produced the invention of the pianoforte, in which he was assisted and
encouraged by this high-minded, richly-cultivated, and very musical
prince. Scipione Maffei tells us that in 1709 Cristofori had completed
four of the new instruments, three of them being of the usual
harpsichord form, and one of another form, which he leaves undescribed.
It is interesting to suppose that Handel may have tried one or more of
these four instruments during the stay he made at Florence in 1708. But
it is not likely that he was at all impressed with the potentialities of
the invention any more than John Sebastian Bach was in after years when
he tried the pianofortes of Silbermann.

The sketch of Cristofori's action in Maffei's essay, from which I have
had a working model accurately made, shows that in the first instruments
the action was not complete, and it may not have been perfected when
Prince Ferdinand died in 1713. But there are Cristofori grand pianos
preserved at Florence, dated respectively 1720 and 1726, in which an
improved construction of action is found, and of this I also exhibit
a model. There is much difference between the two. In the second,
Cristofori had obtained his escapement with an undivided key,
reconciling his depth of touch, or keyfall, with that of the
contemporary harpsichord, by driving the escapement lever through the
key. He had contrived means for regulating the escapement distance, and
had also invented the last essential of a good pianoforte action, the
check. I will explain what is meant by escapement and check. When, by
a key being put down, the hammer is impelled toward the strings, it is
necessary for their sustained vibration that, after impact, the hammer
should rebound or escape; or it would, as pianoforte makers say,
"block," damping the strings at the moment they should sound.

A dulcimer player gains his elastic blow by the free movement of the