ed up in an iron box having two keys, one kept by the proprietor, the other by Mr. Watt. The index and dial of this clock-work were examined at certain times in presence of both parties or their agents.

These engines were first used in mining operations. At Chace-Water mine in Cornwall, the proprietors, after some experience, compounded for the patent at £2400 per annum, so that the whole saving of coal at that mine must have exceeded in value £7,200 per annum.

Let it not be supposed that the invention of Watt was only the happy hit of accident; we shall produce the most undoubted authority as to his scientific attainments, and shall shew, that to these, combined with great genius, we owe this new and important power.

“Watt was born at Greenock in 1736; and at the age of 16, was apprenticed to a mathematical instrument-maker, with whom he spent four years. At the age of 20 he placed himself under a regular mathematical instrument-maker in London. After a short time, finding his health declining, he returned to Scotland and commenced business on his own account at Glasgow. In 1757, he was appointed mathematical instrument-maker to the University of Glasgow, where he resided and carried on his business.

"This circumstance produced an acquaintance between him and the celebrated Dr. Robinson, then a student at Glasgow, who directed Watt's attention to the steam-engine." Lardner, pp. 57, 58.

It seems that he also became acquainted with Dr. Black, to whom he communicated some observations he had made on the subject of heat, which led the Doctor to explain to Watt the theory he was then teaching of latent heat. We will not attempt to trace the progress made by Mr. Watt in his invention; we must refer to Dr. Lardner and Professor Renwick, whose accounts are interesting.

In 1817 the Baron Dupin visited the Forth and Clyde canal. He says:

"The celebrated J. Watt still lived; he happened to be at Glasgow, the place of his nativity, and we made this interesting excursion together. I listened to and contemplated with a respect, mixed with admiration, this venerable gentleman, eighty-three years of age, who retaining the vigour of his mind, as well as his physical strength, communicated to us a variety of ingenious observations, profound reflections and important facts, relating to British industry and manufacture, of which he more than any other individual accelerated the march during the long period of sixty years. Since 1817, when I visited Scotland, the united kingdoms have lost that great artist, and I have to deplore his death

with that of J. Rennie, Joseph Banks and W. Mudge. In less than five years all four have descended into the tomb; but they still live in the hearts of their friends, and their services will endure in the memory of posterity." Vol. ii. p. 225.

We cannot better describe the advantages of the steam-engine or do more justice to the great Watt, than by making an extract from an account of the proceedings of a meeting held at London in 1824, for the purpose of erecting to him a monument.* The writer of that article in the Magazine says:

"Not many weeks have elapsed, since in reading the last published volume of M. Charles Dupin's Travels in Great Britain, (one of the best informed and most liberal works on this country ever produced by a foreigner,) we felt most deeply the national reproach conceived in the passage of which the following is a feeble translation:

"To a citizen of Glasgow belongs the glory of having given to industry one of the greatest impulses known in the history of the arts. To the improvements invented by the celebrated Watt, it is owing that the steam-engine is become an universal moving-power. No invention ever before comprehended in so small a compass, and at a fourth of the ordinary expense, a power so great, so constant, so regular. In Watt we behold one of the benefactors of his country, yet when I earnestly inquire what brilliant testimony he has received of the national gratitude-my question remains unanswered. It appears that neither king nor minister, nor parliament, have yet discovered that they owe any thing to the life and memory of one, to whom the ancients would have erected statues and altars.

"The ashes of the player, Garrick, repose under the sacred vaults of Westminster, while the ashes of Watt moulder in the obscure nook of some obscure cemetery.'

This forcible appeal to the national feeling was not in vain, nor did it remain long unanswered. Almost immediately after, M. Dupin had the satisfaction of being present at a public meeting, over which the prime minister, Lord Liverpool, at the special instance of the King, presided for the purpose of erecting a monument to Watt. Other distinguished members of the ministry-Mr. Robinson, Mr. Peel, and Mr. Huskisson, also attended. Lord Liverpool stated that he held in his band a letter from Mr. Canning, in which he regretted that he was prevented attending by the press of public business, and gave his cordial approbation to the purpose of the meeting. Mr. Wilberforce, Sir J. Mackintosh, Mr. Brougham, and Sir H. Davy, were present, as well as other distinguished individuals.

The Earl of Liverpool addressed the meeting as follows:

"We are assembled to-day for the purpose of paying a public tribute of respect to the memory of one of the most excellent and most extraordinary men to whom this country has given birth.

"The application of the mighty power of the steam-engine has been compared to the trunk of an elephant; and so far with justice, for as there was nothing so small, so there was nothing so great, as to be beyond its reach. It has improved the finest of our manufactures; and, at the same time, half the difficulties which stood in the way of navigation have vanished before it. We have now no delay with other and distant countries; be the winds of heaven favourable or otherwise, still we can calculate upon a fixed and certain intercourse. I remember the time when the fate of armies frequently depended on the rapidity with which communications were made; that difficulty is no longer to be feared, as we can have the most rapid communication by a proper application of the power of steam. I will not detain you by expatiating on the transcendent merits of this invention, but I must say a few words respecting its inventor. I feel much pride and pleasure in stating, that I had the honour of being acquainted with Mr. Watt. That he is to be ranked among the benefactors of mankind cannot be denied, because there are none who deserve more of their country than those who add to the productive powers of industry. It must be observed that Mr. Watt's invention was not the result of accident, but the consequence of long, and steady, and laborious application of scientific knowledge, aided by great genius. With respect to the private character of Mr. Watt, there never was a more amiable, a more honourable, or a more excellent man; and if he did not, in his life time, meet with the patronage and consideration due to his great talents, it was owing solely to his simplicity of character, the modesty of his nature, the absence of every thing like presumption or ostentation, and that disinclination to obtrude himself, not only on the great and powerful, but even upon the scientific world, of which he was so great, so bright an ornament." &c. In conclusion the Earl said

"I have only to add, that I am commanded by his majesty to state that he feels deeply sensible of the merits conferred on his country by the individual to whose memory we are now about to pay a tribute of respect and gratitude; and that his majesty is most anxious to place his royal name at the head of the proposed subscription for the sum of £500."

