LIVES OF BOULTON AND WATT. WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. LIVES OF BRITISH ENGINEERS, from the Earliest q'imes to the Death of Robert Stephenson; with an Account of their Principal Works, and a HISTORY OF INLAND COMMUNICATION IN BRITAIN. With Portraits and 270 Woodcuts. 3 Vols. 8vo. 63s. SELF-HELP; WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER AND CONDUCT. Post 8vo. 6s. INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHY: IRON-WVORKERS and TOOLMAKERS. A Companion Volume to' elf-Help.' Post 8vo. 6s. JAMES BRINDLEY AND THE EARLY ENGINEERS. [Abridged from' Lives of the Engineers.'] With Illustrations. Post 8vo. 6s. STORY OF THE LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON; INCLUDING A MEMOIR OF HIS SON ROBERT STEPHENSON. [Abridged from'Lives of the Engineers.'] With Illustrations. Post 8vo. 6s. /( ~ :" lil i:'..:::-.:::::"'j_::::':::;:::::::i::i":::': ~j:1'4:.~~L;~' J~~;~~;si:'~ ;;"":.'?~:~. ~~.~~~ ~~rS?,:;~-'" .1:.1"3;.:::;: ii. -:~..~:: i:i~i:j:;~~::'::s..;:~~.~::~~ es- —srs —:;~~::~' :: ~.::::.~ ~ ~~: ~:~~.? :-/:".~~'.;~~:,; ~~--;~..~ i-.:I:: ~~: S;I~:~::;1 1 j::::-~:;:'~~ %: IIB ~'~: ~'~: ~;' ~:-" ssiii I!'7:2:::5.~ ~''~;~r/i ~2 i~ r ~~::::. -;,'-~ZJ.~cS~~ "5?:;t;.:'f ~: 5,:fi 3 i~: -;~.? I~B_ I -r~-~:~~-:~-;.~-,n;?r:; 8ir ~'~~ iJ1S: i ~'':r::I::1..;;~:?.i~/..~.~'.~ .1~... d::;:. ~':~ B e q:,:::.~~;~. i J,i LtCbsiwnjT~-by JL7LXZ/MZIXTTA', d13J17YU^IX'7 'j."l/l5f/,.%(j; cr. u L/ LI VES OF BOULTON AND WATT. PRINCIPALLY FROMI THE ORIGINAL SOHO MSS. COMPRISING ALSO A HISTORY OF THE INVENTION AND INTRODUCTION OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. BY SAMUEL SMILES, AUTHOR OF'LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS,'' SELF-HELP,'' INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHY,' ETC. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT AND COMPANY. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY. 1865. PRE FA C E. THE present volume concludes the author's'Lives of the Engineers.' Its preparation was begun many years since. The favourable reception given to the'Life of George Stephenson,' the principal improver and introducer of the locomotive engine, encouraged the author to follow it by a Life of James Watt, the principal inventor and introducer of the condensing engine. On making inquiries, however, he found that the subject had already been taken in hand by J. P. Muirhead, Esq., the literary executor of the late Mr. Watt, of Aston Hall, near Birmingham. As Mr. Muirhead was in all respects entitled to precedence, and was, moreover, in possession of the best sources of information, the author's contemplated Life of Watt was abandoned, and he satisfied himself with embodying the substance of the materials he had collected in a review of Mr. Muirhead's work, which appeared in the' Quarterly Review' for July, 1858. Having recently, however, through the kindness of M. P. W. Boulton, Esq., of Tew Park, Oxon, been enabled to examine the extensive collection of documents brought from Soho, including the original correspondence between Watt and Small, between Watt and Boulton, and between the latter and his numerous vi PREFACE. intimate friends and business correspondents, it has appeared to the author that, notwithstanding the valuable publications of Mr. Muirhead, the story of the life of Watt is one that will well bear to be told again, in connexion with the life and labours of Matthew Boulton of Soho. The two men were so intimately related during the most important period of their lives, and their biographies so closely intermingle, that it is almost impossible to separate them. They are therefore treated conjointly in the present volume, under the title of'Boulton and Watt,' the name of the old Soho firm which so long enjoyed a world-wide reputation. But though the name of Boulton takes priority in the title, that of Watt will be found in many respects the most prominent in the narrative. The MS. papers which have been consulted for the purposes of the present volume are of an unusually complete and varied character. They consist of several thousand documents selected from the tons of business books and correspondence which had accumulated at Soho. The most important were selected and arranged by the late M. Robinson Boulton, Esq., who entertained the highest regard for his father's memory; and, from the character of the collection, the author inclines to the opinion that it must have been made with a view to the preparation and publication of a Life of Matthew Boulton,-which has not, however, until now been undertaken. Thus, among sundry papers endorsed " M. Boulton-Biographical Memoirs," is found a MS. memoir in the handwriting of James Watt, entitled "Memorandum concerning Mr. Boulton, commencing with my first acquaintance with him," and another of a PREFACE. vii similar character, by Mr. James Keir,-both written shortly after Mr. Boulton's death. Another collection, endorsed " Familiarum Epistola et Selectas, 1755 to 1808," contains letters received from various distinguished personages in the course of Mr. Boulton's long and interesting career. The number of original documents is indeed so large, that, but for a rigid exclusion of non-essential matter, these Lives must have expanded into several volumes, instead of being compressed into one. But the author believes labour to be well bestowed in practising the art of condensation, and that the interest of biography gains much by judicious rejection. What Watt said to Murdock as to the production of a machine, holds' equally true as to the production of a book,-" It is a great thing," said Watt, "to know what to do without." Besides the memoirs of Boulton and Watt, which occupy the principal places in the following volume, it will also be found to contain memoirs of the other inventors who have at various times laboured at the invention and application of the steam-engine, of the Marquis of Worcester, Dionysius Papin, Thomas Savery, and Thomas Newcomen. The author has also been enabled to gather from the Boulton papers a memoir of William Murdock, which probably contains all that is likely to be collected respecting that excellent and most ingenious mechanic. -In addition to the essential assistance received from M. P. W. Boulton, Esq., in preparing the present book, without which it would not have been undertaken, the author desires to record his acknowledgments to J. W. Gibson Watt, Esq., for information relative to viii PREFACE. James Watt;-to Charles Savery, Esq., Clifton, J. T. Savery, Esq., Modbury, Lieutenant-Colonel Yolland, R.E., and Quartermaster Connolly, R.E., for various facts as to the family history and professional career of Thomas Savery, inventor of the "Fire Engine;"and to Thomas Pemberton, Esq., Heathfield; W. C. Aitkin, Esq., Coventry; George Williamson, Esq., Greenock; the late J. Murdock, Esq., Handsworth; and the late Mr. William Buckle, of the Royal Mint, formerly of Soho, —for various information as to the lives and labours of Boulton and Watt. In his treatment of the subject, it will be observed that the author has endeavoured, as much as possible, to avoid introducing technical details relating to the steam-engine. Those who desire further information on such points, are referred to the works of Farey, Tredgold, Bourne, Scott Russell, Muirhead ('Mechanical Inventions of James Watt'), and other technical treatises on the subject, where they will find detailed particulars of the various inventions which are only incidentally referred to in the following pages. London, October, 1865.t. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Anecdote of Matthew Boulton and George III. - PRoer Bacon on steam power - Early inventors, their steam machines and apparatus - Hero of Alexandria, Pranca, De Caus - The Marquis of Worcester -His waterworks - His imprisonment - His difficulties - The water-commanding engine - His "Century of Inventions" - Obscurity of descriptions of his steam-engine - Persevering struggles - His later years and death Page 1-26 CHAPTER II. Zeal of the Marchioness of Worcester - Sir Samuel Morland - His pumps and fire-engines - His privations and death - Dr. Dionysius Papin - His digester - Experiments on the power of steam - His steam-engine - Proposed steamboat - Early schemes of paddle-boats - Blasco GarayPapin's model engine and boat - Destroyed by boatmen - Papin's death 27-38 CHAPTER III. Thomas Savery - The Savery family - Savery's mechanical experiments and contrivances - His paddle-boat - Treatise on'Navigation Improved' -- Cornish mines and the early pumping machinery - Savery's " Fireengine"- Exhibition of his model - Explanations in the'Miner's Friend' — The engine tried in Cornwall - Its failure at Broadwaters, Staffordshire - Savery's later years - His death and testament 39-58 CHAPTER IV. Slow progress in invention of the steam-engine - Thomas Newcomen of Dartmouth - His study of steam-power - Correspondence with Dr. Hooke of the Royal Society- Newcomen's experiments- Assisted by John Calley - Newcomen's atmospheric engine - Newcomen and Calley erect their first engine - Humphrey Potter the turn-cock boy's contrivance - Engines erected at Newcastle-on-Tyne, Leeds, and Cornwall - Wheal Fortune engine - Mr. William Lemon - Joseph Hornblower - Jonathan Hulls and steam propulsion of ships - His steamboat - Extended use of the Newcomcn engines in Cornwall and northern mining counties - Payne, Brindley, and Smeaton, improvers of the steam-engine 59-76 x CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. James Watt, his birthplace and lineage - His grandfather the mathematician - Cartsdyke and Greenock in the last century - James Watt's father - His multifarious occupations - His mother - Watt's early years - His fragile constitution - Sent to school - His first visit to Glasgow - His indulgence in story-telling - His boyish ingenuity - His home education - the Stuart rebellion - Watt's love of scientific pursuits - Sent to Glasgow to learn the trade of mathematical-instrument maker Page 77-95 CHAPTER VI. Glasgow in 1754 - The Glasgow tobacco lords - The early clubs, and social habits of the merchants - Watt's master - Leaves Glasgow, and proceeds to London on horseback - Is placed with a mathematical-instrument maker - His progress in learning the trade - Frugal living in London - Danger from press-gangs - His infirm health - Returns to Scotland - Refused permission to begin business in Glasgow - Gains asylum in the College - His workshop there - Makes musical instruments - His various reading and studies - Intercourse with the professors- Intimate relations of Watt with Robison Robison's estimate of Watt........................ 96-116 CHAPTER VII. Robison and Watt's conferences on the power of steam - Dr. Black and latent heat - Watt's experiments on steam - His apparatus - The college model of the Newcomen engine arrives from London - Watt's experiments upon it - His difficulties and -perseverance - His instrumentmaking business improves - Takes a partner and opens a shop in the Salt Market - His marriage - Continued experiments on steam - His Sunday walk on Glasgow Green, and his first idea of the condensing engine - His experiments with the model, and successive difficulties - Anecdote of Watt and Robison and the new apparatus - The model engine — Removes to a cellar and erects a working engine - Mechanical and financial difficulties............... 118-137 CHAPTER VIII. Watt's introduction to Dr. Roebuck - Begins business as surveyor - Surveys canals - Partnership with Roebuck in the engine - Difficulties in constructing the engine - Watt's visit to Kinneil - A patent determined on - att's despondency - Continues his improvements -- Learns German — Correspondence with Dr. Small - Specification of patent lodged - Watt erects a trial engine - The washhouse behind Kinneil - The engine completed - Its defects - Roebuck's embarrassments - Watt accepts engagement to superintend canal works - Employed in various surveys - Designs Hamilton Bridge — Supplies plans for dock and pier at Port Glasgow and harbour at Ayr — Illness and death of Mrs. Watt —Dr. Roebuck's ruin - Turning point in Watt's fortunes.... 138-158 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER IX. Birmingham in early times Its industry - Roads- William HuttonThe Boulton family - Matthew Boulton begins business —His trade correspondence - His marriage - His love of business - Snow-hill and Soho - Partnership with Fothergill - Aims at excellence in his productions - Emulates Wedgwood - Surpasses French art-manufacturers - His royal and noble patrons - Employs the best artists - Visits of foreigners at Soho - Extension of business - Promotes canals - His vast business - Commercial panic - Boulton's scientific pursuits Page 161-181 CHAPTER X. Water- and horse-power at Soho - Boulton's correspondence with Benjamin Franklin concerning fire-engine - Boulton's model - Correspondence with Dr. Darwin and Dr. Roebuck —Watt visits Soho — First meeting of Boulton and Watt - Correspondence of Boulton and Watt, and of Dr. Small and Watt — Dr. Roebuck visits Boulton — Watt's anxiety for Boulton to join him - Watt's discouragements - His continued experiments and their failure - Watt engineer for the Monkland Canal - Commercial panic - Watt loses employment as canal engineer - Roebuck's failure - Terms of proposed partnership between Watt, Small, and Boulton —Roebuck's share in Watt's engine transferred to Boulton — Watt's arrival at Birmingham........ 182-198 CHAPTER XI. Characteristics of Matthew Boulton - Contrast between him and Watt - Boulton's friends — Watt's engine at Soho — Boulton's views of engine business - The Kinneil engine re-erected at Soho - Works successfully - Inquiries for pumping-engines from the mining districts - Proposed extension of patent by an Act - Watt in London - Death of Dr. Small - Watt invited to Russia - Application to Parliament for extension of engine patent - Application opposed - Watt's arguments - Act obtained - Watt returns to Birmingham - The manufacture of engines begun - The Wilkinsons - First iron vessel......... 199-213 CHAPTER XII. Watt's house, Harper's Hill — First order for engines — Boulton's activity - The London engineers prophesy the failure of Watt's engine —Watt revisits Glasgow -His second marriage - Terms of partnership between Boulton and Watt - Orders from Scotland for engines - Boulton pressed with work and anxiety - Watt returns to Soho with his wife - Order for engine for Ting-tang and Chacewater mines, Cornwall — Watt and the Shadwell Waterworks Committee - Stratford-le-Bow engine- Difficulties with workmen at Soho, and with unskilled enginemen - Expansive working..................... 214-229 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. Inefficiency of the Newcomen pumping-engines - More orders from Cornwall - Watt in Cornwall - United Mines district — Mines drowned- Watt and Jonathan Hornblower - Mrs. Watt's account of Cornwall - Chacewater engine finished - Its successful working - Watt's embarrassments and financial difficulties - Boulton's courage and perseverance, and Fothergill's despondency - Fire at Soho - Engine royalty on savings of fuel Altercations with adventurers - Watt's frequent calls for Boulton's helpBoulton's harassments - Proceeds to Cornwall - Watt's return to Birmingham - His despondency - Boulton sustains the firm - Orders for engines from abroad - William Murdock, his excellencies of character and ability — First interview with Boulton and engagement - Sent to Cornwall - His mode of dealing with the captains - Watt's altercations with the Cornishmen -His reliance on Boulton -Altercation with Trevithick Page 230-260 CHAPTER XIV. Lieutenant Henderson in Cornwall- Boulton's financial embarrassments increase- Boulton and Fothergill- The "Soho pictures" - Watt's letter-copying machine - Boulton pushes the. machine - Demand for copying-presses - More financial difficulties - Watt's sufferings and melancholy - More Cornish engines wanted - Engine-dues - Boulton cheers Watt - Mining adventurers' meetings - Boulton and Watt take shares - The mines - Boulton organises the mining business - Boulton's house at Cosgarne, Cornwall — Mrs. Watt describes her husband's miseries and weakness - The engine patent threatened by the Cornish men - Watt on patent right - The Birmingham Copper Company- Boulton improves engine-boilers by introducing tubes - His MSS. and drawings concerning mechanical and scientific experiments - His indefatigable industry 261-284 CHAPTER XV. Watt again visits Cornwall - Rotary motion - The crank-engine at Soho - Theft of the invention - Matthew Washborough - Smeaton and steampower - Rotary-motion engine - Boulton and Watt's cares - Evasions of the engine patent - The Hornblowers' engine - Watt's new inventions - Boulton's confidence in the engine - Air-engine - Watt's fears for the patent - The rotary engine invented - New improvements introduced - The equalising beam -Watt's ill health and humour - Various expedients for producing circular motion - Murdock's sun-and-planet motion - Patent taken for the reciprocating expansive engine - Troubles with workmen - Murdock's efficiency and popularity - Watt's despondency - The firm's London agent's house burnt - Gloomy prospects of the mining trade...................... 285-316 CONTENTS. Niii CHAPTER XVI. Financial position of the firm - Rotary engines for mills- Boulton's battles with the Cornish adventurers- His life in Cornwall- Murdock and the miners- The Hornblowers' engine at Radstoke - Watt at Bristol — Major Tucker - Steam mills - Rotary motion applied - The first rotative engines - Pumping-engines for the Fens - Boulton's health fails - He visits Scotland, Carron ironworks, Lord Dundonald - His extensive correspondence - Grumbling in Cornwall — Concessions to the miners - Press of work at Soho - Watt's invention of the parallel motion and the governor — Murdock's model locomotive - Boulton's praise of MurdockMore pumping-engines wanted — Boulton's affection for his children — Letter to his son - His scientific recreations - Domestic enjoyment at Cosgarne................... Page 317- 341 CHAPTER XVII. Boulton's action in commercial politics - His interview with Pitt - Agitation against Pitt's commercial policy - The "Irish resolutions" - Watt on free commerce - Is opposed to political agitation - Combination against patents - Fluctuations in the business at Soho - Engine orders from various quarters - The Cornish copper-miners - The Copper Company formed, and Boulton's part in it — Riots in Cornwall — Boulton's life threatened - The esteem in which he was held in Cornwall - His intimacy with the Quakers - The Albion Mill scheme - The double-acting engines for the mill - Ill-success of the undertaking - Albion Mill burnt down - Demand for rotative engines -- Want of skill and misconduct of workmen - Wedgwood's advice to Watt Speculativeness of Boulton- His embarrassments - Watt's caution in investing - Boulton's health fails - His depressed spirits - Generosity to Watt........ 342-366 CHAPTER XYVIII. Friends of Boulton and Watt - The Lunar Society — Provincial scientific societies- Distinguished associates of the Lunar Society - Dr. Darwin - Dr. Priestley, his gifts and accomplishments - Josiah Wedgwood — Meetings and discussions of the Lunar Society - Dr. Priestley's speculations and experiments - Composition of water, Watt and Cavendish - Bleaching by chlorine - Sun-pictures - Saint-Fond at Birmingham, his descriptions of Watt and Priestley - Decline of the Lunar Society 367-385 CHAPTER XIX. Increasing debasement of the coinage -Punishments for counterfeiting - Birmingham coiners - Boulton refuses orders for base money - Executes a contract for coin for the East India Company - Applies the steam-engine to coining - Improves the coining apparatus - Political action in relation xiv CONTENTS. to base coin - Strikes model coins for inspection of the Privy Council - Opposed by the Mint authorities - Presents model coins to the king Executes coinage orders for foreign governments - His success - Medalling - Description of the Soho mint - Large consumption of copper in coining - Threatened attack on Soho by a mob -Boulton executes the new copper coinage for Great Britain - Erects the new Government Mint on Tower Hill, and mints for foreign countries - Watt's estimate of Boulton's improvements in coining............ Page 386-399 CHAPTER XX. Prosperity of Soho —Relaxed strain upon Boulton and Watt- Watt's pleasure tours —His interview with the king at Windsor —Matthew Robinson Boulton, and James Watt, jun., join their fathers in the business - their character and attainments - Boulton and young Watt - Young Boulton's return from Paris - The French revolution - The Birmingham riots - Priestley's house destroyed- Unpopularity of the " Philosophers" - Young Watt and the Jacobins - Watt's flight from Paris - Denounced by Burke —Mr. Watt's fear for his son's safety- The sons join their fathers in partnership - Important services of the young partnersEvasion of engine-dues, resistance of the Cornish mining companies - Legal proceedings and favourable judgments - Progress of the engine business - William Murdock- His valuable services- His engine improvements - Return to Soho - Invents gas-lighting - Winsor's wonderful schemes - Murdock's various inventions - Substitute for isinglass, his idea of power wasted in streets, atmospheric railway, &c. His death.................. 400-433 CHAPTER XXI. First attempts to construct steamboats - All attempts fail until Watt's condensing engine invented-The locomotive of Watt and Murdock-William Symington - His model locomotive - Symington at Edinburgh - Steamengine for canal-boats proposed by Symington - Miller's paddle-boats - Symington, Miller, and Taylor co-operate to produce a steamboat - Sir John Dalrymple's inquiries of Boulton on the same subject — Boulton's reply - Symington's engine finished and fitted in Miller's boat - Successful experiment - Symington makes another engine, further experiments - Miller applies to Boulton and Watt to join speculation - Watt's reply - Symington's engine for the'Charlotte Dundas'- Symington's success frustrated - Fulton and Bell inspect the' Charlotte Dundas'- Fulton's steamboat on the Seine- His'Nautilus' —His application to James Watt, jun. - Boulton's caution, his letter to Lord Hawkesbury - Fulton orders an engine from Soho for the'Clermont' —Its success — Henry Bell's steamboat'Comet' — Development of steam-navigation - First rendered practicable through Watt's inventions.... 434-455 CONTENTS. xv CHAPTER XXII. Watt withdraws from Soho - Boulton continues his interest in business His patent for raising water - The burglary at Soho - Sir Walter Scott and Boulton - Watt in retirement - Search for investments - Purchases land — Makes a foreign tour - Death of Mrs. Keir - Painful bereavements - Death of Dr. Black - Deaths of members of the Lunar Society - Watt's family bereavements - Watt's studies on the inhalation of gas - Gregory Watt, his brilliant talents - His friendship with Humphry Davy - His excursions and tours - His scientific pursuits - His illness and death - Davy on Gregory's death - Death of Professor Robison - Watt's estimate of Robison - Boulton's last days, his death and funeral -His character - Opinions of his contemporaries, Boswell and others, concerning him - Attachment of the workmen - His Mutual Assurance Society for the workmen- His powers of organisation- His business qualities - His strength, courage, and perseverance in fighting the battle of the steam-engine - Watt's estimate of Eoulton - Boulton's generosity Page 456-487 CHAPTER XXIII. Watt's closing years - His pursuits - His machine for copying statuary - Medallions of his friends - His garret workshop - Mrs. Watt's rule over her husband - Tenacious retention of his faculties - Is consulted by the Glasgow Waterworks Company —His visits to Cheltenham and other places - Growth and improvement of Glasgow - Watt's interview with the brothers Hart - His conversational powers - Sir Walter Scott's panegyric on Watt-His extensive and varied knowledge-His anecdotal powers - Fondness for novels - Description of him by visitors at Heathfield - His last improvements in the sculpture-copying machine - His last illness and peaceful death - Monumental honours - Lord Brougham's inscription - His qualities and genius - His modesty - His close observation — Facts and theory - Watt and Smeaton compared - Universal application of the steam-engine - Conclusion........... 488-514 INDEX.................. 515 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PORTRAIT OF JAMES WATT.......... to face Title-page,, 1MATTHEW BOULTON.......... toface page 159 I'AG E \ PAC. E Elward, second Marquis of Wor- Watt's House, Harper's Hill.... 214 cester...... 2 Map of United Mines District.. 231 Ancient Greek 2Eolipile.. 3 Watt's Pumping-Engine for Mines 236 Branca's Machine........ 7 Reldruth, High Street...... 238 De Caus's Steam Apparatus.... 9 Cardozos Pumping-Ellgine.... 260 Ruins of Raglan Castle...... 26 United Mines District and St. Day 261 Dionysius Papin........ 31 Cosgarne House........ 275 Ancient Paddle-Boat...... 36 Entrance to ditto........ 284 Thomas Savery.41 The " Waggon and Horses,' HandsSection of Savery's Paddle-Boat..43 worth....285 Savery's Fire-Engine...... 52 The Crank as applied in the FootHuel Vor............ 55 Lathe.287 Newcomen's House, Dartmouth 60 " rr Horses"....2..8.. Newcomen's Atmospheric Engine.. 67 Horses uins of Whea Forte 70 Old Engine-House, Dalcoath.. 306 Sun-and-Planet Motion...... 309 Polgootlh............71 "Old Bess " Engine...... 326 Jonathan Hull's Steam-Boat.... 73 The parallel Motion...... 334 Dartmouth from the Harbour.. 76 The Governor......335 Greenock and the Clyde, 1865.. 78 Poeoth Enine-House.... 33 Greenock Harbour, 1768.... 79 GreenockHarHour, 1 k Double Acting Engine, Albion Mill 355 Crawfordsburn House, Greenock.. 80 Dr. Priestle.. 370 James Watt Tavern, Greenock.. 87 Site of Soo int399 Site of Soho MIint.... 399 Burning of Dr. Priestley's House.. 411 Inner Quadrangle, Glasgow College 107 William Murdock 422 Isometric View of Glasgow College, Murdock's House, Handsworth.. 433 1693..108 The Broom ielaw in 1760. 116 The " Comet" passing Dumbarton 453 Professor Robison 1...60... 117 Watt's House, Heathfield..... 456 Papin's Digesteron.. 120 Boulton's Monument in Handsworth Church........ 478 The Neweomen Model.......121 The Garret at Heathfield.. 494 Watt's House, Delftfield Lane.. 126 iller's Triple Vessel Watt's first Improved Apparatus.. 130 132 Symington's first Steamboat-EnDr. Joseph Black......g.. 441 Kinneil House........ 142 uKineil House. behin.... 142 Miller's Experimental Steamboat.. 442 Outhouse behind Kinneil.... 148 3Machinery of the' Charlotte DunHamilton Bridge. 156 das'.... 447 Port Glasgow......... 158 Water-Pipe in the Bed of the Clyde 497 Birmingham. 160 Watt's Chapel and Monument, Soho Manufactory.... 169 Handsworth Church...... 508 Soho House...... 177 Handsworth Church...... 514 BEGINNINGS OF THE STEAM-ENGINE: THE EARLY INVENTORS. B) EDWARD, SECOND MARQUIS OF1 WORCESTER. [ By'T'. D. Scott after Vauldvck.] ANCIENT GREEK ~EOLIPILE. BEGINNINGS OF THE STEAM-ENGINE: THE EARLY INVENTORS. CHAPTER I. DAWNINGS OF STEAM POWER -THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. WHEN Matthew Boulton entered into partnership with James Watt, he gave up the ormolu business in which he had before been principally engaged. He had been accustomed to supply George III. with articles of this manufacture, but ceased to wait upon the King for orders after embarking in his new enterprise. Some time after, he appeared at the Royal Levee and was at once recognised by the King. "Ha! Boulton," said he, "it is long since we have seen you at Court. Pray, what business are you now engaged in?" "I am engaged, your Majesty, in the production of a commodity which is the desire of kings." " And what is that? what B 2 4 BOULTON AND GEORGE III. CHAP. I. is that?" asked the King. "POWER, your Majesty," replied Boulton, who proceeded to give a description of the great uses to which the steam-engine was capable of being applied. If the theory of James Mill' be true, that government is founded on the desire which exists among men to secure and enjoy the products of labour, by whatsoever means produced, probably the answer of Boulton to George III. was not far from correct. In the infancy of nations this desire manifested itself in the enforcement of labour by one class upon another, in the various forms of slavery and serfdom. To evade the more onerous and exhausting kinds of bodily toil, men were impelled to exercise their ingenuity in improving old tools and inventing new ones, —while, to increase production, they called the powers of nature to their aid. They tamed the horse, and made him their servant; they caught the winds as they blew, and the waters as they fell, and applied their powers to the driving of mills and machines of various kinds. But there was a power greater by far than that of horses, wind, or water, —a power of which poets and philosophers had long dreamt,-capable of being applied alike to the turning of mills, the raising of water, the rowing of ships, the driving of wheel-carriages, and the performance of labour in its severest forms. As early as the thirteenth century, Roger Bacon described this great new power in terms which, interpreted by the light of the present day, could only apply to the power of Steam. He anticipated that "chariots may be made so as to be moved with incalculable force, without any beast drawing them," and that " engines of navigation might be made without oarsmen, so that the greatest river and sea ships, with only one man to steer them, may sail swifter than if they were fully manned." 1 Article " Government," in' Encycloptedia Britannica.' CHAP. I. MYSTERIOUS POWER OF STEAM. 5 But Bacon was a seer rather than an expounder, a philosophic poet rather than an inventor; and it was left to men of future times to find out the practical methods of applying the wonderful power which he had imagined and foretold. The enormous power latent in water exposed to heat had long been known. Its discovery must have been almost contemporaneous with that of fire. The expansive force of steam would be obvious on setting the first partially-closed pipkin upon the fire. If closed, the lid would be blown off; and even if the vessel were of iron, it would soon burst with appalling force. Was it possible to render so furious and apparently unmanageable an agent, docile and tractable? Even in modern times, the explosive force of steam could only be compared to that of gunpowder; and it is a curious fact, that both De Hautefeuille and Papin proposed to employ gunpowder in preference to steam in driving a piston in a cylinder, considering it to be the more manageable power of the two. Although it appears from the writings of the Greek physician, Hero, who flourished at Alexandria more than a century before Christ, that steam was well known to the ancients, it was employed by them merely as a toy, or as a means of exciting the wonder of the credulous. In his treatise on Pneumatics, Hero gives descriptions of various methods of employing steam or heated air for the purpose of producing apparently magical effects; from which we infer that the agency of heat was employed by the heathen priests in the performance of their rites. By one of the devices which he describes, water was apparently changed into wine; by another, the temple doors were opened by fire placed on the sacrificial altar; while by a third, the sacrificial vessel was so contrived as to flow only when the money of the votary was cast into it. Another ingenious device con. sisted in the method employed to pour out libations. (; THE WHIRLING 2EOLIPILE. CHAP. 1. Upon the altar-fire being kindled, the air in the interior became expanded and, pressing upon the surface of the liquid which it contained, forced it up a connectingpipe, and so out of the sacrificial cup. The libation was made, and the people cried, "A miracle!" But Hero knew the trick, and explained the arrangement by which it was accomplished: it forms the subject of his eleventh theorem. The most interesting of the other devices described by Hero is the whirling IEolipile, or ball of ZEolus, which, though but a toy, possessed the properties of a true steam-engine, and was most probably the first ever invented. As Hero's book professes to be, for the most part, but a collection of the devices handed down by former writers, and as he does not lay claim to its invention, it is probable the lZEolipile may have been known long before his time. The machine consisted of a hollow globe of metal, moving on its axis, and- communicating with a caldron of water placed underneath. The globe was provided with one or more tubes projecting from it, closed at the ends, but open on one side. When a fire was lit under the caldron, and the steam was raised, it filled the globe, and, projecting itself against the air through the openings in the tubes, the reactive force thus produced caused the globe to spin round upon its axis " as if it were animated from within by a living spirit."' The mechanical means by which these various objects were accomplished, as explained by Hero, show that the ancients were acquainted with the ordinary expedients for communicating motion, such as the wheel and axle, spur-wheels, toothed pinions and sectors, the lever-beam, I The principle of the AEolipile is sive in steam than ordinary engines, the same as that embodied in Avery and travel at an inconvenient speed; and Ruthven's engines for the produc- but in other respects they are quite tion of rotary motion. "These en- as effectual, and their construction is gines," says Bourne, "are more expen- extremely simple and inexpensive." CHAP. I. BRANCA'S MACHINE. 7 and other well-known expedients; while they also knew of' the cylinder and piston, the three-way cock, slidevalves and valve-clacks,1 and many other ingenious mechanical details which have been reinvented in modern times. Hero's book lay hidden in manuscript and buried in libraries, until the revival of learning in Italy in the sixteenth century, when a translation of it appeared at Bologna in 1547. By that time printing had been invented; and the multiplication of copies being thereby rendered easy, the book was soon brought under the notice of inquiring men throughout Europe. The work must, indeed, have excited an extraordinary degree of interes; in proof of which it may be mentionedthateight different editions, in different languages, were published within _l_ a century. The minds of the curious and the scientific were thus directed to the subject of steam as a motive power. But for a long BRNCA'S MACHINE. tinme they never got beyond the idea of Hero's iEolipile, though they endeavoured to apply the rotary motion produced by it in different ways. Thus, a German writer suggested that it should be used to turn spits, instead of turnspit dogs; and Branca, the Italian architect, used the steam jet projected from a brazen head to drive an apparatus 1 See Bennet Wooderoft's'Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria,' from the original Greek. London, 1851. 8 SOLOMON DE CAUS. CHAP. I. contrived by him for pounding drugs. The jet forced round the vanes of a wheel, so as to produce a rotary motion, and this, being communicated to other wheels, set in motion a rod and stamper, after the manner shown in the preceding cut. Solomon de Caus was another of the speculative inquirers whose attention was drawn to the subject of steam by the publication of Hero's book. De Caus was a native of Normandy, and for some time studied the profession of an architect in Italy; from whence he returned to France early in the seventeenth century. Religious persecution was then raging, and, being a Protestant, he was glad to take refuge from it in England. He entered the service of the Prince of Wales, by whom he was for a time employed in designing grottoes, fountains, and hydraulic ornaments for the Palace Gardens at Richmond. While occupied in that capacity he gave lessons in design to the Princess Elizabeth; and on her marriage to the Elector Palatine he accompanied her to Heidelberg, to take charge of the Castle gardens there. It was while residing at Heidelberg that De Caus wrote his well-known book on hydraulics, which was published at Frankfort in 1615.1 One of De Caus's expedients for raising water consisted of an apparatus in which he proposed to employ the expansive power of steam for the purpose. In Hero's book it is shown how a column of water may be thrown up by means of compressed air; and De Caus merely proposed to employ steam instead of air. His apparatus was very simple. It consisted of a spherical vessel fitted with two pipes, one of them provided with a cock and funnel; the other, which reached down to near the bottom of the vessel, being open at the top to the external air. When the vessel was filled with Les Raisons des Forces Mou- de Caus, Inegnieur et Architecte du vantes, avec diverses machines tant Roy. Frankfort, 1615. utiles que plaisanltes, &c., par Solomon CHAP. I. DE CAUS'S STEAM APPARATUS. t9 water and a fire lit underneath, the water was forced up the open tube in a jet, greater or less in proportion to the elasticity of the steam. When both tubes were tightly closed, so that neither steam nor water could escape, the heat, says De Caus, would shortly cause a compression from within so violent that "the ball will burst in pieces, with a noise like a petard." It will be observed that there was _ little mechanical contrivance, and no practical use in this apparatus; it merely furnished an illustration of.DE CAUS'S STEAM At"PARATUS the extraordinary force of pent-up steam, and that was all. Though De Caus made many experiments with his steam-vessel, he never succeeded in making —if, indeed, he ever attempted to make-a working steam-engine of any kind. It is not improbable that he was dismayed, as others were, by the apparent violence of the imprisoned monster; and it. needed a more ingenious head than his to contrive a method of rendering him docile, and making him go quietly in harness.' 1 De Caus eventually returned to Richelieu, and reproduced the original France, and was appointed engineer to documents, which he discovered slumthe Kinc. During the later years of bering in the dust of the State Records his life he was employed in carrying at Paris. In 1621 De Caus is found out plans for the better supply of proposing to Louis XIII. to adopt Paris with water. The story so often measures for cleansing Paris and the told of De Caus having been shut up faubourgs of dirt and uncleanness, in the Bicetre turns out to be a fic- by a system of reservoirs established tion. Though a Huguenot, he was at elevated points, and by fountains at not )persecuted by Richelieu, but was, various places which he indicated. on the contrary, employed by him; The king and his council s.ent the and in 1624 he dedicated to that propositions to the chief magistrate of prelate his treatise entitled' Horologes Paris, and Mr. Read transcribes the Solitaires.' Mr. Charles Read, editor deliberation which took place on the of several interesting memoirs of early subject at the City Council, as handed French Protestants, has recently'down in the records deposited in the brought to light and published in the Imperial Archives. De Caus died at'Gazette des Tribunaux' the proofs Paris, and was buried in the church of the patronage of De Caus by of La Trinite in February, 1626. 10 THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER. CHAP. I. It is probable that the first contriver of a working steam-engine was Edward, second Marquis of Worcester, one of the first and most illustrious of a long line of unfortunate inventors. The career of that noblemanborn though he was to high rank and great estate —was chequered and sad in no ordinary degree. Edward Somerset was the eldest son of Henry Lord Herbert, afterwards Earl of Worcester, and consequently heir to that title. He was born in London in 1601. His early years were principally spent at Raglan Castle, his father's country seat, where his education was carefully attended to. In the course of his pupilage he made occasional visits to the continent, accompanied by his tutor, for the purpose of acquiring that degree of polish and culture considered necessary for a person of his social position. Ohi the accession of his father to the Earldom of Worcester, in 1627, Edward became Lord Herbert by courtesy; and in the following year he married, and went to reside at Raglan Castle. From an early period of his life Lord Herbert took especial pleasure in mechanical studies, and in the course of his foreign tours he visited and examined the famous works of construction abroad; for as yet there were none such in England. On settling down at Raglan, he proceeded to set up a laboratory, or workshop, wherein to indulge his mechanical tastes, and perhaps to while away the tedium of a country life. To assist him in his labours, he engaged a clever foreign mechanic, named Caspar Kaltoff, who remained in his service for many years, and materially helped him in his various contrivances. Among the works executed by Lord Herbert and his assistant at Raglan, was the hydraulic apparatus by means of which the castle was supplied with water. From an incidental reference to the "water-works" by a contemporary writer, we learn that they consisted of a series of engines and wheels, by means of which water was raised through pipes to a (IIAP. I. HIS WATER-WORKS. 11 cistern placed on the summit of the central tower.' It is probable that the planning and construction of these works induced Lord Herbert to prosecute the study of hydraulics, and to enter upon that series of experiments as to the power of steam which eventually led to the contrivance of his " Water-commanding Engine." In pursuits and studies such as these, Lord Herbert spent about seven years at Raglan Castle. But his wife dying in 1635, the place became connected in his mind with too painful associations, and he shortly after left it to reside in London. On his arrival there, he proceeded- to put to the practical test a plan of perpetual motion which he had long studied, and now thought he had brought to perfection. He accordingly had his self-moving wheel2 set up in the Tower; but though it moved, its motion did not prove perpetual, and it shortly dropped out of sight, to be no more heard of. 1 Dr. Bayly, in his' Apothegms' tans fled down the narrow staircase in (1682), p. 87, describes the fright such haste that they lost footing and given to some Puritan visitors on the fell, tumbling one over the other, and occasion of their searching Raglan never halted until they had got the Castle for arms, the Marquis of Wor- castle out of sight. Mr. Dircks, in cester being a known Papist. " Hav- his able and exhaustive'Life, Times, ing carried them up and down the and Scientific Labours of the Marquis castle, his lordship at length brought of Worcester,' London, 1865, says them over a high bridge that arched that this hydraulic apparatus "proover the moat between the castle and bably depended for its operation on the great tower, wherein the Lord the influence of heat from burning Herbert had lately contrived certain fuel acting on a suitably constructed water-works, which, when the several boiler, and so arranged as to be able engines and wheels were set agoing, to apply the expansive force of steam much quantity of water through the to the driving or' water through verhollow conveyances of the aqueducts tical pipes to a considerable elevawas to be let down from the top of tion." But it does not seem to us an high tower." When all was ready that the facts stated are sufficient to for the surprise, the water was let in, warrant this assumption. and it made such a hideous and fearful 2 Mr. Dircks says " it was a manoise by reason of the hollowness of chine consisting of a wheel 14 feet the tower, and the neighbouring in diameter, carrying forty weights echoes of the castle, that the men of forty pounds each, and is supposed stood amazed and terror-struck. At to have rotated on an axle supported this point up c:lne a man staring and on two pillars or upright frames," as running, who exclaimed, "Look to indicated in the'Century of Invenyourselves, my masters, for the lions tions,' Art. 56. are got loose." Whereupon the Puri 12 THE GREAT REBELLION. CHAP. I. After the lapse of four years, Lord Herbert again married, taking to wife the Lady Margaret, second daughter of the Earl of Thomond. In the year after his second marriage, the celebrated Long Parliament began its sittings. Questions of great public import were agitating the minds of thinking men, and the nation was gradually becoming divided into two hostile parties, soon to be arrayed against each other in deadly strife. A Royalist and a Roman Catholic like his father, Lord Herbert at once ranged himself on the side of the King. On the outbreak of the Civil War, we find both father and son actively employed in mustering forces, and preparing to hold the western counties against the Parliament. Raglan Castle was strongly garrisoned, and fortifications were thrown up around it, so as to render it secure against assault. The Earl, now Marquis of Worcester, was appointed Generalissimo of the Western Forces, while his son, Lord Herbert, was made General of South Wales. From this office he was shortly after called by the King, who, creating him Earl of Glamorgan, despatched him on a mission to Ireland, with the object of stirring up the loyalists of that kingdom, and inducing them to come to his help. This delicate office he is said to have performed with more zeal than discretion. Indeed, the studious habits of his early life must in a measure have unfitted him for the conduct of so important an affair; and the bungle he made of it was such that the King felt himself under the necessity of repudiating the acts which the Earl had done in his name. It is unnecessary that we should follow the fortunes of the house of Raglan in the course of the civil war. Suffice it to say that the King's cause was utterly lost; that Raglan Castle was besieged, taken, and dismantled; that the Marquis of Worcester, having advanced to the King at different times as much as 122,5001., had completely impoverished himself; and that when the Earl CHAP. 1. IMPRISONED IN THE TOWER. 13 succeeded to his father's title, and became second Marquis of Worcester, in 1646, he inherited an exhausted exchequer, a confiscated estate, and a ruined home. The services he had rendered to the King were remembered against him; and to escape the vengeance of his political enemies he took refuge in France. There he ~lived in poverty and in exile for a period of about five years. At length, drawn to England by the powerful attractions of wife and family, and probably also commissioned to perform a service for the exiled Charles II., the Marquis secretly visited London in 1655, where he was shortly after detected, apprehended, and imprisoned in the Tower. He sought and found solace, during his confinement, in study and contemplation, reverting to his early experiments in mechanics; and he occupied the long and weary hours in committing to paper descriptions of his' many ingenious devices, which he afterwards published in his'Century of Inventions.' The Marquis's old and skilled mechanic, Caspar Kaltoff, continued faithful to him in his adversity, and was permitted to hold free communication with him; from which we infer that his imprisonment was not of a very rigid character. After lying in the Tower for about two years, the Marquis was liberated on bail, in October, 1654, when he proceeded to take steps to erect his long-contemplated Water-commanding Engine. Even while a prisoner, we find him negotiating with the then owner of Vauxhall for its purchase, with a view to the establishment there of a school of skilled industry; thus anticipating by nearly two centuries the School of Mines and Manufactures at South Kensington. In the month preceding his enlargement we find Hartlib writing to the Hon. Robert Boyle, —" The Earl of Worcester is buying Fauxhall from Mr. Trenchard, to bestow the use of that house upon Caspar Calchoff and his son as long as they shall live, for he intends to make it a College of 14 S'1RAI' ENED IN MEANS. CHAP. I Artizans."l His main difficulty, however, consisted in raising the necessary means fbr carrying his excellent project into effect. He was, indeed, so reduced in his circumstances as to be under the necessity of petitioning his political enemies for the bare means of living; and we find Cromwell, in the course of the year following his liberation from prison, issuing a warrant for the payment to him of three pounds a week " for his better maintenance." The Marquis also tried the experiment of levying contributions from his friends; but they were, for the most part, as poor as himself. He next tried the wealthy men of the Parliamentary party, and succeeded in obtaining several advances of money from Colonel Copley, who took an active interest in the prosecution of various industrial undertakings.2 The following letter from the Marquis to Copley shows the straits to which he was reduced:-," DEAR FRIEND,-I knowe not with what face to desire a curtesie from you, since I have not yet payed you the five powndes, and the mayne businesse soe long protracted, whereby my reality and kindnesse should with thankfullnesse appeare; for though the least I intende you is to make up the somme already promised to a thousand powndes yearly, or a share ammounting to four more, which, to nominate before the perfection of the woorke, were but an individuum vagum, and, therefore, I deferre it, and upon noe other score. Yet in this interim, my disappointments are soe great, as that I am forced to begge, if you could possible, eyther to helpe me with tenne powndes to this bearer, or to make use of the coache, and to goe to Mr. Clerke, and if he could this day help me to fifty powndes, then to paye your selfe the five powndes I owe you out of them. The Alderman has taken three days' time to consider of it. Pardon the great trouble I give you, which I doubt not but in time to deserve, by really appearing "Your most thankfull friend, " WORCESTER. " 28th March, 16.56. "To my honoured friend, Collonel CHRISTOPHER COPPLEY, these." The original of this letter is endorsed " My Lord of' Weld's Royal Society,' i. 53.' Industrial Biography,' p. 57. CHAP. 1. IHOPES REVIVED). 15 Worcester's letter about my share in his engine," firom which it would appear that the Marquis induced his friends to advance him money on the promise of a certain proportion of shares in the undertaking. He also pressed his invention upon the notice of Government, representing that he was in a position to do his Highness the Protector " more service than any one subject of his three nations." But neither the Protector nor his Ministers took any further notice of the Marquis or his project. It is probable that they regarded him as a bore, and his water-commanding engine as the mere dream of a projector. The Marquis himself continued to be as confident as ever of the ultimate success of his scheme. He believed that it would yet realise him an immense fortune. Writing of the engine to the Earl of Lotherdale, he described it as "the greatest invention for profit that I ever yet heard of vouchsafed to a man, especially so unworthy and ignorant as I am." But the Marquis was not so humble as he affected to be, believing in his heart that he had invented, without exception, the most wonderful machine of the age. Still it remained a mere project. Without the means of erecting an engine, it promised to remain such; and all his efforts to raise the necessary funds had thus far proved unavailing. The Restoration of Charles II., in 1660, revived his hopes. Now that the King enjoyed his own again, the Marquis believed that he, too, would come into possession of the means for carrying out his project. For thirteen years he had lived in exile, in prison, and in poverty: but brighter days had dawned at last; and he indulged in the hope that compensation would at length be made to him for his sufferings in the cause of the Stuarts, and that he would now bask in the sunshine of Royal favour. He made all haste to represent his case to the king, and to claim restitution for his heavy losses iii the late war. But there were thousands of like sup 16 HIS INVENTIONS PROTECTED. CHAP. I. pliants all over the kingdom, and redress came slowly. The Marquis was, however, shortly put in possession of such parts of his estates as had not been sold by the Protector; but he found them for the most part cleared of their timber, and comparatively valueless. The castle at Raglan was in ruins. He himself was heavily burdened with debt, and his creditors were becoming increasingly importunate for money. It was thus long before he could shake himself clear of his embarrassments, and devote himself to the great object of his life, the prosecution of his water-commanding engine. One of his first cares, on the partial recovery of his property, was to obtain a legal protection for his inventions; and in the year following the Restoration we find him taking out a patent for four of his schemes,a watch or clock, guns or pistols, an engine to give security to a coach, and a boat to sail against wind and tide. In the session of Parliament, 1662-3, he obtained an Act securing to himself the profits of the watercommanding engine. About the same time he gave to the world his famous'Century,'1 which contains his own account of his various inventions. In the second dedication of the book to the members of both Houses of Parliament he states that he had already expended the large sum of 10,0001. on experiments; but he professed that he esteemed himself sufficiently rewarded by the passing of "the Act of the Water-commanding Engine," and, his debts once paid, he intended to devote the rest of his life to the service of his King and country. The'Century' is a mere summary of things alleged to have been tried and perfected, conveyed in vague and mysterious language, and calculated rather to excite I'A Century of the Names and stance of a powerful Friend, enScantlings of such Inventions as at deavoured now, in the year 1655, to present I can call to mind to have set these down in such a way as may tried and perfected, which (my former sufficiently instruct me to put any of Notes being lost) I have, at the in- them in practice.' London, 1663. CHAP. I. SUGGESTIONS IN THE'SCANTLINGS.' 17 wonder than to furnish information. The descriptions were unaccompanied by plans or drawings, so that we can only surmise the means by which he proposed to carry his schemes into effect. It is possible that he purposely left the descriptions of his inventions vague, in order that he might not be anticipated in their application; for it is certain that at the time the book was written the Marquis had not taken out his first patent, nor obtained the Act securing to him the profits of his engine. There can, however, be no doubt that, vague and mysterious though the'Scantlings' be, they indicate a knowledge of mechanical principles considerably in advance of the age, as well as a high degree of mechanical ingenuity. The hundred Articles into which the book is divided contain suggestions, in shorthand descriptions, of things so various as ship-destroying machines, telegraphs, combination and escutcheon locks,' improvements in fire-arms, universal alphabets, seals and watches, various kinds of cipher, a boat rowing against wind and tide, automata, and mechanical appliances of different kinds, including the "stupendious and semiomnipotent" engine. Some of them read like descriptions of conjuring tricks, such as the artificial bird, the hour water-ball, the flying man, the brazen head, the dicing-box, and various automata. Others are full The writer of the elaborate article woman, may, with her delicate hand, "Lock," in the supplement to the vary the ways of coming to open the'Penny Cyclopsedia' (ii. 217), in de- lock ten millions of times beyond the scribing the combination lock, says: knowledge of the smith that made it, "The Marquis of Worcester, in whose or of me who invented it.',The details'Century of Inventions' several dif- of this invention are not given; but in ferent kinds of lock, which lay claim the third volume of the'Transactions to the most marvellous properties, are of the Society of Arts,' pp. 160-5, is enumerated, would appear, from his an escutcheon of similar character, 72nd article, to have devised an im- invented by Mr. Marshall, and reprovement on this apparatus; as he warded by the Society in 1784. The refers to'an escutcheon to be placed details of this ingenious contrivance before any of these locks,' one of the are fully given in the volume referred properties of which he describes as to." being that'the owner, though a C 18 ENGINE AT VAUXHALL. CHAP. I. of prophetic insight, and contain anticipations of mechanical marvels, which, however wonderful they may at that time have appeared, have since been fully realised. The style in which the treatise was written, however, presented so remarkable a contrast to the contemporary writings of Newton, Boyle, Pascal, Guericke, and others, that it is not improbable it had the effect of prejudicing the minds of scientific men against the writer, and led them to regard his schemes as those of a wild projector, and hence to treat his propositions with neglect, if not with contumely. So soon as the Marquis had become possessed of the requisite funds, he proceeded to erect an engine at Vauxhall to illustrate the uses of his principal invention. He was assisted, as before, by his old workman, Caspar Kaltoff. It is probable that the engine was erected by the beginning, of 1663; for in the course of that year M. Sorbiere paid, his visit to England, and found the Marquis's "hydraulic machine" at work. He describes it as capable of raising, by the strength of one man only, within a minute of time, four large buckets of water to a height of forty feet, through a pipe eight inches in.diameter. He proceeds to compare it with another machine at Somerset House, worked by one or two horses, which he considers the more effective machine of the two.' This account of the Marquis's in1 His words are these:-" One of to the wants of the public is the work the most curious things that I wished which is performed by another into see was an hydraulic machine which geniously-constructed machine, which the Marquis of Worcester has invented, can be seen raised on a wooden tower and of which he is making trial. I on the top of Somerset House, which went with all speed to Fox-hall, on supplies that part of the town with the other side of the Thames, a little water, but with some difficulty, and a below Lambeth, which is the Palace of smaller quantity than could be desired. the Archbishop of Canterbury, in sight It is somewhat like our Samaritane of London. This machine will raise to water-work on the Pont Neuf; and the height of forty feet, by the strength on the raising-pump they have added of one man only, and in a minute of an impulsion which increases the time, four large buckets of water force; but for what we obtain by the through a pipe of eight inches. But power of the Seine, they employ one what will be the most powerful help or two horses, which incessantly turn CHAP. I. RIDICULE OF HIS CONTRIVANCE. 19 vention is confirmed by another brief description of it, which occurs in the narrative of the travels of Cosmo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in England, some years later. Count Magalotti, the narrator, says, "It raises water more than forty geometrical feet, by the power of one man only; and in a very short space of time will draw up four vessels of water through a tube or channel not more than a span in width, on which account it is considered to be of greater service to the public than the other machine at Somerset House." It will thus be observed that the Duke's secretary entertained a different opinion from that expressed by M. Sorbiere as to the comparative merits of the two engines spoken of. It is worthy of remark that the incidental accounts of these two foreigners contain almost the only contemporary information we possess as to the character of the Marquis's invention. English writers of the time are almost entirely silent about it; and when Dr. Hooke, the learned Secretary of the Royal Society, refers to the contrivance, it is in a tone of ridicule rather than of praise. Writing to Mr. Boyle, in 1667, he characterises the definition or description of the water-commanding engine as "so purely romantic that it would serve one rarely to fill up half a dozen pages in the'History of Fortunatus his Wishing Cap.'... " I was," he adds, "since my return to London to see this engine, when I found Caltrop [Kaltoff], his chief engineer, to laugh at it; and as far as I was able to see it, it seemed one of the perpetual-motion fallacies; of which kind Caltrop himself, and two or three others that I know, are labouring at this time in vain to make, but after several ways; and nothing but costly experience will make them desist."' It is difficult to gather from the statements of Sorthe machine, as the river changes its Sorbidre,'Relation d'un Voyage en course twice a day, and the spring or Angleterre.' wheels which are used for the ebbing 1 The Works of the Hon. Robert tide would not do for the flow."- Boyle, v. 532. c2 20 THE MARQUIS'S DEFINITION. CHAP. I biere and Cosmo de Medici what was the precise nature of the Marquis's hydraulic apparatus. There is no mention whatever of steam, either in their accounts or in that of Dr. Hooke; but the latter does not seem to have been allowed to examine the details of the machine. From the mention by Sorbiere of the "four large buckets of water," and by Cosmo's secretary, of " four vessels of water," it might possibly have been only an improved hydraulic apparatus, worked by a man instead of a horse. In order, therefore, to obtain a clue to the real nature of the machine we find it necessary to resort to the Marquis's'Scantlings' for his own account of its action, and we find it in article No. 68, which runs as follows: " 68. An admirable and most forcible way to drive up water by fire, not by drawing or sucking it upwards, for that must be as the Philosopher calleth it, Intra sphceram activitatis, which is but at such a distance. But this way hath no Bounder, if the Vessels be strong enough; for I have taken a piece of a whole Cannon, whereof the end was burst, and filled it three-quarters full of water, stopping and scruing up the broken end; as also the Touch-hole; and making a constant fire under it, within twenty-four hours it burst and made a great crack: So that having a way to make my Vessels, so that they are strengthened by the force within them, and the one to fill after the other, I have seen the water run like a constant Fountainestream forty foot high; one Vessel of water rarified by fire driveth up forty of cold water. And a man that tends the work is but to turn two Cocks, that one Vessel of water being consumed, another begins to force and refill with cold water, and so successively, the fire being tended and kept constant, which the self-same Person may likewise abundantly perform in the interim between the necessity of turning the said Cocks." From this account we gather that the Marquis had contrived a plan for raising water by the expansive force of steam, after the manner of De Caus, but with important modifications and improvements. It had obviously occurred to him, that by generating the steam in a separate vessel, and conveying it by means of a suitable pipe to a second closed vessel, he could thereby CHAP. I. HIS STEAM-ENGINE. 21 make it expel the water which the latter contained by pressing upon its surface, as in De Caus's apparatus. The admission of the steam could easily be regulated by the turning of two cocks; one to admit the steam from the boiler, and the other to allow the exit of the water'. On the expulsion of the water, and the production of a vacuum by the condensation of the contained steam, the empty vessel would at once be refilled by the action of the atmospheric pressure on the surface of the water to be raised. It is probable that this engine was -in the absence of a feed-pump, of which there is no mention-provided with two boilers as well as with the two cisterns in which the "forcing and refilling" went on, so as to maintain the " constant fountain-stream" which the Marquis describes. But the precise arrangement of parts by which he accomplished this object must ever remain a matter of mere conjecture. We have other distinct indications of a steam-engine in the Marquis's 98th, 99th, and 100th Articles, which ought to be read in connection with the 68th Article: they run as follows:"98. An Engine so contrived, that working the Primum mobile forward or backward, upward or downward, circularly or cornerwise, to and fro, streight, upright or downright, yet the pretended Operation continueth, and advanceth none of the motions abovementioned, hindering, much less stopping the other; but unanimously, and with harmony agreeing they all augment and contribute strength unto the intended work and operation: And therefore I call this A Semi-omnipotent -Engine, and do intend that a Model thereof be buried with me." " 99. How to make one pound weight to raise an hundred as high as one pound falleth, and yet the hundred pound descending doth what nothing less than one hundred pound can effect." "100. Upon so potent a help as thesetwo last-mentioned Inventions a Waterwork is by many years experience and labour so advantageously by me contrived, that a Child's force bringeth up an hundred foot high an incredible quantity of water, even two foot Diameter, so naturally, that the work will not be heard even into the next Room; and with so great ease and Geometrical Symmetry, that though it work day and night from one end of the 22 NO MODEL PRESERVED. CHAP. I. year to the other, it will not require forty shillings reparation to the whole Engine, nor hinder ones day-work. And I may boldly call it The most stupendious Work in the whole world: not onely with little charge to drein all sorts of Mines, and furnish Cities with water, though never so high seated, as well to keep them sweet, running through several streets, and so performing the work of Scavengers, as well as furnishing the Inhabitants with sufficient water for their private occasions; but likewise supplying Rivers with sufficient to maintaine and make them portable from Towne to Towne, and for the bettering of Lands all the way it runs; with many more advantageous, and yet greater effects of Profit, Admiration, and Consequence. So that deservedly I deem this Invention to crown my Labours, to reward my Expences, and make my Thoughts acquiesce in way of further Inventions: This making up the whole Century, and preventing any further trouble to the Reader for the present, meaning to leave to Posterity a Book, wherein under each of these Heads the means to put in execution and visible trial all and every of these Inventions, with the shape and form of all things belonging to them, shall be Printed by Brassplates." The promised book was never written, and we are accordingly left in uncertainty as to the precise character of the Marquis's inventions. That he had a full conviction of the great powers of steam, as well as of its manageability and extensive practical uses, is sufficiently clear; but that he ever erected any engines after the plans thus summarily described is matter of considerable doubt. It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the number and variety of his suggested inventions, not a single model or machine constructed by the Marquis or his skilled workmen has been preserved. Mr. Dircks, who has collected and published all that is likely to be brought to light relative to the life and works of the Marquis, and has laboured at his task with a rare love and enthusiasm for his subject, naturally expresses surprise that " none of the many cabinets of the curious seem to have possessed any model or work of his production; not even the indefatigable Tradescant, although his museum was at Lambeth."1 But it is probable, as we have already 1 Dircks's'Life and T'imes,' &c., 356. CHAP. I. AMBIGUITY OF THE ARTICLES. 23 observed, that the Marquis's'Scantlings,' notwithstanding his statement that he had "tried and perfected" the inventions of which he speaks, were rather the foreshadowings of things to come than the descriptions of things that had actually been executed. Thus, no one pretends that the Marquis ever constructed a steamboat, and yet his description of a vessel "to work itself against wind and tide, yea, both, without the help of man or beast," can apply to nothing else.' " This engine," said he, " is applicable to any vessel or boat whatsoever, without being therefore made on purpose, and worketh these effects: it roweth, it draweth, it driveth, (if need be) to pass London Bridge against the stream at low-water, and a boat laying at anchor, the engine may be used for loading or unloading." But it would not be possible for any one to make an engine after the description given in the'Scantlings;' and to a generation unacquainted with the powers of steam, his suggestions would be altogether without meaning. The strongest evidence which could be adduced of the ambiguity of the Marquis's'Articles' is to be found in the fact that the various ingenious writers who have given plans of his supposed engine have represented it in widely different forms. Farey assumes that it worked by the expansive force of steam; Bourne, that it worked by condensation and atmospheric pressure; Dircks infers that it included such ingenious expedients as valves and even a four-way cock, worked by a lever-handle; Stuart, that it contained a cylinder and piston, and was, in fact, a complete high-pressure lever-engine. Again, the drawings of the various writers on engineering who have attempted to reproduce the engine —of Stuart, 1 Mr. Woodcroft is, however, of rope and dragged the boat onward to opinion that the Marquis's contrivance the other end of the rope fixed by an was but a boat with paddle-wheels, anchor; certainly a more clumsy and with an axis across it, which axis less notable contrivance than that of was turned by the action of the stream a steamboat. on the paddles, and thus wound up a 24 SEEKS ACCESS TO THE KING. CHAP. I. Galloway, Millington, and I)Dircks-differ in essential respects. When Watt was on one occasion asked for his opinion as to the precise nature of the Marquis's contrivance, his answer was, that the descriptions given were too obscure to enable any definite opinion to be formed on the subject; but he thought that the expansive power of steam was the principle on which the engine worked. He added, that no one could possibly erect an engine after the Marquis's'Scantlings,' and that any inventor desirous of constructing a steam-engine would have to begin again at the beginning. But though the Marquis did not leave the steam-engine in such a state as to be taken up and adopted as a practicable working power, he at least advanced it several important steps. In this world, it is not given to man to finish; to persevere, to improve, and to advance, are all that can be hoped for; and these are. enough for the real philosopher. Little remains to be told of the unfortunate Marquis's history. His water-commanding engine proved of no service to him. It only increased his embarrassments by involving him in further debts. The Restoration, though it gave him back his estates, did not mend his fortunes, and he continued to importune his'friends for loans. He sought access to the King by petition; but it became more and more difficult to approach him. On one occasion he tried to accomplish his purpose through the influence of his Majesty's mistress, Lady Castlemaine. Provided she could persuade the king to grant his request, he offered to present to her "a thousand pieces to buy her a little jewel, which she' deserves to wear every day of the week. And if it please God I live but two years," he added, " I will, out of the profits of my water-commanding engine, appropriate four hundred pounds yearly, for ever, to her Grace's disposal. all which, as I am a gentleman and a Christian, shall be faithfully and most thankfully performed; though the benefit I pretend to by my petition will not amount to CHAP. I. HIS EMBARRASSMENTS INCREASE. 25 what my gratitude obliges, yet the satisfaction which it will be to my mind, and my credit therein at stake, I value at ten times as much. And this will enable me to place my Water-commanding Engine, when I am certained of an hundred pounds a day profit, without further troubling the king or anybody."1 All his piteous importunity proved of no avail. His friends turned aside from his petitionings, and the king would give him no help. He came to be regarded as a crack-brained enthusiast, and a wild projector of impracticable things. He could not find any one to believe in his water-commanding engine, though he himself regarded it as of greater worth than either his titles or his estates. It had been his own creation-the child of his brain-the product of studies and experiments extending over nearly forty years. But what signified all this if no one would make use of the invention? His difficulties and embarrassments grew from day to day; and his projects met with increased contumely and even contempt. None valued them, because none understood them. It was even proposed to appropriate to other purposes the premises at Vauxhall, on which he so much plumed himself, but which he had been unable to purchase. To prevent this, he again petitioned the king in 1666, representing that he had expended 90001. in building the house he occupied there as "an operatory for engineers and artists to make public works in," and "above 50,0001. trying conclusions of arts in that operatory which may be useful to his Majesty and his kingdom;" and he concluded by praying that Vauxhall might be granted to him at a fee-farm rent. The Marchioness, his wife, at the same time petitioned the House of Lords, representing the state of poverty to which her husband had been reduced, and that, in consequence of an execution having been 1 Letter to some person unknown, quoted by Mr. Dircks from the Badminton MSS.-Dircks's' Life, Times,' &c., 276. 26 DEATH OF THE MARQUIS. CHAP. I. put in at Worcester House, through a debt of 60001. which the Marquis had incurred in 1642 to pay the garrison of Monmouth, then in a state of mutiny, he was actually threatened to be turned out of house and home. It is not known what came of this petition; but shortly after its presentation the poor Marquis was beyond all worldly help. Broken in health, harassed, embarrassed, and disappointed, he died in April, 1667, ih the sixty-sixth year of his age, and his remains were conveyed to Raglan for interment in the family vault. It will be remembered that the Marquis concluded the 98th article of his'Century' with the words, "I call this a semi-omnipotent engine, and do intend that a model thereof be buried with me." A diligent search for the model has recently been made in the vault under Raglan church, under the direction of Mr. Bennet Woodcroft, whose enthusiasm as a collector of primitive engines and machines is so well known; but the search proved unsuccessful, and no traces of the Marquis's model could be found. RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE. [By Percival Skelton.] CHAP. II. ZEAL OF THE MARCHIONESS. 27 CHAPTER II. SIR SAMUEL MORLAND — DR. DIONYSIUS PAPIN. AFETER the death of the Marquis of Worcester, the Marchioness, his widow, made various efforts to turn his inventions to account. Sceptical though the world was as to their utility, she fully believed in them; and now that he was gone, it would have been dishonouring to his memory to. entertain a doubt as to his engine being able to do all that he had promised. The Marchioness had not only to maintain the fame of her dear husband, but to endeavour, if possible, to pay the debts he had contracted in prosecuting his inventions. She accordingly sought to interest persons of authority and influence in the water-commanding engine, and seized every opportunity of bringing it into notice. To such an extent did the Marchioness carry her zeal, that her friends began. to fear lest her mind was becoming disordered; and her father-confessor was requested to expostulate with her as to the impropriety of her conduct. He accordingly implored her to desist from her vain endeavours to get " great sums of money from the King to pay her deceased lord's debts, enriching herself by the great machine, and the like." He added that he feared " the devil, to make his suggestions the more prevalent, doth make use of some motives that seem plausible, as of paying your lord's debts, of founding monasteries, and the like;" pointing out that the end did not justify the means, and that such undertakings were improper for her ladyship, and by no means likely to be attended with success. It is not im 28 SIR SAMUEL MORLAND. CHAP. II. probable that these representations had their effect; the more especially as the Marchioness was no more successful in inducing the public to adopt the invention than the Marquis himself had been. Accordingly, the water-commanding engine very shortly dropped out of sight, and in the course of a few years was almost entirely forgotten. The steam-engine project, however, did not die; it only slept. It had been the fruit thus far of noble effort, of persevering self-denial, and unquestionable skill. What was good in it would yet live, and reappear perhaps in other forms, to vindicate the sagacity and foresight of its inventor. Even during the Marquis's lifetime other minds besides his were diligently pursuing the same subject. Indeed, his enthusiasm was of a kind especially calculated to inflame other minds; and the success he had achieved with his engine, imperfect though it might be, was of so novel and original a character that it could not fail to excite a warm interest amongst men of like mechanical genius. One of the most distinguished of these was Sir Samuel Morland, appointed Master of Mechanics to Charles II. immediately after the Restoration. He had been for some time previously in the employment of the Protectorate. He formed one of the embassy to Sweden, with Whitlocke, in 1653. Some years later he took an active part in the relief of the sufferings of the persecuted Protestants of Piedmont-whose history he afterwards wrote,-having been appointed Commissioner Extraordinary for the distribution of the collected moneys. For some time he officiated as assistant to Thurloe, Cromwell's secretary; and it was while acting in this capacity that he became cognisant of a plot against the life of Charles II., then in exile. Morland divulged the plot to the king's friends, and thereby perhaps saved his life. For this service, Charles, on his Restoration, presented him with a medal, as a badge CHAP. II. HIS PUMPS AND FIRE-ENGINES. 29 of his signal loyalty, and also appointed him Master of Mechanics. From that time until the close of his life, Morland devoted himself entirely to mechanical studies. Among his various inventions may be mentioned the speakingtrumpet;1 two arithmetical machines, of which he published an illustrated description; the capstan to heave ships' anchors; and various kinds of pumps and water engines. His pumps were of a very powerful and effective kind. One of them, worked by eight men, forced water from the Thames at Blackmoor Park, near Winkfield, to the top of Windsor Castle. He also devoted himself to the improvement of the fire-engine, in which he employed a cylinder and piston, as well as a stuffing-box. Towards the later years of his life, he applied himself more particularly to the study of the powers and uses of steam.2 In 1677, we find him taking a lease of Vauxhall, most probably the identical house occupied by the Marquis of Worcester, where he conducted a series of experiments as to the power requisite to raise water by cylinders of different dimensions.3 It is not, 1 We are informed that Morland's of the sole making of an engine inTuba Stentorphornica, or speaking- vented by him for raising water in trumpet, is still to be seen at Trinity mines or pits, draining marshes, or College, Cambridge. Butler, in his supplying buildings with water."'Hudibras,' alludes to the inven- 3 The' Harleian Miscellany' (Brit. tion:- Mus.), No. 5771, contains the follow"LI heard a formidable voice ing brief tract in French, written by Loud as the stentorphornic noise." Morland in 1682. It is on vellum, and entitled'Les Principes de la 2 His first idea seems to have been Nouvelle Force de Feu:'- -" L'eau to employ gunpowder for the pro- estant evaporee par la force de feu, duction of motive power, for in the ces vapeurs demandent incontinant'Calendar of State Papers' (Dom) we une plus grand'espace [environ deux find the following entry:-" lDecr. mille fois] que l'eau n'occupoiet au11th, 1691.-Warrant for a grant to paravant, et plus tost que d'etre tonSir Samuel Morland of the sole use jours emprisonn6s, feroient crever une for 14 years of his invention for rais- piece de canon. Mais estant bien ing water out of pits, &c., to a reason- gouvernees selon les regles de la staable height, by the force of powder tique, et par science reduites a la and air conjointly."-(' Entry Book,' mesure au poids, et a la balance, alors V., p. 85.) In vol. XLVI., p. 49, we elles portent paisiblement leurs farfind this entry under the same date:- deaux [comme des bons chevaux] et "Warrant for a grant to Sir S. Morland ainsy seroient elles du grand usage an 30 HIS POVERTY AND BLINDNESS. CHAP. II. however, known that he ever erected a steam-engine. If he did, no account of its performances has been preserved. Morland's inventions proved of no greater advantage to him than those of the Marquis of Worcester had done. His later years were spent in poverty and blindness, and he must have perished but for the charitable kindness of Archbishop Tenison and a few other friends. Evelyn gives the following interesting account of a visit to him in October, 1695, two months before his death: —" The Archbishop and myself went to Hammersmith to visit Sir Samuel Morland, who was entirely blind; a very mortifying sight. He showed me his invention of writing, which was very ingenious; also his wooden calendar, which instructed him all by feeling, and other pretty and useful inventions of mills, pumps, &c., and the pump he had erected that serves water to his garden, and to passengers, with an inscription, and brings from a filthy part of the Thames now near it, a most perfect and pure water. He had newly buried 2001. worth of music books, being, as he said, love songs and vanity. He plays himself psalms and religious hymns on the theorbo." The inscription to which Evelyn refers was on a stone tablet fixed on the wall of his house, still preserved, which runs thus:-" SIR SAMUEL MORLANrD'S WELL, the use of which he freely gives to all persons: hoping that none who shall come after him, will adventure to incur God's displeasure, by denying a cup of cold water (provided at another's cost and not their own) to either neighbour, stranger, passenger, or poor thirsty beggar. July 8, 1695." The next prominent experimenter on the powers of gendre humain, particulibrement pour ausi bien que les divers diametres et l'elevation des eaux, selon la table profondeurs des dit cylindres." Tables suivante que marque les nombres des are then given, showing the power livres qui pourrant estre leve's 1800 requisite to raise given quantities of fois par heure, a 6 pouces de levee, par water to certain heights by cylinders de cylindres k moitie remplies d'eau, of different dimensions. CHAP. 11. DR. DR. DIONYSIUS PAPIN. 31 DIONYSIUS PAPTN, M.D., P..i.S steam was Dr. Dionysius Papin. He was born at Blois about the middle of the seventeenth century, and educated to the profession of medicine. After taking his degree at Paris, he turned his attention more particularly to the study of physics, which soon occupied his whole attention; and under the celebrated Huyghens, then resident in that city, he made rapid progress. He would, doubtless, have risen to great distinction in his own country, but for the circumstance of his being a Protestant. To escape the persecutions to which all members of that persuasion were then subject, Papin fled from France in 1681, together with thousands of his countrymen, a few years before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He took refuge in London, where he was welcomed by men of science, and more especially by the celebrated Boyle, under whose auspices he was introduced to the 32 PAPIN'S DIGESTER. CHAP. II. Royal Society, of which he was appointed Curator at an annual salary. It formed part of Papin's duty, in connection with his new office, to produce an experiment at each meeting of the Society. He was thus induced to prosecute the study of physical science; and in order to stimulate the interest of the members, he sought to introduce new subjects from time to time to their notice. One of the greatest novelties of his "entertainments" was the production of his well-known Digester, which excited a considerable degree of interest; and on one occasion a philosophical supper, cooked by the Digester, was served up to the Fellows, of which Evelyn gives an amusing account in his Diary. He was led to the invention of the Digester by certain experiments which he made for Boyle. He discovered that if the vapour of boiling water could be prevented escaping, the temperature of the water would be raised much above the boiling point; and it occurred to him to employ this increased heat in more effectually extracting nutritious matter from the bones of animals, until then thrown away as useless. The great strength required for his Digester, and the means he was obliged to adopt for the purpose of securely confining the cover, must have early shown him what a powerful agent he was experimenting on. To prevent the bursting of the vessel from the internal pressure, he was led to the invention of the safety-valve, which consisted of a small moveable plate, or cylinder, fitted into an opening in the cover of the boiler, and kept shut by a lever loaded with a weight, capable of sliding along it in the manner of a steel yard. The pressure of the weight upon the valve could thus be regulated at pleasure. When the pressure became so great as to endanger the safety of the boiler, the valve was forced up, and so permitted the steam to escape. Although Papin was thus the inventor of the safety-valve, it is a curious fact that he CHAP. 11I. PAPIN'S EXPERIMENTS. 33 did not apply it to the steam-machine which he subsequently invented, but adopted another expedient. The reputation of Papin having extended to Germany, he was, in 1687, invited to fill the office of Professor of Mathematics in the University of Marburg, and accepted the appointment. He continued, however, to maintain a friendly correspondence with his scientific friends in England, and communicated to the Royal Society the results of the experiments in physics which he continued to pursue. In the same year in which he settled at Marburg, he submitted to the Society an important paper, which indicated the direction in which his thoughts were then running. It had occurred to him, as it had before'done to Hautefeuille, that the explosion of gunpowder presented a ready means of producing a power to elevate a piston in a tube or cylinder, and that, when so raised, a vacuum could be formed under the piston by condensing the vapour, and so ensuring its return by the pressure of the atmosphere. He thought that he might thus be enabled to secure an efficient moving force. But it was found in practice, that the proposed power was too violent as well as uncertain, and it was shortly given up as impracticable. Papin next inquired whether his proposed elastic force and subsequent vacuum might not better be produced by means of steam. He accordingly entered upon a series of experiments, which gradually led him to the important conclusions published in his celebrated paper on "A New Method of Obtaining very Great Moving Powers at Small Cost," which appeared in the'Acta Eruditorum' of Leipsic, in 1790. "I felt confident," he there observes, "that machines might be constructed wherein water, by means of no very intense heat, and at small cost, might produce that perfect vacuum which had failed to be obtained by means of gunpowder." He accordingly contrived a machine to illustrate this idea, but it was very imperfect and slow D 34 PAPIN'S DISADVANTAGE. CHAP. II. in its action, as may well be imagined from the circumstance that to produce the condensation he did not apply cold, but merely took away the fire! Still he was successfully working out, step by step, the important problem of steam power. He clearly perceived that a piston might be raised in a cylinder by the elastic force of steam, and that on the production of a vacuum by its condensation, the piston might be driven home' again by the pressure of the atmosphere. The question was, how was this idea to be realised in a practicable working machine? After many experiments, Papin had the courage to make the attempt to pump water by atmospheric pressure on a large scale. He was employed to erect machines after his principle, for the purpose of draining mines in Auvergne and Westphalia; but from the difficulty he experienced in procuring and preserving a vacuum, and the tediousness of the process, his enterprise proved abortive. The truth is, that fertile though Papin was in conception, he laboured under the greatest possible disadvantage in not being a mechanic. The eyes and hands of others are not to be relied on in the execution of new and untried machines. Unless eyes and hands be disciplined by experience in skilled work, and inspired by intelligence, they are comparatively useless. The chances of success are vastly greater when mind, eyes, and hands, are combined in one person. Hence the unquestionable fact that though the motive power of steam had long been the subject of ingenious speculation and elaborate experiment amongst scientific men, it failed to be adopted as a practicable working power until it was taken in hand by mechanics-by such men as Newcomen, the blacksmith; Potter, the engine-driver; Brindley, the millwright; and, above all, by James Watt, the mathematical instrument maker. The sagacious foresight of Papin as to the extensive applicability of steam-power as a motive agent, is CHAP. II. PROPOSED STEAM-BOAT. 35 strikingly shown by the following passage in the paper above referred to:-" If any one," says he, " will consider the magnitude of the forces to be obtained in this way (i. e., by the atmospheric high-pressure engine he was suggesting), and the trifling expense at which a sufficient quantity of fuel can be procured, he will certainly admit that this very method is far preferable to the use of gun'powder above spoken of, especially as in this way a perfect vacuum is obtained, and so the inconveniences above recounted are avoided. In what manner that power can be applied to draw water or ore from mines, to discharge iron bullets to a great distance, to propel ships against the wind, and to a multitude of other similar purposes, it would be too long here to detail; but each individual, according to the particular occasion, must select the construction of machinery appropriate to his purpose." This last was, however, the real difficulty to be overcome. Steam, doubtless, contained a power to do all these things; but as for the machine that would work quietly, docilely, and effectively, in pumping water, discharging bullets, or propelling ships, the mechanic had not yet appeared that was able to make one. Papin was, however, a man of great perseverance; and, strong in his faith as to the power of steam to propel ships, he gradually worked his way to the contrivance of a model steamboat. When. in London, he had seen an experiment tried by the Prince Palatine Rupert on the Thames, in which a boat fitted with revolving paddles attached to the two ends of an axle which received its motion from a trundle working on a wheel turned round by horses, went with such rapidity as to leave the king's barge, manned by sixteen rowers, far behind in the race. The idea which occurred to Papin was, to apply a steam machine to drive the paddles, and thus ensure a ship's motion independent of wind or tide. For this purpose, it was necessary to nD 36 BLASCO GARAY. CHAP. II. convert the alternate motion of the piston-rod into a continuous rotary one; and this he' proposed to effect "by having the rods of the pistons fitted with teeth, which would force round small wheels, toothed in like manner, fastened to the axis of the paddles." The use of paddle-wheels in propelling boats had long been known. The Harleian MSS. contain an Italian book of sketches, attributed to the fifteenth century, in which there appears the annexed sketch of a paddleboat. This boat was evidently intended to be worked by two men turning the crank by which the paddles were made to revolve. There were many other early schemes of paddle-boats, some of which were proposed to be worked by horsepower. The name of Blasco Garay has often been men-. ANCIENT PADDLE-BO.AT. tioned as the first who applied the power of steam to the driving of paddle-boats; but for this there is not the slightest foundation. M. Bergenroth informs us that he has carefully examined all the documents relating to the trials of Blasco Garay in the archives at Simancas, but has found no reference whatever to steam as the power employed in causing the paddles to revolve.' The experiments were made at I M. Bergenroth says the documents ships made at Barcelona in June, at Simancas consist of —. A holo- 1543; 5. A letter of Blasco Garay to graph letter of Blasco Garay to the Carrs, dated 20th June, 1543. In Emperor, dated Malaga, 10th Sept., none of these is there to be found any 1540, containing his report on the trial reference to steam-power; but only to trip of one of his paddle-wheel ships; the power of men employed in driving 2. The report of the Captain Antonio the paddle-wheels. This is confirmed Destigarura on the same trial trip; by the independent examination of the 3. The report of the Provcedores of same documents by J. Macgregor, Malaga concerning the same trip, dated Esq., of the Temple, who gives the 27th July, 1540; 4. The report of result in a Letter to Bennet Woodcroft, Blasco Garay to the Emperor, dated Esq., inserted as a note to the'Abridg6th July, 1543, concerning the trial ments of the Specifications relating to trip of another of his paddle-wheel Steam Propulsion,' pp. 105-7. CHAP. II. PAPIN'S MODEL STEAM-BOAT. 37 Malaga and Barcelona respectively, in the years 1540 and 1543: in one the vessel was propelled by a paddlewheel on each side worked by twenty-five men, and in the other by a paddle-wheel worked by forty men. It appears probable that although others before Papin had speculated as to the possibility of constructing a boat to be driven by the power of steam, he was the first to test the theory by actual experiment; the first to construct a model steamboat. His first experiments were doubtless failures. The engine contrived by himself was found inapplicable to the driving of ships, as it had been to the pumping of mines; and it was not until he saw the model of Savery's engine exhibited to the Royal Society of London, in 1698, and witnessed the trial of the same inventor's paddle-wheel boat on the Thames in the course of the same year that it occurred to him to combine the two contrivances in one, and apply Savery's engine to drive Savery's paddle-wheels. Returning to Marburg, he proceeded with his experiments, and informed Liebnitz that he had employed both suction and pressure by steam; that he had made a model of a carriage propelled by this force, which succeeded; and he hoped that the same power would answer for boats. Papin prosecuted his idea with great zeal, trying many expedients, encountering many difficulties, and meeting with many disappointments. At length, after about fifteen years' labour, he succeeded in constructing a model engine, fitted in a boat-"une petite machine d'un vaisseau a roues"-which worked to his satisfaction. His next object was to get his model transported to London, to exhibit it on the Thames. " It is important," he writes to Liebnitz (7th July, 1707), "that my new construction of vessel should be put to the proof in a seaport like London, where there is depth enough to apply the new invention, which, by means of fire, will render one or two men capable of producing more effect than some hundreds of rowers." Papin had consider 38 THE MODEL DESTROYED. CHAP. II. able difficulty in obtaining the requisite permission from the authorities to enable his model to pass from the Fulda to the Weser; but at length he succeeded, and the little vessel reached MUnden, when, to Papin's great grief, it was seized by the boatmen of the river, and barbarously destroyed. The year after this calamity befel Papin's machine he wrote an urgent letter to his old friends of the Royal Society at London, asking them to advance him sufficient money to construct another engine "and to fit it so that it might be applied for the rowing- of ships." The Society, however, did not see their way to assisting Papin in the manner proposed, most likely because of the expense as well as uncertainty of the experiment. Two years later, worn out by work and anxiety, the illustrious exile died; and it was left for other labourers to realise the great ideas he had formed as to locomotion by steam-power. The apparently resultless labours of these men will serve to show what a long, anxious, and toilsome process the invention of the steam-engine has been. The early inventors had not the gratification of seeing their toils rewarded by even the faintest glimmering of practical success. One after another, they took up the subject, spent days and nights of study over it, and, laying down their lives, there left it. To many the study brought nothing but anxiety, toil, distress, and sometimes ruin; while some fairly broke their hearts over it. But it was never abandoned. Disregarding the fate of their predecessors, one labourer after another resumed the investigation, advancing it by further stages, until at length the practicable working steam-engine was invented, presenting, perhaps, the most remarkable illustration of the power of human skill and perseverance to be found in the whole history of civilisation. CHAP. III. THOMAS SAVERY. 39 CHAPTER III. CAPTAIN SAVERY- HIS FIRE-ENGINE. THE attempts hitherto made to invent a working steamengine, it will be observed, had not been attended with much success. The most that could be said of them was, that, by demonstrating the impracticable, they were gradually leading other experimenters in the direction of the practicable. Although the progress made seemed but slow, the amount of net result was by no means inconsiderable. Men were becoming better acquainted with the elastic force of steam. The vacuum produced by its condensation in a closed vessel, and the consequent atmospheric pressure, had been illustrated by repeated experiments; and many separate and minor inventions, which afterwards proved of great value, had been made, such as the four-way cock, the safety-valve, and the piston moving in a cylinder. The principle of a true steam-engine had not only been demonstrated, but most of the separate parts of such an engine had been contrived by various inventors. It seemed as if all that was now wanting was a genius of more than ordinary power to combine them in a complete and effective whole. To Thomas Savery is usually accorded the merit of having constructed the first actual working steam-engine. Little is known of his early history; and various surmises have been formed as to his origin and calling. Some writers have described him as the captain of a tinmine; others as a naval captain; while a third says he was an immigrant Frenchman.' We are, however, Burn,'History of Foreign Protestant Refugees,' 2(61. 40 THE SAVERY FAMILY. CHAP. III. enabled to state, from information communicated by his descendants, that he was the scion of a well-known Devonshire family. John Savery, of Halberton, or Harberton, afterwards of Great Totness, was a gentleman of considerable property in the reign of Henry VIII. In the sixteenth century the Saverys became connected by marriage with the Servingtons of Tavistock, another old county family, one of whom served as sheriff in the reign of Edward II. In 1588, Christopher Savery, the head of the family, resided in Totness Castle, of which he was the owner;. and for a. period of nearly forty years the town was represented in Parliament by members of the Savery family. Sir Charles served as Sheriff of Devon in 1619. Though the Saverys took the side of the Parliament, in resisting the despotic' power assumed by Charles I., they nevertheless held a moderate course; for we find Colonel Savery, in 1643, attaching his name to the famous " round robin" presented to Parliament. Richard Savery, the youngest son of the Colonel, was father of Thomas Savery, the inventor of the "fire-engine." Other members of the Savery family, besides Thomas, were distinguished for their prosecution of physical science. Thus we find from the family MSS., Servington Savery corresponding with Dr. Jurin, Secretary to the Royal Society, respecting an improvement which he had made in the barometer, and communicating the results of some magnetic experiments of a novel kind, which he had recently performed.l Thomas Savery was born at Shilston, near Modbury, in Devon, about the year 1650. Nothing is known of 1 In a letter, dated Shilston, August fect stranger, do acquaint you that his 9th, 1727, he writes: —"The late Mr. father was youngest brother to my Thomas Savery, inventor of the en- grandfather. The late Servington gines for rowing, and raising water by Savery, M.D., of Marlborough, was fire, was, I believe, well known to one of my family, viz., a brother to several of the Royal Society, perhaps my deceased father." to the President; but as I am a per CHAP. III. SAVERY'S EARLY INVENTIONS. 41 his early life, beyond that he was educated to the profession of a military engineer, and in course of time duly reached the rank of Trench-master. The corps of engineers was not, however, regarded as an essential part of the military force until the year 1787, when the officers ranked with those of the Royal Artillery. The TEROMAS SAVERY, F.R.S. pursuit of his profession, as well as his natural disposition, led Savery to the study of.mechanics, and he became well accomplished in the physical knowledge of his time. He occupied much of his spare time in mechanical experiments, and in projecting and executing contrivances of various sorts. One of his early works was a 42 HIS PADDLE-BOAT. CHAP. III. clock, still preserved in the family,' which until lately kept very good time; and when last repaired by a watchmaker of Modbury was pronounced to be a piece of very good work, of a peculiar construction, displaying much ingenuity. Another of Savery's early contrivances was a machine for polishing plate-glass, for which he obtained a patent. He was occupied about the same time with an invention for rowing ships in calms by the mechanical apparatus subsequently described in his treatise, entitled'Navigation Improved.' He there relates how it troubled his thoughts and racked his brains to find out this invention, which he accomplished after many experiments, conducted "with great charge." He naturally set much value on the product of so much study and labour; and he was proportionately vexed on finding that others regarded it with indifference. He professed to have had " promises of a great reward from the Court, if the thing would answer the end for which he proposed it;" but instead of a reward, Savery received only contumely and scorn. He attributed his want of success to the illhumour of the then Surveyor of the Navy, who reported against his engine, because, said he, "it's the nature of some men to decry all inventions that are not the product of their own brains." He only asked for a fair trial of his paddle-boat, believing in its efficiency and utility; declaring that it was not his " fondness for his own bratt that made him think so," but the favourable opinions of several very judicious persons in town, that encouraged him to urge his invention for public adoption. The invention in question consisted of a boat mounted with two paddle-wheels, one on each side, worked by a capstan placed in the centre of the vessel. The annexed l It is now in the possession of Capt. I grand-aunt was a Miss Savery of ShilLowe, of the 26th Regiment, whose ston. CHAP. III. HIS SCHEME OPPOSED. 43 cut will show the nature of the arrangement, which probably did not differ much from the scheme of Blasco Garay, above referred to. Savery says 9 he was' led to make the invention through the difficulty which had been experienced in get- ting ships in _ motion so as -s-_ to place them:. - alongside of the enemy in sea- SECTION OF SAVERY'S PADDLE-BOAT. fights, especially during calm weather. He thought that if our fighting-ships could be made to move independent of the winds, we'should thereby possess an advantage of essential consequence to the public service. "The gentlemen," said he, "that were on the Brest expedition with my Lord Caermarthen must know how useful this engine would have been; for had they had them there on board each ship, they might have moved themselves where they had pleased." He also urged the usefulness of the engine for packet-boats, bomb-vessels, and sloops, and especially for use in sea-fights, in bringing off disabled ships. When he had completed his invention, he took steps to bring it under the notice of Mr. Secretary Trenchard. The plan was shown to the King, who thought highly of it, and referred Savery to the Admiralty. When he went there he was told that he should have gone to the Navy Board. At the Navy Board he was told that certain objections to the adoption of his scheme had already been sent to the Admiralty. Savery having ascertained that the Surveyor was himself the author of the objections, proceeded to discuss 44 SAVERY'S YACHT. CHAP. III. the matter with him. But the Surveyor was not a man to be argued out of his views by an inventor; and he shut up Savery with the remark: "What have interloping people, that have no concern with us, to do to pretend to contrive or invent things for us?" Savery was highly indignant at the official snub, and published the conversation in his Treatise. "Though one has found out," said he, "an improvement as great to shipping as turning to windward or the Compass, unless you can sit round the Green Table in Crutched Friars, your invention is damned, of course;" and the testy inventor concluded: "All I have now to add is, that whoever is angry with the Truth for appearing in mean language may as well be angry with an honest man for his plain habit; for, indeed, it is as common for Lyes and Nonsense to be disguised by a jingle of words as for a Blockhead to be hid by abundance of Peruke."1 Notwithstanding his rebuff by the Navy Surveyor, Savery proceeded to fit up a small yacht with his engine, and tried an experiment with it on the Thames, in sight of many thousands of spectators. The experiment was, in his opinion, entirely successful. The yacht, manned by eight sailors working the capstan, passed a ketch with all its sails spread, as well as other vessels. " All people," said Savery, "seemed to like the demonstration of the use of my engine, the public newspapers speaking very largely of it, yet all to no purpose." Savery had already expended 2001. in his experiments on the paddlewheel boat, and was not disposed to go any further, now that Government had decided not to take up the invention. Indeed, its practical utility was doubtful. The power of the wind was, after all, better than handlabour for working large ships; and it continued to 1'Navigation Improved; or the Art and the Author's answer to all Mr. of Rowing Ships of all rates in calms, Drummer's objections that have been with a more easy, swift and steady mo- made against it. By rTho. Savory, tion than oars can. Also, a descrip- Gent. London, 1698.' tion of the engine that performs it; CHAP. III. MINES OF CORNWALL. 45 maintain its superiority until the steam-engine was brought to perfection. It is curious that it should not have occurred to Savery, who invented both a paddle-wheel boat and a steamengine, to combine the two in one machine; but he was probably sick of the former invention, which had given him so much vexation and annoyance, and gave it up in disgust, leaving it to Papin, who saw both his inventions at work, to hit upon the grand idea of combining the two in a steam-vessel,-the only machine capable of effectually and satisfactorily rowing ships in a calm, or against wind and tide. It is probable that Savery was led to enter upon his next and most important invention by the circumstance of his having been brought up in the neighbourhood of the mining districts, and being well aware of the great difficulty experienced by the miners in keeping their pits clear of water, to enable them to proceed with their underground operations. The early tin-mining of Cornwall was for the most part what was called "stream-work," being confined mainly to washing and collecting the diluvial deposits of the ore. Mines usually grew out of these stream-works; the ground was laid open at the back of the lodes, and the ore was dug out as from a quarry. Some of these old openings, called " coffins," are still to be met with in different parts of Cornwall. The miners did not venture much below the surface, for fear of the water, by which they were constantly liable to be drowned out.'But as the upper strata became exhausted, they were tempted to go deeper in search of the richer ores. Shafts were sunk to the lodes, and they were followed underground. Then it was that the difficulty of water had to be encountered and overcome; for unless it could be got rid of, the deeper ores of Cornwall were as so much'buried treasure. When the mines were of no great depth, it was possible to bale out the water by hand-buckets. 46 PUMPING MACHINERY. CHAP. III. But this expedient was soon exhausted; and the power of horses was then employed to draw the buckets. Where the lodes ran along a hill-side, it was possible, by driving an adit from a lower point, to let off the water by natural drainage. But this was not often found practicable, and in most cases it had to be raised directly from the shafts by artificial methods. As the quantity increased, a whim or gin moving on a perpendicular axis was employed to draw the water.' An improvement on this was the rack and chain pump, consisting of an endless iron chain mounted with knobs of cloth stiffened with leather, inclosed in a wooden pump of from six to eight inches bore, the lower part of which rested in the well of the mine. The chain was turned round by a wheel two or three feet in diameter, usually worked by men, and the knobs with which it was mounted brought up a stream of water according to the dimensions of the pump. Another method, considered the most effectual of all, was known as "the waterwheel and bobs," consisting of a powerful pump, or series of pumps, worked by a water-wheel. But although there is no want of water underground in Cornwall, and no want of rain above ground, there are few or no great water-courses capable of driving machinery; besides, as the mines are for the most part situated on high ground, it will be obvious that water-power was available to only a very limited extent for this purpose. It is also worthy of notice that the early mining of Cornwall was carried on by men of small capital, principally by working men, who were unable to expend any large amount of money in forming artificial reservoirs, or in erecting the powerful pumping machinery Mr. Davies Gilbert says even this ing the first whim ever seen westward method was comparatively modern, as of Hayle.-Davies,' Parochial History he remembered a carpenter who used of Cornwall,' London, 1838, ii. 83. to boast that he had assisted in mak CHAP. III. PRIMITIVE DAYS OF MINING. 47 necessary for keeping the deeper mines clear of water. The Cornish miners, like the Whitstable oysterdredgers, worked upon the principle of co-operation. This doctrine, now taught as a modern one, was practised by them almost time out of mind. The owner of the land gave the use of his land, the adventurers gave their money, and the miners their labour; all sharing in the proceeds according to ancient custom. For the use of his land, and for the ore taken from the mine, the lord usually took a sixth part; but in consideration of draining the mine, and in order to encourage the adventure, he was often content with an eighth, or it might be only a tenth part of the produce. The miners, on their part, agreed to divide in the proportions in which they took part in the work. Their shares of the ore raised were measured by barrows, and parcelled into heaps; "and it is surprising," says Borlase, "to see how ready and exact the reckoners are in dividing, though oftentimes they can neither write nor read. The parcels being laid forth, lots are cast, and then every parcel has a distinct mark laid on it with one, two, or three stones, and sometimes a bit of stick or turf stuck up in the middle or side of the pile; and when these marks are laid on, the parcels may continue there half a year or more unmolested." These were, however, the early and primitive days of mining, when the operations were carried on comparatively near the surface, and the capital invested in pumping-machinery was comparatively small in amount. As the miners went deeper and deeper into the ground, and the richer lodes were struck and followed, the character of mining became considerably changed. Larger capitals were required to sink the shafts and keep them clear of water until the ore was reached; and a new class of men, outside the mining districts, was induced Borlase,'Natural History of Cornwall,' 175-6. 48 SAVERY'S EXPERIMENTS. CHAP. III. to venture their money in the mines as a speculation. Yet the system above described, though greatly modified by altered circumstances, continues to this day; and the mining of Cornwall continues to be carried on mainly upon the co-operative or joint-stock system. When the surface lodes became exhausted, the necessity of employing some more efficient method of pumping the water became more and more urgent. In one pit after another the miners were being drowned out, and the operations of an important branch of national industry were in danger of being brought to a complete standstill. It was under these circumstances that Captain Savery turned his attention to the contrivance of a more powerful engine for the raising of water; and after various experiments, he became persuaded that the most effective agency for the purpose was the power of steam. It is very probable that he was aware of the attempts that had been previously made in the same direction, and he may have gathered many useful and suggestive hints from the Marquis of Worcester's'Century;' but as that book contained no plans nor precise definitions of the methods by which the Marquis had accomplished his objects, it could have helped him but little towards the contrivance of a practicable working engine.l How Savery was led to the study of the power of steam has been differently stated. Desaguliers says his own account was this,-that having drunk a flask of Florence at a tavern, and thrown the empty flask on the 1 The absurd story is told by Dr. books that he could purchase in PaterDesaguliers (' Experimental Philo- noster-row and elsewhere, and burned sophy,' ii. 465) that Savery, having'em in the presence of the gentleman, read the Marquis's book, "was the his friend, who told me this!" It first to put in practice the raising of need scarcely be said that it was very water by fire, which he proposed for unlikely that Savery should have atthe draining of mines;" and having tempted thus to conceal an1 invention copied the Marquis's engine, "the recorded in a printed book which had better to conceal the matter, bought been in circulation for more than forty up all the Marquis of Worcester's years. CHAP. III. SAVERY'S "FIRE ENGINE." 49 fire, he called for a basin of water to wash his hands, and perceiving that the little wine left in the flask had changed to steam, he took the vessel by the neck and plunged its mouth into the water in the basin, when, the steam being condensed, the water was immediately driven up into the flask by the pressure of the atmosphere. Desaguliers disbelieved this account, but admits that Savery made many experiments upon the powers of steam, and eventually succeeded in making several engines "which raised water very well." Switzer, who was on intimate terms with Savery, gives another account. He says the first hint from which he took the engine was'from a tobacco-pipe, which he immersed in water to wash or cool it; when he discovered by the rarefaction of the air in the tube by the heat or steam, and the gravitation or pressure of the exterior air on the condensation of the latter, that the water was made to spring through the tube of the pipe in a most surprising manner; 1 and that this phenomenon induced him to search for the rationale, and to prosecute a series of experiments which issued in the invention of his fire-engine. However Savery may have obtained his first idea of the expansion and condensation of steam, and of atmospheric pressure, it is certain that the subject occupied his attention for many years. He had the usual difficulties to encounter in dealing with a wholly new and untried power, in contriving the novel mechanism through which it was to work, and of getting his contrivances executed by the hands of mechanics necessarily unaccustomed to such kind of work. "Though I was obliged," he says, "to encounter the oddest and almost insuperable difficulties, I spared neither time, pains, nor money, till I had absolutely conquered them." Having sufficiently matured his design, he had a model of his new " Fire Engine," as he termed it, made Switzer,'System of Hydrostaticks and Hydraulicks,' London, 1729. E 50 EXHIBITS HIS MODEL. CHAP. III. for exhibition before the King at Hampton Court in 1698. William III., who was himself of a mechanical turn, was highly pleased with the ingenuity displayed in Savery's engine, as well as with its efficient action, and he permitted the inventor to dedicate to him'The Miner's Friend,' containing the first published description of his invention. The King also promoted Savery's application for a Patent, which was secured in July, 1698,1 and an Act confirming it was passed in the following year. Savery's next step was to bring his invention under the notice of the Royal Society, whose opinion on all matters of science was listened to with profound respect. He accordingly exhibited his model at a meeting held on the 14th of June, 1699, and it is recorded in the minutes of that date, that "Mr. Savery entertained the Society with showing his engine to raise water by the force of fire. He was thanked for showing the experiment, which succeeded according to expectation, and was approved of." The inventor presented the Society with a drawing of his engine, accompanied by a description, which was printed in the'Transactions.'2 Savery next endeavoured to bring his invention into practical use, but this was a matter of much greater difficulty. So many schemes with a like object had been brought out and failed, that the mining interest came to regard new projects with increasing suspicion. To persuade them that he was no mere projector, but the inventor of a practicable working engine, Savery wrote and published his' Miner's Friend.' " I am not very fond," he there said, " of lying under the scandal of 1 The patent is dated the 25th July, mines, serving towns with water, and 1698, and is entitled, "A grant to for the working of all sorts of mills Thomas Savery, Gentl., of the sole when they have not the benefit of exercise of a new invencon, by him water nor constant winds;. to hold for invented, for raiseing of water, and 14 years; with usual clauses." occasioning mocon to all sort of mill 2'Philosophical Transactions,' No. works, by the impellant force of fire, 252. Weld's'Royal Society,' i. 357. which will be of great use for draining CHAP. III. SAVERY'S EXPLANAMTIONS. 51 a bare projector, and therefore present you here with a draught of my machine, and lay before you the uses of it, and leave it to your consideration whether it be worth your while to make use of it or no." Inventors before Savery's time were wont to make a great mystery of their inventions; but he proclaimed that there was no mystery whatever about his machine, and he believed that the more clearly it was understood, the better it would be appreciated. He acknowledged that there had been many pretenders to new inventions of the same sort, who had excited hopes which had never been fulfilled; but this invention which he had made was a thing the uses of which were capable of actual demonstration. He urged that the old methods of raising water could not be carried further; and that an entirely new power was needed to enable the miner to prosecute his underground labours. "I fear," said he, " that whoever by the old causes of motion pretends to improvements within the last century does betray his knowledge and judgment. For more than a hundred years since, men and horses would raise by engines then made as much water as they have ever done since, or I believe ever will, or, according to the law of nature, ever can do. And, though my thoughts have been long employed about water-works, I should never'have pretended to any invention of that kind, had I not happily found out this new, but yet a much stronger and cheaper force or cause of motion than any before made use of." He proceeded to show how easy it was to work his engine, -boys of thirteen or fourteen years being able to attend and work it to perfection after a few days' teaching,- and how he had at length,, after great difficulty, instructed handicraft artificers to construct the engine according to his design, so that, after much experience, said he, "they are become such masters of the thing that they oblige themselves to deliver what engines they make exactly tight and fit for service, E2 52 DESCRIPTION OF THE PLAN. CHAP. III. and as such I dare warrant them to anybody that has occasion for them." Savery's engine, as described by himself, consisted of a series of boilers, condensing vessels, and tubes, the action of:-ii ) which will be readily understood with the help of the annexed drawing.' 1'The Miner's Friend, or an Engine to Raise Water by Fire, described, and of the manner of fixing it in Mines, with an account of the several uses it is applicable = sM unto; and an answer to the objections nlade against it. By Tho. Savery, Gent.' London, 1702. 2 Two boilers, a large, A, A, and a __c ^ 3 _ smaller, B, were fixed in a furnace, and A connected together at the top by a pipe, c. The larger boiler was filled two-thirds full, and the smaller quite full of water. When that in the larger one was raised to the boiling-point, the 4i t1,handle of the regulator, D, was thrust back as far as it would go, by which Adz ]1 Ad the steam forced itself through the pipe connected with the vessel E, expelling the air it contained through the clack at F. The handle of the regulator being then drawn towards you, the communication between the boiler and the vessel,:91a]_ U U E, was closed, and that between the boiler and the second vessel, G, was SAVERTS ENGINE opened, which latter was also filled with steam, the air being in like manner discharged throngh the clack, H. Cold water was then poured from the water-cock, T, on to the vessel E, by which the steam was suddenly condensed, and a vacuum being thereby caused, the water to be raised was drawn up through the sucking-pipe, j, its return being prevented by a clack or valve at K. The handle of the regulator D being again thrust back, the steam was again admitted, and pressing upon the surface of the water in E, forced it out at the bottom of the vessel and up through the pipe L, from which it was driven into the open air. The handle of the regulator was then reversed, on which the steam was again admitted to G, and the water in like manner expelled from it, while E, being again dashed with cold water, was refilling from below. Then the cold water was turned upon cG, and thus alternate filling and forcing went on, and a continuous stream of cold water kept flowing from the upper opening. The large boiler was replenished with water by shutting off the connection of the small boiler with the cold water pipe, M, which supplied it from above, on which the steam contained in the latter forced the water through the connecting pipe, c, into the large boiler, and kept it running in a continuous stream until the surface of the water in the smaller boiler was depressed CHAP. III. SAVERY'S ENGINE. 53 Its principal features were two large cylindrical vessels, which were alternately filled with steam from an adjoining boiler and with cold water from the well or mine out of which the water had to be raised. When either of the hollow vessels was filled with steam, and then suddenly cooled by a dash of cold water, a vacuum was thereby created, and, the vessel being closed at the top and open at the bottom, the water was at once forced up into it from the well by the pressure of the atmosphere. The steam, being then let into the vessel from the top, pressed upon the surface of the water, and forced it out at the bottom by another pipe (its return into the well being prevented by a clack), and so up the perpendicular pipe which opened into the outer air. The second vessel being treated in the same manner, the same result followed; and thus, by alternate filling and forcing, a continuous stream of water was poured out from the upper opening. The whole of the labour required to work the engine was capable of being performed by a single man, or even by a boy, after very little teaching. Although Savery's plans and descriptions of the arrangement and working of his engines are clear and explicit, he does not give any information as to their proportions, beyond stating that an engine employed in raising a column of water 31 inches in diameter 60 feet high, requires a fireplace 20 inches deep. Speaking of their performances, he says, "I have known, in Cornwall, a work with three lifts of about 18 feet each, lift and carry a 3 1-inch bore, that cost 42s. a day (reckoning 24 a day) for labour, besides the wear and tear of engines, each pump'hawvng lour men working ielgitinours, at 14d. a man, and the men obliged to rest at least a third part of that time." He pointed out that at least one-third part of the then cost of raising water. might below the opening of, the connecting pipe, which was indicated by the noise of the clack, when it was refilled from the cold water pipe, M, as before. 54 ITS VARIOUS USES. CHAP. Ill. be saved by the adoption of his invention, which on many mines would amount to "a brave estate" in the course of a year. In estimating the power of his engine, Savery was accustomed to compare it with the quantity of work that horses could perform, and hence he introduced the term " horse power," which is still in use. Although, in the treatise referred to, Savery describes an engine with two furnaces, the drawing which he presented to the Royal Society showed only one; and it appears that in another of his designs he showed only one cylindrical vessel instead of two. In order to exhibit the working of his engine on a larger scale than in the model, he proceeded to erect one in a potter's house at Lambeth, where, Switzer says, though it was a small engine, the water struck up the tiles and forced its way through the roof in a manner that surprised all the spectators. Switzer mentions other engines erected after Savery's designs for the raising of water at Camden House and Sion House, which proved quite successful. The former, he says, was the plainest and best proportioned engine he had seen: it had only a single condensing vessel; and "though but a small one in comparison with many others of the kind that are made for coal-works, it is sufficient for any reasonable family, and other uses required for it in watering middling gardens." Four receivers full of water, or equal to 52 gallons, were raised every minute, or 3110 gallons in the hour; whilst, in the case of the larger engines with double receivers, 6240 gallons an hour might easily be raised. The cost of the smaller engine was about fifty pounds, and the consumption of coal about a bushel in the twenty-four hours, supposing it was kept constantly at work during that time. The uses to which Savery' proposed to apply his 1 Switzer,' Introduction to a General System of Hydrostaticks and Hydraulicks,' 237. CrHAP. III. FIRST TRIED AT HUEL VOR. 55 engine were various. One was to pump water into a reservoir, from which, by falling on a water-wheel, it might produce a continuous rotary motion. Another was to raise water into cisterns for the supply of gentlemen's houses, and for use in fountains and as an extinguisher in case of fire. A third was to raise water for the supply of towns, and a fourth to drain fens and marsh lands. But the most important, in the inventor's estimation, was its employment in clearing drowned mines and coal-pits of water. He showed how water might be raised from deep mines by using several engines, placed at different depths, one over the other. Thus by three lifts, each of 80 feet, water might be raised from a mine about 240 feet-then considered a very great depth From Savery's own account, it is evident that several of his engines were erected in Cornwall; and it is said that the first was tried at Huel Vor, or "The Great Work in Breage," a few miles from Helstone, then considered the richest tin mine in the county. HUEL VOR, WITH REMAINS OF THE OLD -WORIES. [By R. P Leitcb.] The engine was found to be an improvement on the methods formerly employed for draining the mine, and sent the miners to considerably greater depths. But the great pressure of steam required to force up a high 56( ITS FAILURE IN STAFFORDSHIRE. CHAP. III. column of water was such as to strain to the utmost the imperfect boilers and receivers of those early days; and the frequent explosions which attended its use eventually led to its discontinuance in favour of the superior engine of Newcomen, which was shortly after invented. Savery also endeavoured to introduce his engine in the coal-mining districts, but without success, and for the same reason. The demand for coal in connection with the iron manufacture having greatly increased in the county of Stafford, and the coal which lay nearest the surface having been for the most part " won," the mining interest became very desirous of obtaining some more efficient means of clearing the pits of water, in order to send the miners deeper into the ground. Windlass and buckets, wind-mills, horse-gins, rack-and-chain pumps, adits, and all sorts of contrivances had been tried, and the limit of their powers had been reached. The pits were fast becoming drowned out, and the ironmasters began to fear lest their manufacture should become lost through want of fuel. Under these circumstances they were ready to hail the invention of Captaiu Savery, which promised to relieve them of their difficulty. He was accordingly invited to erect one of his engines over a coal-mine at the Broadwaters, near Wednesbury. The influx of water, however, proved too much for the engine; the springs were so many and so strong, that all the means which Savery could employ failed to clear the mine of water. To increase the forcing power he increased the pressure of steam; but neither boiler nor receiver could endure it, and the steam "tore the engine to pieces; so that, after much time, labour, and expense, Mr. Savery gave up the undertaking, and the engine was laid aside as useless."' lie was no more successful with the engine which he erected at York-buildings to pump water from the 1 Dr. Wilkes in' Shaw's History of Staffordshire,' i. 85, 119. CHAP. III. SAVERY'S LATER YEARS. 57 Thames for the supply of the western parts of London. Bradley says that to increase its power he doubled every part, but " it was liable to so many disorders, if a single mistake happened in the working of it, that at length it was looked upon as a useless piece of work, and rejected."' Savery's later engines thus lost him much of the credit which he had gained by those of an earlier and simpler construction. It became clear that their application was very limited. They involved much waste of fuel through the condensation of the hot steam pressing upon the surface of the cold water, previous to the expulsion of the latter from the vessel; and eventually their use was confined to the pumping of water for fountains and the supply of gentlemen's houses, and in some cases to the raising of water for the purpose of working an overshot water-wheel. Various attempts were made to improve the engine by Bradley, by Papin, by Desaguliers, and others; but no great advance was made in its construction and method of working until it was taken in hand by Newcomen and Calley, whose conjoint invention marks an important epoch in the history of the steam-engine. Not much is known of the later years of Savery's life. We find him a Captain of Military Engineers in 1702; 2 and in 1705, with the view of advancing knowledge in his special branch of military science, he gave to the world a translation, in folio, of Cohorn's celebrated work on fortification. The book was dedicated to Prince George of Denmark, to whom he was indebted, in the same year, for his appointment to the office of Treasurer of the Hospital for Sick and Wounded Seamen. Various letters and documents are still to be found in the Trans1 Bradley,' Discourses on Earth of Warrants and Appointments, anno and Water, &c.' Westminster, 1727. 1712, No. 172k, in the Tower Record2 We are informed by Quarter- room, contains the following memomaster Conolly, R.E., who has given randum in pencil on the inside cover: much attention to the early history of — [Thomas] " Savery, Engineer officer, the Royal Engineers, that the book 1702-14." 58 HIS DEATI. CHAP. Ill. port Office, Somerset I-House, addressed to hlim in that capacity. In 1714 hlie was further indebted to Prince George for the appointment of Surveyor to the Waterworks at Hampton Court; but he did not live to enjoy it, as he died in the course of the following year. He is said to have accumulated considerable property, which he bequeathed to his wife, together with all interest in his inventions. His will was executed on the day of his death, the 15th of May, 1715, and was proved four days after in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Hle there described himself as " of the parish of Saint Margaret, at Westminster, Esquire." Ihis widow herself died before all his effects were administered. There was a considerable amount of unclaimed stock, which the Savery family were prevented from claiming, as it had passed to the widow; and it has since been transferred to the credit of the National Debt. A pamphlet published in 1712, by Parliament for carrying on the entitled'An Impartial Inquiry into war in Spain... fol the year 1710. the Management of the War in To Thomas Savery, Esq., for Thomas Spain,' contains the following re- Cale, surgeon, for care of disabled ference to Savery:-" Sums allowed soldiers, 3061. 6s. 4d." (CTAP. IT. THOMAS NEWCOMEN. 59 CHAPTER IV. THOMAS NEWCOMEN —THE ATMOSPHERIC ENoGINE. THlE invention of the steam-engine had advanced thus far with halting steps. A new power had been discovered, but it was so dangerous and unmanageable that it was still doubtful whether it could be applied to any useful purpose. What was still wanting was an engine strong enough to resist the internal pressure of highly-heated steam, and so constructed as to work safely, continuously, and economically. Many attempts had been made to contrive such a machine; but, as we have shown, the results were comparatively barren. Savery's small engine could raise water in moderate quantities to limited heights; but the pumping of deep mines was beyond its power. It could force water to a height of about sixteen fathoms; but as the depth of mines at that time was from fifty to a hundred yards, it was obviously incompetent for their drainage. It is true, Savery proposed to overcome the difficulty by erecting a series of engines, placed one over another in the shaft of the mine; but the expense of their attendants, the great consumption of fuel, the cost of wear and tear, the constant danger of explosion, and the risk of the works being stopped by any one of the engines becoming temporarily deranged, rendered it clear that the use of his engine for ordinary mining purposes was altogether impracticable. Such was the state of affairs when Thomas Newcomen of Dartmouth took up the subject. Comparatively little is known of the personal history of this ingenious man. Mechanical inventors excited little (;0 NEWCOMEN'S HOUSE, DARTMOUTH. CHAP. IV. NECWOMEN'S MU3E, DARTMOUTH. [ }by. P. Lei] l NEWCOMEN'S HOUSE, DAiTMOUTTH. [By.R.P. Leitch ]! notice in those days; they were looked upon as schemers, and oftener regarded as objects of suspicion than of respect. Thomas -Newcomen was by trade an ironmonger and a blacksmith. The house in which he lived and worked stood, until quite recently, in Lower Street, Dartmouth. Like many of the ancient timber houses of that quaint old town, it was a building of singularly picturesque appearance. Lower Street is very narrow; the houses in it are tall and irregular, with overhanging peaked gable-ends. A few years since, Newccmen's house began to show indications of decay; the timber supports were fast failing; and for safety's sake it was determined to pull it to the ground. 1 Newcomen's house occupies the centre of the above engraving —the house with the peaked gable-end supported by timbers. CHAP. IV. STUDY OF STEAM POWER. 61 The Newcomen family have long since become extinct in Dartmouth. They are said to have left the place long ago, and gone northward; but we have beeni unable to trace them. The Newcomens appear to have occupied a respectable position in Dartmouth down to about the middle of the last century. Their buryingplace was in the north-side chapel of the fine old parish church of the town, where several tablets are erected to their memory. Amongst others, there is one to William Newcomin, Attorney-at-Law, who died the 24th of August, 1745, aged 57, supposed to have been a brother, and another of the same name, who died in 1787, aged 65, supposed to have been a son of the ironmonger. Thomas Newcomen was a man of strong religious feelings, and from an early period of his life occupied his leisure in voluntary religious teaching. He belonged to the sect of Baptists; and the place was standing until recently in which he regularly preached. When he afterwards went into distant parts of the country on engine business, he continued to devote his Sundays to the same work. How he first came to study the subject of steam is not known. Mr. Holdsworth says a story was current in Dartmouth in his younger days, and generally believed, that Newcomen conceived the idea of the motive power to be obtained friom steam by watching the tea-kettle, the lid of which would frequently rise and fall when boiling; and, reasoning upon this fact, he contrived, by filling a cylinder with steam, to raise the piston, and by immediately injecting some cold water, to create a vacuum, which allowed the weight of the atmosphere to press the piston down, and so give motion to a pump by means of a beam and rods.' It is probable that Newcomen was well aware of the experiments of Savery on steam while the latter was living at Modbury, about fifteen miles distant. It 1 Pamphlet on'Dartmouth: the Notice of its Ancient and Present advantages of its Harbour as a Station Condition.' By A. H. Holdsworth. for Foreign Mail Packets, and a Short Londonr,841. 62 DR. HOOKE'S CAPITAL IDEA. CHAP. IV. will be remembered that Savery was greatly hampered in his earlier contrivances by the want of skilled workmen; and as Newcomen had the reputation of being one of the cleverest blacksmiths in the county, it is supposed that he was employed to make some of the more intricate parts of Savery's engine. At all events, he could scarcely fail to hear from the men of his trade in the neighbourhood, what his speculative neighbour at Modbury was trying to compass in the invention of an engine for the purpose of raising water by fire. He was certainly occupied in studying the subject about the same time as Savery; and Switzer says he was well informed that " Mr. Newcomen was as early in his invention as Mr. Savery was in his, only the latter being nearer the Court, had obtained the patent before the other knew it; on which account Mr. Newcomen was glad to come in as a partner to it."' Another account2 states that a draft of Savery's engine having come under Newcomnen's notice, he proceeded to make a model of it, which he fixed in his garden, and soon found out its imperfections. He entered into a correspondence on the subject with the learned and ingenious Dr. Hooke, then Secretary to the Royal Society, a man of remarkable ingenuity, and of great mechanical sagacity and insight. Newcomen had heard or read of Papin's proposed method of transmitting motive power to a distance by creating a vacuum under a piston in a cylinder, and transmitting the power through pipes to a second cylinder near the mine. Dr. Hooke dissuaded Newcomen from erecting a machine on this principle, as a waste of time and labour, but he added the pregnant suggestion, " could he (meaning Papin) make a speedy vacuum under your piston, your work were done." The capital idea thus cursorily thrown out- of introducing a moveable diaphragm between the active power Switzer,' Introduction to a System of Hydrostatics and Hydraulics,' 1). 342. 2 Harris,' Lexicon Techinicumn.' CHAP. IV. NEWCOMEN'S ENGINE. 63 and the vacuum-set Newcornen at once upon the right track. Though the suggestion was merely that of a thoughtful bystander, it was a most important step in the history of the invention, for it contained the very principle of the atmospheric engine. Savery created his vacuum by the condensation of steam in a closed vessel, and Papin created his by exhausting the air in a cylinder fitted with a piston, by means of an air-punmp. It remained for Newcomen to combine the two expedients-to secure a sudden vacuum by the condensation of steam; but, instead of employing Savery's closed vessel, he made use of Papin's cylinder fitted with a piston. After long scheming and many failures, he at length succeeded, in the year 1705,1 in contriving a model that worked with tolerable precision; after which he sought for an opportunity of exhibiting its powers in a full-sized working engine. It ought to be mentioned, that in the long course of experiments conducted by Newcomen with the object of finding out the new motive power, he was zealously assisted throughout by one John Calley, a glazier of Dartmouth, of whom nothing further is known than that he was Newcomen's intimate friend, of the same religious persuasion, and afterwards his partner in the steami-engine enterprise. Newcomen's engine may be thus briefly described:The steam was generated in a separate boiler, as in Savery's engine, from which it was conveyed into a vertical cylinder underneath a piston fitting it closely, but moveable upwards and downwards through its whole length. The piston was fixed to a rod, which 1 It has been stated that New- fringement of his patent, and that coimen took out a patent for his in- Newcomen accordingly agreed to give vention in 1705; but this is a mis- him an interest in the new engine take, as no patent was ever taken out during the term of Savery's patent. by Newcomen. It is supposed that It will, however, be observed that the Savery, having heard of his invention, principle on which Newcomen's engave him notice that he would re- gine worked was entirely different gard his method of producing a speedy from that of Savery. vacuum by condensation, as an in 64 ITS IMPROVEMENT. CHAP. 1V. was attached by a joint or a chain to the end of a lever vibrating upon an axis, the other end being attached to a rod working a pump. When the piston in the cylinder was raised, steam was let into the vacated space through a tube fitted into the top of the boiler, and mounted with a stopcock. The pump-rod at the further end of the lever being thus depressed, cold water was applied to the sides of the cylinder, on which the steam within it was condensed, a vacuum was produced, and the external air, pressing upon the top of the piston, forced it down into the empty cylinder. The pump-rod was thereby raised; and the operation of depressing and raising it being repeated, a power was thus produced which kept the pump continuously at work. Such, in a few words, was the construction and action of Newcomen's first engine. It will thus be observed that this engine was essentially different in principle from that of Savery. While the latter raised water partly by the force of steam and partly by the pressure of the atmosphere, that of Newcomen worked entirely by the pressure of the atmosphere, steam being only used as the most expeditious method of producing a vacuum. The engine was, however, found to be very imperfect. It was exceedingly slow in its motions; much time was occupied in condensing the contained steam by throwing cold water on the outside of the cylinder; and as the boiler was placed immediately under the cylinder, it was not easy to prevent the cold water from splashing it, and thus leading to a further loss of heat. To remedy these imperfections, Newcomen and Calley altered the arrangement; and, instead of throwing cold water on the outside of the cylinder, they surrounded it with cold water. But this expedient was also found inconvenient, as the surrounding water shortly became warm, and ceased to condense until replaced by colder water; but the colder it was the greater was the loss of heat by con CHAP. IV. ANOTHER CHANGE. 65 densation, before the steam was enabled to fill the cylinder again on each ascent of the piston. Clumsy and comparatively ineffective though the engine was in this form, it was, nevertheless, found of some use in pumping water from mines. In 1711 Newcomen and Calley made proposals to the owners of a colliery at Griff, in Warwickshire, to drain the water from their pits, which until then had been drained by the labour of horses; but, the owners not believing in the practicability of the scheme, their offer was declined. In the following year, however, they succeeded in obtaining a contract with Mr. Back, for drawing the water from a mine belonging to him near Wolverhampton. The place where the engine was to be erected being near to Birmingham, the ironwork, the pump-valves, clacks, and buckets, were for the most part made there, and removed to the mine, where they were fitted together. Newcomen had great difficulty at first in making the engine go; but after many laborious attempts he at last partially succeeded. It was found, however, that the new method of cooling the cylinder by surrounding it with cold water did not work so well in practice as had been expected. The vacuum produced was very imperfect, and the action of the engine was both very slow and very irregular. While the engine was still in its trial state, a curious accident occurred which led to another change in the mode of condensation, and proved of essential importance in establishing Newcomen's engine as a practicable working power. The accident was this: in order to keep the cylinder as free from air as possible, great pains were taken to prevent it passing down by the side of the piston, which was carefully wrapped with cloth or leather; and, still further to keep the cylinder air-tight, a quantity of water was kept constantly laying on the upper side of the piston. At one of the early trials the inventors were surprised to see the engine make several F 66 POTTER'S CONTRIVANCE. CHAP. IV strokes in unusually quick succession; and on searching for the cause, they found it to consist in a hole in the piston, which had let the cold water in a jet into the inside of the cylinder, and thereby produced a rapid vacuum by the condensation of the contained steam. A new light suddenly broke upon Newcomen. The idea of condensing by injection of cold water directly into the cylinder, instead of applying it on the outside, at once occurred to him; and he proceeded to embody the expedient which had thus been accidentally suggested, as part of his machine. The result was the addition of the injection-pipe, through which, when the piston was raised and the cylinder was full of steam, a jet of cold water was thrown in, and the steam being suddenly condensed, the piston was at once driven down by the pressure of the atmosphere. An accident of a different kind shortly after led to the improvement of Newcomen's engine in another respect. To keep it at work, one man was required to attend the fire, and another to turn alternately the two cocks, one admitting the steam into the cylinder, the other admitting the jet of cold water to condense it. The turning of these cocks was easy work, usually performed by a boy. It was, however, a very monotonous duty, though requiring constant attention. To escape the drudgery and obtain an interval for rest, or perhaps for play, a boy named Humphrey Potter, who turned the cocks, set himself to discover some method of evading his task. He must have been an ingenious boy, as is clear from the arrangement he contrived with this object. Observing the alternate ascent and descent of the beam above his head, he bethought him of applying the movement to the alternate raising and lowering of the levers which governed the cocks. The result was the contrivance of what he called the scoqgan,l consisting 1 Scogging is a north country word, contrivance its name. Potter, howmeaning skulking one's work, from ever, grew up to be a highly-skilled which probably the boy gave the workman. He went abroad about CHAP. IV. BEIGHTON'S IMPROVEMENT. 67 of a catch worked by strings from the beam of the engine. This arrangement, when tried, was found to answer the purpose intended. The action of the engine was thus made automatic; and the arrangement, though rude, not only enabled Potter to enjoy his play, but it had the effect of improving the working power of the engine itself; the number of strokes which it made being increased from six or eight to fifteen or sixteen in the minute. This invention was x afterwards greatly improved by Mr. Henry Beighton, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, who __ added the plug-rod wh and hand-gear. He did away with the catches and strings of the boy Potter's rude 77 i apparatus, and substi- c as tuted a rod suspended NEWCOMEN'S ENGINE.1 from the beam, which alternately opened and shut the tappets attached to the steam and injection cocks. Thus, step by step, Newcomen's engine grew in power and efficiency, and became more and more complete as the year 1720, and erected an engine f, cold-water cistern, from which the at a mine in Hungary, described by cold water is conveyed by the pipe g, Leupold in his'Theatrum Machina- called the injection-pipe, and thrown rum,' with many encomiums upon in a jet into the cylinder, b, on turning Potter, who was considered the in- the injection-cock, h; the sniftingventor. valve, i, enables the air to escape from 1 Tlhe illustration shows the several the cylinder, while the siphon-pipe, j, parts of Newcomen's atmospheric en- enables the condensed steam to flow gine. a is the boiler; b, the piston from the same cavity in the form of moving up and down; c, the cylinder; water; k, the main lever beam; 1, the d, a pipe proceeding from the top of counterpoise or weight hung on the the boiler, and inserted into the bottom balance-beam, or on m, the pump-rod of the cylinder, having a cock, e, to which works the pump, n. interrupt the flow of steam at pleasure; F 2 68 THE AUSTHORPE ENGINE. CHAP. IJ a self-acting machine. It will be observed that, like all other inventions, it was not the product of any one man's ingenuity, but of many. One contributed one improvement, and another another. The essential features of the atmospheric engine were not new. The piston and cylinder had been known as long ago as the time of Hero. I The expansive force of steam and the creation of a vacuum by its condensation had been known to the Marquis of Worcester, Savery, Papin, and many more. Newcomen merely combined in his machine the result of their varied experience, and, assisted by the persons who worked with him, down to the engine-boy Potter, he advanced the invention several important stages; so that the steam-engine was no longer a toy or a scientific curiosity, but had become a powerful machine capable of doing useful work. The comparative success which attended the working of Newcomen's first engine at the colliery near Wolverhampton, shortly induced other owners of coal-mines to adopt it. There were great complaints in the north, of the deeper mines having become unworkable. All the ordinary means of pumping them clear of water had failed. In their emergency, the colliery-owners called Newcomen and Calley to their aid. They were invited down to lNewcastle-upon-Tyne, in the neighbourhood of which town they erected their second and third engines. They were next summoned to Leeds, and erected their fourth engine at Austhorpe, in 1714. It was the sight of this engine at work which first induced Smeaton, when a boy, to turn his attention to mechanics, and eventually led him to study the atmospheric-engine, with a view to its improvement. The cylinder of the engine erected at Austhorpe, like those which had pre' ceded it, was about 23 inches in diameter, and made about fifteen strokes a minute. The pumps, which were in two lifts, and of 9 inches bore, drew the water from a depth of 37 yards. The patentees had 2501. a year for CHAP. 1V. ENGINES IN CORNWALL. 69 working and keeping the engine in order. Calley superintended its erection, and afterwards its working; but he did not long survive its completion, as he died at Austhorpe in 1717. The next engines were erected by Neweomen in Cornwall, where there was as great a demand for increased pumping-power as in any of the collieries of the north. The first of Newcomen's construction in Cornwall was erected in 1720, at the Wheal Fortune tin mine, in the parish of Ludgvan, a few miles north-east of Penzance. The mine was conducted by Mr. William Lemon, the founder of the fortunes of the well-known Cornish family. He was born in a humble station in life, from which he honourably raised himself by his great industry, ability, and energy. He began his career as a mining-boy; was at an early age appointed one of the managers of a tin-smelting house at Chiandower, near Penzance; and after the experience gained by him in that capacity he engaged in the working of the Wheal Fortune mine. With the help of N!ewcomen's engine, the enterprise proved completely successful; and after realising a considerable sum he removed to Truro, and began working the great Gwennap mines on such a scale as had never before been known in Cornwall.' The Wheal Fortune engine was on a larger scale than any that had yet been erected, the cylinder being 47 inches in diameter, making about fifteen strokes a minute. It drew about a hogshead of water at each stroke, from a pump 30 fathoms deep, through pit-barrels Mr. Lemon eventually became the in their original language.... He principal merchant and tin-smelter was distinguished in his district as of Cornwall. Mr. Davies Gilbert says: " the great Mr. Lemon," but such were -" The energies of his mind were the impressions of his abilities, his not limited to these undertakings, exertions, and general merit, that a great though they were. He culti- progress so rapid and unexampled does vated a taste for literature, and, which not appear to have excited envy, or is extremely unusual, acquired, amidst any of those bad passions which business, and at a middle age, the usually alloy the enjoyment of prospower of reading the classic authors perity."-' History of Cornwall,' ii. 84. 70 WHEAL FORTUNE. CHAP. IV. 15 inches in diameter, and its performances were on the whole regarded as very extraordinary. The principal objection to its use consisted in the very large quantity of coal that it consumed and the heavy cost of maintaining it in working order. There was a great waste, especially in boilers, the making of which was then ill understood. Smeaton relates that in the course of four years' working of the first Austhorpe engine, not fewer than four boilers were burnt out. The Wheal Fortune engine, however, answered its purpose. It kept down the water sufficiently to enable Mr. Lemon to draw up his tin, and on leaving the mine, he took with him RUINS (OF WHEAL IORTUNE [By R. I' Ldidch.] to Truro a clear sum of ten thousand pounds. The engine-house is now in ruins, and presents a highly picturesque appearance, as seen from the heights of Trewal, reminding one of a Border Peel rather than of a mining engine-house. Another of Newcomen's engines was erected about the same time at the Wheal Rose mine, a few miles north of Redruth. The engineer appointed to superinten1a its erection was J osepi M~orn`blower, who came fronm Staffordshire for the purpose about the year 1725. Mr. CHAP. IV. POLGOOTH. 71. ~ *I~-~ " how he became in any way.. connected with Newcomen must have arisen from t Horn-e latter being at Bromsgrove, when he visited Mr. Potter, E m ~':;Z'who got him to build one Though the >use of his newly-invented enend,- nt h,i:n gines at Wolverhampton in tohisoote i. 1712." Another engine was afterwards erected by Hornblower at Wheal Busy, or Chacewater, and a third at Polgooth —all rich and well-known mines in Cornwall. Though the use of Newcomen's engine rapidly extended, nothing is known of the man himself during this time. All over the mining districts his name was 1 " It may be interesting to know snifting. The fire was increased that it required three hands to work throuigh artificial means by another Newcomen's first engines. I have hand, and all being ready, the maheard it said that when the engine chine was set in motion by a third."was stopped, and again set at work, Cyrus Redding,'Yesterday and Tothe words were passed " Snift Benjy!" day.' London, 1863. The " snifting "Blow the fire, Pomery!" "Work clack" was a valve in the cylinder away, Joe! " The last let in the con- opening outwards, which permitted densing water. Lifting the condensing the escape of air or permanently clack was called "snifting," because elastic fluid, which could not be conon opening the valve, the air rushing densed by cold and run off through throtugh it made a noise like a man the eduction-pipe. 72 JONATHAN HULLS. CHAP. 1V. identified with the means employed for pumping the mines clear of water, and thereby enabling an important branch of the national industry to be carried on; but of Newcomen's personal history, beyond what has been stated above, we can gather nothing. It is not known when or where he died, whether rich or poor. The probability is that, being a person of a modest and retiring disposition, without business energy, and having secured no protection for his invention,, it was appropriated and made use of by others, without any profit to him, whilst he quietly subsided into private life. It is supposed that he died at Dartmouth about the middle of last century; but no stone marks the place where he was laid. The only memorial of Newcomen to be found at his native place is the little steam-boat called by his name, which plies between Totness and Dartmouth. During Newcomen's lifetime the proposal was revived of applying the steam-engine to the propelling of ships. Since Papin's time nothing had been accomplished in this direction. Now that the steam-engine was actively employed in pumping mines, it was natural enough that the idea should be revived of applying it to navigation. The most enthusiastic advocate of the new power was Jonathan Hulls, a native of Campden, in Gloucestershire, where he was born in 1699. HIe married a wife in 1719, before lie was out of his teens; an act of indiscretion in which, however, he had the example of one no less distinguished than Shakspeare. Living as he did in an inland country place, it seems remarkable that he should have directed his attention to the subject of steam-navigation. We find him making experiments with models of boats on the river Avon, at Evesham, and in course of time lie duly matured his ideas and embodied them in his patent of 1736.' Hle proposed to place a Newcomen engine on board a tow-boat, and by its means to 1 In 1737 he published a Treatise out of or into any Harbour, Port, or on the subject entitled,' A descrip- River, against Wind or Tide, and in a tion and Draught of a new-invented Calm,' by Jonathan Hulls. MIachine for carrying Vessels or Ships CHAP. IV. HULLS'S STEAM-BOAT. 73 work a paddle-wheel placed at the stern. His method of converting the rectilinear motion of his piston into a rotary one was ingenious, but, like Savery, he missed the crank on the paddle-shlaft, and many years passed before this simple expedient was adopted.1 "The work to be done by this machine," said he, "will be upon particular occasions, when all other means yet found out are wholly insufficient. How often does a merchant wish that his ship were on the ocean, when, if she were there, the wind would serve tolerably well to carry him on his intended voyage, but does not serve at the same time to carry him out of the river he happens to be in, which a few hours' work of the machine would do. Besides, I know engines that are driven by the same power as this is, where materials for the purpose are dearer than in any navigable river in England; therefore experience demonstrates that the expense will be but a trifle to the value of the work performed by those sort of machines, which any person that knows the nature of those things may easily calculate." His treatise was illustrated by a drawing, of which the following is a copy on a reduced scale. JONATH=AN EHOLLS'S STEAM-BO'AT'. 1 In describing his mode of obtain- he uses two axes, one behind the ing rotary motion by ratchet wheels, other, each of which is essential to a weight, and ropes, Hulls states that the object; and he then adds, that 74 UNSATISFACTORY TRIAL. CHAP. 1V. The inventor, aware of the novelty of his proposal and of the readiness of the public to ridicule novelties, deprecated rash censure of his project, and only claimed for it a fair and unprejudiced trial. In order to exhibit the powers of his steam-boat, he constructed an engine in 1737, and had it fixed on board a little vessel for trial in the river Avon at Evesham. The trial was not satisfactory, and the engine was taken on shore again. "A failure! A failure!" cried the spectators, who stigmatised the projector as an ass. The prophet had, indeed, no honour whatever in his own country. Long after his steam-boat experiment had been forgotten, these lines about him were remembered: " Jonathan ITull, With his paper skull, Tried hard to make a machine That should go against wind and tide: But he, like an ass, Couldn't bring it to pass, So at last was ashamed to be seen."' Not much more is known of Jonathan Hulls's history. In 1754 he published, in conjunction with two others, a treatise on' The Art of Measuring made Easy, by the help of a new Sliding-rule;' and shortly after' The Maltmaker's Instructor;' but nothing more was heard of Jonathan HIulls's steam-boat. We return to the Newcomen engine, which became increasingly employed as a pumping power in all the mining districts. Borlase, writing in 1758, says that "fire-engines" were then in regular use at North Downs when his tow-boat is to be used in rotary motion from the axis on which shallow rivers, the machine works by they are placed, and do not, as has two cranks fixed to the hindermost been erroneously stated, impart that axis; to which cranks are fixed two motion to it. —Bennet Woodcroft, shafts (or poles) of proper length to' Sketch of the Origin and Progress reach the bottom of the river, and of Steam Navigation.' London, 1848. which move alternately forward from i There are several versions of the the rmotion of the wheels by which the same satire current to this day in the vessel is carried on.: so that the villages of Campden and Hanging cranks, as described by Hulls, receive Aston. CHAP. IV. OBJECTIONS TO NEWCOMEN'S ENGINE. 75 near Redruth, Pitt-louarn, Polgooth, Wheal-rith, Pool, Dolcoath, Herland, and many other places.' Indeed there was scarcely a tin or copper mine of any importance in Cornwall that had not one or more of Newcomen's engines at work. They were also in general use in Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Northumberland. In the latter counties, where they were principally used for pumping water out of the coal mines, fuel was ready at hand, cheap and abundant. But in Cornwall it was otherwise. The coal had to be brought thither from a great distance, partly by sea and partly by land, and the cost of carriage was very heavy. It, therefore, became an object of much importance to reduce the consumption of fuel, to prevent the profits of the mines being absorbed by the heavy cost of working the pumps. This, indeed, was the great objection to Newcomen's engine, especially in Cornwall. The consumption of fuel at some mines was so enormous, that it was doubtful whether the cost of steam did not exceed that of an equal amount of horse power, and it became more and more difficult to realise even a bare margin of profit. The two engines at Wheal Rose and Wheal Busy, near Chacewater, of 66 and 72 inches diameter, consumed each about thirteen tons of coal daily. To relieve the mining interest, in some measure, from this charge, government allowed a drawback of five shillings a chaldron on coal; but in some cases this was found insufficient, and it began to be complained that the consumption of coal was so great, that the mines were barely paying. Invention, however, was constantly at work, and new improvements were from time to time introduced, with the object of economising fuel and increasing the efficiency of the engine. Among the ingenious men who devoted themselves to this work, were Payne, 1 Borlase,'Natural History of Cornwall,' p. 175. 76 DARTMOUTH. CHAP. IV. Brindley, and Smeaton. Of these, the last especially distinguished himself by his improvements of the Newcomen engine, which he may be said to have carried to the highest perfection of which it was capable. His famous Chacewater engine was the finest and most powerful work of the kind which had until then been constructed, and it remained unrivalled until superseded by the invention of Watt, to whose life and labours we now proceed to direct the attention of the reader. DARTMOUTH, FROM TEE HARBOUR. [By R. P. Leitch ] JAM I E S WATT: IHIS BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE: MECHANICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER, SURVEYOR, AND INVENTOR. G IEE1NOCK _AND ~ E CLYDE, 1865. l[By Rt. iP. Leitch, after a sketchl by J. S Smiles. ] G[REENOCK HARBOUR, 1,68. [Fac-simile of an old print..] CHAPTER V.. JAMES WATT -LINEAGE AND BIRTHPLACE - BOYHOOD AND APPRENTICESHIP. JAMES WAIrT was born at Greenock, on the Clyde, on the 19th of January, 1736. His parents were of the middle class, industrious, intelligent, and religious people, with a character for probity which had descended to them from their "forbears," and was cherished as their proudest inheritance. James Watt was thus emphatically well-born. His father and grandfather both held local offices of trust, and honourable mention is made of them in the records of Greenock. His grandfather, Thomas Watt, was the first of the family who lived in that neighbourhood. He had migrated thither from the county of Aberdeen, where his father was a small farmer in the time of Charles I. It is supposed that he took part with the Covenanters in resisting the Marquis of Montrose in his sudden descent upon Aberdeen at the head of his wild Highlanders in s0 WATT'S GRANDFATHER CHAP. V. the autumn of 1644; and that the Covenanting farmer was killed in one of the battles that ensued. The district was ravaged by the victorious Royalists; the crops were destroyed, cattle lifted, dwellings burnt; and many of the inhabitants fled southwards for refuge in more peaceful districts. Hence Thomas Watt's migration to Cartsdyke, where we find him settled as a teacher of navigation and mathematics, about the middle of the seventeenth century. Cartsdyke, or Crawfordsdyke, was then a village situated a little to the east of Greenock, though now forming part of it. Crawfordsburn House, still standing, was the residence of the lord of the manor, and is a good specimen of the old-fashioned country mansion. It is CI.WFOUDSBURN HOUSE, NEAR GREENOCK. beautifully situated on the high ground overlooking the Clyde. In former times a green slope stretched down from it towards the beach, along which lay the village, consisting of about a hundred cottages, mostly thatched. Cartsdyke was, however, in early times, a place of greater importance than Greenock. It had a pier, which Greenock as yet had not; and from this pier the first Clyde ship which crossed the Atlantic sailed for Darien in 1697. W-hat little enterprise existed in the neigh CHAP. V. APPOINTED AN ELDER. 81 bourhood was identified with Cartsdyke rather than with Greenock; and hence Thomas Watt's preference for it, in setting up there as a teacher. He, too, like his sire, seems to have been a sturdy Covenanter; for we find him, in 1683, refusing to take the test in favour of prelacy, and he was consequently proclaimed to be a "disorderly schoolmaster officiating contrary to law." He nevertheless continued the teaching of the mathematics, in which he seems to have prospered, as, besides marrying a wife, he shortly after bought the house and garden which he occupied, and subsequently added to his possessions a tenement in the neighbouring village of Greenock. From the nature of his calling, it is obvious that he must have been a thoughtful and intelligent person;' and that he was a man of excellent character is clear from the confidence he inspired in those who had the best opportunities of knowing him. When William and Mary were confirmed in their occupancy of the British throne, shortly after the Revolution of 1688, one of the first acts of Mr. Crawford, of Crawfordsburn, the feudal superior, was to appoint Thomas Watt baillie of the barony-a position of local importance, involving the direction of public affairs within the limits of his jurisdiction. A few years later, the Kirk Session of Greenock, having found him "blameless in life and conversation," appointed him an Elder of the parish, when it became part of his duty to overlook not only the religious observances, but the manners and morals, of the little community. Kirk Sessions did not then confine themselves to ecclesiastical affairs, but assumed the function of magistrates, and almost exercised the powers of an Among the few household articles one of Sir Isaac Newton, and the belonging to him which descended to other of John Napier, the inventor of his son, and afterwards to his grand- Logarithms. son the engineer, were two portraits, G 82 GRAMMAR SCHOOL. CHAP.. V. inquisition. One of their most important duties was to provide for the education of the rising generation, in pursuance of the injunction of John Knox, "that no father, of what estate or condition that ever he may be, use his children at his own fantasie, especially in their youthhead; but all must be compelled to bring up their children in learning and virtue," —words which lie at the root of much of Scotland's mental culture, as well as, probably, of its material prosperity. In 1696 the Act was passed by the Scotch Parliament which is usually regarded as the charter of the Scotch parishschool system; and in the following year the Kirk Session of Greenock proceeded to make provision for the establishment of their parish school, which continued until the Town Council superseded it by the Grammar School, at which James Watt, the future engineer, received the best part of his school education. After holding the offices of Presbytery Elder and Kirk Treasurer for some time, Thomas Watt craved leave to retire into private life. He was seventy years old, and felt infirmities growing upon him. The plea was acknowledged, and the request granted; and on his retirement from office the Kirk Session recorded on their minutes that Thomas Watt had been found " diligent and faithful in the management of his trust." He died at the age of 92, and was buried in the old kirkyard of Greenock, where his tombstone is still to be seen. He is there described as "Professor of Mathematics in Crawfordsdyk." Not far from his grave lie, "mouldering in silent dust," the remains of Burns's Highland Mary, who died while on a visit to a relative at Greenock. Two sons survived the "Professor," John and James, who were well settled in life when the old man died.'John, the elder, was trained by his father in mathematics and surveying; for some time officiating under himl as clerk to the barony of Cartsdyke, and afterwards CHAP. V. WATT'S FATHER. 83 removing to Glasgow, where he began business on his own account. In the year that his father died (1734) he made the first survey of the river Clyde; but he died shortly after, and the map was published by his nephew. James, the engineer's father, was bound apprentice to a carpenter and shipwright at Cartsdyke, and on the expiry of his term he set up business for himself in the same line at Greenock. About the beginning of the last century, Greenock, now one of the busiest ports in the kingdom, was but a little fishing-village, consisting of a single row of thatched cottages lying parallel with the sandy beach of the Frith of Clyde, in what was then known as " Sir John's little bay." Sir John Shaw was the superior, or lord of the manor, his mansion standing on a height overlooking the town,' and commanding an extensive view of the Clyde, from Roseneath to Dumbarton. Across the water lay the beautiful north shore, broken by the long narrow sea-lochs running far away among the Argyleshire hills. Their waters, now plashed by the paddles of innumerable Clyde steamers, were then only disturbed by the passing of an occasional Highland coble; whilst their shores, now fringed with villages, villas, and mansions, were as lonely as Glencoe. Greenock was in a great measure isolated from other towns by impassable roads. The only route to Greenock, on the west, lay along the beach, and when strong winds raised a high tide the communication was entirely cut off. Greenock was separated from Cartsdyke, on the east, by the Ling Burn, which was crossed by a plank, afterwards supplanted by an old ship's rudder; and it was about the middle of the century before a 1 The mansion house of the Shaws for ever. It is now called " The is now principally occupied as ma- Watt Park," and a more beautiful norial offices. The fine old garden spot (bating the smoke of the busy and pleasure-grounds have been pre- town below) is scarcely to be found sented by Sir John Shaw to the in Britain. people of Greenock as a public park (G 2 84 PRIMITIVE STATE OF GREENOCK. CHAP. V. bridge was built across the stream. The other provisions of the place for public service and convenience were of a like rude and primitive character: thus, Greenock could not boast of a public clock until about the middle of the last century, when a town clock was mounted in a wooden steeple. Till then, a dial, still standing, marked the hours when the sun shone, and a bell hung upon a triangle summoned the people to kirk and market. Besides the kirk, however, there was another public building-the Black Hole, or prison, which, like the other houses in the place, was -covered with thatch. Before the prison were placed the "jougs," as a terror to evil-doers, as well as a few old pieces of cannon, taken from one of the ships of the Spanish Armada wrecked near Pencores Castle. The Black Hole, the jougs, and the cannon were thought necessary precautions against the occasional visits to which the place was subject from the hungry Highlandmen on the opposite shores of the firth.l The prosperity of Greenock dates from the year 1707, shortly after the Union with England. The British Parliament then granted what the Scottish Parliament had refused-the privilege of constructing a harbour. Before that time there was no pier,-only a rude landing-stage which Sir John Shaw had provided for his barge in the "Little Bay;" but the fishermen's 1 In 1715 the Greenock and Carts- pressed by a display of force. Their dyke men kept strict watch and boats were drawn up on the beach ward for eighty days against a threat- with their prows to the High Street, ened visit of Rob Roy and his caterans. the north side of which at that time The conduct of these unruly neigh- lay open to the sea. The Highland bours continued to cause apprehen- folk lived and slept on board, each sions amongst the townspeople until boat having a plank or gangway a much later period, especially during between it and the shore. On the fair time, then the great event of the first day of the fair Sir John Shaw, year. The fair was the occasion of the feudal superior, convened the the annual gathering of the people local dignitaries, the deacons and the from the neighbouring country to trades, and after drinking the King's buy and to sell. Highlandmen came health and throwing the glasses from the opposite shores and from amongst the populace, they formed the lochs down the Clyde, men caring in procession and perambulated the little for Lowland law, but duly im- town. CHAP. V. GREENOCK'S IMPROVEMENT. 85 boats and other small craft frequenting the place were beached in the usual primitive way. Vessels of burden requiring to load or unload their cargoes did so at the pier at Cartsdyke above referred to. When the necessary powers were granted to make a harbour at Greenock, the inhabitants proceeded to tax themselves to provide the necessary means, paying a shilling and fourpence for every sack of malt brewed into ale within the barony; ale, not whisky, being then the popular drink of Scotland. The devotion of the townspeople to their " yill caups " must have been considerable, as the harbour was finished and opened in 1710, and in thirty years the principal debt was paid off. In course of time Greenock was made a customhouse port, and its trade rapidly increased. The first solitary vessel, freighted with Glasgow merchandise for the American colonies, sailed from the new harbour in 1719; and now the custom-house dues collected there amount to more than six times the whole revenue of Scotland in the time of the Stuarts. Here James Watt, son of the Cartsdyke teacher of mathematics, and father of the engineer, began business about the year 1730. His occupation was of a very miscellaneous character, and embraced most branches of carpentry. He was a housewright, shipwright, carpenter, and undertaker, as well as a builder and contractor, having in the course of his life enlarged the western front of Sir John Shaw's mansion-house, and designed and built the Town-hall and Council-chambers. To these various occupations Mr. Watt added that of a general merchant. He supplied the ships frequenting the port with articles of merchandise as well as with ships' stores. He also engaged in foreign mercantile ventures, and held shares in several ships. Three months after the death of his father, to a share of whose property he succeeded, Mr. Watt purchased a house on the Mid-Quay Head, at the lower end of 86 WATT'S M()TTEIR. (CHAP. T. William-street, with a piece of ground belonging to it, which extended to the beach. On this piece of ground stood Watt's carpenter's shop, in which a great deal of miscellaneous work was executed-household furniture and ships' fittings, chairs, tables, coffins, and capstans, as well as the ordinary sorts of joinery; while from his stores he was ready to supply blocks, pumps, gun-carriages, dead-eyes, and other articles used on board ship. He was ready to " touch " ships' compasses, and to adjust and repair nautical instruments generally; while on an emergency he could make a crane for harbour usesthe first in Greenock having been executed in his shops, and erected on the pier for the convenience of the Virginia tobacco-ships beginning to frequent the harbour. These multifarious occupations were necessitated by the smallness of the place, the business of a single calling being as yet too limited to yield a competency to an enterprising man, or sufficient scope for his powers. Being a person of substance and respectability, Mr. Watt was elected by his fellow townsmen to fill various public offices, such as trustee for the burgh fund, tQwn councillor, treasurer, and afterwards baillie or chief magistrate. Ile also added to his comfort as well as to his dignity by marrying a wife of character, Agnes Muirhead, a woman esteemed by her neighbours for her graces of person, as well as of mind and heart. She is said to have been not less distinguished for her sound sense and good manners than for her cheerful temper and excellent housewifery.l Such was the mother of 1 Some of her neighbours thought Of Mrs. Watt's " superior style of her stately and unbending, and that living," compared with the custom of she affected a superior style of living. the period, the following anecdote is In the'Memorials of Watt,' by the given: —"One of the author's inlate George Williamson, Esq., Gree- formants on such points, a venerable nock, are to be found many curious lady in her eightieth year, was wont and interesting details as to the Watt to spl-ak of the worthy baillie's wife family; collected partly from tradi- with much characteristic interest and tion and partly from local records. animation. As illustrative of the CHAP. V. WATT'S BIRTHPLACE. 87 James Watt. Three of her five children died in childhood; John, her fifth son, perished at sea when on a voyage to America in one of his father's ships; and James, the fourth of the family, remained her only surviving child. He was born in the house which stood at the corner between the present Dalrymple-street and William-street, since taken down and replaced by the building now known as the "James Watt Tavern." JAMES WATT TAVERN, GREENOCK [ By R P. Leltch.] From his earliest years James Watt was of an extremely fragile constitution, requiring the tenderest nurture. Struggling as it were for life all through his childhood, he acquired an almost feminine delicacy and sensitiveness, which made him shrink from the rough play of robust children; and hence, during his early years, his education was entirely conducted at home. His mother taught him reading, and his father a little writing and arithmetic. His mother, to amuse him, internal economy of the family, the on the table.' Among these and old lady related an occasion on which other reminiscences of her youth, our she had spent an evening, when a venerable informant described James girl, at Mrs. Watt's house, and re- Watt's mother, in her expressive membered expressing with much Doric, as'a braw, braw womannaivet6 to her mother on returning none now to be seen like her.' " p. home, her childish surprise that 128-9.'Mrs. Watt had two lighted candles 88 WATT'S EARLY YEARS. CHAP. V. encouraged him to draw with a pencil on paper, or. with chalk upon the floor; and his father supplied him with a few tools from the carpenter's shop, which he soon learnt to handle with expertness. In such occupations he found the best resource against ennui. He took his toys to pieces, and out of the parts ingeniously constructed new ones. The mechanical dexterity which he thus cultivated even as a child was probably in a great measure the foundation upon which he built the speculations to which he owes his glory; nor, without his early mechanical training, is there reason to believe that he would afterwards become the improver and almost the creator of the steam-engine. The invalid thus passed his early years almost entirely in the society of his mother, whose gentle nature, strong good sense, and unobtrusive piety, exercised a most beneficial influence in the formation of his character. Nor were his parents without their reward; for as the boy grew up to manhood he repaid their anxious care with obedience, respect, and affection. Mrs. Watt was in after life accustomed to say that the loss of,her only daughter, which she had felt so severely, had been fully made up to her by the dutiful attentions of her son. Spending his life indoors, without exercise, his nervous system became preternaturally sensitive. He was subject to violent sick headaches, which confined him to his room for weeks together; and it almost seems a marvel that, under such circumstances, he should have survived his boyhood. It is in such cas-es as his that indications of precocity are generally observed; and parents would be less gratified at their display if they knew that they are usually the symptoms of disease. Several remarkable instances of this precocity are related of Watt. On one occasion, when he was bending over the hearth with a piece of chalk in his hand, a friend of his father said, " You' ought to send that boy to a public school, and not allow him to trifle away his time at home." "Look how CHAP. V. REPROVED BY HIS AUNT. 89 my child is occupied," said the father, " before you condemn him." Though only six years old, it is said he was found trying to solve a problem in geometry. On another occasion he was reproved by Mrs. Muirhead, his aunt, for his indolence at the tea-table. "James Watt," said the worthy lady, " I never saw such an idle boy as you are: take a book or employ yourself usefully; for the last hour you have not spoken one word, but taken off the lid of that kettle and put it on again, holding now a cup and now a silver spoon over the steam, watching how it rises from the spout, catching and counting the drops it falls into." In the view of M. Arago, the little James before the tea-kettle becomes "the great engineer, preparing the discoveries which were soon to immortalize him." In our opinion the judgment of the aunt was the truest. There is no reason to suppose that the mind of the boy was occupied with philosophical theories on the condensation of steam, which he compassed with so much difficulty in his maturer years. This is more probably an afterthought borrowed from his subsequent discoveries. Nothing is commoner than for children to be amused with such phenomena, in the same way that they will form airbubbles in a cup of tea, and watch them sailing over the surface till they burst. The probability is that little James was quite as idle as he seemed. When he was at length sent to Mr. M'Adam's commercial school, the change caused him many trials and much suffering. He found himself completely out of place in the midst of the boisterous juvenile republic. Against the tyranny of the elders he was helpless; their wild play was most distasteful to him; he could not join in their sports, nor roam with them along the beach, nor shy stones into the water, nor take part in their hazardous exploits in the harbour. Accordingly they showered upon him contemptuous epithets; and the school being composed of both sexes, the girls joined in 90 VISIT TO GLASGOW. CTIAP. V. the laugh. He shone as little in the class as in tlhe playground. He did not possess that parrot power of learning and confidence in self necessary to achieve distinction at school; and he was even considered dull and backward for his age.'l His want of progress may, however, in some measure be accounted for by his almost continual ailments, which sometimes kept him. for weeks together at home. It was not until he reached the age of about thirteen or fourteen, when he was put into the mathematical class, that his powers appeared to develop themselves, and from that time he made rapid progress. When not quite fourteen, he was taken by his mother for change of air to Glasgow, then a quiet place without a single long chimney, somewhat resembling a rural market-town of the present day. He was left in charge of a relation, and his mother returned to Greenock. But he proved so wakeful during the visit, and so disposed to indulge in that habit of storytelling, which even Sir Walter Scott could afterwards admire in him, that Mr. Watt was very soon written to by his friend, and entreated to return to Glasgow and take home his son. "I cannot stand the excitement he keeps me in," said Mrs. Campbell; "I am worn out for want of sleep. Every evening, before retiring to rest, he contrives to engage me in conversation, then begins some striking tale, and whether humorous or pathetic, the interest is so overpowering, that the family all listen to him with breathless attention, and hour after hour strikes un1 The truth in regard to young and inapt. Although to some minds Watt's first years in the public school facts of such a nature may be conis, that, owing doubtless to infirm ceived to mar the romance of a great health, to the suffering and depres- man's history, yet, seeing they rest sion which affected his whole powers, on authenticity which cannot be imhe was prevented for a considerable pugned, there appears no reasonable time displaying even a very ordi- ground on which it may be thought nary and moderate aptitude for the that they ought to be passed over common routine of school lessons; as if they had not existed, or were and during those years he was re- altogether unfounded.-Williamson's garded by his schoolmasters as slow'Memorials of Watt,' p. 130. CHAP. V. BOYISH INGENUITY. 91 heeded." He was taken back to Greenock accordingly, and, when well enough, was sent to the Grammar School of the town, then kept by Mr. Robert Arrol. Under him, Watt made fair progress in the rudiments of Latin and Greek; but he was still more successful in the study of mathematics, which he prosecuted under Mr. John Marr. It was only when he entered on this branch of learning that he discovered his strength, and he very soon took the lead in his class. When at home the boy continued to spend much of his time in drawing, or in cutting or carving with his penknife, or in watching the carpenters at work in his father's shop, sometimes trying, his own hand at making little articles with the tools which lay about. In this he displayed a degree of dexterity which seemed so remarkable that the journeymen were accustomed to say of him that " little Jamie had gotten a fortune at his fingers' ends." Even when he had grown old he would recall to mind the pleasure as well as the profit which he had derived from working in his shirt-sleeves in his father's shop. He was, in fact, educating himself in the most effectual manner in his own way; learning to use his hands dexterously; familiarising himself with the art of handling tools; and acquiring a degree of expertness in working with them in wood and metal, which eventually proved of the greatest value to him. At the same time he was training himself in habits of application, industry, and invention. Most of his spare time was thus devoted to mechanical adaptations of his own contrivance. A small forge was erected for him, and a bench fitted up for his special use; and there he constructed many ingenious little objects, such as miniature cranes, pulleys, pumps, and capstans. Out of a large silver coin he fabricated a punch-ladle, which is still preserved. But the kind of work which most attracted him was the repairing of ships' compasses, quadrants, and nautical instruments, 92 WATT'S HOME EDUCATION. CHAP. V. in executing which he exhibited so much neatness, dexterity, and accuracy, that it eventually led to his selection of the business he determined to follow, —that of a mathematical instrument maker. The boy at the same time prosecuted his education at school; his improving health enabling him to derive more advantage from the instructions of his masters than in the earlier part of his career. Not the least influential part of his training, as regarded the formation of his character, consisted, as already observed, in the example and conversation of his parents at home. His frequent illnesses brought him more directly and continuously under their influence than is the case with most boys of his age; and reading became one of his chief sources of recreation and enjoyment. His father's libraryshelf contained well-thumbed volumes of Boston, Bunyan, and' The Cloud of Witnesses,' with Henry the Rymer's'Life of Wallace,' and other old ballads, tattered by frequent use. These he devoured greedily, and re-read until he had most of them by heart. His father would also recount to him the sufferings of the Covenanters,the moors and mosses which lay towards the south of Greenock having been among their retreats during the times of the persecution. Then there were the local and traditionary stories of the neighbourhood,-such as the exploits of the Greenock men under Sir John Shaw, at Worcester, in 1651,1 —together with much of that unwritten history, heard only around firesides, which kindles the Scotchman's nationality, and influences his future life. We may here mention, in passing, that one of the most vividly-remembered incidents of James Watt's boyhood was the Stuart rebellion of the "Forty-five," i The Shaw baronetcy was the war was long preserved in Greenock, reward of the feudal superior's ser- and was hung up with the other vices on the occasion. The banner town flags in one of the public rooms. carried by the tenantry in the civil CHAP. V. THE STUART REBELLION. 93 which occurred when he was about ten years old. Watt himself is so intimately identified with the material progress of the nineteenth century, thatit strikes one almost with surprise that he should have been a spectator, in however remote a degree, of incidents belonging to an altogether different age. The Stuart Rebellion may be said to have been the end of one epoch and the beginning of another; for certain it is that the progress of Scotland as an integral part of the British empire, and the growth of its skilled industry-which the inventions of Watt did so much to develop —appeared as if to spring from the very ashes of the rebellion. Like other lowland towns, Greenock was greatly alarmed at the startling news from the Highlands of the threatened descent of the clans. Sir John Shaw had the trades mustered for drill on the green in front of his mansion, and held them in readiness for defence of the town, in case of attack. Greenock was otherwise secure, being protected against the Highlands by the Clyde; besides, the western clans were either neutral or adhered to the house of Hanover. The Pretender with his followers passed southward by Stirling, and only approached Greenock on their return from England, —a half-starved and illclad, though still unbroken army. They halted at Glasgow, where they levied a heavy contribution on the inhabitants, and sent out roving parties to try their fortunes in the neighbouring towns. A small detachment one day approached Greenock, and came as near as the Clune Brae; but the townspeople were afoot, and on guard; signal was given to the ships of war moored near the old battery, and a few well-directed shots speedily sent the Highlanders to the right-about. The alarm was over for the present; but it was renewed in the following year, when the rumour reached Edinburgh that Prince Charles, hunted from the Highlands, had landed at Greenock, and lay concealed there. The consequence was that a strict search was made throughout 94 FASCINATED BY ASTRONOMY. CHAP. V. the town, and Mr. Watt's premises were searched like the others; but the Pretender had contrived to escape in another direction. Such was one of the most memorable incidents in the boy-life of James Watt, so strangely in contrast with the later events of his industrial career. During holiday times, the boy sometimes indulged in rambles along the Clyde, occasionally crossing to the north shore, and strolling up the Gare Loch and Holy Loch, and even as far as Ben Lomond. He was of a solitary disposition, and loved to wander by himself at night amidst the wooded pleasure-grounds which surrounded the old mansion-house overlooking the town, watching through the trees the mysterious movements of the stars. He became fascinated by the wonders of astronomy, and was stimulated to inquire into the science by the examination of the nautical instruments which he found amongst his father's shop-stores. For it was a peculiarity which characterised him through life, that he could not look upon any instrument or machine without being seized with a desire to understand its meaning, to unravel its mystery, and master the rationale of its uses. Before he was fifteen he had twice gone through with great attention S'Gravande's'Elements of Natural Philosophy,' a book belonging to his father. He performed many little experiments in chemistry, and even contrived to make an electrical machine, much to the marvel of those who felt its shocks. Like most invalids, he read eagerly such books on medicine and surgery as came in his way. He went so far as to practise dissection; and on one occasion he was found carrying off for this purpose the head of a child who had died of some uncommon disease. "He told his son," says Mr. Muirhead, " that, had he been able to bear the sight of the sufferings of patients, he would have been a surgeon. In his solitary rambles, his love of wild-flowers and plants lured him on to the study of botany. Ever ob CHAP. V. WATT'S LOVE OF READING. 95 servant of the aspects of nature, the violent upheavings of the mountain-ranges, on the north shores of Loch Lomond directed'his attention to geology. He was a great devourer of books; reading all that came in his way. On a friend once advising him to be less indiscriminate in-his reading, he replied, " I have never yet read a book without gaining information, instruction, or amusement." This was no answer to the admonition of his friend, who merely recommended him to bestow upon the best books the time he devoted to the worse. But the appetite for knowledge in inquisitive minds is, during youth, when curiosity is fresh and unslacked, too insatiable to be fastidious, and the volume which gets the preference is usually the first which comes in the way. Watt was not, however, a mere bookworm. In his solitary walks through the country he would enter the cottages of the peasantry, gather their local traditions, and impart to them information of a similar kind from his own ample stores. Fishing, which suited his tranquil nature, was his single sport. When unable to ramble for the purpose, he could still indulge the pursuit from his father's yard, which was open to the sea, and the water of sufficient depth at high-tide to enable vessels of fifty or sixty tons to lie alongside. But James Watt had now arrived at a suitable age to learn a trade; and his rambles must come to a close. His father had originally intended him to follow his own business; but having sustained some heavy losses about this time-one of his ships having foundered at sea,and observing the strong bias of his son towards manipulative science and exact mechanics, he at length decided to send him to Glasgow, in the year 1754, when he was eighteen years old, to learn the trade of a mathematical instrument maker. 96 GLASGOW IN 1754. CHAr. VI. CHAPTER VI. JAMES WATT, MATHEMATICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER. WHEN James Watt, a youth of eighteen, went to Glasgow in 1754 to learn his trade, the place was very different from the Glasgow of to-day. Not a steamengine was then at work in the town; not a steam-boat disturbed the quiet of the Clyde. There was a rough quay along the Broomielaw, then, as the name implies, partly covered with broom. The quay was furnished with a solitary crane, for which there was very little use, as the river was full of sandbanks, and boats and gabberts of only six tons burden and under could then ascend the Clyde.' Often for weeks together not a single masted vessel was to be seen in the river. The principal buildings in the town were the Cathedral and the University. The west port, now in the centre of Glasgow, was then a real barrier between the town and the country. The ground on which Enoch-square stands consisted chiefly of gardens. A thick wood occupied the site of the present Custom-house and of that part of Glasgow situated behind West Clyde-street. Blythswood was grazing-ground. Not a house had yet been erected in Hutchinson-town, Laurieston, Tradeston, or Bridgeton. The land between Jamaica-street on the east, and Stobcross on the west, and south from Anderston-road to the river, now the' most densely populated parts of Glasgow, consisted of fields and cabbage-gardens. 1 According to Smeaton's report in abounded in the Clyde, and was so 1755, there were in spring tides only common that servants and apprentices 3 feet 8 inches water at Pointhouse were accustomed to stipulate that Ford. Measures were taken to deepen they should not have salmon for the river, and operations with that dinner more than a certain number object were begun in 1768. Salmon of days in the week. CHAP. VI. TRONGATE, GLASGOW. 97 The town had but two main streets, which intersected each other at the Cross or Market-place, and the only paved part of them was known as " The Plainstanes," which extended for a few hundred yards in front of the public offices and the Town-hall. The two main streets 1, ___ ____ _____ _ —71 ___ _!_E TRONGATE, GLASGOW. contained some stately well-built houses-Flemish-looking tenements with crow-stepped gables, —the lower stories standing on Doric columns, under which were the principal booths or shops —small, low-roofed, and dismal. But the bulk of the houses had only wooden fronts and thatched roofs, and were of a very humble character. The traffic along the unpaved streets was so small, that the carts were left standing in them at night. The town was as yet innocent of police;' it contained 1 The "middens" in the street threatened a penalty of 5s. if middens were sometimes complained of as a of which complaint had been made nuisance; and in 1776, the magistrate were not removed within 48 hours. H 98 THE TOBACCO TRADE. CHAP. VI. no Irish immigrants, and very few Highlanders. The latter then thought it beneath them to engage in any pursuit connected with commerce; and Rob Roy's contempt for the wabsters of Glasgow, as described by Sir Walter Scott in the novel, was no exaggeration. No Highland gentleman, however poor, would dream of condemning his son to the drudgery of trade; and even the poorest Highland cottar would shrink with loathing from the life of a weaver or a shopkeeper. He would be a hunter, a fisher, a cattle-lifter, or a soldier; but trade he would not touch-that he left to the Lowlanders.' The principal men of business in Glasgow at the time of which we speak were the tobacco lords-importers of that article from the plantations in Virginia,2 —who 1 The Highland gentry and people shortly aftey became the great mart regarded the Lowlanders as their for tobacco. Of the 90,000 hogsheads natural enemies, fair subjects for imported into the United Kingdom plunder at all times as opportunities in 1772, Glasgow alone imported offered. The Lowlanders, on their 49,000, or more than one-half. The part, regarded the Highlanders very American Revolution had the effect much as the primitive settlers of of completely ruining the tobacco North America regarded the Cherokee trade of Glasgow, after which the and Chocktaw Indians. Sometimes a merchants were compelled to turn band of uncouth half-clad Highland- to other fields of enterprise and inmen would suddenly rush down upon dustry. The capital which they had the Lowlands, swoop up all the cattle accumulated from tobacco enabled within their reach, and drive them them to enter upon their new unoff into the mountains. Hence the dertakings with spirit, and the steamLowlanders and the Highlanders were engine which had by that time been always in a state of feud. Long after invented by their townsman James the'45 a Highlandman would "thank Watt, proved their best helper in adGod that he had not a drop of Lowland vancing the prosperity of modern blood in his veins." Glasgow. The rapidity of its progress 2 The only trade which Glasgow may be inferred from the following carried on with foreign countries pre- facts. In 1735, though the Glasgow vious to the Union, was in coal, grind- merchants owned half the entire stones, and fish, - Glasgow -cured tonnage of Scotland, it amounted to herrings being in much repute only 5600 tons. In that year the abroad. After the Union partnerships whole shipping of Scotland was only were formed; vessels were built down one-fortieth part of that of England: the Clyde, and chartered for carrying it is now about one-fifth. From 1752 on the trade with Virginia, Maryland, to 1770 the total tonnage dues of the and Carolina. The first honest vessel harbour of Glasgow amounted to only crossed the Atlantic fromn the Clyde 1471., or equal to an average of about in 1719;'in 1735 the Virginia mer- 81. per annum. In 1780, the Clyde chants in Glasgow had fifteen vessels having been deepened in the interval, engaged in the trade, and the town they reached 15151.; and in 1854, CHAP. VI. PRIMITIVE GLASGOW. 99 were often to be seen strutting along the Plainstanes, dressed in scarlet cloaks, cocked hats, and powdered wigs; the " boddies" who kept the adjoining shops eying them over their half-closed doors, and humbly watching for a nod of recognition from the mighty potentates. Yet even the greatest of the tobacco lords only lived in flats, entering from a common stair; and the domestic accommodation was so scanty and so primitive, that visitors were of necessity received in the bedrooms. This circumstance seems to have had some influence in the formation of the Clubs,l which then formed a curious feature of society in most Scotch towns. They consisted of knots of men of like tastes and pursuits, who met in the evenings at public-houses for purposes of gossip and social drinking. There they made new and cultivated old acquaintanceships, and exchanged news with each other. The Club combined the uses of the newspaper and the newsroom, which now accomplish the same objects without the drinking. But Glasgow had then no newspaper; and a London news-sheet of a week old was looked upon as a novelty. There was no coffee-room nor public library in the town; no theatre 2 nor place of resort open, except the "Change-house;" so that the Club was. regarded as a social necessity. The drinking was sometimes moderate, and sometimes " hard." The better class confined themselves to claret and other French wines, they amounted to 86,5801. The in- Iand seriously damaged. The few crease has been quite as great in persons who went there had to be later years. In point of value of ex- protected from insults. In 1762, ports, Glasgow ranks fourth among when some persons proposed to build the ports of the United Kingdom; a theatre, not a single individual who and Greenock now takes precedence had ground within the burgh would of Bristol. grant them a site. Tl1wo years later 1 For many curious particulars of the theatre was erected outside the Old Glasgow and its society, see Dr. precincts, and on the night on which Strang's' Glasgow and its Clubs.' it was opened it was wilfully set on 2 A temporary wooden theatre was fire by some persons instigated by the run up in 1752, but the religious pre- preaching of a neighbouring methojudices of the population were vio- dist, when it narrowly escaped delently excited by the circumstance, struction. and the place was attacked by a mob H 2 100 WATT'S FIRST MASTER. CHAP. VI. which were then cheap, being free from duty. Those disposed to indulge in more frugal fare confined themselves to oat-cake and small-beer. It was not until heavy taxes were laid on foreign wines and malt that the hard whisky-drinking of Scotland set in. Whisky was introduced from the Highlands shortly after the "Forty-five;" and it soon became the popular drink. By 1780 the drinking of raw whisky in Glasgow at midday had become general.' When young Watt arrived in Glasgow he carried with him but a small quantity of baggage; the articles in his trunk including amongst other things a quadrant, -probably a specimen of his own handiwork,-a leather apron, about a score of carpenters' and other tools, and " a pair of bibels." On making inquiry for a proper master, under whom to learn the business of mathematical instrument making, it was found that there was no such person in Glasgow. There was, however, a mechanic in the town, who dignified himself with the name of "optician," under whom Watt was placed for a time. He was a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, who sold and mended spectacles, repaired fiddles, *tuned spinets, made and repaired the simpler instruments used in mechanical drawing, and eked out a slender living by making and selling fishing-rods and fishing-tackle. Watt was as handy at dressing trout and salmon flies as at most other things, and his master, no doubt, found him useful enough; but there was nothing to be learnt in return for his services. Though his master was an ingenious workman, in a small way, and could turn his ready hand 1 When the Lowlanders want to with whisky, or malt spirit, as strong drink a cheering cup, they.go to the as Geneva, which they swallow in public-house, called the Changcre-house, great quantities, without any signs of and call for a chopin of twopenny, inebriation: they are used to it from which is their yeasty beverage, made the cradle, and find it an excellent of malt, not quite so strong as the preservative against the winter cold, table-beer of England.... he which must be extreme on these Highlanders, on the contrary, despise mountains. - Smollett,' Expedition the liquor, and regale themselves of Humphry Clinker." CHAP. VI. JOURNEY TO LONDON. 101 to anything, it soon became clear to Watt's relations, the Muirheads, with whom he lived during his stay, that the instructions of such an artist were little likely to advance him in mathematical instrument making. Among the gentlemen to whom WNatt was introduced by his relatives was Dr. Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy in Glasgow College, who strongly recommended him to proceed to London, and there place himself under the instruction of some competent master. Watt consulted his father on the subject, who readily gave his sanction to the proposal; and, with a letter of introduction from Dr. Dick in his pocket, he set out for the great city accordingly. No stage-coach then ran between Glasgow and London; so it was determined that young Watt should proceed on horseback, then the most convenient and speedy mode of travelling. His chest was sent by sea. Old Mr. Watt's memorandum-book at Heathfield contains the following entry, under date the 6th June, 1755:" To send James Watt's chist to the care of Mr. William Oman, Ventener in Leith, to be shypt for London to ye care of Captain William Watson, at the Hermitage, London. " pd. 3s. 6d. for wagon carage to Edenbrougb of chist. Id. to son James 21. 2s. pd. Plaster and Pomet, Is. 4d. pd 4 doz. pencels, Is. 6d." The "plaster and pomet" may possibly have been provided in view of the long journey on horseback and its contingencies. It was arranged that the youth should travel in the company of a relative, Mr. Marr, a seacaptain, who was on his way to join his ship, then lying in the Thames. They set out on the 7th of' June, travelling by way of Coldstream and Newcastle, where they joined the great north road, then comparatively practicable to the south of Durham. They reached London safely on the 19th, having been about a fortnight on the road. 102 SEARCH FOR A MASTER. CHAP. VI. Mr. Marr immediately proceeded to make inquiries for a mathematical instrument maker with whom to place his young friend. But it was found that a serious obstacle presented itself in the rules of the trade, which prescribed that those employed must either be apprentices serving under a seven years' apprenticeship, or, if journeymen, that they should have served for that term. Watt, however, had no intention of binding himself to serve for so long a period, and he had no pretensions to rank as a journeyman. His object was to learn the business in the shortest possible time, and then return to Glasgow and set up for himself. The two went about from shop to shop, but only met with rebuffs. " I have not yet got a master," Watt wrote to his father about a fortnight after his arrival; "we have tried several, but they all made some objection or other. I find that, if any of them agree with me at all, it will not be for less than a year; and even for that time they will be expecting some money." Mr. Marr continued to exert himself on behalf of the youth. Anxious to be employed in any way rather than not at all, Watt offered his services gratuitously to a watchmaker named Neale, with whom Mr. Marr did business, and he was allowed to occupy himself in his shop for a time, cutting letters and figures in metal. Al length a situation of a more permanent character was obtained for him; and he entered the shop of Mr. John Morgan, a respectable mathematical instrument maker in Cornhill, on the terms of receiving a year's instruction in return for a fee of twenty guineas and the proceeds of his' labour during that time. He soon proved himself a ready'learner and skilful workman. That division of labour, the result of an extensive trade, which causes the best London carriages to be superior to any of provincial construction, was even then applied to mathematical instruments. "'. Very few here," wrote Watt, "know any more than how to make a rule, others CHAP. VI. WATT'S LIFE IN LONDON. 103 a pair of dividers, and such like." His first employment was in making brass scales, rules, parallels, and the brasswork of quadrants; and by the end of a month he was able to finish a Hadley's quadrant in better style than any apprentice in the shop. From rule and quadrant making he proceeded to azimuth compasses, brass sectors, theodolites, and the more delicate kinds of instruments. At the end of the year he wrote home to his father that he had made " a brass sector with a French joint, which is reckoned as nice a piece of framing-work as is in the trade;" and he expressed the hope that he would soon be able to work for himself, and earn his bread by his own industry. Up to this time he had necessarily been maintained by his father, on whom he drew from time to time. Mr. Watt's memorandum-books show that on the 27th of June he remitted him 101.; on the 24th of August following he enters: "Sent George Anderson by post 81. to buy a bill of 71. or 81. to send Wheytbread and Gifferd, and ballance of my son's bill, 21. 2s. 3d., for which ame to remite him more;" and on the 11th September following, the balance was forwarded through the same channel. On the 24th October, 41. 10s. was in like manner sent to George Anderson " on son James's second bill;" and on the 31st December, 101. was remitted, "to be put to the credit of son James's last bill." To relieve his father as much as possible for the cost of his maintenance in London, Watt lived in a very frugal style, avoiding all unnecessary expenses. His living cost him only eight shillings a week; and he could not reduce it below that, he wrote to his father, "without pinching his belly." He also sought for some remunerative work on his own account; and when he could obtain it he sat up at night to execute it. During Watt's stay in London he was in a great measure prevented from stirring abroad by the hot press for sailors which was then going on. As many as forty 104 DANGER FROM PRESSGANGS. CHAP. VI. pressgangs were at work, seizing all able-bodied men they could lay hands on. In one night they took not fewer than a thousand men. Nor were the kidnappers idle. These were the agents of the East India Company, who had crimping-houses in different parts of the city for receiving the men whom they had seized upon for service in the Indian army. Even when the demand for soldiers abated, the kidnappers continued their trade, and sold their unhappy victims to the planters in Pennsylvania and other North American colonies. Sometimes severe fights took place between the pressgangs and the kidnappers for possession of those who had been seized, the law and police being apparently powerless to protect them. "They now press anybody they can get," Watt wrote in the spring of 1756, "landsmen as well as seamen, except it be in the liberties of the city, where they are obliged to carry them before the Lord Mayor first; and unless one be either a prentice or a creditable tradesman, there is scarce any getting off again. And if I was carried before my Lord Mayor, I durst not avow that I wrought in the city, it being against their laws for any unfreeman to work even as a journeyman within the liberties."' What a curious glimpse does this give us into the practice of man-hunting in London in the eighteenth century! Watt's enforced confinement, together with his sedentary habits and unremitting labour, soon told upon his weak frame.'When he hurried to his lodgings at night, his body was wearied, and his nerves exhausted, so that his hands shook like those of an old man; yet he persevered with the extra work which he imposed upon himself, in order to earn a little honest money to help to pay for his living. His seat in Mr. Morgan's shop being placed close to the door, which was often opened and shut in the course of the day, he caught 1 Letter to his father quoted in Muirhead's' Life of Watt,' p. 39. CHAP. VI. RETURNS TO SCOTLAND. 105 a severe cold in the course of the winter; and he was afflicted by a racking cough and severe rheumatic pains, from the effects of which he long continued to suffer. Distressed by a gnawing pain in his back, and greatly depressed in spirits, he at length, with his father's sanction, determined to return to Greenock, to seek for renewal of health in his native air. His father made him a further remittance to enable him to purchase some of the tools required for his trade, together with materials for making others, and a copy of Bion's work on the construction and use of Mathematical Instruments. Having secured these, he set out on his return journey for Scotland, and reached Greenock in safety in the autumn of 1756. There his health soon became sufficiently restored to enable him to return to work; and with the concurrence and help of his father, he shortly after proceeded to Glasgow, in his twentieth year, to begin business on his own account. In endeavouring to establish himself in his trade, Watt encountered the same obstacle which in London had almost prevented his learning it. Although there were no mathematical instrument makers in Glasgow, and it must have been a public advantage to have so skilled a mechanic settled in the place, Watt was opposed by the corporation of hammermen on the ground that he was neither the son of a burgess nor had served an apprenticeship within the borough.' Failing in his endeavours to open a place of business, he next tried to prevail on the corporation to allow him to make use of a small workshop wherein to make experiments; but 1 The following " letter of Guildry" burgh, as they shall think fit, ay and embodied the local regulations which while the said unfieemen be ptlt off existed for the purpose of preventing the town, and restrained, or else be "loss and skaith" to the burgesses made free with the town and their and craftsmen of Glasgow by the in- crafts; and sic like, to pursue, upon trusion of "strangers":-"'I'he Dean the judges competent, all persons of Guild and his Council shall have dwelling within this burgh, and usurpfull power to discharge, punish, and ing the liberty thereof, obtain dccrets unlaw all persons, unfreemen, using against them, and cause the same to the liberty of a freeman within the be put to speedy execution." 106 GAINS ASYLUM IN GLASGOW COLLEGE. CHAP. VI. this also was peremptorily refused. The hammermen were doubtless acting in a very narrow spirit, in thus excluding the young mechanic from the privileges of citizenship; but such was the custom of the times,those who were within the favoured circles usually putting their shoulders together to exclude those who were without. Watt had, however, already been employed by Dr. Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy, to repair some mathematical instruments which had been bequeathed to the University by a gentleman in the West Indies; and the professors, having an absolute authority within the area occupied by the college buildings, determined to give him an asylum there, and thus free him from the incubus of the guilds. In the heart of old Glasgow city, not far from the cathedral of St. Mungo, which Knox with difficulty preserved from the fury of the'Scotch iconoclasts, stands the venerable University, a curiously black and sombre building, more than 400 years old. Inside the entrance, on the right-hand side, is a stone staircase, guarded by fabulous beasts in stone. The buildings consist of several quadrangles; but there is not much regularity in their design, each part seeming to stand towards the other'/' $, I.I',R QUADRANG:- -:,: ---- — C w| ~~~~IlF PQUtANGLGAGWCLL INNER QUADRANGLE, GLASGOW COLLEGE CHAP. VI. HIS SHOP IN GLASGOW COLLEGE. 107 parts, in a state of independent crookedness and irregularity. There are turrets in the corners of the quadrangles,-turrets with peaked tops, like witches' caps. In the inner quadrangle, entered from the left-hand side of the outer court, a workshop was found for our mechanician, in which he was securely established by the midsummer of 1757. The apartment appropriated to Watt by the professors is still to be seen in nearly the same'rude state in which he left it. It is situated on the first floor of the range of building forming. the northwest side of the inner quadrangle, immediately under the gallery of the Natural Philosophy class, with which it communicates. It is lighted by three windows, two of which open into the quadrangle, and the third, at the back, into the Professors' court. There is a small closet in the corner of the room, where some students have cut their names in the plaster,-date " 1713." The access to the room used to be from the court by a spiral stone staircase; but that entrance is now closed. The apartment is only about twenty feet square; but it served Watt, as it has since served others, for high thinking and noble working.' In addition to his workshop under the Natural Philosophy class, a shop for the sale of his instruments was also appropriated to Watt by the Professors. It formed the ground-floor of the house situated next to the Principal's Gate, being part of the University Buildings, and was entered directly from the pavement of the High Street. It has been described to us, on the authority of Professor Fleming, as an old house, with a sort of arcade in front, supported on pillars. In making some alterations in the building the pillars were too much weakened, and the house, excepting the basement, had to be taken 1 When we visited the room some invention of his delicate process of years silce, we found laid there the signalling through the wires of the galvanic apparatus employed by Pro- Atlantic Telegraph. fessor Thomson for perfecting the 108 FINDS HIMSELF IN DIFFICULTIES. CHAP. VI. down.''The shop occupied by Watt is the little tenement shown on the right hand of the following engraving; but the lower story of the building has since been altered and repaired, and is now totally different from what it was in Watt's time. ISOMETRIC VIEW OF GLASGOW COLLEGE, 1693, FROM SLETYERS'THEATRUM SCOT2.'1 Though his wants were few, and he lived on humble fare, Watt found it very difficult to earn a subsistence by his trade.'His father sent him remittances from time to time; but the old man had suffered serious losses in his own business, and had become much less able to help his son with money. After a year's trial, Watt wrote to his father, that " unless it be the Hadley's instruments there is little to be got by it, as at most other jobs I am obliged to do the most of them myself; and, as 1 The illustration does not show the building having been added since the Inner Quadrangle, situated to the left view was published. of the Main Court, that part of the CHAP. VI. HIS SLENDER BUSINESS. 109 it is impossible for one person to be expert at everything, they often cost me more time than they should do." Of the quadrants, he could make three in a week, with the help of a lad; but the profit upon the three was not more than 40s. The customers for these were very few in number, as seagoing ships with their captains could not yet reach Glasgow.l Failing sufficient customers for his instruments, Watt sent those which he had made to Port Glasgow and Greenock, where his father helped him to dispose of them. He also bethought him of taking a journey to Liverpool and London, for the purpose of obtaining orders for instruments; though, for some reason or other —-most probably because he was averse to "pushing," and detested the chaffering of trade-his contemplated journey was not undertaken. He therefore continued to execute only such orders as came to him, so that his business remained very small. He began to fear that he must give up the trade that would not keep him, and he wrote to his father: " If this business does not succeed, I must fall into some other." To eke out his income, he took to map and chart selling, and, amongst other things, offered for sale the Map of the River Clyde,2 originally surveyed by his uncle John. It is well for the world at large that Watt's maps and quadrants remained on his hands unsold. The most untoward circumstances in life have often the happiest rlThe author of' Glasgow, Past that time could not have been much and Present' thus writes:- " Last more than three feet." week (Nov. 1851) I was crossing the 2 The' Glasgow Courant' of Oct. ferry at the west end of T'radeston, 22, 1759, contains the followving adand In the course of our passage over vertisement:we turned round the bow of a large " Just Published, ship. The ferryman, looking up to "And to be Sold by JamesWatt, at his Shop her leviathan bulwarks, exclaimed, in the College of Glascow, price 2s. 6d.,'She came up here yesterday, draw- "A large Sheet Map of the River Clyde, ing eighteen feet water!' Now, upon fi'om Glasgow to Portincross, from an this very spot seventy years ago, Actutal Survey. when a very little boy, I waded across " To which is added, the river, my feet never being off the " A Draught of Part of the North Channel, ground, and the water not reaching with the Frith of Clyde according to the above my arm-pits. r'he depth at best authorities." 110 RESORTS TO OTHER PURSUITS. CHAP. VL. results. It is not Fortune that is blind, but man. Had his instrument-making business prospered, Watt might have become known as a first-class maker of quadrants, but not as the inventor of the condensing steam-engine. It was because his own special business failed that he was driven to betake himself to other pursuits, and eventually to prosecute the invention on which his fame mainly rests. At first he employed part of his leisure in making chemical and other experiments; but as these yielded him no returns in the shape of money, he was under the necessity of making some sort of article that was in demand, and for which he could find customers. Although he had no ear for music, and scarcely knew one note from another, he followed the example of the old spectacle-maker, his first master, in making fiddles, flutes, and guitars, which met with a readier sale than his quadrants. These articles were what artists call "pot-boilers," and kept him in funds until a maintenance could be earned by higher-class work. We are informed, through a lady at Glasgow, that her father bought a flute from Watt, who said to him, in selling it: " Woe be to ye, Tam, if you're no guid luck; for this is the first I've sold!" His friend Dr. Black, probably to furnish him with some profitable employment, asked Watt to make a barrelorgan for him, which he at once proceeded to construct. Watt was not the man to refuse work of any kind requiring the exercise of constructive skill. He first carefully studied the principles of harmony, —making science, in a measure, the substitute for want of ear,' and took for his guide the profound but obscure work on'Harmonics,' published by Dr. R. Smith of Cambridge. He next made a model of the instrument; after which he constructed the organ, which, when finished, was considered a great success. About the same time the 1 General T. Perronet Thompson has mastered the principles of haris another remarkable instance of a mony and applied them in the invenperson without ear for music, who tion of his "Enharmonic Organ." CHAP. VI. BUILDS ORGANS. 111 office-bearers of a Mason's Lodge in Glasgow sent to ask him if he would undertake to build for them a fingerorgan. As he had sucessfully repaired an instrument of the same kind, besides nmaking the barrel-organ, he readily accepted the order. Watt was always, as he said, dissatisfied with other people's work, as well as his own; and this habit of his mind made him study to improve upon whatever came before him. Thus, in the process of building this organ, he devised a number of novel expedients, such as a sustained monochord, indicators and regulators of the strength of the blast, means of tuning the instrument according to any system of temperament, with sundry contrivances for improving the efficiency of the stops. The qualities of the organ when finished are said to have elicited the surprise and admiration of musicians.' The leisure time which Watt did not occupy with miscellaneous work of this sort, he spent in reading. He did not want for books, as the College library was near at hand; and the professors as well as students were willing to lend him from their stores. He was not afraid of solid, heavy, dry books, provided he could learn something from them. All were alike welcome; and one of his greatest pleasures was in devouring a novel, when it 1 Watt seems to have made other "A large organ made and used by organs besides those above mentioned. Watt when he had his shop in iNot long since a barrel-organ of his Glasgow, was disposed of by him, construction was offered for sale at when he finally left this city. It Glasgow. It was originally in the camle into the possession of the late form of a table, about three feet square, Mr. Archibald M'Lellan, coachhaving no appearance of a musical builder, Miller Street, Glasgow, and instrument externally. At this table, he had it fitted up in his elegant when Watt and his friends were residence in that fine old street. I seated, he would set the concealed have heard it played by Mr. M'Lellan. mechanism in action, and surprise After his death it was sold, and purthem with the production of the chased by Mr. James G. Adam of the music. It has since been mounted Denny print-works. Mr. Adam died, with an organ front and sides, with and the organ was advertised for sale, gilt pipes. When in proper tune it in 1864, and purchased for 101., by is of considerable power and pleasing Adam Sim, Esq., of Coulter Mains, in harmony; and continues orthodox in whose possession it now is. Mr. Sim its psalm tunes, which range from has authentic documents to prove that "Martyrs " to the " Old Hundred." A this organ was really James Watt's."' corlespondent writes as follows: — 112 VISITS TO HIS CLUB. CHAP. VT. fell in his way. He is even said to have occupied himself in writing tales and verses when he had nothing else to do. As none of his attempts have been preserved, -we cannot offer an opinion upon them; but it is doubtful whether Watt's poetry and fiction would display the same originality and power of invention as his steamengine. The only youthful exercises of his which have been preserved are anything but poetical. One of them, at Heathfield, is a'Treatise on Practical Megethometry;' and another is a'Compendium of Definitions,' in Latin, by Gerard de Vries, both written in a neat round hand. Like most of the Glasgow citizens of that time, Watt occasionally visited his club, where he cultivated the society of men of greater culture and experience than himself.' As he afterwards observed to a friend, "Our conversations then, besides the usual subjects with young men, turned principally on literary topics, religion, morality, belles-lettres, &c.; and to those conversations my mind owed its first bias towards such subjects, in which they were all much my superiors, I never having attended a college, and being then but a mechanic." There was another circumstance connected with his situation at this time which must have been peculiarly agreeable to a young man of his character, aspirations, and thirst for knowledge. His shop, being conveniently situated within the College, was a favourite resort of the professors and the students. They were attracted by the ingenious instruments and models which the shop contained, and the pleasure always felt in witnessing the proceedings of a skilful mechanic at his work, 1The club he frequented was with black beans, and seasoned with called the Anderston Club, of which pepper. Dr. Strang says Professor Mr. (afterwards Professor) Millar, Simson was in the habit of countingf Dr. Robert Simson, the mathema- the steps from his house to the club, tician, Dr. Adam Smith, Dr. Black, so that he could tell the distance to and Dr. Cullen, were members. The the fraction of an inch. But it is not standing dish of the club was hen- stated whether he counted the steps broth, consisting of a decoction'of on his return, and found the number " how-towdies" (fowls), thickened of steps the same. CHAP. VI. WATT'S ASSOCIATES. 113 but more particularly by the easy, unaffected, and original conversation of Watt himself. Though a comparative youth, the professors were usually glad to consult him on points of mechanical knowledge and practice; and the acuteness of his observation, the accuracy of his knowledge, and the readiness with which he communicated what he knew, soon rendered him a general favourite. Among his most frequent visitors were Dr. Joseph Black, the distinguished professor of chemistry, who there contracted a friendship with Watt which lasted, uninterrupted, for a period of forty years, until the Doctor's death; Professor Simson, one of the most eminent men of his day, whom Lord Brougham has described as the restorer of the science of geometry; Dr. Dick, the Professor of Natural Philosophy; and Professor Anderson.l Dr. Moor and Dr. Adam Smith were also frequent callers. But of all Watt's associates, none is more closely connected with his name and history than John Robison, then a student at Glasgow College, and afterwards Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh. Robison was nearer Watt's age than the rest, and stood in the intimate relation to him of bosom friend, as well as fellow inquirer in science. He was handsome and prepossessing in appearance, frank and lively, full of fancy and humour, and a general favourite in the College. He was a capital talker, an accomplished linguist, and a good musician; yet, with all his versatility, he was a profound thinker and a diligent student, 1 John Anderson was a native of first to open classes for the instrucGreenock, and an intimate friend of tion of working men — " anti-toga James Watt. He was appointed pro- classes," as he called them —in the fessor of Hebrew in his twenty-seventh principles of Natural Philosophy; year, and succeeded Dr. Dick as pro- and at.his death he bequeathed his fessor of Natural Philosophy in 1757. property for the purpose of founding Watt spent many of his evenings at an institution with the same object. his residence within the College, and The Andersonian University was had the free use of his excellent pri- opened in 1796, long before the ague vate library. Professor Anderson is of Mechanics' Institutes. entitled to the honour of being the 114 ROBISON'S INTRODUCTION TO WATT. CHAP. VI. especially in mathematical and mechanical science, as he afterwards proved in his elaborate'System of Mechanical Philosophy,' edited by Sir David Brewster, and his many able contributions to the'Encyclopaedia Britannica,' of which he was the designer and editor. Robison's introduction to Watt has been described by himself. After feasting his eyes on the beautifullyfinished instruments in his shop, Robison entered into conversation with him. Expecting to find only a workman, he was surprised to discover a philosopher. "I had the vanity," says Robison, " to think myself a pretty good proficient in my favourite study (mathematical and mechanical philosophy), and was rather mortified at finding Mr. Watt so much my superior. But his own high relish for these things made him pleased with the chat of any person who had the same tastes with himself; and his innate complaisance made him indulge my curiosity, and even encourage my endeavours to form a more intimate acquaintance with him. I lounged much about him, and, I doubt not, was frequently teasing him. Thus our acquaintance began." In Watt's workshop also, Robison first met Dr. Black, and there initiated a friendship which ended only with death. "My first acquaintance with him," Robison afterwards wrote Watt, "began in your rooms when you were rubbing up Macfarlane's instruments. He used to come in, and, standing with his back to us, amuse himself with Bird's quadrant, whistling softly to himself, in a manner that thrilled me to the heart." In 1757 Robison applied for the office of assistant to Dr. Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy, in the place of the son of that gentleman, who had just died; but though he had already taken the degree of Master of Arts, he was thought too young to hold so important an office, being only about nineteen years old. His friends wished him to study for the church; but, pre CHAP. VI. ROBISON'S ESTIMATE OF WATT. 115 ferring some occupation in which his mechanical tastes might be indulged, he turned his eyes to London. Furnished with letters from Professor Dick and Dr. Simson, he obtained an introduction to Admiral Knowles, who engaged him to take charge of his son's instruction while at sea. In that capacity he sailed from Spithead in 1759, with the fleet which assisted the land forces in the taking of Quebec; he and his pupil being rated as midshipmen in the Admiral's ship. Robison was on duty in the boat which carried Wolfe to the point where the army scaled the heights of Montcalm the night before the battle; and as the sun was setting in the west, the General, doubtless from an association of ideas suggested by the dangers of the coming struggle, recited, in an under tone, Gray's'Elegy on a Country Churchyard;' and when he had finished, said, "Now, gentlemen, I would rather have been the author of that poem than take Quebec." When Robison returned from his voyagings in 1763, a travelled man,-having had the advantage, during his absence, of acting as confidential assistant of Admiral Knowles in his marine surveys and observations, -he reckoned himself more than on a par with Watt; but he soon found that, during the period of his absence from Glasgow, his friend had been even busier than himself. When they entered into conversation, he found Watt continually striking into new paths where he was obliged to be his follower. The extent of the mathematical instrument maker's investigations was no less remarkable than the depth to which he had pursued them. Not only had he mastered the principles of engineering, civil and military, but diverged into studies in antiquity, natural history, languages, criticism, and art. Every pursuit became science in his hands, and he made use of his subsidiary knowledge for the purpose of helping him towards his favourite objects. I2 116 THEIR MUTUAL ESTEEM. CHAP. VI. Before long, Watt became to be regarded as one of the ablest men about college. "When to the superiority of knowledge in his own line," said Robison, "which every man confessed, there was joined the naive simplicity and candour of his character, it is no wonder that the attachment of his acquaintances was so strong. I have seen something of the world," he continued, "and I am obliged to say that I never saw such another instance of general and cordial attachment to a person whom all acknowledged to be their superior. But this superiority was concealed under the most amiable candour, and liberal allowance of merit to every man. Mr. Watt was the first to ascribe to the ingenuity of a friend things which were very often nothing but his own surmises followed out and embodied by another. I am well entitled to say this, and have often experienced it in my own case. There are few traits in biography more charming than this generous recognition of merit mutually attributed by the one friend to the other. Arago, in quoting the words of Robison, has well observed that it is difficult to determine whether the honour of having thus recorded them be not as great as that of having inspired them.'JE- FROOME1LAW IN 1761, PROFESSOR ROBISON, Et. 6. [ By T'. D Scott, after Raeburn.] 118 WATT'S EXPERIMENTS. CHAP. VII. CHAPTER VII. WATT'S EXPERIMENTS ON STEAM -INVENTS THE SEPARATE CONDENSER. IT was in the year 1759 that Robison first called the attention of his friend Watt to the subject of the steamengine. Robison was then only in his twentieth, and Watt in his twenty-third year. Robison's idea was that the power of steam might be advantageously applied to the driving of wheel-carriages, and he suggested that it would be the most convenient for the purpose to place the cylinder with its open end downwards to avoid the necessity of using a working beam. Watt admits that he was very ignorant of the steamengine at the time; nevertheless, he began making a model with two cylinders of tinplate, intending that the pistons and their connecting-rods should act alternately on two pinions attached to the axles of the carriage-wheels. But the model, being slightly and inaccurately made, did not answer his expectations. Other difficulties presented themselves, and the scheme was laid aside on Robison leaving Glasgow to go to sea. Indeed, mechanical science was not yet ripe for the locomotive. Robison's idea had, however, dropped silently into the mind of his friend, where it grew from day to day, slowly and at length fruitfully. At his intervals of leisure and in the quiet of his evenings, Watt continued to prosecute his various studies. He was shortly attracted by the science of chemistry, then in its infancy. Dr. Black was at that time occupied with the investigations which led to his discovery of the theory of latent heat, and it is probable CHAP. VII. INQUIRIES AS TO STEAM. 119 that his familiar conversations with Watt on the subject induced the latter to enter upon a series of experiments with the view of giving the theory some practical direction. His attention again and again reverted to the steam-engine, though he had not yet seen even a model of one. Steam was as yet almost unknown in Scotland as a working power. The first engine was erected at Elphinstone Colliery, in Stirlingshire, about the year 1750; and the second more than ten years later, at Govan Colliery, near Glasgow, where it was known by the startling name of "The Firework." This had not, however, been set up at the time Watt began to inquire into the subject. But he found that the College possessed the model of a Newcomen engine for the use of the Natural Philosophy class, which had been sent to London for repair. On hearing of its existence, he suggested to his friend Dr. Anderson, Professor of Natural Philosophy, the propriety of' getting back the model; and a sum of money was placed by the Senatus at the Professor's disposal " to recover the steam-engine from Mr. Sisson, instrument maker, in London." In the mean time Watt sought to learn all that had been written on the subject of the steam-engine. He ascertained from Desaguliers, from Switzer, and other writers, what had been accomplished by Savery, Newcomen, Beighton, and others: and he went on with his own independent experiments. His first apparatus was of the simplest possible kind. He used common apothecaries phials for his steam reservoirs, and canes hollowed out for his steam pipes.l In 1761 1 At a meeting held in Glasgow in phials for my apparatus, and by 1839 to erect a monument to Watt, means of them I got approximations )r. Ure observed: —" As to the sufficient for my purpose at the latent heat of steam," said Mr. Watt time." The passage affords a striking to me, "it was a piece of knowledge illustration of the large results that essential to my inquiries, and I may be arrived at by means of the worked it out myself in the best way humblest instruments. In like manner that I could. I used apothecaries' Cavendish, when asked by a foreigner 120 HIS FIRST RUDE APPARATUS. CHAP. VIT. he proceeded to experiment on the force of steam by means of a small Papin's digester and a syringe. The syringe was only the third of an inch in diameter, fitted with a solid piston; and it was connected with the digester by a pipe furnished with a stopcock, by which the steam was admitted or shut off at will. It was also itself provided with a stopcock, enabling a communication to be opened between the syringe and the outer air to permit the steam in the syringe to escape. The apparatus, though rude, enabled the experimenter to ascertain some important facts. When the steam in the digester was raised and the cock turned, enabling it to rush against the lower side of the piston, he found that the expansive force of the steam raised a weight of fifteen pounds with which the piston was loaded. Then, on turning the cock and shutting off the connexion with the digester at the same time that a passage was opened to the air, the steam was allowed to escape, when the weight upon the piston, being no longer counteracted, immediately forced it to descend. Watt saw that it would be easy to contrive that the cocks should be turned by the machinery itself instead of by the hand, and the whole be made to work by itself with perfect regularity. But there was an objection to this method. Water is converted into vapour as soon as its elasticity is sufficient to overcome the weight of the air which keeps it down. Under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere water acquires this necessary elasticity at 212~; but as the steam in the digester was prevented from escaping, it acquired increased heat, and by consequence increased elasticity. Hence it was that to be shown over his laboratories, test papers, a balance, and a blowpointed to an old tea-tray on the pipe, and observed, " There is all the table, containing a few watch-glasses, laboratory I possess." CHAP. VII. THE NEWCOMEN MODEL. 121 the steam which issued from the digester was not only able to support the piston and the air which pressed upon its upper surface, but the additional load with which the piston was weighted. With the imperfect mechanical construction, however, of those days, there was a risk lest the boiler should be burst by the steam, which was apt to force its way through the ill-made joints of the machine. This, conjoined with the great expenditure of steam on the high-pressure system, led Watt to abandon the plan; and the exigencies of his business for a time prevented him pursuing his experiments. Watt's own account of his early experiments will be found appended as notes to Brewster's edition of the articles'Steam and Steam-engines,' written by Dr. Robison for the'Encyclopedia Britannica,' and afterwards published in a separate form. At length the Newcomen model arrived from London; and, in 1763, the little engine, which was destined to become so famous, was put into the hands of' Watt. The boiler was somewhat smaller than an ordinary tea-kettle. The cylinder of the engine was only of two inches diameter and six inches stroke. Watt at X first regarded it as merely "a fine plaything." It was, however, enough to set him upon a track of think- THE NEWCOMEN MODEL. ing which led to the most important results. When he had repaired the model and set it to work, he 122 ENCOUNTERS A DIFFICULTY. CHAP. VII. found that the boiler, though apparently large enough, could not supply steam in sufficient quantity, and only a few strokes of the piston could be obtained, when the engine stopped. The fire was urged by blowing, and more steam was produced, but still it would not work properly. Exactly at the point at which another man would have abandoned the task in despair, the mind of Watt became thoroughly roused. "Everything," says Professor Robison, "was to him the beginning of a new and serious study; and I knew that he would not quit it till he had either discovered its insignificance, or had made something of it." Thus it happened with the phenomena presented by the model of the steam-engine. Watt referred to his books, and endeavoured to ascertain from them by what means he might remedy the defects which he found in the model; but they could tell him nothing. He then proceeded with an independent course of experiments, resolved to work out the problem for himself. In the course of his inquiries he came upon a fact which, more than any other, led his mind into the train of thought which at last conducted him to the invention of which the results were destined to prove so stupendous. This fact was the existence of Latent Heat. In order to follow the track of investigation pursued by Watt, it is necessary for a moment to revert to the action of the Newcomen pumping-engine. A beam, moving upon a centre, had affixed to one end of it a chain attached to the piston of the pump, and at the other a chain attached to -a piston that fitted into fhe steam cylinder. It was by driving this latter piston up and down the cylinder that the pump was worked. To communicate the necessary movement to the piston, the steam generated in a boiler was admitted to the bottom of the cylinder, forcing out the air through a valve, when its pressure on the under side of the piston counterbalanced the pressure of the atmosphere on its upper side. The piston, thus placed between two equal forces, CHAP. VII. PRINCIPLE OF LATENT HEAT. 123 was drawn up to the top of the cylinder by the greater weight of the pump-gear at the opposite extremity of the beam. The steam, so far, only discharged the office which was performed by the air it displaced; but, if the air had been allowed to remain, the piston once at the top of the cylinder could not have returned, being pressed as much by the atmosphere underneath as by the atmosphere above it. The steam, on the contrary, which was admitted by the exclusion of the air, could be condensed, and a vacuum created, by injecting cold water through the bottom of the cylinder. The piston being now unsupported, was forced down by the pressure of the atmosphere on its upper surface. When the piston reached the bottom, the steam was again let in, and the process was repeated. Such was the engine in ordinary use for pumping water at the time that Watt begun his investigations. Among his other experiments, he constructed a boiler which showed by inspection the quantity of water evaporated in any given time, and the quantity of steam used in every stroke of the engine. He was astonished to discover that a small quantity of water in the form of steam, heated a large quantity of cold water injected into the cylinder for the purpose of cooling it; and upon further examination he ascertained that steam heated six times its weight of cold water to 2120, which was the temperature of the steam itself. " Being struck with this remarkable fact," says Watt, "and not understanding the reason of it, I mentioned it to my friend Dr. Black, who then explained to me his doctrine of latent heat, which he had taught for some time before this period (the summer of 1764); but having myself been occupied by the pursuits of business, if I had heard of it I had not attended to it, when I thus stumbled upon one of the material facts by which that beautiful theory is supported." 1 Watt's notes to Robison's Articles on' Steam and Steam-engines.' 124 STRIVES TO ECONOM[SE HEAT. CHAP. VII. When Watt found that water, in its conversion into vapour, became such a reservoir of heat, he was more than ever bent on economising it; for the great waste of heat involving so heavy a consumption of fuel, was felt to be the principal obstacle to the extended employment of steam as a motive power. He accordingly endeavoured, with the same quantity of fiel, at once to increase the production of steam, and to diminish its waste. He increased the beating surface of the boiler, by making flues through it; he even made his boiler of wood, as being a worse conductor of heat than the brickwork which surrounds common furnaces; and he cased the cylinders and all the conducting-pipes in materials which conducted heat very slowly. But none of these contrivances were effectual; for it turned out that the chief expenditure of steam, and consequently of fuel, in the Newcomen engine, was occasioned by the reheating of the cylinder after the steam had been condensed, and the cylinder was consequently cooled by the injection into it of the cold water. Nearly four-fiftlhs of the whole steam employed was condensed on its first admission, before the surplus could act upon the piston. Watt therefore came to the conclusion, that to make a perfect steamn-engine, it was necessary that the cylinder should be always as hot as the steamn that entered it; but it was equally necessary that the steam should be condensed when the piston descended,-nay, that it should be cooled down below 100~, or a considerable amount of vapour would be given off, which would resist the descent of the piston, and diminish the power of the engine. Thus the cylinder was never to be at a less temperature than 212~, and yet at each descent of the piston it was to be less than 100~; conditions which, on the very face of them, seemed to be wholly incompatible. We revert for a moment t;o the progress of Watt's instlruent-nmaking business. The shop in the College CHAP. V.II. HIS BUSINESS IMPROVES. 125 was not found to answer, being too fir fri'om the principal thloroughfares. If le wanted business lie must go nearer to the public, for it was evident that they would iiot come to him. But to remove to a larger shop, in a more central quarter, involved an expenditure of capital for which he was himself unequal. His father had helped him with money as long as he could, but could do so no longer. Though he was as much respected by his neighbours as ever, he had grown poor by his losses; and, instead of giving help, himself needed it. Watt therefore looked about hiin for a partner with means, and succeeded in finding one in a Mr. John Craig, in conjunction with whom he opened a retail shop in the Salt-market, nearly opposite St. Andrew's Street, about the year 1760; removing from thence to Buchanan's Land, on the north side of the Trongate, a few years later.l Watt's partner was not a mechanic, but he supplied the requisite capital, and attended to the books. The partnership was on the whole successful, as we infer from the increased number of hands employed. At first Watt could execute all his orders himself, and afterwards by the help of a man and a boy; but by the end of 1764, the numnber of hands employed by the firm had increased to sixteen. His improving business brought with it an improving income, and Watt-always a frugal and thrifty man-began to save a little money. He was encouraged to economise by another circumstance - his intended marriage with his cousin, Margaret Miller. In anticipation of this event, he had removed from lhis rooms in the College to a house in Delftfield Lane-a narrow passage then parallel with York Street, but now converted into the spacious thoroughfare of Watt Street. The following advertisement in Ithe Saltmerlat to M1r. Buchanan's land in the the'Glasgow Journal' of the 1st Dec., Trongate, where he sells all sorts of M1a1763, fixes tl ate of is last thematical and MIuisical Instruments, with -mova]-l:-: +lvariety of toys, and other goods." " Jamles Watt has reimooved his shop frioml 126 HIS MARRIAGE. CHAP. VII. - _ —__-U-........ _ L —WATT'S HOUSE, DELFTFIELD LANE. Having furnished his house in a plain yet comfortable style, he brought home his young wife, and installed her there in July, 1764. The step was one of much importance to his personal wellbeing. Mrs. Watt was of a lively, cheerful temperament; and as Watt himself was of a meditative disposition, prone to melancholy, and a frequent sufferer from nervous headache, her presence at his fireside could not fail to have a beneficial influence upon his health and comfort. Watt continued to pursue his studies as before. Though still occupied with his inquiries and experiments as to steam, he did not neglect his proper business, but was constantly on the look-out for improvements in instrument making. A machine which he invented for drawing in perspective proved a success; and he made a considerable number of them to order, for customers in London as well as abroad. He was also an indefatigable reader, and continued to extend CHAP. VII. GLASGOW GREEN. 127 his knowledge of chemistry and mechanics by perusal of the best books on these sciences. Above all other subjects, however, the improvement of the steam-engine continued to keep the fastest hold upon his mind. He still brooded over his experiments with the Newcomen model, but did not seem to make much way in introducing any practical improvement in its mode of working. His friend Robison says he struggled long to condense with sufficient rapidity without injection, trying one expedient after another, finding out what would do by what would not do, and exhibiting many beautiful specimens of ingenuity and fertility of resource. He continued, to use his own words, "to grope in the dark, misled, by many an ignis,fatuus." It was a favourite saying of his, that " Nature has a weak side, if we can only find it out;" and he went on groping and feeling for it, but as yet in vain. At length light burst upon him, and all at once the problem over which he had been brooding was solved. One Sunday afternoon, in the spring of 1765, he went to take an afternoon walk on the Green, then a quiet, grassy meadow, used as a bleaching and grazingground. On week-days the Glasgow lasses came thither with their largest kail-pots, to boil their clothes in; and sturdy queans might be seen, with coats kilted, tramping blankets in their tubs. On Sundays the place was comparatively deserted, and hence Watt, who lived close at hand, went there to take a quiet afternoon stroll. His thoughts were as usual running on the subject of his unsatisfactory experiments with the Newcomen engine, when the first idea of the separate condenser suddenly flashed upon his mind. But the notable discovery is best told in his own words, as related to Mr. Robert Hart, many years after: — "I had gone to take a walk- on a fine Sabbath afternoon. I had entered the Green by the gate at the foot of Charlotte Street, and had passed the old washing 128 WATT'S ACCOUNT OF HIS INVENTION. CHAP. VII. house. I was thinking upon the engine at the time, and had gone as far as the herd's house, when the idea came into my mind that as steam was an elastic body it would rush into a vacuum, and if a communication were made between the cylinder and an exhausted vessel, it would rush into it, and might be there condensed without cooling the cylinder. I then saw that I must get rid of the condensed steam and injection-water if I used a jet, as in Newcomen's engine. Two ways of doing this occurred to me. First, the water might be run off by a descending pipe, if an off-let could be got at the depth of 35 or 36 feet, and any air might be extracted by a small pump. The second was to make the pump large enough to extract both water and air. He continued: I had not walked further than the Golf-house' when the whole thing was arranged in my mind."2 Great and prolific ideas are almost always simple. What seems impossible at the outset appears so obvious when it is effected that we are prone to marvel that it did not force itself at once upon the mind. Late in life Watt, with his accustomed modesty, declared his belief that if he had excelled, it had been by chance and the neglect of others." To Professor Jardine he said "that when it was analysed the invention would not appear so great as it seemed to be. In the state," said he, "in which I found the steam-engine, it was no great effort of mind to observe that the quantity of fuel necessary to make it work would for ever prevent its extensive utility. The next step in my progress was equally easy -to inquire what was the cause of the great consumption of fuel: this, too, was readily suggested, viz., the waste of fuel which was necessary to bring the whole cylinder, piston, and adjacent parts from the coldness of water to the heat of steam, no fewer than from fifteen 1 About the site of the Humane of James W att,' in' Transactions of Society's House. the Glasgow Archeaological Society, 2 Mr. Robert Hart's' lReminiscences 1859.' CHAP. V1I. THE SEPARATE CONDENSER. 129 to twenty times in a minute." The question then occurred, how was this to be avoided or remedied? It was at this stage that the idea of carrying on the condensation in a separate vessel flashed upon his mind, and solved the difficulty.' Mankind has been more just to Watt than he was to himself. There was no accident in the discovery. It had been the result of close and continuous study; and the idea of the separate condenser was merely the last step of a long journey —a step which could not have been taken unless the road which led to it had been traversed. Dr. Black says, " This capital improvement flashed upon his mind at once, and filled him with rapture; " a statement which, spite of the unimpassioned nature of Watt, we can readily believe. On the morning following his Sunday afternoon's walk on Glasgow Green, Watt was up betimes making arrangements for a speedy trial of his new plan. He borrowed from a college friend a large brass syringe, an inch and a third in diameter, and ten inches long, of the kind used by anatomists for injecting arteries with wax previous to dissection. The body of the syringe served for a cylinder, the piston-rod passing through a collar of leather in its cover. A pipe connected with the boiler was inserted at both ends for the admission of steam, and at the upper end was another pipe to convey the steam to the condenser. The axis of the stem of the piston was drilled with a hole, fitted with a valve at its lower end, to permit the water 1 "The last step of all," says Pro- Mr. Watt, in another department in fessor Jardine, "was more difficult- which I have been long engaged, to the forming of the separate condensing illustrate and encourage the progress of vessel. The great knowledge he had genius in youth, to show, that once in acquired of the mechanical powers possession of a habit of attention, under enabled him to construct it, but I have proper direction, it may be carried from often heard him say this was a work one easy step to another, till the mind of great difficulty, and that he met becomes qualified and invigorated for with many disappointments before he uniting and concentrating effort-the succeeded. I have often made use of highest exertion of genius." this beautiful analysis received from K 130 THE INVENTION TESTED. CHAP. VII. produced by the condensed steam on first filling the cylinder to escape. The first condenser made use of was an improvised cistern of tinned plate, provided with a pump to get rid of the water formed by the condensation of the steam, both the condensing-pipes and the air-pump being placed in i reservoir of cold water. " The steam-pipe," says Watt, "was adjusted to a small boiler. When steam was produced, it was admitted into the cylinder, and soon issued through the perforation of the rod, and at the valve of the condenser; when it was judged that the air was expelled, the steam-cock was shut, and the air-pump piston-rod was drawn up, which leaving the small pipes of the condenser l.= = i,__2_~ ~ 11___ X in a state of vacuum, the steam entered them and was condensed. The piston of i.... the cylinder immediately rose and lifted _ | —-- a weight of about 18 lbs., which was hung to the lower end of the piston-rod. The exhaustion-cock was shut, the steam was readmitted into the cylinder, and the WATT:S APPARATUS. operation was repeated. The quantity of steam consumed and the weights it could raise were observed, and, excepting the non-application of the steamcase and external covering, the invention was complete, in so far as regarded the savings of steam and fuel." But, although the invention was complete in Watt's mind, it took him many long and laborious years to work out the details of the engine. His friend Robison, with whom his intimacy was maintained during these interesting experiments, has given a graphic account of the difficulties which he successively encountered and overcame. He relates that on his return from the country, after the College vacation in 1765, he went to have a chat with Watt and communicate to him some observations he had made on Desaguliers' and Belidor's account of the steam-engine. He went straight into the parlour, without ceremony, and found Watt sitting before the fire looking at a little tin cistern which he CHAP. VII. ROBISON AND WATT. 131 had on his knee. Robison immediately started the conversation about steam, his mind, like Watt's, being occupied with the means of avoiding the excessive waste of heat in the Newcomen engine. Watt, all the while, kept looking into the fire, and after a time laid down the cistern at the foot of his chair, saying nothing. It seems that Watt felt rather nettled at Robison having communicated to a mechanic of the town a contrivance which he had hit upon for turning the cocks of his engine. When Robison therefore pressed his inquiry, Watt at length looked at him and said briskly, "You need not fash yourself any more about that, man; I.have now made an engine that shall not waste a particle of steam. It shall all be boiling hot,-ay, and hot water injected, if I please." He then pushed the little tin cistern with his foot under the table. Robison could learn no more of the new contrivance from Watt at that time; but on the same evening he accidentally met a mutual acquaintance, who, supposing he knew as usual the progress of Watt's experiments, observed to him, "Well, have you seen Jamie Watt?" " Yes." " He'll be in fine spirits now with his engine?" "Yes," said Robison, "very fine spirits." "Gad!" said the other, "the separate condenser's the thing: keep it but cold enough, and you may have a perfect vacuum, whatever be the heat of the cylinder." This was Watt's secret, and the nature of the contrivance was clear to Robison at once. It will be observed that WTatt had not made a secret of it to his other friends. Indeed Robison himself admitted that one of Watt's greatest delights was to communicate the results of his experiments to others, and set them upon the same road to knowledge with himself; and that no one could display less of the small jealousy of the tradesman than he did. To his intimate friend, Dr. Black, he communicated the progress made K2 132 DR. BLACK'S FRIENDSHIP. CHAP. VII. DR. JOSEPH BL.ACK. by him at every stage; and the Doctor kindly encouraged him in his struggles, cheered him in his encounter with difficulty, and, what was of still more practical value at the time, he helped him with money to enable him to prosecute his invention. Communicative though Watt was disposed to be, he learnt reticence when he found himself exposed to the depredations of the smaller fry of inventors. Robison says that had he lived in Birmingham or London at the time, the probability is that some one or other of the numerous harpies who live by sucking other people's brains, would have secured patents for CHAP. VII. WATT'S AIR-TIGHT COVER. 133 his more important inventions, and thereby deprived him of the benefits of his skill, science, and labour. As yet, however, there were but few mechanics in Glasgow capable of understanding or appreciating the steam-engine; and the intimate friends to whom he freely spoke of his discovery were too honourableminded to take advantage of his confidence. Shortly after, Watt fully communicated to Robison the different stages of his invention, and the results at which he had arrived, much to the delight of his friend. It will be remembered that in the Newcomen engine the steam was only employed for the purpose of producing a vacuum, and that its working power was in the down stroke, which was effected by the pressure of the air upon the piston; hence it is now usual to call it the atmospheric engine. Watt perceived that the air which followed the piston down the cylinder would cool the latter, and that steam would be wasted in re-heating it. In order, therefore, to avoid this loss of heat, he resolved to put an air-tight cover upon the cylinder, with a hole and stuffing-box for the pistonrod to slide through, and to admit steam above the piston, to act upon it instead of the atmosphere. When the steam had done its duty in driving down the piston, a communication was opened between the upper and lower part of the cylinder, and the same steam, distributing itself equally in both compartments, sufficed to restore equilibrium. The piston was now drawn up by the weight of the pump-gear; the steam beneath it was then condensed in the separate vessel so as to produce a vacuum, and a fresh jet of steam from the boiler was let in above the piston, which forced it again to the bottom of the cylinder. From an atmospheric it had thus become a true steam-engine, and with a much greater economy of steam than when the air did half the duty. But it was not only important to keep the air from flowing down the inside of the cylinder: the 134 HIS MODEL ENGINE. CHAP. VII. air which circulated within cooled the metal and condensed a portion of the steam within; and this Watt proposed to remedy by a second cylinder, surrounding the first with an interval between the two which was to be kept full of steam. One by one these various contrivances were struck out, modified, settled, and reduced to definite plans; the separate condenser, the air and water pumps, the use of fat and oil (instead of water as in the Newcornen engine) to keep the piston working in the cylinder air-tight, and the enclosing of the cylinder itself within another to prevent the loss of heat. They were all but' emanations from the first idea of inventing an engine working by a piston, in which the cylinder should be kept continually hot and perfectly dry. "When once," says Watt, "the idea of separate condensation was started, all these improvements followed as corollaries in quick succession; so that in the course of one or two days the invention was thus far complete in my mind." The next step was to construct a model engine for the purpose of embodying the invention in a working form. With this object Watt hired an old cellar, situated in the first wide entry to the north of the beef-market in King Street, and there proceeded with his model. He found it much easier, however, to prepare his plan than to execute it. Like most ingenious and inventive men, Watt was extremely fastidious; and this occasioned considerable delay in the execution of the work. His very inventiveness to some extent proved a hinderance; for new expedients were perpetually occurring to him, which he thought would be improvements, and which he, by. turns, endeavoured to introduce. Some of these expedients he admits proved fruitless, and all of them occasioned delay. Another of his chief difficulties was in finding competent workmen to execute his plans. He himself had been accustomed only to small metal work, with com CHAP. VII. HIS WORKING ENGINE. 135 paratively delicate tools, and had very little experience " in the practice of mechanics in great," as he termed it. He was therefore under the necessity of depending, in a great measure, upon the handiwork of others. But mechanics capable of working out Watt's designs in metal were then with difficulty to be found. The beautiful self-acting tools and workmanship which have since been called into being, principally by his own invention, did not then exist. The only available hands in Glasgow were the blacksmiths and tinners, little capable of constructing articles out of their ordinary walks; and even in these they were often found clumsy, blundering, and incompetent. The result was, that in consequence of the malconstruction of the larger parts, Watt's first model was only partially successful. The experiments made with it, however, served to verify the expectations he had formed, and to place the advantages of the invention beyond the reach of doubt. On the exhausting-cock being turned, the piston, when loaded with 18 lbs., ascended as quick as the blow of a hammer; and the moment the steam-cock was opened, it descended with like rapidity, though the steam was weak, and the machine snifted at many openings. Satisfied that he had laid hold of the right principle of a working steam-engine, Watt felt impelled to follow it to an issue. He could give his mind to no other business in peace until this was done. He wrote to a friend that he was quite barren on every other subject. "My whole thoughts," said he, "are bent on this machine. I can think of nothing else."' He proceeded 1 "I have now (April, 1765) almost theirs does to 32 (supposing my a certainty of thefactururm of the fire- cylinder as thick as theirs), which I engine, having determined the follow- think I can demonstrate. 1 can now ing particulars: The quantity of steam make a cylinder 2 feet diameter and produced; the ultimatum of the lever 3 feet high, only a 40th of an inch engine; the quantity of steam de- thick, and strong enough to resist the stroyed by the cold of its cylinder; atmosphere; sed tace. In short, I the quantity destroyed in mine; and can think of nothing else but this if there be not some devil in the hedge, macline." —Watt to 1)r. Lind, quoted mine ought to raise water to 44 feet in Muirhead's'Life of Watt,' 94-5. with the same quantity of steam that 136 HIS CHIEF DIFFICULTY. CHAP. VII. to make another and bigger, and, he hoped, a more satisfactory engine, in the following August; and with that object he removed from the old cellar in Kingstreet to a larger apartment in the then disused pottery or delftwork near the Broomielaw. There he shut himself up with his assistant, John Gardiner, for the purpose of erecting his engine. The cylinder was five or six inches in diameter, with a two-feet stroke. The inner cylinder was enclosed in a wooden steam-case, and placed inverted, the piston working through a hole in the bottom of the steam-case. After two months' continuous application and labour it was finished and set to work; but it leaked in all directions, and the piston was far from air-tight. The condenser also was in a bad way, and needed many alterations. Nevertheless, the engine readily worked with 10 lbs. pressure on the inch, and the piston lifted a weight of 14 lbs. The improvement of the cylinder and piston continued Watt's chief difficulty, and taxed his ingenuity to the utmost. At so low an ebb was the art of making cylinders that the one he used was not bored but hammered, the collective mechanical skill of Glasgow being then unequal to the boring of a cylinder of the simplest kind; nor, indeed, did the necessary appliances for the purpose then exist anywhere else. In the N}ewcomen engine a little water was poured upon the upper surface of the piston, and sufficiently filled up the interstices between the piston and the cylinder. But when Watt employed steam to drive down the piston, he was deprived of this resource, for the water and the steam could not coexist. Even if he had retained the agency of the air above, the drip of water from the crevices into the lower part of the cylinder would have been incompatible with keeping the surface hot and dry, and, by turning into vapour as it fell upon the heated metal, it would have impaired the vacuum during the descent of the piston. While he was occupied with this difficulty, and striving CHAP. VII. WANTS CAPITAL. 137 to overcome it by the adoption of new'expedients, such as leather collars and improved workmanship, he wrote to a friend, " My old white-iron man is dead;" the old whiteiron man, or tinner, being his leading mechanic. Unhappily, also, just as he seemed to have got the engine into working order, the beam broke, and having great difficulty in replacing the damaged part, the accident threatened, together with the loss of his best workman, to bring the experiment to an end. But though discouraged by these misadventures, he was far from defeated, but went on as before, battling down difficulty inch by inch, and holding good the ground he had won, becoming every day more strongly convinced that he was in the right track, and that the important uses of the invention, could he but find time and means to perfect it, were beyond the reach of doubt. But how to find the means! Watt himself was a comparatively poor man; having no money but what he earned by his business of mechanical instrument making, which he had for some time been neglecting through his devotion to the construction of his engine. What he wanted was capital, or the help of a capitalist willing to advance him the necessary funds to perfect his invention. To give a fair trial to the new apparatus would involve an expenditure of several thousand pounds; and who on the spot could be expected to invest so large a sum in trying a machine so entirely new, depending for its success on physical principles very imperfectly understood? There was no such help to be found in Glasgow. The tobacco lords, though rich, took no interest in steam power, and the manufacturing class, though growing in importance, had full employment for their little capital in their own concerns. 1i38 WATT AND DR. ROEBUCK. CHAP. VITI. CHAPTER VIII. WATT'S CONNEXION WITH DR. ROEBUCK-WATT ACTS AS SURVEYOR AND ENGINEER. DR. BLACK continued to take a lively interest in Watt's experiments, and lent him occasional sums of money from time to time to enable him to prosecute them to an issue. But the Doctor's means were too limited to permit him to do more than supply Watt's more pressing necessities. Meanwhile, the debts which the latter had already incurred, small though they were in amount, hung like a millstone round his neck. Black then bethought him whether it would not be possible to associate Watt with some person possessed of sufficient means, and of an active commercial spirit, who should join as a partner in the risk, and share in the profits of the enterprise. Such a person, he thought, was Dr. Roebuck, the founder of the Carron Iron Works, an enterprising man, of undaunted spirit, not scared by difficulties, nor a niggard of expense when he saw before him any reasonable prospect of advantage.l Roebuck was at that time engaged in sinking for coal on a large scale near Boroughstoness, where he experienced considerable difficulty in keeping the shafts clear of water. The Newcomen engine, which he had erected, was found comparatively useless, and he was ready to embrace any other scheme which held out a reasonable prospect of success. Accordingly, when his friend Dr. Black informed him of an ingenious young mechanic at Glasgow who had invented a steam1 For Memoir of Roebuck, see' Industrial Biography,' p. 133. CHAP. VIII. FORWARDS DRAWINGS TO ROEBUCK. 139 engine, capable of working with increased power, speed, and economy, Roebuck immediately felt interested, and entered into correspondence with Watt on the subject. He was at first somewhat sceptical as to the practicability of the new engine, so different in its action from that of Newcomen; and he freely stated his doubts to Dr. Black. He was under the impression that condensation might in some way be effected in the cylinder without injection; and he urged Watt to try whether this might not be done. Contrary to his own judgment, Watt tried a series of experiments with this object, and at last abandoned them, Roebuck himself admitting his error. Up to this time Watt and Roebuck had not met, though they carried on a long correspondence on the subject of the engine. In September, 1765, we find Roebuck inviting Watt to come over with Dr. Black to Kinneil (where Roebuck lived), and discuss with him the subject of the engine. Watt wrote to say that "if his foot allowed him" he would visit Carron on a certain day, from which we infer that he intended to walk. But the way was long and the road miry, and Watt could not then leave his instrument shop, so the visit was postponed. In the mean time Roebuck urged Watt to press forward his invention with all speed, "whether he pursued it as a philosopher or as a man of business." In the month of November following, Watt forwarded to Roebuck the detailed drawings of a covered cylinder and piston to be cast at the Carron Works. Though the cylinder was the best that could be made there, it was very ill-bored, and was eventually laid aside as useless. The piston-rod was made at Glasgow, under Watt's own supervision; and when it was completed he was afraid to send it on a common cart, lest the workpeople should see it, which would "occasion speculation." "I believe," he wrote in July, 1766, "it 140 BEGINS BUSINESS AS A SURVEYOR. CHAP. VIII. would be best to send it in a box.' These precautions would seem to have been dictated, in some measure, by fear of piracy; and it is obvious that the necessity of acting by stealth increased the difficulty of getting the various parts of the proposed engine constructed. Watt's greatest obstacle continued to be the clumsiness and inexpertness of his mechanics. "My principal hinderance in erecting engines," he wrote to Roebuck, "is always the smith-work." In the mean time it was necessary for Watt to attend to the maintenance of his family. He found that the steam-engine experiments brought nothing in, while they were a constant source of expense. Besides, they diverted him from his retail business, which needed constant attention. It ought also to be mentioned that his partner having lately died, the business had been somewhat neglected and had consequently fallen off. At length he determined to give it up altogether, and begin the business of a surveyor. He accordingly removed from the shop in Buchanan's Land to an office on the east side of King-street, a little south of Prince'sstreet. It would appear that he succeeded in obtaining a fair share of business in his new vocation. He already possessed a sufficient knowledge of surveying from the study of the instruments which it had been his business to make; and application and industry did the rest. His first jobs were in surveying lands, defining boundaries, and surveyor's work of the ordinary sort; from which he gradually proceeded to surveys of a more important character. It affords some indication of the local estimation in which Watt was held, that the magistrates of Glasgow should have selected him as a proper person to survey a canal for the purpose of opening up a new coal-field in the neighbourhood, and connecting it with the city, with a view to a cheaper and more abundant supply of CHAP. VIII. PROCEEDS WITH HIS ENGINE. 141 fuel. He also surveyed a ditch-canal for the purpose of connecting the rivers Forth and Clyde, by what was called the Loch Lomond passage; though the scheme of Brindley and Smeaton was eventually preferred as the more direct line. Watt came up to London in 1767, in connexion with the application to Parliament for powers to construct his canal; and he seems to have been very much disgusted with the proceedings before "the confounded committee of Parliament," as he called it; adding, "I think I shall not long to have anything to do with the House of Commons again. I never saw so many wrong-headed people on all sides gathered together." The fact, however, that they had decided against him had probably some share in leading him to form this opinion as to the wrong-headedness of the Parliamentary Committee. Though interrupted by indispensable business of this sort, Watt proceeded with the improvement of his steamengine whenever leisure permitted. Roebuck's confidence in its eventual success was such that in 1767 he undertook to pay debts to the amount of 10001. which Watt had incurred in prosecuting his project up to that time, and also to provide the means of prosecuting further experiments, as well as to secure a patent for the engine. In return for this outlay Roebuck was to have two-thirds of the property in the invention. Ea'rly in 1768 Watt made trial of a new and larger model, with a cylinder of seven or eight inches diameter. But the result was not very satisfactory. "By an unforeseen misfortune," he wrote Roebuck, "the mercury found its way into the cylinder, and played the devil with the solder. This throws us back at least three days, and is very vexatious, especially as it happened in spite of the precautions I had taken to prevent it." Roebuck, becoming impatient, urged Watt to meet him to talk the matter over; and suggested that as Watt 142 KINNEIL HOUSE. CHAP. VII1. could not come as far as Carron, they should meet at Kilsyth, about fifteen miles from Glasgow. Watt replied, saying he was too unwell to be able to ride so far, and that his health was such that the journey would disable him from doing anything for three or four days after. But he went on with his experiments, patching up his engine, and endeavouring to get it into working condition. After about a month's labour, he at last succeeded to his heart's content; and he at once communicated the news to his partner, intimating his intention of at last paying his long-promised visit to Roebuck at Kinneil. " I sincerely wish you joy of this successful result," he said, "and hope it will make some return for the obligations I owe you." visit of congratulation to Dr. Roebuck is an old-fashioned building, somewhat resembling an old French chioneau It was a former country-seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, and is finely situated on the shores of the Frith of Forth. The mansion is rich in classical associations, having been inhabited, since Roebuck's time, by Dugald Stewart, who wrote in it his'Philosophy of the Human CHAP. VIII. A PATENT DETERMINED ON. 143 Mind.' There he was visited by Wilkie, the painter, when in search of subjects for his pictures; and Dugald Stewart found for him, in an old farmhouse in the neighbourhood, the cradle-chimney introduced in the "Penny Wedding." But none of these names can stand by the side of that of Watt; and the first thought at Kinneil, of every one who is familiar with his history, would be of the memorable day when he rode over in exultation to wish Dr. Roebuck joy of the success of the steam-engine. His note of triumph was, however, premature. He had yet to suffer many sickening delays and bitter disappointments; for, though he had contrived to get his model executed with fair precision, the skill was still wanting to manufacture the parts of their full size with the requisite unity; and his present elation was consequently doomed to be succeeded by repeated discomfiture. The model went so well, however, that it was determined at once to take out a patent for the engine. The first step was to secure its provisional protection, and with that object Watt went to Berwick-upon-Tweed, and made a declaration before a Master in Chancery of the nature of the invention. In August, 1768, we find him in London on the business of the patent. He became utterly wearied with the delays interposed by sluggish officialism, and disgusted with the heavy fees which he was required to pay in order to protect his invention. He wrote home to his wife at Glasgow in a very desponding mood. Knowing her husband's diffidence and modesty, but having the fullest confidence in his genius, she replied, "I beg that you will not make yourself uneasy, though things should not succeed When we visited the place many is that of a " Lady Lilburne," wife of years ago, Miss Stewart's spinnet still the Parliamentary General, who is stood in the drawing-room, but there said to have thrown herself out of one was not a tone left in it. Like many of the windows during her husband's other old houses, Kinneil has the re- absence. putation of being haunted. The ghost 144 TRIES IMPROVEMENTS. CHAP. VIII. to your wish. If it [the condensing engine] will not do, something else?will; never despair." Watt must have felt cheered by these brave words of his noble helpmate, and encouraged to go onward cheerfully in hope. He could not, however, shake off his recurring fits of despondency, and on his return to Glasgow, we find him occasionally in very low spirits. Though his head was full of his engine, his heart ached with anxiety for his family, who could not be maintained on hope, already so often deferred. The more sanguine Roebuck was elated with the good working of the model, and impatient to bring the invention into practice. He wrote Watt in October, 1768, "You are now letting the most active part of your life insensibly glide away. A day, a moment, ought not to be lost. And you should not suffer your thoughts to be diverted by any other object, or even improvement of this, but only the speediest and most effectual manner of executing an engine of a proper size, according to your present ideas." Watt, however, felt that his invention was capable of many improvements, and he was never done introducing new expedients. He proceeded, in the intervals of leisure which he could spare from his surveying business, to complete the details of the drawings and specification, -making various trials of pipe-condensers, platecondensers, and drum-condensers, - contriving steamjackets to prevent the waste of heat and new methods for securing greater tightness of the piston, —inventing condenser-pumps, oil-pumps, gauge-pumps, exhaustingcylinders, loading-valves, double cylinders, beams, and cranks. All these contrivances had to be thought out and tested, elaborately and painfully, amidst many failures and disappointments; and Dr. Roebuck began to fear that the fresh expedients which were always starting up in Watt's brain, would endlessly protract the' consummation of the invention. Watt, on his part, felt CHAP'. VIi. HIS PERSEVERANCE. 145 that he could only bring the engine nearer to perfection by never resting satisfied with imperfect devices, and hence he left no means untried to overcome the many practical defects in it of which he was so conscious. Long after, when a noble lord was expressing to him the admiration with which he regarded his great achievement, Watt replied: "The public only look at my success, and not at the intermediate failures and uncouth constructions which have served me as so many steps to climb to the top of the ladder." As to the lethargy from which Roebuck sought to raise Watt, it was merely the temporary reaction of a mind strained and wearied with long-continued application to a single subject, and from which it seemed to be occasionally on the point of breaking down altogether. To his intimate friends, Watt bemoaned his many failures, his low spirits, his bad health, and his sleepless nights. He wrote to his friend Dr. Small in January, 1769, " I have many things I could talk to you about-much contrived, and little executed. How much would good health and spirits be worth to me! " A month later he wrote, " I am still plagued with headaches, and sometimes heart-aches." It is nevertheless a remarkable proof of Watt's indefatigable perseverance in his favourite pursuit,' that at this very time, when apparently sunk in the depths of gloom, he learnt German for the purpose of getting at the contents of a curious book, the Tlheatrrum Machinarumw of Leupold, which just then fell into his hands, and contained an account of the machines, furnaces, methods of working, profits, &c., of the mines in the Upper Hartz. His instructor in the language was a Swiss dyer,2 settled in Glasgow. With the like object of Dr. Small was born in 17:34 at University of Williamsburg, Virginia, Carmylie, Angus, Scotland, of which. from whence he returned to England parish his father was the minister. and settled at Birmingham. He had been for some time the pro- 2 I have," he writes, "just now fessor of Natural Philosophy in the got a curious book, being an account of L 146 HIS INSIGHT AND FORESIGHT. CHAP. VIII. gaining access to untranslated books in French and Italian —then the great depositories of mechanical and engineering knowledge-Watt had already mastered both those languages. In preparing his specification, Watt viewed the subject in all its bearings. The production of power by steam is a very large one, but Watt grasped it thoroughly. The insight with which he searched, analysed, arranged, and even provided for future modifications, was the true insight of genius. He seems with an almost prophetic eye to have seen all that steam was capable of accomplishing. This is well illustrated by his early plan of working steam expansively by cutting it off at about half-stroke, thereby greatly economising its use;1 as well as by his proposal to employ high-pressure steam where cold water could not be used for purposes all the machines, furnaces, methods why it did not succeed, which he of working, profits, &c., of the mines should read. Their machines in geneof the Upper Hartz. It is unluckily ral display great ingenuity though in German, which I understand little ignorance of principles." —Watt to of, but am improving in by the help Small, May 28, 1769. Boulton MSS. of a truly Chymical Swiss Dyer, who 1 " I mentioned to you a method of is come here to dye standing red on still doubling the effect of the steam, linen and cotton, in which he is suc- and that tolerably easy, by using the cessful. He is according to the power of steam rushing into a vacuum, custom of philosophers ennuye to a at present lost. This would do a great degree, but seems to be more little more than double the effect, but modest than is usual with them; and, it would too much enlarge the vessels what is still more unusual, is attached to use it all. It is peculiarly applionly to his dyeing, though he has a cable to wheel engines, and may tolerable knowledge of chymestry. He supply the want of a condenser where promises to make me a coat that will force of steam is only used; for, open not wet though boiled in water. This one of the steam valves and admit would be of great use to a hundred steam, until one-fourth of the distance people I see just now running by, wet between it and the next valve is filled to the skin.... I verily believe the with steam, shut the valve, and the drops are an inch in diameter! To steam will continue to expand and to return to the book-it contains an press round the wheel with a diminishaccount of all the unsuccessful experi- ing power, ending in one-fourth of its ments that have been tried in the first exertion. r'he sum of this series Hartz, and I assure you it gives me you will find greater than one-half, some consolation to see the great though only one-fourth steam was Liebnitz, the rival of Newton, bung- used. The power will indeed be unling repeatedly, applying wind mills equal, but this can be remedied by a to raise ore while water ran idle past fly, or in several other ways."-Watt him. There is among other machines to Small, 28th May, 1769. Boulton the fellow of Blackie's, only worked by MSS. water, and a full and true account of CHAP. V111. WORKS A PUMPING ENGINE. 174 of condensation.' The careful and elaborate manner in which he studied the specification, and the consideration which he gave to each of its various details, are clear from his correspondence with Dr. Small, which is peculiarly interesting, as showing Watt's mind actively engaged in the very process of invention. At length the necessary specification and drawings were completed and lodged early in 1769,-a year also remarkable as that in which Arkwright took out the patent for his spinningmachine. In order to master thoroughly the details of the ordinary Newcomen engine, and to ascertain the extent of its capabilities as well as of its imperfections, Watt undertook the erection of several engines of this construction; and during his residence at Kinneil took charge of the Schoolyard engine near Boroughstoness, in order that he might thereby acquire a full practical knowledge of its working. Mr. Hart, in his interesting'Reminiscences of James Watt,' gives the following account: "My late brother had learned from an old man who had been a workman at Dr. Roebuck's coal-works when Mr. Watt was there, that he had erected a small engine on a pit they called Taylor's Pit. The workman could not remember what kind of engine it was, but it was the fastest-going one he ever saw. From its size, and from its being placed in a small timber-house, the colliers called it'the Box Bed.' We thought it likely to have been the first of the patent engines made by 1 He anticipated the use of high- that the powers of these engines will pressure steam, as afterwards em- as much exceed those pressed only by ployed in the locomotive by Trevithick, the air, as the expansive power of the in the following passage:-" I intend," steam is greater than the weight of he said, "in many cases to employ the atmosphere. In other cases, the expansive force of steam to press when plenty of cold water cannot be on the piston, or whatever is used had, I intend to work the engines by instead of one, in the same manner as the force of steam only, and to disthe weight of the atmosphere is now charge it into the air by proper outlets employed in common fire-engines. In after it has done its office." -Watt to some cases I intend to use both the Small, March, 1769. Boulton MSS. condenser and this force of steam, so I, 2 148 WATT ERECTS HIS TRIAL ENGINE. CHAP. VIII. Mr. Watt, and took the opportunity of mentioning this to him at our interview. He said he had erected that engine, but he did not wish at the time to venture on a patent one until he had a little more experience."1 At length he proceeded =__a - been originally intended D __to erect it in the little town ___=k; __a of Boroughstoness; but ___ as prying eyes might have there watched his proceedings, and as he wished to avoid display, being determined, as he said, Lnot to puff," he fixed upon an outhouse behind Kinneil, close by the burnor side in the glen, where there was abundance of water and secure privacy. The materials were J 1Lbrought to the place, partly from Watt's small the cylinder-of eighteen inches diameter and five feet staroke had been east; and a few workmen were placed at his disposal. The process of erection was very tedious, owing to 1 Mr. Hart's " Reminiscences of James Watt," in'Transactions of the Glasgonw Arch.ological Society,' Part 1. 1859. CHAP. VIII. THE ENGINE COMPLETED. 14'9 the clumsiness of the mechanics employed on the job. Watt was occasionally compelled to be absent on other business, and on his return he usually found the men at a standstill, not knowing what to do next. As the engine neared completion, his "anxiety for his approaching doom" kept him from sleep; for his fears, as he said, were at least equal to his hopes. He was easily cast down by little obstructions, and especially discouraged by unforeseen expense. Roebuck, on the contrary, was hopeful and energetic, and often took occasion to rally the other on his despondency under difficulties, and his almost painful want of confidence in himself. Roebuck was, doubtless, of much service to Watt in encouraging him to proceed with his invention, and also in suggesting some important modifications in the construction of the engine. It is probable, indeed, that but for his help, Watt could not have gone on. Robison says, "I remember Mrs. Roebuck remarking one evening,'Jamie is a queer lad, and, without the Doctor, his invention would have been lost; but Dr. Roebuck won't let it perish.'" The new engine, on which Watt had expended so much labour, anxiety, and ingenuity, was completed in September, 1759, about six months from the date of its commencement. But its success was far from decided. Watt himself declared it to be "a clumsy job." His new arrangement of the pipe-condenser did not work well; and the cylinder having been badly cast, was found almost useless. One of his greatest difficulties consisted in keeping the piston tight. He wrapped it round with cork, oiled rags, tow, old hat, paper, horse-dung, and other things, but still there were open spaces left, sufficient to let the air in and the steam out. Watt was grievously depressed by his want of success, and he had serious thoughts of giving up the thing altogether. Before abandoning it, however, the engine was again thoroughly overhauled, many 150 DREARY PROSPECTS. CHAP. VIII. improvements were introduced in it, and a new trial was made of its powers. But this proved not more successful than the earlier ones had been. "You cannot conceive," he wrote to Small, "how mortified I am with this disappointment. It is a damned thing for a man to have his all hanging by a single string. If I had wherewithal to pay the loss, I don't think I should so much fear a failure; but I cannot bear the thought of other people becoming losers by my schemes; and I have the happy disposition of always painting the worst." WTatt was therefore bound to prosecute his project by honour not less than by interest; and summoning up his courage, he went on with it anew. He continued to have the same confidence as ever in the principles of his engine: where it broke down was in workmanship. Could mechanics but be found capable of accurately executing its several parts, he believed that its success was certain. But there were no such mechanics then at Carron. By this time Roebuck was becoming embarrassed with debt, and involved in various difficulties. The pits were drowned with water, which no existing machinery could pump out, and ruin threatened to overtake him before Watt's engine could come to his help. He had sunk in the coal-mine, not only his own fortune, but much of the property of his relatives; and he was so straitened for money that he was unable to defray the cost of taking out the engine patent according to the terms of his engagement, and Watt had accordingly to borrow the necessary money from his never-failing friend, Dr. Black. He was thus adding to his own debts, without any clearer prospect before him of ultimate relief. No wonder that he should, after his apparently fruitless labour, express to Small his belief that, "of all things in life, there is nothing more foolish than inventing." The unhappy state of his mind C(HAP. VIIII. VARIOUS MINOR INVENTIONS. 15, l may be further inferred from his lamentation expressed to the same friend on the 31st of January, 1770. " Today," said he, " I enter the thirty-fifth year of my life, and I think I have hardly yet done thirty-five pence worth of good in the world; but I cannot help it." Notwithstanding the failure of his engine thus far, and the repeated resolution expressed to Small that he would invent no more, leading, as inventing did, to only vexation, failure, loss, and increase of head-ache, Watt could not control his irrepressible instinct to invent; and whether the result might be profitable or not, his mind went on as before, working, scheming, and speculating. Thus, at different times in the course of his correspondence with Small, who was a man of a like ingenious turn of mind, we find him communicating various new things, "gimcracks," as he termed them, which he had contrived. He was equally ready to contrive a cure for smoky chimneys, a canal sluice for economising water, a method of determining " the force necessary to dredge up a cubic foot of mud under any given depth of water," and a means of "clearing the observed distance of the moon from any given star of the effects of refraction and parallax;" illustrating his views by rapid but graphic designs embodied in the text of his letters to Small and other correspondents. One of his minor inventions was a new method of readily measuring distances by means of a telescope.1 At the same time he was occupied in making experiments on kaolin, with the intention of introducing the manufacture of porcelain in the pottery work on the Broomielaw, in which he was a partner. 1 The telescope was mounted with tance, they will comprehend ten feet two parallel horizontal hairs in the at ten chains," and so on. This infocus of the eyeglass, crossed by one vention Watt made in 1770, and used perpendicular hair. The measuring the telescope in his various surveys. pole was divided into feet and inches, Eight years later, in 1778, the Society so that, wrote Watt, " if the hairs of Arts awarded to a Mr. Greena precomprehend one foot at one chain dis- mium for precisely the same invention. 152 HIS MULTIFARIOUS PURSUITS. CHAP. VIII. He was also concerned with Dr. Black and Dr. Roebuck in pursuing experiments with the view of decomposing sea-salt by lime, and thereby obtaining alkali for purposes of commerce. A patent for the process was taken out by Dr. Roebuck, but eventually proved a failure, like most of his other projects. We also find' Watt inventing a muffling furnace for melting metals, and sending the drawings to Mr. Boulton at Birmingham for trial. At other times he was occupied with Chaillet, the Swiss dyer, experimenting on various chemical substances; corresponding with Dr. Black as to the new fluoric or spar acid; and at another time making experiments to ascertain the heats at which water boils at every inch of mercury from vacuo to air. Later we find him inventing a prismatic micrometer for measuring distances, which he described in considerable detail in his letters to Small.1 He was at the same time busy inventing and constructing a new surveying quadrant by reflection, and making improvements in barometers and hygrometers. " I should like to know," he wrote to Small, "the principles of your barometer: De Luc's hygrometer is nonsense. Probavi." Another of his contrivances was his dividingscrew, for dividing an inch accurately into 1000 equal parts. He states that he found this screw exceedingly useful, as it saved him much needless compass-work, and, moreover, enabled him to divide lines into the ordinates of any curve whatsoever. Such were the multifarious pursuits in which this indefatigable student and inquirer was engaged; all tending to cultivate his mind and advance his education, but comparatively unproductive, so far as regarded pecuniary return. So unfortunate, indeed, had 1 Letter to Small, 24th Nov. 1772. been invented by Dr. Maskelyne, was Watt, however, took no steps to bring presented by him to the Royal Society. this invention before the public, and Thus Watt also lost the credit of this in 1777, a similar instrument having invention. CHAP. VITI. ACC(EI.TS OTHER EMPLOYMENT. 153 Watt's speculations proved, that his friend Dr. Hutton, of Edinburgh, addressed to him a New-year's day letter, with the object of dissuading him from proceeding further with his unprofitable brain-distressing work. "A happy new year to you!" said Hutton; "may it be fertile to you in lucky events, but no new inventions!" He went on to say that invention was only fobr those who live by the public, and those who from pride choose to leave a legacy to the public. It was not a thing likely to be well paid for under a system where the rule was to be the best paid for the work that was easiest done. It was of no use, however, telling Watt that he must not invent. One might as well have told Burns that he was not to sing because it would not pay, or Wilkie that he was not to paint, or Hutton himself that he was not to think and speculate as to the hidden operations of nature. To invent was the natural and habitual operation of Watt's intellect, and he could not restrain it. Watt had already been too long occupied with this profitless work: his money was all gone; he was in debt; and it behoved him to turn to some other employment by which he might provide for the indispensable wants of his family. Having now given up the instrument-making business, he confined himself almost entirely to surveying. Among his earliest surveys was one of a coal canal from Monkland to Glasgow, in 1769; and the Act authorising its construction was obtained in the following year. Watt was invited to superintend the execution of the works, and he had accordingly to elect whether he would go on with the engine experiments, the event of which was doubtful, or embrace an honourable and perhaps profitable employment, attended with much less risk and uncertainty. His necessities decided him. "I had," he said, "a wife and children, and saw myself growing grey without having any settled way of providing for them." He 15,4 AFFAIRS MORE PROMISING. CHAP. VIII. accordingly accepted the appointment offered him by the directors of the canal, and undertook to superintend the construction of the works at a salary of 2001. a year. At the same time he determined not to drop the engine, but to proceed with it at such leisure moments as he could command. The Monkland Canal was a small concern, and Watt had to undertake a variety of duties. He acted at the same time as surveyor, superintendent, engineer, and treasurer, assisted only by a clerk. But the appointment proved useful to him. The salary he earned placed his family above want, and the out-doors life he was required to lead improved his health and spirits. After a few months he wrote Dr. Small that he found himself more strong, more resolute, less lazy, and less confused, than when he began the occupation. His pecuniary affairs were also more promising. "Supposing the engine to stand good for itself," he said, "I am able to pay all my debts and some little thing more, so that I hope in time to be on a par with the world." But there was a dark side to the picture. His occupation exposed him to fatigue, vexation, hunger, wet, and cold. Then, the quiet and secluded habits of his early life did not fit him for the out-door work of the engineer. He was timid and reserved, and had nothing of the navvy in his nature. He had neither the roughness of tongue nor stiffness of back to enable him to deal with rude labour gangs. He was nervously fearful lest his want of practical experience should betray him into scrapes, and lead to impositions on the part of his workmen. He hated higgling, and declared that he would rather " face a loaded cannon than settle an account or make a bargain." He had been "cheated," he said, " by undertakers, and was unlucky enough to know it." Watt continued to act as engineer for the Monkland CHAP. VIII. SURVEYS STRATHMORE CANAL. 155 Canal Company for about a year and a half,' during which he was employed in other engineering works. Among these was a survey of the river Clyde, with a view to the improvement of the navigation. Watt sent in his report; but no steps were taken to carry out his suggestions until several years later, when the beginning was made of a series of improvements, which have resulted in the conversion of the Clyde from a pleasant trouting and salmon stream into one of the busiest navigable highways in the world.2 Among Watt's other labours ab6ut the same period may be mentioned his survey of a canal between Perth and Cupar Angus,. through Strathmore; of the Crinan Canal, afterwards carried out by Rennie; and other projects in the western highlands. The Strathmore Canal survey was conducted at the instance of the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates. It was fortyv miles long, through a very rough country. Watt set out to make it in September, 1770, and was accompanied by snowstorms through almost the entire survey. He suffered severely from the cold: the winds swept down from the Grampians with fury and chilled him to the bone. The making of this survey occupied him forty-three days, and the remuneration he received for it was only eighty pounds, which included expenses. The small pay of engineers at that time may be further illustrated by the fee paid him in the same year for 1 The Company afterwards came to burden ascending to the Broomielaw. grief. The original subscription list This was shortly after removed by was not filled up, and the stagnation the Clyde Trust, who have expended in trade which took place at the out- 3,564,3971. in improvement of the break of the American war, brought navigation between 1770 and 1863, the works to a standstill. In 1782 the revenue collected during the same the concern was sold to the Messrs. time in dues having been 2,288,0001. Stirling, who eventually became the Vessels drawing 21 feet can now ascend sole proprietors and finished the un- to the Broomielaw; and when the predertaking. sent improvements are completed the 2 There was then a ford at Dumbuck, depth at high water is expected to be a few miles below Glasgow, which pre- upwards of 24 feet. vented boats of more than ten tons 156 HAMILTON BRIDGE. CHAP. VIII. supplying the magistrates of Hamilton with a design for the proposed new bridge over the Clyde at that town. It was originally intended to employ Mr. Smeaton; but as his charge was ten pounds, which was thought too high, Watt was employed in his stead. The Burgh minutes record that, after the Act had been obtained in 1770, Baillie Naismith was appointed to proceed to Glasgow to see Mr. Watt on the subject of a design, and his charge being only 71. 7s., he was requested to supply it accordingly. "I have lately," wrote Watt to Small, " made a plan and estimate of a bridge over our river Clyde, eight miles above HAMILTON BRIDGE, this: it is to be of five arches and 220 feet waterway, founded upon piles on a muddy bottom."' The bridge, after Watt's plan, was begun in 1771, but it was not finished until 1780.2 About the same time Watt prepared plans of docks and piers at Port Glasgow, and of a new harbour at 1 Watt to Small, 21st Dec. 1770. of the central piers was thrown down. Boulton MSS. Two of the arches fell, and were re2 The bridge was partially de- built, but the others stand as origistroyed by a flood in 1806, when one nally constructed. CHAP. VIL. D)EATH OF MRS. WATT. 1157 Ayr. The Port Glasgow works were carried out, but those at Ayr were postponed. When Rennie came to examine the design for the improvement of the Ayr navigation, of which the new harbour formed part, he took objections to it, principally because of the parallelism of the piers, and another plan was eventually adopted. His principal engineering job, and the last of the kind on which Watt was engaged in Scotland, was a survey of the Caledonian Canal, long afterwards carried out by Telford. The survey was made in the autumn of 1773, through a country without roads. "An incessant rain," said he, "kept me for three days as wet as water could make me; I could hardly preserve my journal book." In the midst of this dreary work, Watt was summoned to Glasgow by the intelligence which reached him of the illness of his wife; and when he reached home he found that she had died in childbed.' Of all the heavy blows he had suffered, this he felt to be the worst. His wife had struggled with him through poverty; she had often cheered his fainting spirit when borne down by doubt, perplexity, and disappointment; and now she was gone, without being able to share in his good fortune as she had done in his adversity. For some time after, when about to enter his humble dwelling, he would pause on the threshold, unable to summon courage to enter the room where he was never more to meet " the comfort of his life." "Yet this misfortune," he wrote to Small, "might have fallen upon me when I had less ability to bear it, and my poor children might have been left suppliants to the mercy of the wide world." Watt tried to forget his sorrow, as was his custom, in The child was stillborn. Of four mingham, in 1848. The daughter other children who were the fruit of married Mr. Miller, of Glasgow, whose this marriage, two died young. A grandson, the present J. W. Gibson son and daughter survived; the son, Watt, Esq., succeeded to the Watt James, succeeded his fither, an(1 died property. unmarried, at Aston Hall, near Bir 158 TURNING-POINT OF WATT'S FORTUNES. CHAP. V111. increased application to work, though the recovery of the elasticity of his mind was in a measure beyond the power of his will. There were, at that time, very few bright spots in his life. A combination of unfortunate circumstances threatened to overwhelm him. No further progress had yet been made with his steamengine, which he almost cursed as the cause of his misfortunes. Dr. Roebuck's embarrassments had reached their climax. He had fought against the water which drowned his coal until he could fight no more, and he was at last delivered into the hands of his creditors a,ruined man. "My heart bleeds for him," said Watt, "but I can do nothing to help him. I have stuck by him, indeed, till I have hurt myself." But the darkest hour is nearest the dawn. Watt had passed through a long night, and a gleam of sunshine at last beamed upon him. Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, was at length persuaded to take up the invention on which Watt had expended so many of the best years of his life, and the turning-point in Watt's fortunes had arrived. LAGOW [y Lih P'OR1'r GLASGOW [:By R i'. Leicll ] ,:: -: -::::,/,/ /'[.~)l?~L.;.~,/ ~, K~~~~~ Mm~ ~ ZO ii~;; 8.~~ ~ i~~~~ii ~ ~ ~ M; -c::~~~~::~~::';l:~:i:I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ vM.......:::1:;~~~~h 4i 7'1 biz 7v~~~~~~~~ BOULTON AND WATT, ENGINEERS, BIRMINGHAM. ~-~1~ ~ -~-~ —-Q -0r~Z Q'1-_~ -~ —--- Nat ——; BIRMINHAM. [y Percval Sklton. CHAP'. IX. INDUSTIRY OF BIIMINGHAM. 161 CHAPTER IX. BIRMINGHAM —MATTthEW BOULTON. FROM an early period, Birmingham has been one of the principal centres of mechanical industry in England. The neighbourhood abounds in coal and iron, and has long been famous for the skill of its artisans. Swords were forged there in the time of the Ancient Britons. The first guns made in England bore the Birmingham mark. In 1538 Leland found "many smiths in the town that use to make knives and all manner of cutting tools, and many loriners that make bittes, and a great many nailers." About a century later Camden described the place as " full of inhabitants, and resounding with hammers and anvils, for the most part of them smiths." As the skill of the Birmingham artisans increased, they gradually gave up the commoner kinds of smithery, and devoted themselves to ornamental metal-work, in brass, steel, and iron. They became celebrated for their manufacture of buckles, buttons, and various fancy articles; and they turned out such abundance of toys that towards the close of last century Burke characterised Birmingham as " the great toy-shop of Europe." The ancient industry of Birmingham was of a staid and steady character, in keeping with the age. Each manufacturer kept within the warmth of his own forge. He did not go in search of orders, but waited for the orders to come to him. Ironmongers brought their money in their saddle-bags, took away the goods in exchange, or saw them packed ready for the next waggon before they left. Notwithstanding this quiet way of doing business, many comfortable fortunes were made in 162 ROADS NEAR BIRMINGHIAM. CHAP. IX. the place; the manufacturers, like their buttons, moving off so soon as they had received the stamp and the gilt. Hutton, the Birmingham bookseller, says he knew men who left the town in chariots who had first approached it on foot. Hutton himself entered the town a poor boy, and lived to write its history, and make a fortune by his industry. Until towards the end of last century the town was not very easy of approach from any direction. The roads leading to it had become worn by the traffic of many generations. The hoofs of the pack-horses, helped by the rains, had deepened the tracks in the sandy soil, until in many places they were twelve or fourteen feet deep, so that it was said of travellers that they approached the town by sap. One of these old hollow roads, still called Holloway-head, though now filled up, was so deep that a waggon-load of hay might pass along it without being seen. There was no direct communication between Birmingham and London until about the middle of the century. Before then, the Great Road from London to Chester passed it four miles off, and the Birmingham manufacturer, when sending wares to London, had to forward his package to Castle Bromwich', there to await the approach of the packhorse train or the stage-waggon journeying south. The Birmingham men, however, began to wake up, and in 1747 a coach was advertised to run to London in two days " if the roads permit." Twenty years later a stagewaggon was put on, and the communication by coach became gradually improved. When Hutton entered Birmingham in 1740, he was struck by the activity of the place and the vivacity of the inhabitants, which expressed itself in their looks as he passed them in the streets. "I had," he says, "been among dreamers, but now I saw men awake. Their very step showed alacrity. Every man seemed to know and to prosecute his own affairs." The Birmingham CHAP. IX. THE BOULTON FAMILY. 163 men were indeed as alert as they looked — steady workers and clever mechanics-men who struck hard on the anvil. The artisans of the place had the advantage of a long training in mechanical skill. It had been bred in their bone, and descended to them from their fathers as an inheritance.l In no town in England were there then to be found so many mechanics capable of executing entirely new work; nor, indeed, has the ability yet departed from them, the Birmingham artisans maintaining their individual superiority in intelligent execution of skilled work to the present day. We are informed that inventors of new machines, foreign as well as English, are still in the practice of resorting to them for the purpose of getting their inventions embodied in the best forms, with greater chances of success than in any other town in England. About the middle of last century the two Boultons, father and son, were recognised as among the most enterprising and prosperous of Birmingham manufacturers. The father of the elder Matthew Boulton was John Boulton of Northamptonshire, in which county Boultons or Boltons have been settled for a long period, and where there are records of many clergymen of the name. About the end of the seventeenth century,- this John Boulton settled at Lichfield, where he married Elizabeth, heir of Matthew Dyott of Stitchbrooke, by whom he obtained considerable property. His means must, however, have become reduced; in consequence 1 There seems reason to believe that and when the circumstances favour it, the capacity for skilled industry is to goes on increasing from - age to age in a certain extent transmissible; and intensity, and, in a particular adaptathat the special aptitude for mechanics tion t6-the purposes demanded. - All which characterises the population of confirmed'habits which become a part certain districts, is in a great measure of the animal nature, seem to be imn the result of centuries of experience, parted by hereditary descent; and transmitted from one generation to thus what seems to be an original another. Mr. Morell takes the same instinct may, after all, be but thy view: "We have every reason to accumulated growth and experience df believe," he says, " that the power of many generations." specialised instincts is transmitted, M2 164 BOULTON ENTERS BUSTNESS. C(HAP. IX. of which his son Matthew was sent to Birmingham to enter upon a career of business, and make his own way in the world. He became established in the place as a silver stamper and piecer, to which he added other branches of manufacture, which his son Matthew afterwards largely extended. Matthew Boulton the younger was born at Birmingham on the 3rd September, 1728. Little is known of' his early life, beyond that he was a bright, clever boy, and a general favourite with his companions. He received his principal education at a private academy at Deritend, kept by the Rev. Mr. Ansted, under whom he acquired the rudiments of a good ordinary English education. Though he left school early for the purpose of following his father's business, he nevertheless continued the work of self-instruction, and afterwards acquired considerable knowledge of Latin and French, as well as of drawing and mathematics. But his chief pleasure was in pursuing the study of chemistry and mechanics, in which, as we shall shortly find, he became thoroughly accomplished. Long after he joined his father in business, he delighted to revert to his classical favourites. From an entry in his private memorandumbook of expenses at the age of about thirty, though then very economical in other respects, we find him expending considerable sums in experiments on electricity, and on one occasion laying out a guinea on a copy of Virgil, from which it appears that trade had not spoilt his taste for either science or letters. Young Boulton appears to have engaged in business with much spirit. By the time he was seventeen he had introduced several important improvements in the manulfacture of buttons, watch-chains, and other trinkets; and he had invented the inlaid steel buckles which shortly after became the fashion. These buckles were exported in large quantities to France, from whence they were brought back to England and sold as the CHAP. IX. TRlA1)E CORRESPONDENCE. 165 most recent productions of French ingenuity. The elder Boulton,.having every confidence in his son's discretion and judgment, adopted him as a partner so soon as he came of age, and from that time forward he took almost the entire management of the concern. Although in his letters he signed " for father and self," he always spoke in the first person of matters connected with the business. Thus, in 1757, we find him writing to Timothy Holles, London, as to the prices of "coat-link and vest buttons," intimating that to lower them would be to beat down price and quality until it became no business at all; "yet," said he, "as I have put myself to greater expense than anybody else in erecting the best conveniences and the completest tools for the purpose, I am not willing that any interlopers should run away with it." We find him at the same time carrying on a correspondence with Benjamin Huntsman, of Sheffield, the celebrated inventor of cast-steel.' On the 19th January, 1757, he sends Huntsman "a parcel of goods of the newest patterns," and at the same time orders a quantity of Huntsman's steel. " When thou hast some of a proper size and quality for me, and an opportunity of sending it, thou may'st, but I should be glad to have it a little tougher than the last." He concludes —" I hope thy Philosophic Spirit still laboureth within thee, and may it soon bring forth Fruit useful to mankind, but more particularly to thyself, is the sincere wish of Thy Obliged Friend." With a view to economy, Boulton in course of time erected a steel-house of his own for the purpose of making steel; and he frequently used it to convert the cuttings and scraps of the small iron wares which he manufactured, into ordinary steel, afterwards melting and converting it into cast-steel in- the usual way. From the earliest glimpses we can get of Boulton as a i For Memoir of Huntsman, see' Industrial Biography,' 102-110. 166 BOULTON'S MARRIAGE. CHAP. IX. man of business, it would appear to have been his aim to be at the top of whatsoever branch of manufacture he undertook. He endeavoured to produce the best possible articles in regard of design, material, and workmanship. Taste was then at a low ebb, and "Brummagem" had become a byword for everything that was gaudy, vulgar, and meretricious. Boulton endeavoured to get rid of this reproach, and aimed -at raising the standard of taste in manufacture to the highest point. With this object, he employed the best artists to design his articles, and the cleverest artisans to manufacture them. Apart from the question of elevating the popular taste, there can be no doubt that this was good policy on his part, for it served to direct public attention to the superior and honest quality of the articles produced by his firm, and eventually brought him a large accession of business. In 1759, Boulton's father died, bequeathing to him the considerable property which he had accumulated by his business. The year following, when thirty-two years of age, Matthew married Anne, the daughter of Luke Robinson, Esq., of Lichfield. The lady was a distant relation of his own; the Dyotts of Stitchbrooke, whose heir his grandfather had married, being nearly related to the Babingtons of Curborough, from whom Miss Robinson was lineally descended-Luke Robinson having married the daughter and co-heir of John Babington of Curborough and Patkington. Considerable opposition was offered to the marriage by the lady's friends, on account of Matthew Boulton's occupation; but he pressed his suit, and with good looks and a handsome presence to back him, he eventually succeeded in winning the heart and hand of Anne Robinson. He was now, indeed, in a position to have retired from business altogether. But a life of inactivity had no charms for him. He liked to mix with men in the affairs of active life, and to take his full share in the CHAP. IX. HIS LOVE OF BUSINESS. 167 world's business. Indeed, he hated ease and idleness, and found his greatest pleasure in constant occupation. Instead, therefore, of retiring from-trade, he determined to engage in it more extensively. He entertained the ambition of founding a manufactory that should be the first of its kind, and serve as a model for the manufacturers of his neighbourhood. His premises on Snowhill,' Birmingham, having become too small for his purpose, he looked about him for at suitable spot on which to erect more commodious workshops; and he was shortly attracted by the facilities presented by the property afterwards so extensively known as the famous Soho. Soho is about two miles north of Birmingham, on the Wolverhampton road. It is not in the parish of Birmingham, nor in the county of Warwick, but just over 1 While on Snow-hill, Mr. Boulton's a respectable-looking man in the city business was principally confined to asked me if I could supply him with the making of buttons, shoe-buckles, dolls' eyes; and I was foolish enough articles in steel, and various kinds of to feel half offended; I thought it detrinkets. His designation was that rogatory to my dignity as a manufacof "toymaker," as is shown by the turer to make dolls' eyes. He took following document copied from the me into a room quite as wide, and original:-" Received of Matthew perhaps twice the length of this, and Boulton, toymaker, Snow-hill, three we had just room to walk between shillings and sixpence, for which sum the stacks, from the floor to the ceilI solemnly engage, if he should be ing, of parts of dolls. He said, chosen by lot to serve in the militia' These are only the legs and the for this parish, at the first meeting arms; the trunks are below.' But I for that purpose, to procure a substi- saw enough to convince me, that he tute that shall be approved of. Bir- wanted a great many eyes.... He mingham, January 11, 1762, Henry ordered various quantities, and of Brookes, Sergt." The Birmingham various sizes and qualities. On retoymaker was, however, often a man turning to the Tavistock Hotel, I doing a large business, producing arti- found that the order amounted to cles of utility as well as ornament. upwards of 5001..... Calculating on Mr. Osler, the Birmingham manufac- every child in this country not using turer of glass beads and other toys, a doll till two years old, and throwing when examined before a Committee it aside at seven, and having a new of the House of Commons many years one annually, I satisfied myself that since, astonished the members by in- the eyes alone would produce a circuforming them that trifling though lation of a great many thousand dolls' eyes might appear to be as an pounds. I mention this merely to article of manufacture, he had once show the importance of trifle2."obtained an order for 5001. worth of Babbage,' Economy of Machinery and the article. " Eighteen years ago," Manufactures,' 243-5. said he, " on my first going to London, 1(68 SITE OF SOHO. CHAP. IX' the border, in the county of Stafford. Down to the middle of last century the ground on which it stands was a barren heath, used only as a rabbit-warren. The sole dwelling on it was the warrener's hut, which stood near the summit of the hill, on the spot afterwards occupied by Soho House; and the warrener's well is still to be found in one of the cellars of the mansion. In 1756, Mr. Edward Ruston took a lease of the ground for ninety-nine years from Mr. Wyerley, the lord of the manor, with liberty to make a cut about half a mile in length for the purpose of turning the waters of Hockley Brook into a pool under the brow of the hill. T:he head of water thus formed was used to drive a feeble mill below, which Mr. Ruston had established for laminating metals. He also built a small dwellinghouse about 150 yards from the mill, and expended upon the place a sum of about 10001. in all. When Mr. Boulton was satisfied that the place would suit his purpose, he entered into arrangements with Mr. Ruston for the purchase of his lease,1 on the completion of which he proceeded to rebuild the mill on a large scale, 1 Mr. Boulton afterwards purchased ployed a thousand men, women, and the fee simple of the property, toge- children, in my aforesaid manufactory ther with much of the adjoining land. for nearly thirty years past. The The nature of his tenure caused him Lord of the Manor hath exterminated to take a lively interest in the ques- these very poor cottages, and hundreds tion of common lands enclosure, and at of clean comfortable cheerful houses.a much later period (17th April, 1790) are found erected in their place. rlhus we find him writing to the Right Hon. the inhabitants of the parish have Lord Hawkesbury as follows: —" The been trebled without at all increasing argument of robbing the poor [by the poor levies. I am more confirmed lenclosures of wastes] is fallacious. in this view when I turn my eyes to They have no legal title to the a neighbouring parish (Sutton Colecommon land; and the more of it that field), where there are 10,000 acres of is cultivated, the more work and the common land uncultivated, and yet more bread there will be for them. I the poor rates are very high. Let speak from experience; for I founded this land be divided, enclosed, cultimy manufactory upon one of the most vated, and rendered saleable to active, barren commons in England, where industrious, and spirited men; and there existed but a few miserable the poor will then have plenty of huts filled with idle beggarly people, work, and the next generation of them who by the help of the common land will be fully reconciled to earning and a little thieving made shift to their bread instead of begging for it." live without working. T'he scene is — Poulton MSS. now entirely changed. I have enm CHAP. IX. PARTNERSHIP WITH FOTHERGILL. 169 and in course of time removed thither the whole of his tools, machinery, and workmen. The new manufactory, when finished, consisted of a series of roomy workshops conveniently connected with each other, and capable of -accommodating upwards of a thousand workmen. The bluilding and stocking of the premises cost upwards of 20,0001. SOHO MANUFACTORY, Before removing to Soho, Mr. Boulton took into partnership Mr. John Fothergill, with the object of more vigorously extending his business operations. Mr. Fothergill possessed a very limited capital, but he was a. man of good character and active habits of business, with a considerable knowledge of foreign markets. On the occasion of his entering the concern, stock was taken of the warehouse on Snow Hill; and some idea of the extent of Boulton's business at the time may be formed from the fact, that his manager, Mr. Zacceheus Walker, assisted by Farquharson, Nuttall, Frogatt, and half-adozen labourers, were occupied during eight days in weighing nleta-ls, counting goods, and preparing an inventory of the effects and stock in trade. The part 170 BOULTON'S AIMS AT EXCELLENCE. CHAP. IX. nership commenced at midsummer, 1762, and shortly after the principal manufactory was removed to Soho. Steps were immediately taken to open up new connexions and agencies at home and abroad; and a large business was shortly established with many of the principal towns and cities of Europe, in filagree and inlaid work, livery and' other buttons, buckles, clasps, watchchains, and various kinds of ornamental metal wares. The firm shortly added the manufacture of silver plate and plated goods to their other branches,' and turned out large quantities of candlesticks, urns, brackets, and various articles in ormolu. The books of the firm indicate the costly nature of their productions, 500 ounces of silver being given out at a time, besides considerable quantities of gold and platina for purposes of fabrication. Boulton himself attended to the organization and management of the works and to the extension of the trade at home, while Fothergill devoted himself to establishing and superintending the foreign agencies. From the first, Boulton aimed at establishing a character for the excellence of his productions. They must not only be honest in workmanship, but tasteful in design. He determined, so far as in him lay, to get rid of the " Brummagem" reproach. Thus we find him writing to his partner from London:-" The prejudice that Birmingham hath so justly established against itself makes every fault conspicuous in all articles that have the least pretensions to taste. How can I expect, the public to countenance rubbish from 1 Mr. Keir, in a MS. memoir of additional price put upon it for workMr. Boulton now before us, says he manship. One good consequence of was the first to introduce the silver the silver plate business, however, plate business at Birmingham, and to was the establishment of an assay make complete services in solid silver. office in Birmingham, the necessary But the business was not profitable, Act for which was obtained at Mr. in consequence of the great value of Boulton's expense, and proved of much the material, the loss of interest upon advantage to the town. which was not compensated by the CHAP. IX. HIS DISTINGUISHED PATRONS. 171 Soho, while they can procure sound and perfect work from any other quarter?" He frequently went to town for the express purpose of reading and making drawings of rare works in metal in the British Museum, sending the results down to Soho. When rare objects of art were offered for sale, he endeavoured to secure them. "I bid five guineas," he wrote his partner on one occasion, "for the Duke of Marlborough's great blue vase, but it sold for ten... I bought two bronzed figures, which are sent herewith." He borrowed antique candlesticks, vases, and articles in metal from the Queen and from various members of the nobility. "I wish Mr. Eginton," he wrote, " would take good casts from the Hercules and the Hydra, and then let it be well gilt and returned with the seven vases; for'tis the Queen's. I perceive we shall want many such figures, and therefore we should omit no opportunity of taking good casts." The Duke of Northumberland lent Boulton many of his most highly-prized articles for imitation by his workmen. Among his other liberal helpers in the same way, we find the Duke of Richmond, Lord Shelburne, and the Earl of Dartmouth. The Duke gave him an introduction to Horace Walpole, for the purpose of enabling him to visit and examine the art treasures of Strawberry Hill. "The vases," said he, in writing to Boulton, "are, in my opinion, better worth your seeing than anything in England, and I wish you would have exact drawings of them taken, as I may very possibly like to have them copied by you." Lord Shelburne's opinion of Boulton may be gathered from his letter to Mr. Adams, the architect, in which he said:-"Mr. Boulton is the most enterprising man in different ways in Birmingham, and is very desirous of cultivating Mr. Adams's taste in his productions, and has bought his Dioclesian by Lord Shelburne's advice." 172 EMULATES WEDGWOOD. CHAP. IX. Boulton, however, did not confine himself to England; lie searched the Continent over for the best specimens of handicraft as models for imitation; and when he found them he strove to equal, if not to excel them in style and quality. He sent his agent, Mr. Wendler, on a special mission of this sort, to Venice, Rome, and other Italian cities, to purchase for him the best specimens of metal-work, and obtain for him designs of various ornaments —vases, cameos, intaglios, and statuary. On one occasion we find WTendler sending him 456 prints, Boulton acknowledging that they will prove exceedingly useful for the purposes of his;manufacture. At the same time, Fothergill was travelling through France and Germany with a like object, while he was also establishing new connexions with a view to extended trade.' While Boulton was ambitious of reaching the highest excellence in his own line of business, he did not confine himself to that, but was feeling his way in various directions outside of it. Thus to his friend Wedgwood he wrote on one occasion, that he admired his vases so much that he "almost wished to be a potter." At one time, indeed, he had serious thoughts of beginning the fictile manufacture; but he rested satisfied with mounting in metal the vases which Wedgwood made. "The "1 If, in the course of your future in all things that they may have travelling," he wrote Mr. Wendler occasion for —gold, silver, copper, (July, 1767), "you can pick up for plated, gilt, pinchbeck, steel, platina, me any metallic ores or fossil sub- tortoiseshell, or anything else that stances, or any other curious natural may become an article of general deproductions, I should be much obliged mand. I have lately begun to make to you, as I am fond of all those snuff-boxes, instrument-cases, tooththings that have a tendency to im- picks, &c., in metal, gilt, and in tor-'prove my knowledge in mechanical toiseshell inlaid, likewise gilt and arts, in which my manufactory will pinchbeck watch-chains. We are every year become more and more now being completely fixed at Soho, general, and therefore wish to know and when Mr. Fothergill returns the taste, the fashions, the toys, both (which will not be for six months), I usefill and ornamental, the imple- shall then have more time to attend to nlents, vessels, &c., that prevail in all improvements than I have at present." the different parts of Europe, as I -Boulton, MSS. should be glad to work for all Europe CHAP. IX. 1IVALS FIENCH MAKERJS. 1 73 mounting of vases," he wrote, "is a large field for fancy, in which I shall indulge, as I perceive it possible to convert even a very ugly vessel into a beautiful vase. Another branch of business that he sought to establish was the manufacture of clocks. It was one of his leading ideas, that articles in common use might be made much better and cheaper if manufactured on a large scale with the help of the best machinery; and he thought this might be successfully done in the' making of clocks and timepieces. The necessary machinery was erected accordingly, and the new branch of business was started. Some of the timepieces were of an entirely novel arrangement. One of them, invented by Dr. Small, contained but a single wheel, and was considered a piece of very ingenious construction. Boulton also sought to rival the French makers of ornamental timepieces, by whom the English markets were then almost entirely supplied; and some of the articles of this sort turned out by him were of great beauty. One of his most ardent encouragers and admirers, the Hon. Mrs. Montagu, wrote to him,-" I take greater pleasure in our victories over the French in the contention of arts than of arms. The achievements of Soho, instead of making widows and orphans, make marriages and christenings. Your noble industry, while elevating the public taste, provides new occupa1 Boulton to Wedgwood, January, stupendous geniuses of the age, and 1769.-Wedgwood was one of his has really cut me up very cleanly. He most intimate friends'; the two alike talks, too, that he should not wonder aiming at excellence in their respec- if some surprising genius at Birmingtive branches of production. Their ham should be tempted to make kindred efforts seem to have excited Roman medals and tenpenny nails, the ire of some satirist, whose effusion or Corinthian knives and daggers, and against them in the' Public Ledger' style himself Roman medal and Etrusis thus referred to in the postscript of can tenpenny nail-maker to the Ema letter from Wedgwood to Boulton, press of Abyssinia. But see the paper: dated 19th February, 1771:-" If you I believe it is the first week in take in the' Public Ledger' you'll see February, and is one of the better that Mr. Antipuffado has done me the sort of this class." —oulton MSS. honour to rank me with the most 174 ROYAL PATRONS. CHAP. IX. tions for the poor, and enables them to bring up their families in comfort. Go on, then, sir, to triumph over the French in taste, and to embellish your country with useful inventions and elegant productions." Boulton's efforts to improve the industrial arts did not, however, always meet with such glowing eulogy as this. Two of his most highly finished astronomical clocks could not find purchasers at his London sale; on which he wrote to his wife at Soho, "I find philosophy at a very low ebb in London, and I have therefore brought back my two fine clocks, which I will send to a market where common sense is not out of fashion. If I had made the clocks play jigs upon bells, and a dancing bear keeping time, or if I had made a horse-race upon their faces, I believe they would have had better bidders. I shall therefore bring them back to Soho, and some time this summer will send them to the Empress of Russia, who, I believe, would be glad of them." During the same visit to London, he was more successful with the king and queen, who warmly patronised his productions. "The king," he wrote to his wife, "hath bought a pair of cassolets, a Titus, a Venus clock, and some other things, and inquired this morning, how yesterday's sale went. I shall see him again, I believe. I was with them, the queen and all the children, between two and three hours. There were, likewise, many of the nobility present. Never was man so much complimented as I have been; but I find that compliments don't make fat nor fill the pocket. The queen showed me her last child, which is a beauty, but none of'em are equal The clocks, with several other perial Majesty not only bought them articles, were sent out to Russia, and all, last week, but did me the honour submitted to the Empress through to tell me that she was extremely the kindness of Earl Cathcart. His pleased with them, and thought them lordship, in communicating the result superior in every respect to the French, to Mr. Boulton, said-" I have the as well as cheaper, which entitled pleasure to inform you that her Im- theml in all lights to a preference." CHAP. IX. ATTRACTS BY GOOD WAGES. 175 to the General of Soho or the fair Maid of the Mill.' God bless them both, and kiss them for me." In another letter he described a subsequent visit to the palace. "I am to wait upon their majesties again so soon as our Tripod Tea-kitchen arrives, and again upon some other business. The queen, I think, is much improved in her person, and she now speaks English like an English lady. She draws very finely, is a great musician, and works with her needle better than Mrs. Betty. However, without joke, she is extremely sensible, very affable, and a great patroness of English manufactures. Of this she gave me a particular instance; for, after the king and she had talked to me for nearly three hours, they withdrew, and then the queen sent for me into her boudoir, showed me her chimneypiece, and asked me how many vases it would take to furnish it;'for,' said she,'all that china shall be taken away.' She also desired that I would fetch her the two finest steel chains I could make. All this she did of her own accord, without the presence of the king, which I could not help putting a kind construction upon." 2 Thus stimulated by royal and noble patronage, Boulton exerted himself to the utmost to produce articles of the highest excellence. Like his friend Wedgwood, he employed Flaxman and other London artists to design his choicer goods; but he had many foreign designers and skilled workmen, French and Italian, in his regular employment. He attracted these men by liberal wages, and kept them attached to him by kind and generous treatment. On one occasion we find the Duke of Richmond applying to him to recommend a first-class artist to execute some special work in metal for him. Boulton replies that he can strongly recom1 Pet names of his two children, but we infer that they were written Matthew Robinson and Anne Boulton. in the summer of 1767. 2 These letters are without date, 176 VISITED BY FOREIGNEIS. CHAP. IX. mend one of his own men, an honest, steady workman, an excellent metal turner. "He hath made for me some exceeding good acromatic telescopes [another branch of Boulton's business]..... I give him two guineas a week and a house to live in. He is a Frenchman, and formerly worked with the famous M. Germain; he afterwards worked for the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and he hath worked upwards of two years for me."' Before many years had passed, Soho was spoken of with pride, as one of the best schools of skilled industry in England. Its fame extended abroad as well as at home, and when distinguished foreigners came into England, they usually visited Soho as one of the national sights. When the manufactory was complete2 and in full work,- Boulton removed from his house on Snow-hill to the mansion of Soho, which he had by this time considerably enlarged and improved. There he continued to live until the close of his life, maintaining a splendid hospitality. Men of all nations, and of all classes and opinions, were received there by turns,-princes, philosophers, artists, authors, merchants, and poets. In August, 1767, while executing the two chains for the queen, we find him writing to his London agent as his excuse for a day's delay in forwarding it: "I had lords and ladies to wait on yesterday; I have French and Spaniards to-day; and to-morrow I shall have Germans, Russians, and Norwegians." For many years the visitors at Soho House were so numerous and arrived in such constant succession, that it more resembled an hotel than a private mansion. 1 oulton to the Dulke of Richmond, 2 The manufactory was complete so Airil 8, 1770. The Duke was en- far as regarded the hardware manugaged at the time in preparing a set facture. But additions were conof machines for making the various stantly being made to it; and, as experiments in Natural Philosophy other branches of industry were added, described in S'Gravande's book. The it became more than doubled in extent Duke was himself a good turner and and accommodation. worker in metal. CRAP. IX. RAPID EXTENSION OF BUSINESS. 177 SO':O EOUSE The rapid extension of the Soho business necessarily led to the increase of the capital invested in it. Boulton had to find large sums of money for increased stock, plant, and credits. He raised 30001. on his wife's estate; he borrowed 50001. from his friend Baumgarten; and he sold considerable portions of the property left him by his father, by which means he was enabled considerably to extend his operations. There were envious busybodies about who circulated rumours to his discredit, and set the report on foot, that to carry on a business on so large a scale would require a capital of 80,0001. "Their evil speaking," said he to a, correspondent, "will avail but little, as our house is founded on so firm a rock that envy and malice will not be able to shake it; and I am determined to spare neither pains nor money to establish such a house as will acquire both honour and wealth." The rapid strides he was making may be inferred from the statement made to the same correspondent, which showed that the gross returns of the firm, which were 70001. in 1763, had advanced to 30,0001. in 1767, with orders still upon the increase. N 178 DECLINES GENTLEMEN APPRENTICES. CHAP. IX. Though he had a keen eye for business, Boulton regarded character more than profit. He would have no connexion with any transaction of a discreditable kind. Orders were sent to him from France for base money, but he spurned them with indignation. "I will do anything," he wrote to M. Motteaux, his Paris agent, "short of being common informer against particular persons, to stop the malpractices of the ~Birmingham coiners." He declared he was as ready to do business on reasonable terms as any other person, but he would not undersell; "for," said he, "to run down prices would be to run down quality, which could only have the effect of undermining confidence, and eventually ruining trade." His principles were equally honourable as regarded the workmen of rival employers. "I have had many offers and opportunities," he said to one, "of taking your people, whom I could, with convenience to myself, have employed; but it is a practice I abhor. Nevertheless, whatever game we play at, I shall always avail myself of the rules with which'tis played, or I know I shall make but a very indifferent figure in it." 1 He was frequently asked to take gentlemen apprentices into his works, but declined to receive them, though hundreds of pounds' premium were in many cases offered with them. He preferred employing the humbler class of boys, whom he could train up as skilled workmen. He was also induced to prefer the latter for another reason, of a still more creditable kind. "I have," said he, in answer to a gentleman applicant, "built and furnished a house for the reception of one kind of apprentices-fatherless children, parish apprentices, and hospital boys; and gentlemen's sons would probably find themselves out of place in such companionship." Boulton to John Taylor, 23rd January, 1769. Boulton MSS. CHAP. IX. INCREASING BUSINESS. 179 While occupied with his own affairs, and in conductin'g what he described as "the largest hardware manufactory in the world," Boulton found time to take an active part in promoting the measures then on foot for opening up the internal navigation of the country. He was a large subscriber to the Grand Trunk and Birmingham Canal schemes, the latter of which was of the greater importance to him personally, as it passed close by Soho, and thus placed his works in direct communication both with London and the northern coal and manufacturing districts.1 Coming down to a few years later, in 1770, we find his business still growing, and his works and plant absorbing still more capital, principally obtained by borrowing. In a letter to Mr. Adams, the celebrated architect, requesting him to prepare the design of a new sale-room in London, he described the manufactory at Soho as in full progress, from 700 to 800 persons being employed as metallic artists and workers in tortoiseshell, stones, glass, and enamel. "I have almost every machine," said he, "that is applicable to those arts; I have two water-mills employed in rolling, po-' When the canal came to be con- is ruined. I might as well have built structed at the point at which it it upon the summit of the hill." After passed Soho, it occasioned him great the act had passed he wrote his friend anxiety through the leakage of the Garbett, "I have seen the testimony canal banks and loss of water for the of the two engineers, Smeaton and purposes of his manufactory. The Yeoman, but I value the opinions of supply, especially in dry summers, neither of them., nor of Brindley nor was already too limited; but the Simcox (in this case), nor of the canal threatened to destroy it alto- whole tribe of jobbing ditchers, who gether. Writing to Mr. Thomas are retained as evidence on any side Gilbert, M.P., on the subject in which first applies for them." His February, 1769, he said, "The very alarms, however, proved unfounded, holes which Mr. Smeaton hath dug to as the leakage of the canal was eventtry the ground, drink up the water ually remedied; and in November, nearly as fast as you can pour it in. 1772, we find him writing to the Earl.... Let Smeaton or Brindley, or all of Warwick, " Our navigation goes on the engineers upon earth give what prosperously; the junction with the evidence they will before Parliament, Wolverhampton Canal is complete; I am convinced by last summer's and we already sail from Birmingham experience that if the proprietors of to Bristol and to Hull." - Boulton the canal continue to take the two MSS. streams on which my mill depends, it 2 180 COMMERCIAL PANIC. CHAP. IX. lishing, grinding, and turning various sorts of lathes. I have trained up many, and am training up more plain country lads into good workmen; and wherever I find indications of skill and ability, I encourage them. I have likewise established correspondence with almost every mercantile town in Europe, and am thus regularly supplied with orders for the grosser articles in common demand, by which I am enabled to employ such a number of hands as to provide me with an ample choice of artists for the finer branches of work; and I am thereby encouraged to erect and employ a more extensive apparatus than it would be prudent to provide for the production of the finer articles only." It is indeed probable-though Boulton was slow to admit it-that he had been extending his business more rapidly than his capital would conveniently allow; for we find him becoming more and more pressed for means to meet the interest on the borrowed money invested in buildings, tools, and machinery. He had obtained 10,0001. from a Mr. Tonson of London; and on the death of that gentleman, in 1772, he had considerable difficulty in raising the means to pay off the debt. His embarrassment was increased by a serious commercial panic, aggravated by the failure of Fordyce brothers, by which a considerable sum deposited with them remained locked up for some time, and he was eventually a loser to the extent of 20001. Other failures and losses followed; and trade came almost to a standstill. Yet he bravely held on. "We have a thousand mouths at Soho to feed," he says; "and it has taken so much labour and pains to get so valuable and wellorganised a staff of workmen together, that the operations of the manufactory must be carried on at whatever risk." He continued to receive distinguished visitors at his works. " Last week," he wrote Mr. Ebbenhouse, "we had Prince Poniatowski, nephew of the King CHAP. IX. BOULTON INDEFATIGABLE. 181 of Poland, and the French, Danish, Sardinian, and Dutch Ambassadors; this week we have had Count Orloff, one of the five celebrated brothers who are such favourites with the Empress of Russia; and only yesterday I had the Viceroy of Ireland, who dined with me. Scarcely a day passes without a visit from some distinguished personage." Besides carrying on the extensive business connected with his manufactory at Soho, this indefatigable man found time to prosecute the study of several important branches of practical science. It was scarcely to be supposed that he had much leisure at his disposal; but in life it often happens that the busiest men contrive to find the most leisure; and he who is "up to the ears" in work, can, nevertheless, snatch occasional intervals to devote to inquiries in which his heart is engaged. Hence we find Boulton ranging at intervals over a wide field of inquiry; at one time studying geology, and collecting fossils, minerals, and specimens for his museum; at another, reading and experimenting on fixed air; and at another studying Newton's works with the object of increasing the force of projectiles.l But the subject which perhaps more than all interested him was the improvement of the Steam Engine, which shortly after led to his introduction to James Watt. 1 Among Boulton's scientific memo- proposed the truer boring of the guns, randa, we find some curious specula- the use of a telescopic sight, and a tions, bearing the date of 1765, rela- cylindrical shot with its end of a tive to improvements which he was parabolic form as presenting in his trying to work out in gunnery. He opinion the least resistance to the air. 182 BOULTON AND FRANKLIN. CHAP. X. CHAPTER X. BOULTON AND THE STEAM ENGINE - CORRESPONDENCE WITH WATT. WANT of water-power was one of the great defects of Soho as a manufacturing establishment, and for a long time Boulton struggled with the difficulty. The severe summer droughts obliged him to connect a horse-mill with the water-wheel. From six to ten horses were employed as an auxiliary power, at an expense of from five to eight guineas a week. But this expedient, though costly, was found very inconvenient. Boulton next thought of erecting a pumping-engine after Savery or Newcomen's construction, for the purpose of raising the water from the mill-stream and returning it back into the reservoir-thereby maintaining a head of water sufficient to supply the water-wheel and keep the mill in regular work. "The enormous expense of the horse-power," he wrote to a friend, "put me upon thinking of turning the mill by fire, and I made many fruitless experiments on the subject." In 1766 we find him engaged in a correspondence with the distinguished Benjamin Franklin as to steam power. Eight years before, Franklin had visited Boulton at Birmingham and made his acquaintance. They were mutually pleased with each other, and continued to correspond during Franklin's stay in England, exchanging their views on magnetism, electricity, and other subjects.' On the 22nd May, 1765, Franklin on which 1 sincerely congratulate you. writes Boulton,-" Mr. Baskerville in- I beg leave to introduce my friend forms me that you have lately had a Doctor Small to your acquaintance, considerable addition to your fortune, and to recommend him to your civili CHAP. X. THEIR CORRESPONDENCE. 183 When Boulton began to study the fire-engine with a view to its improvement, Franklin was one of the first whom he consulted. Writing him on the 22nd February, 1766, he said," My engagements since Christmas have not permitted me to make any further progress with my fire-engine; but, as the thirsty season is'approaching apace, necessity will oblige me to set about it in good earnest. Query,-Which of the steam-valves do you like best? Is it better to introduce the jet of cold water at the bottom of the receiver, or at the top? Each has its advantages and disadvantages. My thoughts about the secondary or mechanical contrivances of the engine are too numerous to trouble you with in this letter, and yet I have not been lucky enough to hit upon any that are objectionless. I therefore beg, if any thought occurs to your fertile genius which you think may be useful, or preserve me from error in the execution of this engine, you'll be so kind as to communicate it to me, and you'll very greatly oblige me." From a subsequent letter it appears that Boulton, like Watt-who was about the same time occupied with his invention at Glasgow-had a model constructed for experimental purposes, and that this model was now with Franklin in London; for we find Boulton requesting the latter to "order a porter to nail up the model in the box again and take it to the Birmingham carrier at the Bell Inn, Smithfield." After a silence of about a month Franklin replied,"You will, I trust, excuse my so long omitting to answer your kind letter, when you consider the excessive hurry and anxiety I have been engaged in with our American affairs..... I know not which of the valves to give the preference to, nor whether it is best to introduce your jet of cold water above or below. Experiments will best decide in such cases. I would only repeat to you the hint I gave, of fixing your grate in such a manner as to burn all your smoke. I think a great deal of fuel will then be saved, for two ties. I would not take this freedom, worthy honest man. If anything new if I were not sure it would be agree- in magnetism or electricity, or any able to you; and that you will thank other branch of natural knowledge me for adding to the number of those has occurred to your fruitful genius who from their knowledge of you since I last had the pleasure of seeing must respect you, one who is both an you, you will by communicating it ingenious philosopher and a most greatly oblige me." 184 BOULTON'S MODEL. CHAP. X. reasons. One, that smoke is fuel, and is wasted when it escapes uninflamed. The other, that it forms a sooty crust on the bottom of the boiler, which crust not being a good conductor of heat, and preventing flame and hot air coming into immediate contact with the vessel, lessens their effect in giving heat to the water. All that is necessary is, to make the smoke of fresh coals pass descending through those that are already thoroughly ignited. I sent the model last week, with your papers in it, which I hope got safe to hand."' The model duly arrived at Soho, and we find Boulton shortly after occupied in making experiments with it, the results of which are duly entered in his note-books. Dr. Erasmus Darwin, with whom he was on very intimate terms, wrote him from Lichfield, inquiring what Franklin thought of the model and what suggestions he had made for its improvement. " Your model of a steamengine, I am told," said he, " has gained so much approbation in London, that I cannot but congratulate you on the mechanical fame you have acquired by it, which, assure yourself, is as great a pleasure to me as it could possibly be to yourself."2 Another letter of Darwin to Boulton is preserved, without date, but apparently written earlier than the preceding, in which the Doctor lays before the mechanical philosopher the scheme of " a fiery chariot" which he had conceived,-in other words, of a locomotive steam-carriage. He proposed to apply an engine with a pair of cylinders working alternately; to drive the proposed vehicle;3 and he sent Boulton some rough diagrams illustrative of his views, which he begged Franklin to Poulton, March 19, mosphere. Then, I say, if the cock 1766. Boulton MSS. which admits the steam into the 2 Darwin to Boulton, March 11, antagonist cylinder be opened gradu1766. Boulton MSS. ally and not with a jerk, that the first 3 The following passage occurs in mentioned [piston in the] cylinder his letter:-" Suppose one piston up, will descend gradually and yet not and the vacuum made under it by the less forcibly. Hence by the managejet d'eau fioid. That piston cannot ment of the steam cocks the motion yet descend, because the cock is not may be accelerated, retarded, deyet opened which admits the steam stroyed, revived, instantly and easily. into its antagonist cylinder. Hence And if this answers in practice as it the two pistons are in equilibrio, being does in theory, the machine cannot either of them pressed by the at- fail of success! Eureka!" CHAP. X. WATT VISITS SOHO. 185 might be kept a profound secret, as it was his intention, if Boulton approved of his plan and would join him as a partner, to endeavour to build a model engine, and, if it answered, to take out a joint patent for it. But Dr. Darwin's scheme was too crude to be capable of being embodied in a working model; and nothing more was heard of his fiery chariot. Another of Boulton's numerous correspondents about the same time was Dr. Roebuck, of Kinneil, then occupied with his enterprise at Carron, and about to engage in working the Boroughstoness coal mines, of the results of which he was extremely sanguine. He also wished Boulton to join him as a partner, offering a tenth share in the concern, and to take back the share if the result did not answer expectations. But Boulton's hands were already full of business nearer home, and he declined the venture. Roebuck then informed him of the invention made by his ingenious friend Watt, and of the progress of the model engine. This was a subject calculated to excite the interest of Boulton, himself occupied in studying the same subject, and he expressed a desire to see Watt, if he could make it convenient to visit him at Soho. It so happened that Watt had occasion to be in London in the summer of 1767, on the business connected with the Forth and Clyde Canal Bill, and he determined to take Soho on his way home. When Watt paid his promised visit, Boulton was absent; but he was shown over the works by his friend Dr. Small, who had settled in Birmingham as a physician, and already secured a high place in Boulton's esteem. Watt was much struck with the admirable arrangements of the Soho manufactory, and recognised at a glance the admirable power of organisation which they displayed. Still plodding wearily with his model, and contending with the "villanous bad workmanship" of his Glasgow artisans, he could not but envy the precision of the Soho tools and the dexterity of 186 FIRST MEETS BOULTON. CHAP. X. the Soho workmen. Some conversation on the subject must have occurred between him and Small, to whom he explained the nature of his invention; for we find the latter shortly after writing Watt, urging him to come to Birmingham and join partnership with Boulton and himself in the manufacture of steam-engines.' Although nothing came of this proposal at the time, it had probably some effect, when communicated to Dr. Roebuck, in inducing him to close with Watt as a partner, and thus anticipate his Birmingham correspondents, of whose sagacity he had the highest opinion. In the following year Watt visited London on the business connected with the engine patent. Small wrote to him there, saying, "Get your patent and come to Birmingham, with as much time to spend as you can." Watt accordingly again took Birmingham on his way home. There he saw his future partner for the first time, and they at once conceived a hearty liking for each other. They had much conversation about the engine, and it greatly cheered Watt to find that the sagacious and practical Birmingham manufacturer should augur so favourably of its success as he did. Shortly after, when Dr. Robison visited Soho, Boulton told him 1 Small wrote Watt from Birming- success, nor of your acquiring fortune, ham, on the 7th January, 1768:- if you proceed upon a proper plan as "Our friend Boulton will by this to the manner of doing business; post send letters both to you and Dr. which, if you do, you will be sole Roebuck. I know not well how to possessor of the affair even after your resolve without seeing you. I have patent has expired, I had not thonot the pleasure of being enough roughly considered this part of the acquainted with Dr. R. to judge matter when you left me. In a whether we should all suit one ano- partnership that I liked, I should not ther. His integrity and generosity hesitate to employ any sum of money everybody agrees are great. You I can command on your scheme, and certainly know the proposal he has I am certain it may be managed with made to Boulton, who will tell you only a moderate capital. Whether it his determination about it. Before I would be possible to manage the wheel knew of your connexion with Dr. R. and reciprocating engines by separate my idea was that you should settle partnerships without their interfering here, and that Boulton and I should I am not certain. If it is, Boulton assist you as much as we could, which and I would engage with you in in any case we will most certainly do. either, provided you will live here."I have no kind of doubt of your Boulton MSS. CHAP. X. CORRESPONDS WITH BOULTON. 187 that although he had begun the construction of his proposed pumping-engine, he had determined to proceed no further with it until he saw what came of Watt and Roebuck's scheme. "In erecting my proposed engine," said he, "I would necessarily avail myself of what I learned from Mr. Watt's conversation; but this would not now be right without his consent." Boulton's conduct in this proceeding was thoroughly characteristic of him, and merely affords another illustration of the general fairness and honesty with which he acted in all his business transactions. Watt returned to Glasgow to resume his engine experiments and to proceed with'his canal surveys. He kept up a correspondence with Boulton, and advised him from time to time of the progress made with his model. Towards the end of the year we find him sending Boulton a package from Glasgow containing " one dozen German flutes at 5s., and a copper digester 11. 10s." He added, " I have almost finished a most complete model of my reciprocating-engine: when it is tried, I shall advise the success." To Dr. Small he wrote more confidentially, sending him in January, 1769, a copy of the intended specification of his steam-engine. He also spoke of his general business: "Our pottery," said he, "is doing tolerably, though not as I wish. I am sick of the people I have to do with, though not of the business, which I expect will turn out a very good one. I have a fine scheme for doing it all by fire or water mills, but not in this country nor with the present people." 1 Later, he wrote: " I have had another three days of fever, from which I am not quite recovered. This cursed climate and constitution will undo me." Watt must have told Small when at Birmingham of the probability of his being able to apply his steam-engine to locomotion; for the latter writes him, "I told Dr. Robison and his pupil Watt to Small, January 28, 1769. Boulton MSS. 188 SMALL AND WATT'S CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. X. that I hoped soon to travel in a fiery chariot of your invention." Later, Small wrote: "A linendraper at London, one Moore, has taken out a patent for moving wheel-carriages by steam. This comes of thy delays. I dare say he has heard of your inventions.... Do come to England with all possible speed. At this moment, how I could scold you for negligence! However, if you will come hither soon, I will promise to be very civil, and buy a steam-chaise of you and not of Moore. And yet it vexes me abominably to see a man of your superior genius neglect to avail himself properly of his great talents. These short fevers will do you good." Watt replied: " If linendraper Moore does not use my engines to drive his chaises, he can't drive them by steam. If he does, I will stop them. I suppose by the rapidity of his progress and puffing he is too volatile to be dangerous..... You talk to me about coming to England, just as if I was an Indian that had nothing to remove but my person. Why do we encumber ourselves with anything else? I can't see you before July at soonest, unless you come here. If you do I can recommend you to a fine sweet girl, who will be anything you want her to be if you can make yourself agreeable to her." Badinage apart, however, there was one point on which Watt earnestly solicited the kind services of his friend. He had become more than ever desirous of securing the powerful co-operation of Matthew Boulton in introducing his invention to public notice:"Seriously," says he, "you will oblige me if you will negotiate the following affair:-I find that if the engine succeeds my whole time will be taken up in planning and erecting Reciprocating engines, and the Circulator must stand still unless I do what I have done too often, neglect certainty for hope. N'ow, Mr. Boulton wants one or more engines for his own use. If he will make a model of one of 20 inches diameter at least, I will give him my advice and as much assistance as I can. He shall have liberty to erect one of any Small to Watt, 18th April, 1769. Boulton MSS. CHAP. X. DR. ROEBUCK VISITS BOULTON. 189 size for his own use. If he should choose to have more the terms will be easy, and I shall consider myself much obliged to him. If it should answer, and he should not think himself repaid for his trouble by the use of it, he shall make and use it until he is repaid. If this be agreeable to him let me know, and I will propose it to the Doctor [Roebuck], and doubt not of his consent. I wish Mr. Boulton and you had entered into some negotiation with the Doctor about coming in as partners. I am afraid it is now too late; for the nearer it approaches to certainty, he grows the more tenacious of it.l For my part, I shall continue to think as I did, that it would be for our mutual advantage. His expectations are solely from the Reciprocator. Possibly he may be tempted to part with the half of the Circulator to you. This I say of myself. Mr. Boulton asked if the Circulator was contrived since our agreement. It was; but it is a part of the scheme, and virtually included in it."2 From this it will be seen how anxious Watt was to engage Boulton in taking an interest in his invention. But though the fly was artfully cast over the nose of the fish, still he would not rise. The times were out of joint, business was stagnant, and Boulton was of necessity cautious about venturing upon new enterprises. Small doubtless communicated the views thus confidentially conveyed to him by Watt; and in his next letter he again pressed him to come to Birmingham and have a personal interview with Boulton as to the engine, adding, "bring this pretty girl with you when you come." But, instead of Watt, Roebuck himself went to see Boulton on the subject. During the time of this visit, Watt again communicated to Small his anxiety that Boulton should join in the partnership. "As for myself," said he, "I shall say nothing; but if you three can agree among yourselves, you may appoint me what share you please, and you will find me willing to do my best to advance the good of the whole; or, if this [the engine] should not 1 Roebuck was at this time willing would not be worth my while to to admit Boulton as a partner in the make engines for three counties only; patent, but only as respected the but it might be worth my while to profits of engines sold in the counties make for all the world." of Warwick, Stafford, and Derby. 2 Watt to Small, 28th April, 1769. This Boulton declined, saying, "It Boulton MSS. 190 WATT'S DISAPPOINTMENT. CHAP. X. succeed, to do any other thing I can to make you all amends, only reserving to myself the liberty of grumbling when I am in an ill humour."' Small's reply was discouraging. Both Boulton and he had just engaged in another scheme, which would require all the ready money at their command. Possibly the ill-success of the experiment Watt had by this time made with his new model at Kinneil may have had some influence in deterring them from engaging in what still looked a very unpromising speculation. Watt was greatly cast down at this intelligence, though he could not blame his friend for the caution he displayed in the matter.2 He nevertheless again returned to the subject in his letters to Small; and at last Boulton was persuaded to enter into a conditional arrangement with Roebuck, which was immediately communicated to Watt, who received the intelligence with great exultation. "I shake hands," he wrote to Small, "with you and Mr. Boulton in our connexion, which I hope will prove agreeable to us all." His joy, however, proved premature, as it turned out that the agreement was only to the effect, that if Boulton thought proper to exercise the option of becoming a partner in the engine to the extent of one-third, he was to do so within a period of twelve months, paying Roebuck a sum of 10001.; but this option Boulton never exercised, and the engine enterprise seemed to be as far from success as ever. In the jmean time Watt became increasingly anxious 1 Watt to Small, 20th September, pleasure at the expense of your quiet, 1769. Boulton MSS. which might be the case if you in2 s" I am really very sorry on my own volved yourself in more business than account," he wrote, " that your en- you could easily manage, or, what is gagements hinder you from entering worse, find money for. Besides, this into our scheme, for that ought to is not a trade, but a project;' and no be the result of your deliberation. man should risk more money on a Though there are few things I have project than he can afford to lose."wished more for than being connected Watt to Small, 21st October, 1769. with you on many accounts, yet I Boulton MSS. should be very loath to purchase that CHAP. X. APPLIES HIMSELF TO SURVEYING. 191 about his own position. He had been spending more money on fruitless experiments, and getting into more debt. The six months he had been living at Kinneil had brought him in nothing. He had been neglecting his business, and could not afford to waste more time in prosecuting an apparently hopeless speculation. He accordingly returned to his regular work, and proceeded with the survey of the river Clyde, at the instance of the Glasgow Corporation. "I would not have meddled with this," he wrote to Dr. Small, " had I been certain of being able to bring the engine to bear. But I cannot, on an uncertainty, refuse every piece of business that offers. I have refused some common fire-engines, because they must have taken my attention so up as to hinder my going on with my own. However, if I cannot make it answer soon, I shall certainly undertake the next that offers, for I cannot afford to trifle away my whole life, which — God knows —may not be long. Not that I think myself a proper hand for keeping men to their duty; but I must use my endeavours to make myself square with the world, though I much fear I never shall."' Small lamented this apparent abandonment of the engine to its fate. But though he had failed in inducing Boulton heartily to join Watt in the enterprise, he did not yet despair. He continued to urge Watt to complete his engine, as the fourteen years for which the patent lasted would soon be gone. At all events he might send drawings of his engine to Soho; and Mr. Boulton and he would undertake to do their best to have one constructed for the purpose of exhibiting its powers.2 To this Watt agreed, and 1 Watt to Small, 20th September, " are very desirous of is, to move canal 1769. boats by this engine; so we have 2 Small informed Watt that it was made this model of a size sufficient intended to make an engine for the for that purpose. We propose first to purpose of drawing canal boats. operate without any condenser, because "What Mr. Boulton and I," he wrote, coals are here exceedingly cheap, and 192 MORE ENGINE EXPERIMENTS. CHAP. X. about the beginning of 1770, the necessary drawings were sent to Soho, and an engine was immediately put in course of execution. Patterns were made and sent to Coalbrookdale to be cast; but when the castings were received, they were found exceedingly imperfect, and were thrown aside as useless. They were then sent to an ironfounder at Bilston to be executed; but the result was only another failure. About the beginning of 1770, another unsuccessful experiment was made by Watt and Roebuck with the engine at Kinneil. The cylinder had been repaired and made true by beating, but as the metal of which it was made was soft, it was feared that the working of the piston might throw it out of form. To prevent this, two firm parallel planes were fixed, through which the piston worked, in order to prevent its vibration. "If this should fail," Roebuck wrote to Boulton, in giving an account of the intended trial, "then the cylinder must be made of cast-iron. But I have great confidence that the present engine will work completely, and by this day se'nnight you may expect to hear the result of our experiments." The good news, however, never went to Birmingham; on the contrary, the trial proved a failure. There was some more tinkering because you can, more commodiously out a rough but graphic outline of a than we, make experiments on con- screw propeller. Small's reply was densers, having several already by unfavourable: he replied, "I have you. Above 150 boats are now em- tried models of spiral oars, and have ployed on these new waveless canals, found them all inferior to oars of either so if we can succeed, the field is not of the other forms; I believe because narrow." This suggestion of working a cylinder of water immersed in water canal boats by steam immediately can be easily turned round its own elicited a reply from Watt on the axis. We propose to try gun-lock subject. Invention was so habitual springs with the fixed part longer to him that a new method of em- than the moving. If we cannot sucploying power was no sooner hinted ceed, we will have recourse to what than his active mind at once set to you have so obligingly and clearly work to solve the problem. " Have described." Finally Watt writes a you ever," he wrote Small, "con- fortnight later, "concerning spirals, I sidered a spiral oar for that purpose, do not continue'fond of them." or are you for two wheels?" And to I Roebuck to Boulton, February make his meaning clear, he sketched 12, 1770. CHAP. X. REVERTS TO ENGINEERING. 193 at the enTine, but it would not work satisfactorily; and Watt went back to Glasgow with a heavy heart. Small again endeavoured to induce Watt to visit Birmingham, to superintend the erection of the engine, the materials for which were now lying at Soho. He also held out to Watt the hope of obtaining some employment for him in the midland counties as a consulting engineer. But NWatt could not afford to lose more time in erecting trial-engines; and he was too much occupied at Glasgow to leave it for the proposed uncertainty at Birmingham. He accordingly declined the visit, but invited Small to continue the correspondence; "for," said he, "we have abundance of matters to discuss, though the damned engine sleep in quiet." Small wrote back, professing himself satisfied that Watt was so fully employed in his own profession at Glasgow. "Let nothing," he said, " divert you from the business of engineering. You are sensible that both Boulton and I engaged in the patent scheme much more from inclination to be in some degree useful to you than from any other principle; so that if you are prosperous and happy, we do not care whether you findt the scheme worth prosecuting or not."' IReplyifg to Small's complaint of himself, that he felt ennuye and stupid, taking pleasure in nothing but sleep,:Watt said: "You complain' f physic; I find it sufficiently stupifying to be obliged to think on any subject but one's hobby; and I really am become monstrously stupid, and can seldom think at all. I wish to God I could afford to live without it; though I don't admire your sleeping scheme. Imust fatigue myself, otherwiseII.can neither eat nor sleep. In short, I greatly doubt whether the silent mansion of the grave be not the happiest abode. I am cured of most of my youthful desires? and if ambition Small to Watt, 17th September, 1770. Boulton MSS. O 194 PROSPECTS BRIGHTEN. CHAP. X or avarice do not lay hold of me, I shall be almost as much ennuye' as you say you are." Small again recurred to the subject of Watt's removal to Birmingham, informing him that he had provided accommodation for him, "having kept a whole house in my power, in hopes you may come to live here." Watt's prospects were, however, brightening. He was then busily occupied in superintending the construction of the Monkland Canal. He wrote Small that he had a hundred men working under him, who had "made a confounded gash in a hill," at which they had been working for twelve months; that by frugal living he had contrived to save money enough to pay his debts, and that he had plenty of remunerative work before him. He had also become concerned in a pottery, which, he said, " does very well, though we make monstrous bad ware." 2 He had not, indeed, got rid of his headaches, though he was not so much afflicted by low spirits as he had been. But lie confessed that after all he hated the business of engineering, and wished himself well rid of it, for the reasons stated in a preceding chapter. This comparatively prosperous state of Watt's affairs did not, however, last long. The commercial panic of 1772 put a sudden stop to most of the canal schemes then on foot. The proprietors of the Monkland Canal could not find the necessary means for carrying on the works, and Watt consequently lost his employment as their engineer. He was thus again thrown upon the world, and where was he to look for help? Naturally enough, he reverted to his engine. But it was in the hands of Dr. Roebuck, who was overwhelmed with debt, and upon the verge of insolvency. It 1 Watt to Small, 20th October, pottery, which brought him in about 1770. Boulton MSS. 701. a year clear. 2 He then held an eighth share in the CHAP. X. ROEBUCK'S BANKRUPTCY. 195 was clear that no help was to be looked for in that quarter. Again he bethought him of Small's invitations to Birmingham, and of the interest that Boulton had taken in the engine scheme. Could he be induced at last to become a partner? He again broached the subject to Small, telling him how business had failed him; that he was now ready to go to Birmingham and engage in English surveys, or do anything that would bring him in an honest income. But, above all, would Boulton and Small, now that Roebuck had failed, join him as partners in the engine business? By this time Boulton himself had become involved in difficulties arising out of the commercial pressure of the time, and was more averse than ever to enter upon such an enterprise. But having lent Roebuck a considerable sum of money, it occurred to Watt that the amount might be taken as part of the price of Boulton's share in the patent, if he would consent to enter into the proposed partnership. He represented to Small the great distress of Roebuck's situation, which he had done all that he could to relieve. "What little I can do for him," he said, "is purchased by denying myself the conveniences of life my station requires, or by remaining in debt, which it galls me to the bone to owe." Reverting to the idea of a partnership with Boulton, he added, "I shall be content to hold a very small share in it, or none at all, provided I am to be freed from my pecuniary obligations to Roebuck, and have any kind of recompense for even a part of the anxiety and ruin it has involved me in." And again: "Although I am out of pocket a much greater sum upon these experiments than my proportion of the profits of the engine, I do not look upon that money as the price of my share, but as money spent on my education. I thank God I have now reason to believe that I can never, while I have health, be at any loss o 2 196 WATT INVITED TO SOHO. CHAP. X. to pay what I owe, and to live at least in a decent manner; more, I do not violently desire." 1 In a subsequent letter Watt promised Small that he would pay an early visit to Birmingham, and added, " there is nowhere I so much wish to be." In replying, Small pointed out a difficulty in the way of the proposed partnership: "It is impossible," he wrote, " for Mr. Boulton and me, or any other honest man, to purchase, especially from two particular friends, what has no market price, and at a time when they might be inclined to part with the commodity at an under value."2 He added that the high-pressure wheel-engine constructing at Soho, after Watt's plans, was nearly ready, and that Wilkinson, of Bradley, had promised that the boiler should be sent next week. "Should the experiment succeed, or seem likely to succeed," he said, "you ought to come hither immediately upon receiving the notice, which I will instantly send. In that case we propose to unite three things under your direction, which would altogether, we hope, prove tolerably satisfactory to you, at least until your merit shall be better known." 3 But before the experiment with the wheel-engine could be tried at Soho, the financial ruin of Dr. Roebuck brought matters to a crisis. He was now in the hands 1 Watt to Small, 30th August, subject, and if I can make no profit, 1772. Boulton MSS. at least I ought not to lose the honour 2 Small to Watt, 16th November, of my experiments."-Watt to Small, 1772. Boulton MSS. 17th August, 1773. Boulton MSS. 3 About this time, in order to bring To this letter Small replied, " The himself and his engine into notice, more I consider the propriety of your Watt contemplated writing a treatise publishing about steam, the more I on steam and its applications. "I wish you to publish. Smeaton has have some thoughts," he wrote to only trifled hitherto, though he may Small, "of writing a book on the perhaps discover something. He told elements of the theory of steam- Boulton some time ago that the cirengines, in which, however, I shall cular engine would not do. He said only give the enunciation of the he had considered it, and was sure of perfect engine. This book might do this. As B. does not much respect me and the scheme good. It would his genius, this had no effect." Watt's still leave the world in the dark as to treatise was, however, never written; the true construction of the engine. his attention being shortly after fully Something of this kind is necessary, occupied by other and more engrossing as Smeaton is labouring hard at the subjects. CHAP. X. ROEBUCK'S TRANSFER TO BOULTON. 197 of his creditors, who found his affairs in inextricable confusion. He owed some 12001. to Boulton, who, rather than claim against the estate, offered to take Roebuck's two-thirds share in the engine patent in lieu of the debt. The creditors did not value the engine as worth one farthing, and were but too glad to agree to the proposal. As Watt himself said, it was only "paying one bad debt with another." Boulton wrote to Watt requesting him to act as his attorney in the matter. He confessed that he was by no means sanguine as to the success of the engine, but, being an assayer, he was willing " to assay it and try how much gold it contains." "The thing," he added, "is now a shadow;'tis merely ideal, and will cost time and money to realise it. We have made no experiment yet that answers my purpose, and the times are so horrible throughout the mercantile part of Europe, that I have not had my thoughts sufficiently disengaged to think of new schemes." So soon as the arrangement for the transfer of Roebuck's share to Boulton was concluded, Watt ordered the engine in the outhouse at Kinneil to be taken to pieces, packed up, and sent to Birmingham.2 Small again pressed him to come and superintend the work in person. But before he could leave Scotland it was necessary-that he should complete the survey of the Caledonian Canal, which was still -unfinished. This done, he promised at once to set out for Soho. In any case, he had made up his mind to leave his own country, of which he declared himself " heart-sick." 3 He hated 1 UQw11fttqU to Watt,\ 29th March, where the experiments can be com1773. Boulton MSS. pleted with propriety. 1 suppose the 2a " As 1 found the engine at Kinneil whole will not weigh above four tons. perishing, and as it is from circum- I have left the whole of the woodstances highly improper that it should work until we see what we are to do." continue there longer, and as I have -Watt to Small, 20th May, 1773. nowhere else to put it, I have this Boulton MSS. week taken it to pieces and packed up In a letter to Small, watt wrote, the ironwork, cylinder, and pump, " I begin now to see daylight through ready to be shipped for London on its the affairs that have detained me so way to Birmingham, as the only place long, and think of setting out for you 198 WATT'S ARRIVAL IN BIRMINGHAM. CHAP. X. its harsh climate, so trying to his fragile constitution. Moreover, he disliked the people he had to deal with. He was also badly paid for his work, a whole year's surveying having brought him in only about 2001. Out of this he had paid some portion to Dr. Roebuck to help him in his necessity, "so that," he said, "I can barely support myself and keep untouched the small sum I have allotted for my visit to you." Watt's intention was either to try to find employment as a surveyor or engineer in England, or obtain a situation of some kind abroad. He was, however, naturally desirous of ascertaining whether it was yet possible to do anything with the materials which now lay at Soho; and with the object of visiting his friends there and superintending the erection of the trialengine, he at length made his final arrangements to leave Glasgow. We find him arrived in Birmingham in May, 1774, where he at once entered on a new and important phase of his professional career. in a fortnight at furthest. I am the spirit of emigrating rises high, monstrously plagued with my head- and the people seem disposed to show aches, and not a little with unpro- their oppressive masters that they can fitable business. I don't mean my live without them. By the time own whims: these I never work at some twenty or thirty thousand more when I can do any other thing; but I leave the country, matters will take a have got too many acquaintances; and turn not much to the profit of the there are too many beggars in this landholders."-Watt to Small, 29th country, which I am afraid is going to April, 1774. Boulton MSS. the devil altogether. Provisions con- 1 Watt to Small, 25th July, 1773. tinue excessively dear, and laws are Boulton MSS. made to keep them so. But luckily CHAP. XI. QUALITIES OF IBOULTON. 199 CHAPTER XI. BOULTON AND WATT-THEIR PARTNERSHIP. WATT had now been occupied for about nine years in working out the details of his invention. Five of these had passed since he had taken out his patent, and he was still struggling with difficulty. Several thousand pounds had been expended on the engine, besides much study, labour, and ingenuity; yet it was still, as Boulton expressed it, "a shadow, as regarded its practical utility and value." So long as Watt's connexion with Roebuck continued, there was indeed very little chance of getting it favourably introduced to public notice. What it was yet to become as a working power depended in no small degree upon the business ability, the strength of purpose, and the length of purse of his new partner. Had Watt searched Europe through, probably he could not have found a man better fitted than Matthew Boulton for bringing his invention fairly before the world. Many would have thought it rash on the part of the latter, burdened as he was with heavy liabilities, to engage in a new undertaking of so speculative a character. Feasible though the *scheme might be, it was an admitted fact that nearly all the experiments with the models heretofore made had proved failures. It is true Watt firmly believed that he had hit upon the right principle, and he was as sanguine as ever of the eventual success of his engine. But though inventors are usually sanguine, men of capital do not take up their schemes on that account. Capitalists are rather disposed to regard sanguine inventors as vision 200 CONTRAST OF CHARACTER. CHAP. XI. aries, full of theories of what is possible rather than of well-defined plans of what is practicable and useful. Boulton, however, amongst his many other gifts possessed an admirable knowledge of character. His judgment of men was almost unerring. In Watt he had recognised at his first visit to Sohlo, not only a man of original inventive genius, but a plodding, earnest, intent, and withal an exceedingly modest man; not given to puff, but on the contrary rather disposed to underrate the merit of his inventions. Different though their characters were in most respects, Boulton at once conceived a hearty liking for him. The one displayed in perfection precisely those qualities which the other wanted. Boulton was a man of ardent and generous temperament, bold and enterprising, undaunted by difficulty, and possessing an almost boundless capacity for work. He was a man of great tact, clear perception, and sound judgment. Moreover, he possessed that indispensable quality of perseverance, without which the best talents are of comparatively little avail in the conduct of important affairs. While Watt hated business, Boulton loved it. He had, indeed, a genius for business, —a gift almost as rare as that for poetry, for art, or for war. He possessed a marvellous power of organisation. With a keen eye for details he combined a comprehensive grasp of intellect. While his senses were so acute, that when sitting in his office at Soho he could detect the slightest stoppage or derangement in the machinery of that vast establishment, and send his message direct to the spot where it had occurred, his power of imagination was such as enabled him to look clearly along extensive lines of possible action in Europe, America, and the East. For there is a poetic as well as a commonplace side to business; and the man of business genius lights up the humdrum routine of daily life by exploring the boundless region of possibility wherever it may lie open before him. CHAP. XI. BOULTON AND HIS FRIENDS. 201 Boulton had already won his way to the very front rank in his calling, honestly and honourably; and he was proud of it. He had created many new branches of industry, which gave regular employment to hundreds of families. He had erected and organised a manufactory which was looked upon as one of the most complete of its kind in England, and was resorted to by visitors from all parts of the world. But Boulton was more than a man of business: he was a man of culture, and the friend of cultivated men. His hospitable mansion at Soho was the resort of persons eminent in art, in literature, and in science; and the love and admiration with which he inspired such men affords one of the best proofs of his own elevation of character. Among the most intimate of his friends and associates were Richard Lovell Edgeworth,' a gentleman of fortune, enthusiastically devoted to his long-conceived design of moving landcarriages by steam; Captain Keir, an excellent practical chemist, a wit and a man of learning; Dr. Small, the accomplished physician, chemist, and mechanist; Josiah Wedgwood, the practical philosopher and manufacturer, founder of a new and important branch of skilled industry; Thomas Day, the ingenious author of'Sandford and Merton;' Dr. Darwin, the poet-physician; Dr. Withering, the botanist; besides others who afterwards joined the Soho circle,-not the least distinguished of whom were Joseph Priestley and James Watt.2 Mr. Edgeworth was first intro- them as he pleases,-can take away duced to the notice of Mr. Boulton in polarity, or give it to the needle by the following letter from Dr. Darwin rubbing it thrice on the palm of his (1767): —" Dear Boulton, I have got hand! And can see through two with me a mechanical friend, Mr. solid oak boards without glasses! WonEdgeworth, from Oxfordshire, —the derful! astonishing! diabolical!! greatest conjurer I ever saw. God Pray tell Dr. Small he must come to send fine weather, and pray come to see these miracles. Adieu, E. Darwin." my assistance, and prevail on Dr. 2 Richard Lovell Edgeworth says of Small and Mrs. Boulton to attend you this distinguished coterie, —" By means to-morrow morning, and we will re- of Mr. Keir I became acquainted with convey you to Birmingham if the Dr. Small of Birmingham, a man devil permit. E. has the principles esteemed by all who knew him, and of nature in his palm, and moulds by all who were admitted to his 202 THE ENGINE AT SOHO. CHAP. XI. Boulton could not have been very sanguine at first as to the success of Watt's engine. There were a thousand difficulties in the way of getting it introduced to general use. The principal one was the difficulty of finding workmen capable of making it. Watt had been constantly worried by "villanous bad workmen," who failed to make any model that would go properly. It mattered not that the principle of the engine was right; if its construction was beyond the skill of ordinary handicraftsmen, the invention was practically worthless. The great Smeaton was of this opinion. When he saw the first model working at Soho, he admitted the excellence of the contrivance, but predicted its failure, on the ground that it was too complicated, and that workmen were not to be found capable of manufacturing it on any large scale for general uses. Watt himself felt that, if the engine was ever to have a fair chance, it was now; and that if Boulton, with his staff of skilled workmen at command, could not make it go, the scheme must be abandoned henceforward as impracticable. Boulton must, however, have seen the elements of success in the invention, otherwise he would not have taken up with it. He knew the difficulties Watt had encountered in designing it, and he could well appreciate the skill with which he had overcome them; for Boulton himself, as we have seen, friendship beloved with no common wood, with his increasing industry, enthusiasm. Dr. Small formed a link experimental variety, and calm inveswhich combined Mr. Boulton, Mr. tigation; Boulton, with his mobility, Watt, Dr. Darwin, Mr. Wedgwood, quick perception, and bold adventure; Mr. Day, and myself together-men Watt, with his strong inventive of very different characters, but all faculty, undeviating steadiness, and devoted to literature and science. bold resources; Darwin, with hisimaThis mutual intimacy has never been gination, science, and poetical excelbroken but by death, nor have any of lence; and Day, with his unwearied the number failed to distinguish them- research after truth, his integrity and selves in science or literature. Some eloquence;-proved altogether such a may think that I ought with due society as few men have had the good modesty to except myself. Mr. Keir fortune to live with; such an assemwvith his knowledge of the world and blage of friends, as fewer still have good sense; Dr. Small, with his bene- had the happiness to possess, and keep volenlc and profound sagacity; Wedg- through lifc."-Memoirs, i. 186. CHAP. XI. VIEWS OF BOULTON. 203 had for some time been occupied with the study of the subject. But the views of Boulton on entering into his new branch of business, cannot be better expressed than in his own words, as stated in a letter written by him to Watt in 1769, when then invited to join the Roebuck partnership: " The plan proposed to me,"1 said he, "is so very different from that which I had conceived at the time I talked with you upon the subject, that I cannot think it a proper one for me to meddle with, as I do not intend turning engineer. I was excited by two motives to offer you my assistance-which were, love of you, and love of a money-getting ingenious project. I presumed that your engine would require money, very accurate workmanship, and extensive correspondence, to make it turn out to the best advantage; and that the best means of keeping up our reputation and doing the invention justice, would be to keep the executive part out of the hands of the multitude of empirical engineers, who, from ignorance, want of experience, and want of necessary convenience, would be very liable to produce bad and inaccurate workmanship; all which deficiencies would affect the reputation of the invention. To remedy which, and to produce the most profit, my idea was to settle a manufactory near my own, by the side of our canal, where I would erect all the conveniences necessary for the completion of engines, and from which manufactory we would serve the world with engines of all sizes. By these means and your assistance we could engage and instruct some excellent workmen, who (with more excellent tools than would be worth any man's while to procure for one single engine) could execute the invention 20 per cent. cheaper than it would be otherwise executed, and with as great a difference of accuracy as there is between the blacksmith and the mathematical instrument maker." He went on to state that he was willing to enter upon the speculation with these views, considering it well worth his while "to make engines for all the world," though it would not be worth his while "to make for three counties only;" besides, he declared himself averse to embark in any trade that he had not the inspection of himself. He concluded by saying, D1 r. Roebuck proposed to confine will be observed that Boulton declined Boulton's profits to the engirne busi- to negotiate on such a basis. ness done only in three counties. It 204 THE KINNEIL ENGINE RE-ERECTED. CHAP. XI. " Although there seem to be some obstructions to our partnership in the engine trade, yet I live in hopes that you or I may hit upon some scheme or other that may associate us in this part of the world, which would render it still more agreeable to me than it is, by the acquisition of such a neighbour." Five years had passed since this letter was written, during which the engine had made no way in the world. The partnership of Roebuck and Watt had yielded nothing but vexation and debt; until at last, fortunately for Watt-though at the time he regarded it as a terrible calamity-Roebuck broke down, and the obstruction was removed which had prevented Watt and Boulton from coming together. The latter at once reverted to the plan of action which he had with so much sagacity laid down in 1769; and he invited Watt to take up his abode at Soho until the necessary preliminary arrangements could be made. He thought it desirable, in the first place, to erect the engine, of which the several parts had been sent to Soho from Kinneil, in order, if possible, to exhibit a specimen of the invention in actual work. Boulton undertook to defray all the necessary expenses, and to find competent workmen to carry out the instructions of Watt, whom Boulton was also to maintain until the engine business had become productive.2 1 Boulton to Watt, 7th February, experiments upon by Mr. Watt, who 1769. Boulton MSS. occupied two years of his time at Soho 2 In a statement prepared by Mr. with that object: and lived there'at Boulton for the consideration of the Mr. Boulton's expense. Nevertheless arbitrators between himself and Mr. Watt often assisted Boulton and Fothergill as to the affairs of that Fothergill in anything in his power, firm, the following passage occurs:- and made one journey to London upon " The first engine that was erected at their business, when he worked at Soho I purchased of Mr. Watt and adjusting and marking weights manuDr. Roebuck. The cylinder was cast factured by Boulton and Fothergill." of solid grain tin, which engine, with In another statement of a similar the boiler, the valves, the condenser, kind, Mr. Boulton says,-" T'he only and the pumps, were all sent from fire-engine that was erected at Soho Scotland to Soho. This engine was prior to Boulton and Watt obtaining erected for the use of the Soho manu- the Act of Parliament, was entirely factory, and for the purpose of making made and erected in Scotland, and was CHAP. XI. ITS SUCCESSFUL WORKING. 205 The materials brought from Kinneil were accordingly put together with as little delay as possible; and, thanks to the greater skill of the workmen who assisted in its erection, the engine, when finished, worked in a more satisfactory manner than it had ever done before. In November, 1774, Watt wrote Dr. Roebuck, informing him of the success of his trials; on which the Dr. expressed his surprise that the engine should have worked at all, " considering the slightness of the materials and its long exposure to the injuries of the weather." Watt also wrote to his father at Greenock. "The business I am here about has turned out rather successful; that is to say, the fire-engine I have invented is now going, and answers much better than any other that has yet been made; and I expect that the invention will be very beneficial to me."' Such was Watt's modest announcement of the successful working of the engine on which such great results depended. Much, however, remained to be done before either Watt or Boulton could reap any benefit from the invention. Six years out of the fourteen for which the patent was originally taken had already expired; and all that had been accomplished was the erection of this experimental engine at Soho. What further period might elapse before capitalists could be brought to recognise the practical uses of the invention could only be guessed at; but the probability was that the patent right would expire long before such a demand for the engines arose as should remunerate Boulton and Watt for their investment of time, labour, and capital. And the patent once expired, the world at large would be free to make the engines, though Watt himself had not recovered removed here by sea, being a part of expense of erecting them."-Boulton my bargain with Roebuck. All that MSS. were afterwards erected were for per- I Quoted in Muirhead's'Mechanical sons that ordered them, and were at the Inventions of James Watt,' ii. 79. 206 INQUIRIES FOR PUMPING ENGINES. CHAP. XI. one farthing towards repaying him for the long years of experiment, study, and ingenuity bestowed by him in bringing his invention to perfection. These considerations made Boulton hesitate before launching out the money necessary to provide the tools, machinery, and buildings, for carrying on the intended manufacture on a large scale and in the best style. When it became known that Boulton had taken an interest in a new engine for pumping water, he had many inquiries about it from the mining districts. The need of a more effective engine than any then in use was every year becoming more urgent. The powers of Newcomen's engine had been tried to the utmost. So long as the surface-lodes were worked, its power was sufficient to clear the mines of water; but as they were carried deeper, it was found totally inadequate for the work, and many mines were consequently becoming gradually drowned out and abandoned. The excessive consumption of coals by the Newcomen engines was another serious objection to their use, especially in districts such as Cornwall, where coal was very dear. When Small was urging Watt to come to Birmingham and make engines, he wrote: " A friend of Boulton's, in Cornwall, sent us word a few days ago that four or five coppermines are just going to be abandoned because of the high price of coals, and begs us to apply to them instantly. The York Buildings Company delay rebuilding their engine, with great inconvenience to themselves, waiting for yours. Yesterday application was made to me by a Mining Company in Derbyshire to know when you are to be in England about the engines, because they must quit their mine if you cannot relieve them." The necessity for an improved pumping power had set many inventors to work besides Watt, and some of the less scrupulous of them were already trying to adopt his principle in such a way as to evade his patent. Moore, the London linendraper, and Hatley, one of Watt's CHAP. XI. PROPOSED EXTENSION OF THE PATENT. 207 Carron workmen, had brought out and were pushing engines similar to Watt's; the latter having stolen and sold for a considerable sum working drawings of the Kinneil engine. From these signs Boulton saw that, in the event of the engine proving successful, he and his partner would have to defend the invention against a host of pirates; and he became persuaded that he would not be justified in risking his capital in the establishment of a steamengine manufactory unless a considerable extension of the patent-right could be secured. To ascertain whether this was practicable, Watt proceeded to London in the beginning of 1775, to confer with his patent agent and take the opinion of counsel on the subject. Mr. Wedderburn, who was advised with, recommended that the existing patent should be surrendered, and in that case he did not doubt that a new one would be granted. While in London, Watt looked out for possible orders for his engine: "I have," he wrote Boulton, " a prospect of two orders for fire-engines here, one to water Piccadilly, and the other to serve the south end of Blackfriars Bridge with water. I have taken advice of several people whom I could trust about the patent. They all agree that an Act would be much better and cheaper, a patent being now 1301., the Act, if obtainable, 1101. The present-patent has eight years still to run, bearing date January, 1769. I understand there will be an almost unlimited sale for wheel-engines to the West Indies, at the rate of 1001. for each horse's power." Watt also occupied some of his time in London in superintending the adjustment of weights manufactured by Boulton and Fothergill, then sold in considerable quantities through their London agent. That he continued to take an interest in his old business of mathematical instrument making is apparent from the visits Watt to Boulton, 31st January, 1775. Boulton MSS. 208 DEATH OF DR. SMALL. CHAP. XI. which he made to several well-known shops. One of the articles which he examined with most interest was Short's Gregorian telescope. At other times, by Boulton's request, he went to see the few steam-engines then at work in London and the neighbourhood, and make inquiries as to their performances. With that object he examined the engines at the New River, Hungerford, and Chelsea. At the latter place, he said, "it was impossible to try the quantity of injection, and the fellow told me lies about the height of the column of water." But Watt soon grew tired of London, "running from street to street all day about gilding," inquiring after metal-rollers, silver-platers, and button-makers. He did his best, however, to execute the commissions which Boulton from time to time sent him; and when these were executed, he returned to Birmingham to confer with his friends as to the steps to be taken with respect to the patent. The result of his conferences with Boulton and Small was, that it was determined to take steps to apply for an Act for its extension in the ensuing session of Parliament. Watt went up to London a second time for the purpose of having the Bill drawn. He had scarcely arrived there when the sad intelligence reached him of the death of Dr. Small. He had long been ailing, yet the event was a shock alike to himself and Boulton. The latter wrote Watt in the bitterness of his grief, "If there were not a few other objects yet remaining for me to settle my affections upon, I should wish also to take up my abode in the mansions of the dead." Watt replied, reminding him of the sentiments of their departed friend, as to the impropriety of indulging in unavailing sorrow, the best refuge from which was the more sedulous performance of duty. "Come, my dear sir," said he, "and immerse yourself in this sea of business as soon as possible. Pay a proper respect to your friend by obeying his precepts. I wait for you with impatience, CHAP. XI. WATT INVITED TO RUSSIA. 209 and assure yourself no endeavour of mine shall be wanting to render life agreeable to you." It had been intended to include Small in the steamengine partnership on the renewal of the patent. He had been consulted in all the stages of the proceedings, and one of the last things he did was to draw up Watt's petition for the Bill. No settled arrangement had yet been made-not even between Boulton and Watt. Everything depended upon the success of the application for the extension of the patent. Meanwhile, through the recommendation of his old friend Dr. Robison, then in Russia officiating as Mathematical Professor at the Gove'rnment Naval School at Cronstadt, Watt was offered an appointment under the Russian Government, at a salary of about 10001. a year. He was thus presented with a means of escape from his dependence upon Boulton, and for the first time in his life had the prospect before him of an income that to him would have been affluence. But he entertained strong objections to settling in Russia: he objected to its climate, its comparative barbarism, and, notwithstanding the society of his friend Robison, to the limited social resources of St. Petersburg. Besides, Boulton's favours were so gracefully conferred, that the dependence on him was not felt; for he made the recipient of his favours feel as if the obligation were entirely on the side of the giver. " Your going to Russia staggers me," he wrote to Watt; "the precariousness of your health, the dangers of so long a journey or voyage, and my own deprivation of consolation, render me a little uncomfortable; but I wish to assist and advise you for the best, without regard to self." The result was, that Watt determined to wait the issue of the application for the extension of his patent. The Bill was introduced to Parliament on the 28th of February, 1775, and it was obvious from the first that it would have considerable opposition to encounter. The P 210 APPLICATION TO PARLIAMENT. CHAP. XI. mining interest had looked forward to Watt's invention as a means of helping them out of their difficulties and giving a new value to their property by clearing the drowned mines of water. They therefore desired to have the free use of the engine at the earliest possible period; and when it was proposed to extend the patent by Act of Parliament, they set up with one accord the cry of " No monopoly." Up to the present time, as we have seen, the invention had been productive to Watt of nothing but loss, labour, anxiety, and headaches; and it was only just that a reasonable period should be allowed to enable him to derive some advantage from the results of his application and ingenuity. But the mining interest took a different view of the matter. They did not see the necessity of recognising the rights of the inventor beyond the term of his existing patent, and they held that the public interests would suffer if the proposed "monopoly" were granted. Nor were they without supporters in Parliament, for among the most strenuous we find the name of Edmund Burke,-influenced, it is supposed, by certain mining interests in the neighbourhood of Bristol, which city he then represented. There is no doubt that the public would have benefited by Watt's invention having been made free to all. But it was not for the public merely that Watt had been working at his engine for fifteen long years. He was a man of comparatively small means, and had been buoyed up and stimulated to renewed exertion during that time by the hope of ultimate reward in the event of its success. If labour could give a man a title to property in his invention, Watt's claim was clear. The condensing-engine had been the product of his own skill, contrivance, and brain-work. But there has always been a difficulty in getting the claims of Ineue iawn-woyk ecogned. Had he expended his labour in building a house instead of in contriving a machine, his right of property would at once have been CHAP. XI. WATT'S "CASE." 211 acknowledged. As it was, he had to contend for justice and persuade the legislature of the reasonableness of granting his application for an extension of the patent. In the " Case " which he drew up for distribution amongst the members of the Lower House, on the motion being carried for the recommittal of the Bill, he set forth that having, after great labour and expense extending over many years, succeeded in completing working engines of each of the two kinds he had invented, he found that they could not be carried into profitable execution without the further expenditure of large sums of money in erecting mills, and purchasing the various materials and utensils necessary for making them; and from the reluctance with which the public generally adopt new inventions, he was afraid that the whole term granted by his patent would expire before the engines should have come into general use and any portion of his expenses be repaid:"The inventor of these new engines," said he, "is sorry that gentlemen of knowledge, and avowed admirers of his invention, should oppose the Bill by putting it in the light of a monopoly. He never had any intention of circumscribing or claiming the inventions of others; and the Bill is now drawn up in such a manner as sufficiently guards those rights, and must oblige him to prove his own right to every part of his invention which may at any time be disputed..... If the invention be valuable, it has been made so by his industry, and at his expense; he has struggled with bad health, and many other inconveniences, to bring it to perfection, and all he wishes is to be secured in the profits which he may reasonably expect from it,-profits which he cannot obtain without an exertion of his abilities to bring it into practice, by which the public must be the greatest gainers, and which are limited by the performance of the common engines; for he cannot expect that any person will make use of his contrivance, unless he can prove to them that savings will take place, and that;liis demand for the privilege of using the invention will amount' only to a reasonable part of them. iNo man will lay aside a kn6wn engine, and stop his work to erect one of a new contrivance, unless he is certain to be a very great gainer by the exchange; and if any contrivance shall so far excel others as to enforce the use of it, it is reasonable that the author of such a contrivance should be rewarded." P 212 RETURNS TO BIRMINGHAM. CHAP. XI. These weighty arguments could not fail to produce an impression on the minds of all reasonable men, and the result was, that Parliament passed an Act extending Watt's patent right for the further term of twentyfour years. Watt wrote Boulton on the 27th May, —" I hope to be clear to come away by Wednesday or Thursday. I am heartily sick of this town and fort ennuyee since you left it. Dr. Roebuck is likely to get an order, out of Smeaton's hands, for an engine in Yorkshire that, according to Smeaton's calculation, will burn 12001. per annum in coals. But this has had one bad effect. It has made the Doctor repent of his bargain and wish again to be upon the 1-10th [profits]; but we must see to keep him right if possible, so don't vex yourself about it." Dr. Roebuck had been finally settled with before the passing of the Act. It had been arranged that Boulton should pay him 10001. out of the first profits arising from his share in the engine, making about 22001. in all paid by Boulton to Roebuck for his twothirds of the patent.' Watt returned to Birmingham to set about the making of the engines for which orders had already been received. Boulton had been busily occupied during his absence in experimenting on the Soho engine. A new 18-inch cylinder had been cast for it at Bersham by John Wilkinson, the great ironfounder,2 who had contrived a Bonds were given for the 10001., tile talents, though he wanted that but the assignees of Roebuck be- firmness and constancy of purpose coming impatient for the money, which so eminently distinguished his Boulton discharged them to get rid of son. Isaac Wilkinson used thus to their importunity,'long before any tell his own history: —" I worked," profits had been derived from the said he, "at a forge in the north, manufacture of the engines. My masters gave me 12s. a week: I 2 John Wilkinson, the " father of was content. They raised me to 14s.: the iron-trade" as he styled himself, 1 did not ask them for it. They went was a man of extraordinary energy of on to 16s., 18s.: I never asked them character. He was strong-headed and for the advances. They gave me a strong-tempered and of inflexible de- guinea a week! Said I to myself, if I termination. His father, Isaac Wil- am worth a guinea a week to you, kinson, who originally started the iron I am worth more to myself! I left trade at Wrexham, was a man pos- them, and began business on my own sessed of quick discernment and versa- account-at first in a small way. I CHAP. XI. THE MANUFACTURE BEGUN. 213 machine for boring it with accuracy. This cylinder was substituted for the tin one brought from Kinneil, and other improvements having been introduced, the engine was again set to work with very satisfactory results. Watt found his partner in good spirits; not less elated by the performances of the model than by the passing of the Act; and arrangements were at once set on foot for carrying on the manufacture of engines upon an extensive scale. Applications for terms, followed by orders, shortly came in from the mining districts; and before long the works at Soho were resounding with the clang of hammers and machinery employed in manufacturing steam-engines for all parts of the civilised world. prospered. I grew tired of my leathern Wilkinson's first iron boat was bellows, and determined to make iron launched, people laughed at the idea ones. Everybody laughed at me. I of its floating,-as it was so well did it, and applied the steam-engine klnown that iron immediately sank in to blow them; and they all cried, water! In a letter to Mr. Stockdale,'Who could have thought it!"' His of Carke, Cartmel, the original of son John carried on the operations which is before us, dated Broseley, connected with the iron manufacture 14th July, 1787, Mr. Wilkinson says, on a far more extensive scale than his "Yesterday week my iron boat was father at Bradley, Willey, Snedshill, launched,-answers all my expectaand Bersham. His castings were the tions, and has convinced the unbelargest until then attempted, and lievers, who were 999 in 1000. It the boring machinery which he in- will be only a nine days' wonder, and vented was the best of its kind. All afterwards a Columbus's egg." In the castings for Boulton and Watt's another letter, dated Bradley Iron large Cornish engines were manufac- Works, 24th Oct., 1788, he writes to tured by him, previous to the erection the same,-" There have been two of the Soho foundry. He also bored iron vessels launched in my service cannon for the government on a large since 1st September. One is a canalscale. Amongst his other merits, boat for this navigation, the other a John Wilkinson is clearly entitled to barge of 40 tons, for the river Severn. that of having built the first iron The last was floated on Monday, and vessel. It was made to bring peat- is, I expect, now at Stourport, a-lading moss to his iron furnace at Wilson with bar-iron. My clerk at Broseley House, near Castle Head, in Cartmel, advises me that she swims remarkably in order to smelt the hematite iron- light, and exceeds even my own exore of Furness. r'This was followed by pectations." For further notice of other larger iron vessels, one of which John Wilkinson, see' Lives of the was of 40 tons burden, and used to Engineers,' ii. 337, 356. carry iron down the Severn. Before WAT'l'S - OUSE, iARPER'S HILL, BlRMINGHEA. CHAPTER XII. BOULTON AND WATT BEGIN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEAMENGINES. WATT now arranged to take up his residence in Birmingham until the issue of the steam-engine enterprise could be ascertained, and he went down to Glasgow to bring up his two children, whom he had left in charge of their relatives. Boulton had taken a house on Harper's Hill, which was in readiness for the reception of the family on their arrival about the end of August, 1775. Regent's-place, Harper's Hill, was then the nearest house to Soho on that side of Birmingham. It was a double house, substantially built in brick, with stone facings, standing on the outskirts of the town, surrounded by fields and gardens. St. Paul's, the nearest church, was not built until four years after Watt took up his abode there. But the house at Harper's Hill is in the country CHAP. XII. ORDER FOR THE FIRST ENGINE. 215 no longer: it is now surrounded in all directions by dense masses of buildings, and is itself inhabited by working people. The first engine made at Soho was one ordered by John Wilkinson to blow the bellows of his ironworks at Broseley. Great interest was, of course, felt in the success of this engine. Watt took great pains with the drawings; the workmen did their best to execute the several parts accurately, for it was understood that many orders depended upon whether it worked satisfactorily or not. Wilkinson's iron-manufacturing neighbours, who were contemplating the erection of Newcomen engines, suspended their operations until they had an opportunity of seeing what Boulton and Watt's engine could do; and all looked forward to its completion with the most eager interest. When all was ready at Soho, the materials were packed up and sent to Broseley, Watt accompanying them to superintend the erection. He had as yet no assistant to whom he could intrust such a piece of work, on which so much depended. The engine was erected and ready for use about the beginning of 1776. As it approached completion Watt became increasingly anxious to make a trial of its powers. But Boulton wrote to him not to hurry-not to let the engine make a stroke until every possible hinderance to its successful action had been removed; "and then," said he, "in the name of God, fall to and do your best." The result of the extreme care taken with the construction and erection of the engine was entirely satisfactory. It worked to the admiration of all who saw it, and the fame of Boulton and Watt became great in the midland counties. While Watt was thus occupied, Boulton was pushing on the new buildings at Soho. He kept his partner fully advised of all that was going on. " The new forgingshop," he wrote, "looks very formidable: the roof is 216 EMPRESS OF RUSSIA AT BOULTON'S. CHAP. X1I. nearly put on, and the hearths are both built.": Tools and machinery were being prepared, and all looked hopeful for the future. Orders were coming in for engines. One in hand for Bloomfield Colliery was well advanced. Many inquiries had come from Cornwall. Mr. Papps, of Truro, was anxious to introduce the engine in that county. Out of forty engines there, only eighteen were in work; so that there was a fine field for future operations. "Pray tell Mr. Wilkinson," Boulton added, " to get a dozen cylinders cast and bored, from 12 to 50 inches diameter, and as many condensers of suitable sizes. The latter must be sent here, as we will keep them ready fitted up, and then an engine can be turned out of hand in two or three weeks. I have fixed my mind upon making from twelve to fifteen reciprocating and fifty rotative engines per annum. I assure you that of all the toys and trinkets which we manufacture at Soho, none shall take the place of fire-engines in respect of my attention." Boulton was not, however, exclusively engrossed by engine affairs. Among other things he informed Watt that he had put his little boy Jamie to a good school, and that he was very much occupied, as usual, in entertaining visitors. "The Empress of Russia," he wrote, "is now at my house, and a charming woman she is." The Empress afterwards sent Boulton her portrait, and it was long one of the ornaments of Soho. Amidst his various occupations he contrived to find leisure for experiments on minerals, having received from a correspondent in Wales a large assortment of iron-ores to assay. He was also trying experiments on the model engine, the results of which were duly communicated to his partner.2 1 Boulton to Watt, 24th February, in devising improvements in the de1776. Boulton MSS. tails of his engine. Boulton says-" I 2 Watt was himself occupied, during observe you are thinking of making his temporary residence at Broseley, an inverted cylinder. Pray how are CHAP. XII. UNBELIEF OF THE LONDON ENGINEElIS. 217 On Watt's return to Soho, Boulton proceeded to London on financial affairs, as well as to look after engine orders. He there found reports in circulation among the engineering class that the new engine had proved a failure. The Society of Engineers in Holborn, of which Smeaton was the great luminary, had settled it that neither the tools nor the workmen existed that could manufacture so complex a machine with sufficient precision, and it was asserted that all the ingenuity and skill of Soho had been unable to conquer the defects of the piston. "So said Holmes, the clockmaker," wrote Boulton,-Holmes being the intimate friend of Smeaton; " but no language will be sufficiently persuasive on that head except the good performance of the engines themselves."' Boulton, therefore, urged the completion of the engine then in hand for Cooke and Company's distillery at Stratford-le-Bow, near London. "Wilby," [the managing partner,] said he, " seems very impatient, and so am I, both for the sake of reputation as well as to begin to turn the tide of money,"-the current of which had as yet been all outwards. Boulton went to see the York Buildings engine, which had been reconstructed by Smeaton, and was then reckoned one of the best on the Newcomen plan. The old man who tended it lauded the engine to the skies, and notwithstanding Boulton's description of the new engines at work in Staffordshire, he would not believe that any engine in existence could excel his own. In the course of the summer Watt again visited Glasyou to counterbalance the descent of will contribute to overcome the vis the piston and pump rods, which will inertice of the column of water to be be a vast weight? If by a counter- raised, you will thereby get rid of that weight you gain nothing. But if you unmechanical tax, and very much can employ the power that arises from improve the reciprocating engine."the descent of that vast weight to Boulton to Watt, 24th February, strain a spring that will repay its 1776. Boulton MSS. debts —if by it you can compress air 1 Boulton to Watt, 23rd April, in an iron cylinder which in its return 1776. Boulton MSS. 218 WATT REVISITS GLASGOW. CHAP.'II. gow, —this time for the purpose of bringing back a wife. The lady he proposed to marry was Miss Anne Macgregor, daughter of a respectable dyer. The young lady's consent was obtained, as well as her father's, to the proposed union; but the latter, before making any settlement on his daughter, intimated to Watt that he desired to see the partnership agreement between him and Boulton. Now, although the terms of partnership had been generally arranged, they had not yet been put into legal form, and Watt asked that this should be done for the cautious old gentleman's satisfaction without delay.' About his love affair Watt wrote, " Whether a man of the world, such as you, look upon my present love as the folly of youth or the dotage of age [Watt was then in his 1 The arrangement between the "6. You to keep the books and partners is indicated by the following balance them once a year. passage of Watt's letter to Boulton; — "7. A book to be kept wherein to be "As you may have possibly mislaid marked such transactions as are my missive to you concerning the worthy of record, which, when signed contract, I beg just to mention what by both, to have the force of the I remember of the terms. contract. " 1. I to assign to you two-thirds of " 8. Neither of us to alienate our the property of the invention. share without consent of the other, " 2. You to pay all expenses of the and if either of us by death or otherAct or others incurred before June, wise shall be incapacitated from acting 1775 (the date of the Act), and also for ourselves, the other of us to be the the expense of future experiments, sole manager without contradiction or which money is to be sunk without interference of heirs, executors, asinterest by you, being the considera- signees, or others; but the books to tion you pay for your share. be subject to their inspection, and "3. You to advance stock in trade the acting partner of us to be allowed bearing interest, but having no claim a reasonable commission for extra on me for any part of that, further trouble. than my intromissions; the stock " 9. The contract to continue in force itself to be your security and pro- for twenty-five years, from the Ist of perty. June, 1775, when the partnership " 4. I to draw one-third of the profits commenced, notwithstanding the conso soon as any arise from the business, tract being of later date. after paying the workmen's wages " 10. Our heirs, executors, and asand goods furnished, but abstract signees, bound to observance. from the stock in trade, excepting the'; 11. In case of demise of both parinterest thereof, which is to be de- ties, our heirs, &c., to succeed in same ducted before a balance is struck. manner, and if they all please, they " 5. I to make drawings, give direc- may burn the contract. tions, and make surveys, the coin- "If anything be very disagreeable in pany paying the travelling expenses these terms, you will find me disposed to either of us when upon engine busi- to do everything reasonable for your ness. satisfaction."-Boulton MSS. CHAP. XII. ORDERS FOR ENGINES FROM SCOTLAND. 219 fortieth year], I find myself in no humour to lay it aside, or to look upon it in either of these lights, but consider it as one of the wisest of my actions, and should look upon a disappointment in it as one of the greatest of my misfortunes.... I have had better health since I left you than has been my lot for years, and my spirits have borne me through my vexations wonderfully. I have lost all dread of any future connexion with Monsieur la Verole, and, if I carry my point in this matter, I hope to be very much more useful to you than has hitherto been in my power. The spur will be greater."' While in Scotland Watt obtained orders for several engines; amongst others, he undertook to supply one for the Torryburn Colliery, in Fife, on the terms of receiving one-third of the savings effected by it compared with the engine then at work, with such further sum as might be judged fair. Another was ordered by Sir Archibald Hope for his colliery near Edinburgh, on similar terms. At the same time Watt proceeded with the collection of his old outstanding debts, though these did not amount to much. "I believe," he wrote to Boulton, "I shall have no occasion to draw on you for any money, having got in some of my old scraps, which will serve, or nearly serve, my occasions here." The deed of partnership not arriving, Watt wrote again, pressing Boulton for some communication from him to satisfy the old gentleman as to his situation. " Don't let me be detected in a falsehood," said he, "' or accused of imprudence. The thing which sticks most in his [Mr. Macgregor's] stomach is, that somehow or other, in case of the failure of success, I may be brought into a load of debt which may totally ruin me. I hope you will excuse his caution in this matter, as I do, when you consider that he is disposing of a favourite child, and consequently must expect all the security possible for her wellbeing. I must also do him the justice to say that he has behaved to me in a very open and friendly manner; and, when he found that his daughter's affections were engaged beyond recall, gave his consent with a good grace.... I have nothing to write you in the way of Watt to Boulton, 3rd July, 1776. Boulton MSS. 220 BOULTON'S ADVICE TO WATT. CHAP. XII. news. I am bandied about like a football, and perfectly impatient to leave this country, but do not care to come away without my errand. I long vastly to hear from you, how you all are, and how matters go on. I hope Jemmy is minding his school and is well: you need not tell him nor anybody else that I am going to bring him home a mamma."' Boulton's reply was perfectly satisfactory. He confirmed the heads of the agreement, as sketched out by Watt himself, adopting his own words. He warmly congratulated him on his approaching marriage, being convinced that it was the goddess of wisdom that had led him to the altar of love. But he thought Watt might be over delicate as to money matters. " You certainly," said he, "have a right to expect from the lady's father a child's share, both present and reversionary; and you certainly have a right to expect some ready money, as a small sum may be of more importance to you in the meridian of life than a large one at the close of it. I have always heard you speak of the old gentleman as a man of exceeding good sound sense, and therefore I should think you will have the less difficulty in settling matters with him. No doubt he will expect some settlement to be made upon his daughter, and all. that I advise is, that you do.not undervalue (according to your custom) your own abilities or your property. It may be difficult to say what is the value of your property in partnership with me. However, I will give it a name, and I do say that I would willingly give you two or perhaps three thousand pounds for the assignment of your third part of the Act of Parliament; but I should be sorry to make you so bad a bargain, or to make any bargain at all that tended to deprive me of your friendship, acquaintance, and assistance,-hoping, as I do, that we shall harmoniously live to wear out the twenty-five years together, which I had rather do than gain a Nabob's fortune by being the sole proprietor.... I wish I had more time to tell you all the circumstances that have occurred in the engine trade; but that shall be the subject of my next. All is well, and when you return you'll be quite charmed at the simplicity and quietness of the Soho engine."' With his usual want of confidence in himself, Watt i Watt to Boulton, 8th July, 1776. Boulton MSS. 2 Boulton to Watt, 15th July, 1776. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XII. PRESSED WITH EXTRA WORK. 221 Urged Boulton to come down to Glasgow and assist him in concluding matters with the old gentleman. "I am afraid," he wrote, "that I shall otherwise make a very bad bargain in money matters, which wise men like you esteem the most essential part, and I myself, although I be an enamoured swain, do not altogether despise. You may perhaps think it odd that in the midst of my friends here'I should call for your help; but the fact is, that from several reasons I do not choose to place that confidence in any of my friends here that would be necessary in such a case, and I do not know any of them that have more to say with the gentleman in question than I have myself. Besides, you are the only person who can give him satisfactory information concerning my situation." But Boulton was too busy at the time to go down to Glasgow to the help of his partner. He was full of work, full of orders, full of Soho. He replied," Although I have added to the list of my bad habits by joking upon matrimony, yet my disposition and my judgment would lead me to marry again were I in your case. I know you will be happier as a married man than as a single one, and therefore it is wisdom in you to wed; and if that could not be done without my coming to Scotland, I certainly would come if it were as far again; but I am so beset with difficulties, that nothing less than the absolute loss of your life, or wife-which is virtually the same thing —could bring me." He further explained that a good deal of extra work had fallen upon him, through the absence of some of his most important assistants. Mr, Matthews, his London financial agent, like Watt, was about to be married, and would be absent abroad for a tour on a wedding trip, in which he was to be accompanied by Fothergill, Boulton's partner in the toy and button trade. Mr. Scale, the manager, was also absent, added to which the button orders were in arrear some 16,000 gross; so that, said Boulton, " I have more real difficulties to grapple with than I hope ever to have in any other year in my life." There were also constant visitors arriving at Soho: among others the Duke of Buccleuch, who had called to see the works and inquire after Mr. Watt; and Mr. 222 FULL OF WORK AND ANXIETY. CHAP. XII. Moor, of the Society of Engineers in the Adelphi, who had come to see with his own eyes whether the reports in circulation against the new engine were true or false. The perfecting of the details of the engine also required constant attention. "Our copper bottom," said Boulton, " hath plagued us very much by steam leaks, and therefore I have had one cast (with its conducting-pipe) all in one piece; since which the engine doth not take more than 10 feet of steam, and I hope to reduce that quantity, as we have just received the new piston, which shall be put in and at work to-morrow. Our Soho engine never was in such good order as at present. Bloomfield and Willey [engines] are both well, and I doubt not but Bow engine will be better than any of'em." Boulton was almost as full of speculation as Watt himself as to the means of improving the engine. " I did not sleep last night," he wrote, " my mind being absorbed by steam." One of his speculations was as to the means of increasing the heating surface, and with that object he proposed to apply the fire " in copper spheres within the water." His mind was also running on economising power by working steam expansively, " being clear that the principle is sound." Later, he wrote Watt that he had an application from a distiller at Bristol for an engine to raise 15,000 gallons of ale per hour 15 feet high; another'for a coal mine in Wales, and two others for London distilleries. To add to his anxieties, one Humphry Gainsborough, a dissenting minister at Henley-on-Thames, had instituted proceedings against Watt for an alleged piracy of his invention! On this Boulton wrote to his partner,-" I have just received a summons to attend the Solicitor-G-eneral next week in opposition to Gainsborough, otherwise the solicitor will make his report. This is a disagreeable circumstance, particularly at this season, when you are absent. Joseph [Harrison] is in London, and idleness is in our engine-shop." There was therefore every reason why Watt should make haste to get married, and CHAP. XII. WATT HASTENS BACK TO SOHO. 223 return to Soho as speedily as possible. On the 28th July, 1776, Watt wrote to apologise for his long absence, and to say that the event was to come off on the following Monday, after which he would set out immediately for Liverpool, where he proposed to meet Boulton, unless countermanded. He also intimated that he had got another order for an engine at Leadhills.' Arrived at Liverpool, a letter from Boulton met him, saying he had been under the necessity of proceeding to London. " Gainsborough," said he, "hath appointed to meet me at Holt's, his attorney, on Monday, when I shall say little besides learning his principles and invention. If we had a hundred wheels [wheelengines] ready made, and a hundred small engines, like Bow engine, and twenty large ones executed, we could readily dispose of them. Therefore let us make hay while the sun shines, and gather our barns full before the dark cloud of age lowers upon us, and before any more Tubal Cains, Watts, Dr. Faustuses, or Gainsboroughs, arise with serpents like Moses's to devour all others.... As to your absence, say nothing about it. I will forgive it this time, provided you promise me never to marry again."' Watt hastened back to Birmingham, and after settling his wife in her new home, proceeded with the execution of the orders for engines which had come in during his two months' absence. Mr. Wilby was impatient for the delivery of the Bow engine, and as soon as it was ready, which was early in September, the materials were forwarded to London with Joseph Harrison, to be fitted and set to work. Besides careful verbal instructions, Watt supplied Joseph with full particulars in writing of the measures he was to adopt During his Scotch visit, Watt 2 Boulton to Watt (without date), spent much of' his time in arranging 1776. Boulton MSS. In this letter, his father's affairs, which had got into Boulton throws out a suggestion for confusion. He was now seventy-five Watt's consideration — " When," he years old, and grown very infirm. says, "we have got our two-foot pumps "He is perfectly incapable," wrote his up, I think it would be right to try son, " of giving himself the least help, our Soho engine with a steam strong and the seeinaghim in such a situation enough to work the pumps with the has much hurt my spirits."-Watt to axis in the centre of the beam, which Boulton, 28th July, 1766. Boulton will be almost 19 lb. upon the inch." NSS. 224 ENGINE FOR TINGTANG MINE. CHAP. XII. in putting the engine together. Not a point in detail was neglected, and if any difficulty arose, Joseph was directed at once to communicate with him by letter. When the engine was set to work, it was found that the steam could not be kept up, on which Watt suggested that as it had been calculated to make only ten stroke's per minute-that being enough to raise the quantity of water desired-the reason of the defect must be that, as it was going at fourteen or fifteen strokes the minute, it must be going too fast. He also pointed out that probably the piston was not quite good, and perhaps there was some steam-leak into the inner cylinder, or by the regulators into the condenser; or it was possible that the injection might spout too far up the horizontal steampipe and throw water into the inner nozzle. All these points Joseph must carefully look to. On further trials the engine improved; still its performances did not come up to Watt's expectations, and there were consequently more directions from him as to the packing of the pistons and measures for the prevention of leaks. But to see that his suggestions were properly carried out, Watt himself went up to town in November, and had the machine put in complete working trim. His partner, however, could not spare him long, as other orders were coming in. "We have a positive order," wrote Boulton, "for an engine for Tingtang mine, and, from what I heard this day from Mr. Glover, we may soon expect other orders from Cornwall. Our plot begins to thicken apace, and if Mr. Wilkinson don't bustle a little, as well as ourselves, we shall not gather our harvest before sunset."... "I hope to hear," he added, "that Joseph hath made a finish, for he is much wanted here.... I perceive we shall be hard pushed in engine-work; but I have no fears of being distanced when once the exact course or best track is determined on." Joseph Harrison 1 Boulton to Watt, 3rd November, I informs Watt that Perrins, another 1776. In the same letter Boulton fireman, had returned from Bedworth, CHAP. XII. WATT AND THE' SHADWELL COMMTTTEE. 225 got quite knocked up and ill through his anxiety about the Bow engine, on which Boulton wrote Watt to send at once for Dr. Fordyce to attend him, "let the expense be what it will, until you think him safe landed." A letter reached Soho from the Shadwell Waterworks Company relative to a pumping-engine, and Boulton asked Watt, while in town, to wait upon them on the subject; but he cautioned Watt that he " never knew a, Committee but, in its corporate capacity, was both rogue and fool, and that the Shadwell Committee were rich rogues." Watt, by his own account, treated them very cavalierly. "Yesterday," said he,' "I went again to Shadwell to meet the deputies of the Committee, and to examine their engines when going. We came to no terms further than what we wrote them before, which I confirmed, and offered moreover to keep the engine in order for one year. They modestly insisted that we should do so for the whole twenty-five years, which I firmly refused. They seemed to doubt the reality of the performances of the Bow engine; so I told them we did not solicit their orders and would wait patiently until they were convinced,-moreover, that while they had any doubts remaining, we would not undertake their business on any terms. I should not have been so sharp with them had they not begun with bullying me, selon la mode de Londres. But the course I took was not without its effect, for in proportion as they found I despised their job, they grew more civil. After parting with these heroes I went down to Stratford, where I. found that the engine had gone very well. I caused it and had not a stroke to do, the fittings But the sales of coal, though large, were for the second engine not having but " a small consideration in conlarrived. The first engine was working parison with the starving to death of twenty-four hours a day, but the pit the poor ribbon-weavers of Coventry was so full of water that the owners and a great part of Oxfobrdshire... feared they would before long be Coals are 9d. and 10d. per cwt., and drowned out; and if the work was'tis said they will be a shilling at stopped, the loss would be far greater Birmingham on Monday." than the whole value of the engine. Q 226 RELAPSE IN THE BOW ENGINE. CHAP. XII. to be kept going all the afternoon, and this morning I new-heat the piston and kept it going till dinner time at about fifteen strokes per minute, with a steam of one inch or at most two inches strong, and the longer it went the better it grew..... I propose that Joseph should not leave it for a few days, until both his health and that of the engine be confirmed. A relapse of the engine would ruin our reputation here, and indeed elsewhere."' The Bow engine had, however, a serious relapse in the following spring, and it happened in this way: —Mr. Smeaton, the engineer, having heard of its success, which he doubted, requested Hadley, Boulton's agent, to go down with him to Stratford-le-Bow to witness its performances. He carefully examined the engine, and watched it while at work, and the conclusion he arrived at was, that it was a pretty engine, but much too complex for practical uses. On leaving the place Smeaton gave the engineman some money to drink, and he drank so much that next day he let the engine run quite wild, and it was thrown completely out of order. Mr. Wilby, the manager, was very wroth at the circumstance. He discharged the engineman and called upon Hadley to replace the valves, which had been broken, and make good the other damage that had been done to the engine. When the repairs were made, everything went satisfactorily as before. Watt had many annoyances of this sort to encounter, and one of his greatest difficulties was the incapacity and unsteadiness of his workmen. Although the original Soho men were among the best of their kind, the increasing business of the firm necessarily led to the introduction of a large number of new hands, who represented merely the average workmen of the day. They were Watt to Boulton, 3rd December, 1776. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XIT. DIFFICULTIES WITH WORKMEN. 227 for the most part poor mechanics, very inexpert at working in metal, and greatly given to drink.l In organising the works at Soho, Boulton and Watt found it necessary to carry division of labour to the farthest practicable point. There were no slidelathes, planing-machines, or boring-tools, such as now render mechanical accuracy of construction almost a matter of certainty. Everything depended upon the individual mechanic's accuracy of hand and eye; and yet mechanics generally were then much less skilled than they are now.. The way in which Boulton and Watt contrived partially to get over the difficulty was, to confine their workmen to special classes of work, and make them as expert in them as possible. By continued practice in handling the same tools and fabricating the same articles, they thus acquired great individual proficiency. " Without our tools and our workmen," said Watt, "very little could be done." But when the men got well trained, the difficulty was to keep them. Foreign tempters were constantly trying to pick up Boulton and Watt's men, and induce them by offers of larger wages to take service abroad. The two fitters sent up to London to erect the Bow engine were strongly pressed to go out to Russia.2 There were Fire-engines at work were objects ing." Carless and Webb were immeof curiosity in those days, and had diately ordered back to Soho, and the many visitors. The engineman at the firm obtained warrants for the appreYork' Buildings reminded those who hension of the men as well as of the went to see his engine that something person who had bribed them, if they was expected, placing over the en- attempted to abscond "even though," trance to the engine room the follow- said Watt to Boulton, "Carless be a ing distich: — drunken and comparatively useless "Whoever wants to see the engine here, fellow." Later he wrote, " I think Must give the engine-man a drop of beer." Ihere is no risk of Webb's leaving us soon, and he offers to re-engage. Carless 2 "Mr. White told me this morning has been worling very diligently this as a great secret," wrote Boulton's week, and is well on with his nozzle London agent, "that he has reason to patterns. I mentioned to William believe that Carless and Webb were the story of Sir John Fielding's wargoing beyond sea, for Carless had told rant, to show him that we are deterhim he had 10001. offered for six mined to act with spirit in case of years, and he overheard Webb say interlopers."-Watt to Boulton, May 3, that he was ready at an hour's warn- 1777. Q 2 228 ENGINEMEN'S WANT OF SKILL. CHAP. XII. also French agents in England at the same time, who tried to induce certain of Boulton and Watt's men to go over to Paris and communicate the secret of making the new engines to M. Perrier, who had undertaken to pump water from the Seine for the supply of Paris. The German States also sent over emissaries with a like object, Baron Stein having been specially commissioned by his Government to master the secret of Watt's engine-to obtain working plans of it and bring away workmen capable of making it,-the first step taken being to obtain access to the engine-rooms by bribing the workmen. Besides the difficulties Boulton and Watt had to encounter in training and disciplining their own workmen, they had also to deal with the want of skill on the part of those to whom the working of their engines was intrusted after they had been delivered and fixed complete. They occasionally supplied trustworthy men of their own; but they could not educate mechanics fast enough, and needed all the best men for their own work. They were therefore compelled to rely on the average mechanics of the day, the greater part of whom were comparatively unskilled and knew nothing of the steamengine. Hence such mishaps as those which befell the Bow engine, through the engineman getting drunk and reckless, as above described. To provide for this contingency Watt endeavoured to simplify the engine as much as possible, so as to bring its working and repair within the capacity of the average workman. At a very early peri'od, while experimenting at Kinneil, he had formed the idea of working steam expansively, and altered his model from time to time with that object. Boulton had taken up and continued the experiments at Soho, believing the principle to be sound and that great economy would attend its adoption. The early engines were accordingly made so that the steam might be cut off before the piston had made its full stroke, and expand CHAP. XII. EXPANSIVE WORKING. 229 within the cylinder, the heat outside it being maintained by the expedient of the steam-case. But it was shortly found that this method of working was beyond the capacity of the average. engineman of that day, and it was consequently given up for a time. "We used to send out," said Watt to Robert Hart, "a cylinder of double the size wanted, and cut off the steam at half stroke. This was a great saving of steam so long as the valves remained as at first; but when our men left her to the charge of the person who was to keep her, he began to make or try to make improvements, often by giving more steam. The engine did more work while the steam lasted, but the boiler could not keep up the demand. Then complaints came of want of steam, and we had to send a man down to see what was wrong. This was so expensive that we resolved to give up the expansion of the steam until we could get men that could work it, as a few tons of coal per year was less expensive than having the work stopped. In some of the mines a few hours' stoppage was a serious matter, as it would cost the proprietor as much as 701. per hour."' The principle was not, however, abandoned. It was of great value and importance in an economical point of view, and was again taken up by Watt and. embodied in a more complete form in a subsequent invention. Since his time, indeed, expansive working has been carried to a much farther extent than he probably ever dreamt of, and has more than realised the beneficial results which his sagacious insight so early anticipated. 1 Robert Hart's' Reminiscences of James Watt,' cited above. 230 WATT'S ENGINE PREFERRED. CHAP. XlII. CHAPTER XIII. WATT IN CORNWALL- INTRODUCTION OF HIS PUMPINGENGINES. THE Cornish miners continued baffled by their attempts to get rid of the water which hindered the working of their mines. The Newcomen engines had been taxed to the utmost, but were unable to send them deeper into the ground, and they were accordingly ready to welcome any invention that promised to relieve them of their difficulty. Among the various new contrivances for pumping water, that of Watt seemed to offer the greatest advantages; and if what was alleged of it proved truethat it was of greater power than the Newcomen engine, while its consumption of fuel was much less, —then it could not fail to prove of the greatest advantage to Cornish industry. Long before Watt's arrival in Birmingham, the Cornishmen had been in correspondence with Boulton, making inquiries about the new Scotch invention, of which they had heard; and Dr. Small, in his letters to Watt, repeatedly urged him to perfect his engife, with a view to its being employed in the drainage of the Cornish mines. Now that the engine was at work in several places, Boulton invited his correspondents in Cornwall to inquire as to its performances, at Soho, or Bedworth, or Bow, or any other place where it had been erected. The result of the inquiry and inspection was satisfactory, and several orders for engines for Cornwall were received at Soho by the end of 1776. The two first that were ready for erection were those ordered for Wheal Busy, near Chacewater, and for Tingtang, near Redruth. The CHAP. XIII. WATT IN CORNWALL. 231 materials for the former were shipped by the'middle of 1777; and, as much would necessarily depend upon the successful working of the first engines put up in Cornwvall, Watt himself went to superintend their erection in person. Watt reached his destination after a long and tedious journey over bad roads. He rode by stage as far as Exeter, and posted the rest of the way. At Chacewater he found himself in the midst of perhaps the richest mining district in the world. From thence to Camborne, which lies to the west, and Gwennap to the south, is a IVI UP \WFE UNITEL CON COOO k vr K (MAPRvERRE OP U~ID00SIS When Watt arrived at Chacewater he found the REL M I K! L INE od in Nal dy sarc Wlhen Wa att arrived at Chacewater lie found the 232 WATT MEETS HORNBLOWER. CHAP. XIII. materials for the Wheal Busy engine had come to hand, and that some progress had been made with its erection. The materials for the Tingtang engine, however, had not yet been received from Soho, and the owners of the mine were becoming very impatient for it. Watt wrote to his partner urging despatch, otherwise the engine might be thrown on their hands, especially if the Chacewater engine, now nearly ready for work, did not give satisfaction. From Watt's account, it would appear that the Cornish mines were in a very bad way. "The Tingtang people," he said, "are now fairly put out by water, and the' works are quite at a stand." The other mines in the neighbourhood were in no better plight. The pumping-engines could not keep down the water. "Poldice. has grown worse than Wheal Virgin was: they have sunk 4001. a month for some months past, and 7001. the last month; they will probably soon give up. North Downs seems to be our next card." The owners of the Wheal Virgin mine, though drowned out, like many others, could not bring their minds to try Watt's engine. They had no faith in it, and stuck by the old atmospheric of Newcomen. They accordingly erected an additional engine of this kind to enable them to go about eight fathoms deeper, "and they have bought," wrote Watt, "an old boiler of monstrous size at the Briggin, which they have offered 501. to get carried to its place." At Chacewater Watt first met Jonathan Hornblower, son of the Joseph Hornblower who had come into Cornwall from Staffordshire, some fifty years before, to erect one of the early Newcomen engines. The son had followed in his father's steps, and become celebrated in the Chacewater district as an engineer. It was natural that he should regard with jealousy the patentees of the new engine; for if it proved a success, his vocation as a 1 Watt to Boulton, 4th August, 1777. CHAP. XIII. SEVERAL ORDERS PROMISED. 233 maker of atmospheric engines would be at an end. Watt thus referred to him in a letter to Boulton: " Hornblower seems a very pleasant sort of old Presbyterian: he carries himself very fair, though I hear that he is an unbelieving Thomas." His unbelief strongly showed itself on the starting of the Wheal Busy engiine shortly after, when he exclaimed, " Pshaw! it's but a bauble: I wouldn't give twopence halfpenny for her." There were others beside Hornblower who disliked and resented what they regarded as the intrusion of Boulton and Watt in their district, and indeed never became wholly reconciled to the new engine, though they were compelled to admit the inefficiency of the old one. Among these was old Bonze, the engineer, a very clever mechanic, who positively refused to undertake the erection of the proposed new engine at Wheal Union if Boulton and Watt were to be in any way concerned with it. But the mineowners had tb study their own interest rather than the humour of their former engineers, and Watt secured the order for the Wheal Union engine. Several other orders were promised, conditional on the performances of the Wheal Busy engine proving satisfactory. " Ale and Cakes,"' wrote Watt, "must wait the result of Chacewater: several new engines will be erected next year, for almost all the old mines are exhausted, or have got to the full power of the present engines, which are clumsy and nasty, the houses cracked, and everything dropping with water from their cisterns." 2 Watt liked the people as little as he did their engines. He thought them ungenerous, jealous, and treacherous. " Certainly," said he, " they have the most ungracious manners of any people I have ever yet been amongst." At the first monthly meeting of the Wheal Virgin adA mine so-called. Many of the Wheal Fannys and Wheal Abrahams; Cornish mines have very odd names. and Wheal Fortunes and Wheal " Cook's Kitchen," near Camborne, is Virgins in great numbers. one of the oldest andrichest. Another 2 Watt to Boulton, 14th August, is called " Cupboard." There are also 1777. 234 WHEAL BUSY ENGINE. CHAP. XIII. venturers, which he attended, he found a few gentlemen, but "the bulk of them would not be disgraced by being classed with Wednesbury colliers." What annoyed him most was, that the miners invented and propagated all sorts of rumours to his prejudice. "We have been accused," said he, "of working without leather upon our buckets, and making holes in the clacks in order to deceive strangers..... I choose to keep out of their company, as every word spoken by me would be bandied about and misrepresented. I have already been accused of making several speeches at Wheal Virgin, where, to the best of my memory, I have only talked about eating, drinking, and the weather. The greater part of the adventurers at Wheal Virgin are a mean dirty pack, preying upon one another, and striving who shall impose most upon the mine." 1 Watt was of too sensitive and shrinking a nature to feel himself at home amongst such people. Besides, he was disposed to be peevish and irritable, easily cast down, and ready to anticipate the worst. It had been the same with him when employed amongst the rough labourers on the Monkland Canal, where he had declared himself as ready to face a loaded cannon as to encounter the altercations of bargain-making. But Watt must needs reconcile himself to his post as he best could; for none but himself could see to the proper erection of the Wheal Busy engine and get it set to work with any chance of success. Meanwhile, the native engineers were stimulated by his presence, and by the reputed power of the new engine, to exert themselves in improving the old one. Bonze was especially active in contriving new boilers and new arrangements, by which he promised to outstrip all that Watt could possibly accomplish.2 Watt to Boulton, 25th August, ders. At Dalcoath and Wheal Chance 1777. Boulton MSS. they are said to use each about 130 2 4 I have seen five of Bonze's bushels of coals in the 24 hours, and engines," wrote Watt, " but was far to make about 6 or 7 strokes per from seeing the wonders promised. minute, the strokes being under 6 feet They were 60, 63, and 70 inch cylin- each. They are burdened to 6, 6', CHAP. XIII. CHACEWATER ENGINE FINISHED. 235 A letter from Mrs. Watt to Mrs. Boulton, dated Chacewater, September 1st, 1777, throws a little light on Watt's private life during his stay in Cornwall. She describes the difficulty they had in obtaining accommodation on their arrival, "no such thing as a house or lodging to be had for any money within some miles of the place where the engine was to be erected;" hence they had been glad to accept of the hospitality of Mr. Wilson, the superintendent of the mine. "I scarcely know what to say to you of the country. The spot we are at is the most disagreeable in the whole county. The face of the earth is broken up in ten thousand heaps of rubbish, and there is scarce a tree to be seen. But don't think that all Cornwall is like Chacewater. I have been at some places that are very pleasant, nay beautiful. The sea-coast to me is charming, but not easy to be got at. In some cases my poor husband has been obliged to mount me behind him to go to some of the places we have been at. I assure you I was not a little perplexed at first to be set on a great tall horse with a high pillion. At one of our jaunts we were only charged twopence a piece for our dinner. You may guess what our fare would be from the cost of it; but I assure you I never ate a dinner with more relish in my life, nor was I ever happier at a feast, than I was that day at Portreath..... One thing I must tell you of is, to take care Mr. Boulton's principles are well fixed before you trust him here. Poor Mr. Watt is turned Anabaptist, and duly attends their meeting; he is, indeed, and goes to chapel most devoutly." At last the Chacewater engine was finished and ready for work. Great curiosity was felt about its performances, and mining men and engineers came from all quarters to see it start. " All the world are agape," said Watt, "to see what it can do." It would not have displeased some of the spectators if it had failed. But to their astonishment it succeeded. At starting, it made eleven eight-feet strokes per minute; and it worked with greater power, went more steadily, and "forked" more and 7 lbs. per inch. One of the 60 feet stroke, threw out 1 cubic foot, inches threw out about two cubic feet heated from 600 to 159~," and so on of hot water per stroke, heated from with the others.-Watt to Boulton, 60~ to 165~. The 63 inches, with a 5 25th August, 1777. Boulton MSS. 236. GIVES GENERAL SATISFACTION. CHAP. XIII. water than any of the ordinary engines, with only about one-third the consumption of coal. "We have had many spectators," wrote Watt, "'and several have already become converts. I understand all the westcountry captains are to be here to-morrow to see the prodigy."' Even Bonze, his rival, called to see it, and promised not only to read his recantation as soon as convinced, but never to touch a common engine again. "The velocity, violence, magnitude, and horrible noise of the engine," Watt added, "give universal satisfaction to all beholders, believers or not. I have once or twice trimmed the engine to end its stroke gently, and to make less noise; but Mr. Wilson cannot sleep without it seems quite furious, so I have left it to __~-~~ ~-~ the engine - men; and, by the by, the noise seems to convey great ideas of its power to the ignorant, who seem to be no more taken with modest merit in an engine than in a man." In a q5~.~,~ ~ later letter he wrote, "The voice of the country'__ L ~seems to be at present in our favour; WATTS SINGLE-ACrNG PtMPING-ENGINE FORI and Ih ore will be much more so when the engine gets on its whole load, which will be by Tuesday next. So soon as that is done, I shall set out fbr home." Watt to Boulton, 13th September, 1777. CHAP. XIII. WATT AGAIN IN CORNWALL. 237 A number ot orders for engines had come in at Soho during Watt's absence; and it became' necessary for him to return there as speedily as possible, to, prepare the plans and drawings, and put the work in hand. There was no person yet attached to the concern who was capable of relieving him of this part of his duties; while Boulton was fully occupied with conducting the commercial part of the business. By the end of autumn he was again at home; and for a week after his return he kept so close to his desk in his house on Harper's Hill, that he could not even find time enough to go out to Soho and see what had been doing in his absence. At length he felt so exhausted by the brain-work and confinement that he wrote to his partner, "a very little more of this hurrying and vexation will knock me up altogether." To add to his troubles, letters arrived from Tingtang, urging his return to Cornwall, to erect the engine, the materials for which had at last arrived. " I fancy," said Watt, "that I must be cut in pieces, and a portion sent to every tribe in Israel." After four month's labour of this sort, during which seven out of the ten engines then in hand were finished and erected, and the others well advanced, Watt again set out for Cornwall, which he reached by the beginning of June, 1778. He took up his residence at Redruth, as being more convenient for Tingtang than Chacewater, hiring a house at Plengwarry, a hamlet on the outskirts of the town. Redruth is the capital of the mining. districts of Camborne, Redruth, and Gwennap. It is an ancient town, consisting for the most part of a long street, which runs down one hill and up another. All round it the country seems to have been disembowelled; and heaps of scoriae, "deads," rubbish, and granite blocks cover the surface. The view from the lofty eminence of Carn Brea, a little to the south of Redruth, strikingly shows the scarified and apparently blasted character of the district, and affords a prospect the like of which is rarely to be seen. 238 MISTAKES OF THE WORKMEN. CHAP. XTII1. [REDRU'iH HtIGH ST[IREET. [ By R. P leitch.] On nmkihg inquiry as to the materials which had arrived during his absence, Watt was much m-ortified to find that the Soho workmen had made many mistakes.'" Forbes's eduction-pipe," he wrote, " is a most vile job, and full of holes. The cylinder thev have cast for Chacewater is still worse, for it will hardly do at all. The Soho people have sent here Chacewater eduction-pipe instead of Wheal Union; and the gudgeon pipe has not, arrived with the nozzles. These repeated disappointments," said he, "will undoubtedly ruin our credit in the country; and I cannot stay here to bear the shame of such failures of pronmise." Watt 1hadi a hacrd time of it while in Cornwall, whalt, CHAP. XIII. EMBARRASSED POSITION. 239 with riding and walking from mine to mine, listening to complaints of delay in the arrival of the engines from Soho, and detecting and remedying the blunders and bad workmanship of his mechanics. Added to which, everybody was low-spirited and almost in despair at the bad times, —ores'falling in price, mines filled with water, engine-men standing idle, and adventurers bemoaning their losses. Another source of anxiety was the serious pecuniary embarrassments in which the Soho firm had become involved. Boulton had so many concerns going that a vast capital was required for the purpose of meeting current engagements; and the engine business, instead of relieving him, had hitherto only proved a source of additional outlay, and increased his difficulties at a time of general commercial depression. He wrote Watt, urging him to send remittances for the Cornish engines; but the materials, though partly delivered, were not erected; and the miners demurred to paying on account until they were fixed complete and at work. Boulton then suggested to Watt that he should try to obtain an advance from the Truro bankers, on security of the engine materials. No," replied Watt, "that cannot be done, as the knowledge of our difficulties would damage our position in Cornwall, and hurt our credit. Besides," said he, "no one can be more cautious than a Cornish banker; and the principal of the firm you name is himself exceedingly distressed for money."l Nor was there the least chance, in Watt's opinion, even if they had the money to advance, of their accepting any security that Boulton and Watt had to offer. " Such is the nature of the people here," said he, " and so little faith have they in our engine, that very few of them believe it to be materially better than the ordinary one, and so far as I can judge, no one I have conversed with would advance us 5001. on a mortgage of it."2 All that Watt could do was to recommend that the Watt to Poulton, 2nd July, 1778. 2 Watt to l3oulton, 8th July, 1778, Boulton MSS. Boulton MSS. 240 DESPONDENCY OF FOTHERGILL. CHAP. XIII. evil day should be staved off as long as possible, or at all events until the large engines he was then erecting were at work, when he' believed their performances would effect a complete change in the views of the adventurers. The only suggestion he could offer was to invite John Wilkinson, or some other moneyed man, to join them as partner and relieve them of their difficulties; for "rather than founder at sea," said he, "we had better run ashore."' Meanwhile, he urged Boulton to apply the pruning-knife and cut down expenses, assuring him that he himself was practising all the frugality in his power. But as Watt's personal expenses at the time did not amount to 21. a week, it is clear that any savings he could effect, however justifiable and laudable, were but a drop in the ocean compared with the liabilities to be met, and which must be provided without delay to avoid insolvency and ruin. Fothergill, Boulton's other partner, was even more desponding than Watt. When Boulton left Soho on his journeys to raise ways and means, Fothergill pursued him with dolorous letters, telling him of mails that had arrived without remittances, of bills that must be met, of wages that must be paid on Saturday night, and of the impending bankruptcy of the firm, which lihe again and again declared to be " inevitable." " Better stop payment at once," said he, "call our creditors together, and face the worst, than go on in this neck-andneck race with ruin." Boulton would hurry back to Soho, to quiet Fothergill, and keep the concern going; on which another series of letters would* pour in upon him from Mr. Matthews, the London financial agent, pressing for remittances, and reporting the increasingly gloomy and desperate state of affairs. Boulton himself was, as usual, equal to the occasion. His courage and determination rose in proportion to the 1 Watt to Boulton, 8th July, 1778. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XIII. ENGINE-ROOM TAKES FIRE. 241 difficulties to be overcome. He was borne up by his invincible hope, by his unswerving purpose, and above all by his unshaken belief in the commercial value of the condensing engine. If they could only weather the storm until its working powers could be fully demonstrated, all would yet be well. In illustration of his hopefulness, we may mention that in the midst of his troubles a fire took place in the engine-room at Soho, which was happily extinguished, but not before it had destroyed the roof and done serious damage to the engine, which was brought to a standstill. Boulton had long been desirous of rebuilding the engine-house in a proper manner, but had been hindered by Watt, who was satisfied with alterations merely sufficient to accommodate the place to the changes made from time to time in the engine which he called " Beelzebub."' On hearing of the damage done by the fire, Boulton, instead of lamenting over it, exclaimed, "Now I shall be able at last to have the engine-house built as it should be." After many negotiations, Boulton at length succeeded 1 While in Cornwall in the previous got on his jockey coat yet [i. e. an year, Watt wrote long letters to his outer cylinder], for till that be done, partner as to certain experimental you can form no idea of his perfection." alterations of " Beelzebub." This was The engine continued to be the subject the original' engine brought from of repeated alterations, and was reKinneil, which continued to be the newed, as Watt observed, like the subject of constant changes. " I send Highlandman's gun, in stock, lock, and a drawing," he wrote on the 4th barrel. After the occurrence of the August, 1777, "of the best scheme I above fire, we learn from Watt's can at present devise for equalising MS. Memoir of Boulton, that "Beelzethe power of Beelzebub, and obliging bub" was replaced by a larger engine, him to save part of his youthful the first: on the expansive principle, strength to help him forward in his afterwards known by the name of old age.... As the head of one of "Old Bess." This engine continued the levers will rise higher than the in its place long after the career of roof, a hole must be cut for it, which Boulton and Watt had come to an *may after trial be covered over. If end; and in the year 1857, the present the new beam answer to be centred writer saw "Old Bess" working as upon the end wall and to go out at a steadily as ever, though eighty years window, it will make the execution had passed over her head. The old easy... I long (he concluded) to engine has since found an honourable have some particulars of Beelzebub's asylum in the Museum of Patents at doings, and to learn whether he has South Kensington. R 242 WORKING OF CHACEWATER ENGINE. CHAP. XIII. in raising a sum of 70001. by granting a Mr. Wiss security for the payment of an annuity, while the London bankers, Lowe, Vere, and Williams, allowed an advance of 14,0001. on security of a mortgage granted by Boulton and Watt on the royalties derived from the engine patent, and of all their rights and privileges therein. Though the credit of the house was thus saved, the liabilities of Boulton and his partners continued to press heavily upon them for a long time to come. Meanwhile, however, a gleam of light came from Cornwall. Watt sent the good news to Soho that "both Chacewater and Tingtang engines go on exceedingly well, and give great satisfaction. Chacewater goes 14 strokes of 9 foot long per minute, and burns about 128 bushels per 24 hours. The water has sunk 12 fathoms in the mine, and the engine will fork [i. e. pump out] the first lift this night. No cross nor accident of any note has happened, except the bursting of a pump at Tingtang, which was soon repaired." Four days later Watt wrote, "The engines are both going very well, and Chacewater has got the water down 18- fathoms; but after this depth it must make slower progress, as a very large house of water begins there, and the feeders grow stronger as we go deeper."1 Watt looked upon the Chacewater trial as the experimentum crXucis, and continued to keep his partner duly informed of every circumstance connected with it. "They say," he wrote, "that if the new engine can fork the water from Chacewater, it can fork anything, as that is' the heaviest to fork in the whole county." On the 15th of August he wrote, " Chacewater is now down to 10 fathoms of the second lift, and works steady and well; it sinks 9 feet per day. Chacewater people in high spirits: Captain Mayor furiously in love with the engine." On the 29th he wrote again, "Chacewater W1 att to Boulton, 8th August, 1778. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XIII. ENGINE ROYALTY. 243 engine is our capital card, for should it succeed in forking this mine all doubts will then be removed." The adventurers of the great Poldice mine watched the operations at Chacewater with much interest. Two common engines, pumping night and day for months, had failed to clear their mine of water; and now they thought of ordering one of the new engines to take their place; "but all this," said Watt, "depends on the success of Chacewater, which God protect: it is now down 311 fathoms, and will be in fork of this lift to-morrow, when it is to be put down three fathoms lower, and fixed there." On the 17th he wrote, " I have been at Chacewater to-day, where they are in fork of the second lift 34k fathoms. The great connexion-rod still unbalanced. The engine went yesterday 14 strokes per minute. Tomorrow I go to Wheal Union, and on Saturday to Truro, to meet Poldice adventurers.... By attending to the business of this county alone," said he, " we may at least live comfortably; for I cannot suppose that less than twelve engines will be wanted in two or three years, but after that very few more, as these will be sufficient to get ore enough; though you cannot reckon the average profits to us at above 2001. per engine." When Boulton and Watt first started the manufacture of steam-engines, they were mainly concerned to get orders, and were not very particular as to the terms on which they were obtained. But when the orders increased, and the merits of the invention gradually became recognised, they found it necessary to require preliminary agreements to be entered into as to the terms on which the patent was to be used. It occurred to them, that as one of its principal merits consisted in the saving of fuel, it would be a fair arrangement to take one-third of the value of such saving by way of royalty, leaving the owners of the engines to take the benefit of the remaining twothirds. Nothing could be fairer than the spirit of R 2 244 ALTERCATIONS WITH ADVENTURERS. CHAP. XIII. this arrangement, which, it will be seen, was of even more advantage to the owners of the engines than to the patentees themselves. The first Cornish engines were, however, erected without any condition as to terms; and it was only after they had proved their power by "forking" the water, and sending the miners twenty fathoms deeper into the ground, that the question of terms was raised. Watt proposed that agreements should be entered into on the basis above indicated. But the Cornish men did not see the use of agreements. They had paid for the engines, which were theirs, and Boulton and Watt could not take them away. Here was the beginning of a long series of altercations, which ended only with the patent right itself. The miners could not do without the engine. It was admitted to be of immense value to them, rendering many of their mines workable that would otherwise have been valueless. But why should they have to pay for the use of such an invention? This was what they never could clearly understand. To prevent misunderstandings in future, Watt wrote to Boulton, recommending that no further orders for engines should be taken unless the terms for using them were definitely settled beforehand. "You must excuse me," he added, "when I tell you that, for my part, I will not put pen to paper [i. e. make the requisite drawings] on a new subject until that is done. Until an engine is ordered, our power is greater than that of the Lord Chancellor; as I believe even he cannot compel us to make it unless we choose. Let our terms be moderate, and, if possible, consolidated into money a&priori, and it is certain we shall get some money, enough to keep us out of jail, in continual apprehension of which I live at present." 1 Watt to Boulton, 29th August, attend at Wheal Virgin meeting on 1778. Later, Watt wrote from Red- Thursday, where several'ingtang ruth, "Captain Paul desires me to people will be; but I shall only CHAP. XIII. DUES ON SAVINGS OF FUEL. 245 To meet the case, a form of agreement was drawn up and required to be executed before any future engine was commenced. It usually provided that an engine of certain given dimensions and power was to be erected at the expense of the owners of the mine; and that the patentees were to take as their recompense for the use of their invention, one-third of the value of the fuel saved by it compared with the consumption of the ordinary engine. It came to be understood that the saving of fuel was to be estimated according to the number of strokes made. To ascertain this, Watt contrived an ingenious piece of clockwork, termed the Counter, which, being attached to the main beam, accurately marked and registered, under lock and key, the number of its vibrations. Thus the work done was calculated, and the comparative saving of fuel was ascertained. Though the Cornish miners had been full of doubts as to the successful working of Watt's engine, they could not dispute the evidence of their senses after it had been erected and was fairly at work. There it was, " forking water" as never engine before had been known to "fork." It had completely mastered the water at Wheal Busy; and if it could send the workmen down that mine, it could in like manner send them down elsewhere. Wheal Virgin was, on the point of stopping work, in which case some two thousand persons would be thrown out of bread. Bonze's new atmospheric engine had proved a failure, and the mine continued flooded. It had also failed at Poldice, which was write, as I know they will be just in ments; but really my faith in manthe worst of humours about Wheal kind will carry me no further, and if Virgin affairs, and they are very dis- I can't get money, I'm resolved to agreeable at the best. Every article save my bacon and to live in hunger must be settled and sealed with and ease. As it is, we don't get such Cornish adventures before we begin, a share of reputation as our works otherwise never... Do not let Chelsea deserve, for every man who cheats us begin until signed and sealed. I hope defames us in order to justify himself." you will not take amiss my writing so -Watt to Boulton, 6th September, positivcly on this subject of agree- 1778. Boulton MSS. 246 BOULTON'S HELP CALLED FOR. CHAP. XIII. drowned out. " Notwithstanding the violence and prejudice against us," wrote Watt, "nothing can save the mines but our engines.... Even the infidels of Dalcoath are now obliquely inquiring after our terms! Cook's Kitchen, which communicates with it, has been drowned out some time." Watt, accordingly, had many applications about engines; and on that account he entreated his partner to come to his help. He continued to hate all negotiating about terms, and it did not seem as if he would ever learn to like it. He had neither the patience to endure, nor the business tact to conduct a negotiation. He wanted confidence in himself, and did not feel equal to make a bargain. He would almost as soon have wrestled with the Cornish miners as higgled with them. They were shrewd, practical men, rough in manner and speech, yet honest withal;' but Watt would not encounter them when he could avoid it. Hence his repeated calls to Boulton to come and help him. Writing to him about the proposed WTheal Virgin engine, he said, "Before I make any bargain with these people, I must have you here." A few days after, when communicating the probability of obtaining an order for the Poldice engine, he wrote," I wish you would dispose yourself for a journey here, and strike while this iron is hot." A fortnight later he said, "Poldice people are now welding hot, and must not be suffered to cool. They are exceedingly impatient, as they lose 1501. a month until our engine is going... I hope this will find you ready to come away. At Redruth, inquire for Plengwarry Green, where you will find me." Boulton must have been greatly harassed by the 1 "With all the faults of the Cor- themselves any further than strict nish people, I think we have a better dealing may justify; and besides, there chance for tolerable honesty here than are generally too many to cabal."elsewhere, as, their meetings being Watt to Boulton, 29th August, 1778. public, they will not choose to expose Boulton MSS. CHAP. XIII. BOULTON GOES TO CORNWALL. 247 woes of his partners. Fothergill was still uttering lamentable prophecies of impending ruin; his only prospect of relief being in the success of the engine. He urged Boulton to endeavour to raise money by the sale of engine contracts or annuities, in order to avert a crash. Matthews, the London agent, also continued to represent the still urgent danger of the house, and pressed Boulton to go to Cornwall and try to raise money there upon his engine contracts. Indeed, it was clear that the firm of Boulton and Fothergill had been losing money by their business for several years past; and that, unless the engine succeeded, they must, ere long, go to the wall. But when Boulton turned to Cornwall, he found little comfort. Though the engines there were successful, Watt could not raise money upon them. The adventurers were poor,-were for the most part losing by their ventures, in consequence of the low price of the ore; and they almost invariably put off payment by excuses. Thus, while Boulton was in London trying to obtain accommodation from his bankers, the groans of his partner in Birmingham were more than re-echoed by the lamentations of his other partner in Cornwall, who rang the changes of misery through all the notes of the gamut. At length, about the beginning of October, 1778, Boulton contrived to make his long-promised journey into Cornwall.' He went round among the mines, and had many friendly conferences with the managers. He found the engine had grown in public favour, and that the impression prevailed throughout the mining districts that it would before long become generally adopted. Encouraged by his London financial agent, he took steps to turn this favourable impression to 1 During his absence Mr. Keir took had entered, for the purpose; but when charge of the works at Soho. It had he came to look into the books of been intended to introduce him as a the Soho firm, he was so appalled by partner, and he left the glass-making their liabilities that he eventually deconcern at Stourbridge, into which he dined the connexion. 248 WATT RETURNS TO BIRMINGHAM. CHAP. XIII. account.l Before he left Cornwall, where he remained until the end of the year, he succeeded in borrowing a sum of 20001. from Elliot and Praed, the Truro bankers, on security of the engines erected in the county; and the money was at once forwarded to the London agents for the relief of the Birmingham firm. He also succeeded in getting the terms definitely arranged for the use of several of the more important engines erected and at work. It was agreed that 7001. a year should be paid as royalty in respect of the Chacewater engine, —an arrangement even more advantageous to the owners of the mine than to the patentees, as it was understood that the saving of coals amounted to upwards of 24001. a year. Other agreements were entered into for the use of the engines erected at Wheal Union and Tingtang, which brought in about 4001. per annum more, so that the harvest of profits seemed at length fairly begun. Watt remained at Cornwall for another month, plodding at Poldice and Wheal Virgin engines, and returned to Birmingham early in January, 1779. Though the pumping-engine had thus far proved remarkably successful, and accomplished all that Watt had promised, he was in no better spirits than before. " Though we have, in general, succeeded in our undertakings," he wrote 1 Matthews wrote him on the 8th the American Revolution: —" It may October, 1778, that he had met a Mr. give you some pleasure," wrote Barton, Boldero at the Goldsmiths' