376 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. CCXCVII.
MR. JOHN AUSTIN,
AUTHOR OF A “ SYSTEM OF STENOGRAPHIC MUSIC.”
MR. AUSTIN was born at Craigton,’ where his fathe? was gardener to John
Baird, Esq.; but what were his means of education, or in what capacity he at
first entered upon active life, we have not ascertained. At an early period he
became a citizen of Glasgow, and was long known, in an extended circle of
acquaintances, for his musical skill, and an inventive, speculative genius.
Possessed of a jovial disposition, his company was greatly prized, and he was
ever ready to take part in a catch or glee.
It was not till comparatively late in life that Mr. Austin produced his
‘( System of Stenographic Music ”-a work of considerable ability, though his
ideas of improvement were probably more theoretical than sound or practicable.
The principal object of the author was to simplify the prevailing method of
notation. In place of five lines, his system consisted of only one, written upon
by certain characters (six in number), which, “reversed and inverted,!’ were held
capable of expressing every variety in music. Besides the Introductory Essay, and
an Analysis of Tone, the work contained a great many songs, written in the shorthand
character. In the Scots Magazine for 1803, it is stated that “Mr. Austin’s
exertions have been great, and every lover of the art will now have an opportunity
of gratifying himself, with far less labour than is necessary upon the old
system. The Stenographic Music has obtained the approbation of those
connoisseurs to whom it has been submitted ; it has already begun to be taught
in some of the first boarding-schools in Edinburgh, and, by permission of the
Lord Provost, the Magistrates and Managers of Heriot’s and Watson’s Hospitals,
it has been adopted in these seminaries.”
Notwithstanding the flattering prospect thus held forth, Mr. Austin’s system
does not appear to have experienced much encouragement; and at this
day, we believe, the author and his work are equally unknown in the musical
world.
In 1806 we find Mr. Austin eagerly engaged in a very different, but
certainly not less important speculation. This was the invention of a powerloom
for weaving cotton, of which he presented a model to the Society of Arts,
accompanied by the following memorial :-
1 Craigton is situated a few miles west of Glasgow, and waa afterwards possassed by Henry Dunlop,
Esq., Lord Provost of that city.