How gratifying to all our better feelings to find learning and genius united, as in Mr. Watt, with such moral excellence. The world may well be proud of such a benefactor.

The happy strain of the remarks from Sir Humphrey Davy, cannot fail of interest.

"I ought," said he, "to apologize for rising, immediately, to address the meeting. But as the distinguished person whose memory

we have met together to honour, owes his claims to the gratitude of society to his scientific labours, and as he was one of the most illustrious fellows of that institution, for the promotion of natural knowledge, over which I have the honor to preside, I consider it as a duty incumbent on me to endeavour to set forth his peculiar and exalted merits, which live in the recollection of his contemporaries, and will transmit his name with immortal glory to posterity. Those who consider James Watt only as a great practical mechanic, form a very erroneous idea of his character; he was equally distinguished as a natural philosopher and a chemist; and his inventions demonstrate his profound knowledge of those sciences, and that peculiar characteristic of genius, the union of them for practical application. The steamengine, before his time, was a rude machine, the result of simple experiments on the compression of the atmosphere and the condensation of steam. Mr. Watt's improvements were not produced by accidental circumstances, or by a single ingenious thought; they were founded on a series of delicate and refined experiments. He was obliged to bring all the mechanical powers, and all the resources of his own fertile mind into play; he had to convert rectilineal into rotary motion, and to invent parallel motion; after years of immense labour, he obtained what he wished, and at last placed the machine entirely under the power of the mechanic, and gave perfection to a series of combinations, unrivalled for the genius and sagacity displayed in their invention, and for the new power they have given to civilized man. Upon the nature of this power 1 can hardly venture to speak; so extensive and magnificent a subject demands a more experienced and able orator. What is written on the monument of another illustrious and kindred philosopher, applies to Watt,

"Monumentum si queris, circumspice."

Look around the metropolis, our cities and our towns, our dock yards and our manufactories; examine the cavities below the surface, and the works above; contemplate our rivers and our canals, and the seas which surround our shores, and every where will be found records of the eternal benefits conferred on us by this great man. Our mines are drained, and their products manufactured. The materials of our bridges are raised, and the piles for their foundations sunk by the same power. Machinery of every kind which formerly required an immensity of human labour, is now easily moved by steam; and force, equal to that of five hundred men, is commanded by an infant, whose single hand governs the grandest operations. The most laborious work, such as sawing of stones and wood, and raising of water are effected by the same engine, which produces the most minute ornamental and elegant forms. The anchor is forged, the die is struck, the metal polished, the toy modelled by this stupendous and universally applicable power; and the same giant arms twist the cable rope, the protection of the largest ship of the line, and spin gossamer threads which are to ornament female beauty. The winds can no longer be considered as superior to our power, for steam has insured the progress of our vessels, even against adverse gales, and has almost conquered

for us a new element. The Archimedes of the ancient world, by his mechanical inventions, arrested the course of the Romans, and stayed, for a time, the downfal of his country. How much more has our modern Archimedes done? He has permanently elevated the strength and wealth of this great empire; and during the last long war, his inventions and their application were amongst the chief means which enabled Britain to display power and resources so infinitely above what might have been expected from the numerical strength of her population. Archimedes valued, principally, abstract science; James Watt, on the contrary, brought every principle to some practical use; and, as it were, made science descend from heaven to earth. The great inventions of the Syracusan died with him; those of our philosopher live, and their utility and importance are daily more felt. They are among the grand results which place civilized above savage man; which secure the triumph of intellect, and exalt genius and moral force over mere brutal strength, courage and numbers. The memory of James Watt will live as long as civilized society exists."

Mr. Bolton, son of the copartner of Watt, seconded the resolution offered by Sir H. Davy, and in his speech, stated:

"A power equal to that which would require the maintenance of one hundred thousand horses, has been furnished from the single establishment to which Mr. Watt belonged; and assuming that power to be exercised during three hundred days in the course of the year, the saving arising from the substitution of steam-power, in lieu of the exertions of the animals themselves, would not be less than two millions five hundred thousand pounds per annum. Extending this calculation to the whole steam-power produced, and used throughout the United Kingdom, we shall be supplied with a clear indication of one of the sources of power and wealth, which have supported this nation through its late arduous struggle, and which have accelerated the renovation of its impaired energy with a celerity, exciting surprise in every reflecting mind."

Mr. Huskisson, in his speech, says of Watt,

"It is a gratification to feel that such a man was born in this country; but it is still greater gratification that we lived in the same age with such a man, and had an opportunity of enjoying all the benefits and advantages which he, under God, has been the instrument of conferring for the increase and happiness of mankind."

Sir J. M'Intosh, speaking of the steam-engine, said,

"Let us look over the globe, and we find its powers every where in motion-in the bowels of the earth, upon the highest mountains, upon the face of the waters. From the Mississippi to the Ganges the name of Mr. Watt is heard, and the benefits of his invention are felt. I heard, only the other day, that all the great rivers of South-America were now navigated by steam, so that the savage who inhabits the forests of Guiana, becomes alarmed at the appearance of a monster which makes its way upon the waters, without apparent effort or moral