Haddock had no particular standing in the world of magic, and it is more than likely that he rented the automata which he exhibited, or merely acted as showman for the real inventors.
In quite a few works on automata, notably Sir David Brewster’s “Letters on Natural Magic,” Collinson is quoted as having interviewed Maillardet as the inventor of the combination writing and drawing figure. The Franklin Journal of June, 1827, published in Philadelphia, Pa., credits this figure to Maillardet and gives the following description: “It was the figure of a boy kneeling on one knee, holding a pencil in his hand, with which he executed not only writing but drawings equal to those of the masters. When the figure began to work, an attendant dipped the pencil in ink, and fixed the paper, when, on touching a spring, the figure wrote a line, carefully dotting and stroking the letters.”
The Robert-Houdin figure did not kneel, but this change could be made by a mechanician of ordinary ability.
