome, commanded a great fire
of straw to be kindled in the public place of every town in Italy to
consecrate for repose a certain day in seed-time, or sowing.
The Greeks lighted lamps at a certain feast held in honour of Minerva,
who gave them oil; of Vulcan, who was the inventor of lamps; and of
Prometheus, who had rendered them service by the fire which he had
stolen from heaven. Another feast to Bacchus was celebrated by a grand
nocturnal illumination, in which wine was poured forth profusely to all
passengers. A feast in memory of Ceres, who sought so long in the
darkness of hell for her daughter, was kept by burning a number of
torches.
Great illuminations were made in various other meetings; particularly
in the Secular Games, which lasted three whole nights; and so carefully
were they kept up, that these nights had no darkness.
In all their rejoicings the ancients indeed used fires; but they were
intended merely to burn their sacrifices, and, as the generality of them
were performed at night, the illuminations served to give light to the
ceremonies.
Artificial fires were indeed frequently used by them, but not in public
rejoicings; like us, they employed them for military purposes; but we
use them likewise successfully for our decorations and amusement.
From the latest times of paganism to the early ages of Christianity, we
can but rarely quote instances of fire lighted up for other purposes, in
a public form, than for the ceremonies of religion; illuminations were
made at the baptism of princes, as a symbol of that life of light in
which they were going to enter by faith; or at the tombs of martyrs, to
light them during the watchings of the night. All these were abolished,
from the various abuses they introduced.
We only trace the rise of _feux-de-joie_, or fireworks, given merely for
amusing spectacles to delight the eye, to the epocha of the invention of
powder and cannon, at the close of the thirteenth century. It was these
two inventions, doubtless, whose effects furnished the ideas of all
those machines and artifices which form the charms of these fires.
To the Florentines and the Siennese are we indebted not only for the
preparation of powder with other ingredients to amuse the eyes, but also
for the invention of elevated machines and decorations adapted to
augment the pleasure of the spectacle. They began their attempts at the
feasts of Saint John the Baptist and the Assumption, on wooden edifices,
which they adorned with painted statues, from whose mouth and eyes
issued a beautiful fire. Callot has engraven numerous specimens of the
pageants, triumphs, and processions, under a great variety of grotesque
forms:--dragons, swans, eagles, &c., which were built up large enough to
carry many persons, while they vomited forth the most amusing firework.
This use passed from Florence to Rome, where, at the creation of the
popes, they displayed illuminations of hand-grenadoes, thrown from the
height of a castle. _Pyrotechnics_ from that time have become an art,
which, in the degree the inventors have displayed ability in combining
the powers of architecture, sculpture, and painting, have produced a
number of beautiful effects, which even give pleasure to those who read
the descriptions without having beheld them.[6]
A pleasing account of decorated fireworks is given in the Secret Memoirs
of France. In August, 1764, Torré, an Italian artist, obtained
permission to exhibit a pyrotechnic operation.--The Parisians admired
the variety of the colours, and the ingenious forms of his fire. But his
first exhibition was disturbed by the populace, as well as by the
apparent danger of the fire, although it was displayed on the
Boulevards. In October it was repeated; and proper precautions having
been taken, they admired the beauty of the fire, without fearing it.
These artificial fires are described as having been rapidly and
splendidly executed. The exhibition closed with a transparent triumphal
arch, and a curtain illuminated by the same fire, admirably exhibiting
the palace of Pluto. Around the columns, stanzas were inscribed,
supported by Cupids, with other fanciful embellishments. Among these
little pieces of poetry appeared the following one, which ingeniously
announced a more perfect exhibition:
Les vents, les frimats, les orages,
Eteindront ces FEUX, pour un tems;
Mais, ainsi que les FLEURS, avec plus d'avautage,
Ils renaîtront dans le printems.