Nuremberg was the home of invention as well as of industry. Christopher Denner invented the clarionet in 1690, and Lobsinger the air-gun in 1550. Cannon were first cast here about the year 1350, and in 1500 Peter Henlein made the first watches, which, from their shape, were called Nuremberg eggs. Specimens may be seen in the Castle and in the Museum. Erasmus Ebner discovered the particular alloy of metals which we call brass, the brass of earlier times being apparently of different combination, and one Rudolph invented a machine for drawing wire in 1360. About the same time the first paper-mill in Germany, if not in Europe, was established at Nuremberg; and here at the latter end of the fourteenth century playing-cards, though not invented, were certainly printed. Last, but not least, the honey cakes, which still introduce the German child to the name of Nürnberg, were famous as our Banbury cakes, and much appreciated by princes in the Middle Ages. It will be seen that the proverb-- "Nürnberg Tand geht durch alle Land," was no empty boast, and we can now understand the force of the rhyme-- "Hätt' ich Venedigs Macht, Augsburger Pracht, Nürnberger Witz,[47] Strassburger Geschütz Und Ulmer Geld So wär ich der Reichste in der Welt" CHAPTER VIII _The Meistersingers and Hans Sachs_ "Here Hans Sachs, the cobbler poet, laureate of the gentle craft, Wisest of the Twelve Wise Masters, in huge folios sang and laughed.... Not thy Councils, not thy Kaisers, win for thee the world's regard; But thy painter Albrecht Durer and Hans Sachs thy cobbler-bard." --LONGFELLOW. "Heil Sachs! Hans Sachs! Heil Nürnbergs theurem Sachs!" --WAGNER, _Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg_. It is impossible to be in Nuremberg many hours without becoming conscious of the fact that there once lived and died here a poet, who is still, as Wagner calls him, the "darling of Nuremberg." His name is heard and his portrait seen on every side. In the Spital-Platz stands the monument erected to his memory in 1874 (Johann Krausser). His house in the Hans Sachsgässlein,[48] much restored and rebuilt since he lived there, is marked by a tablet. Who then was this great man? A cobbler--and more than a cobbler, a poet.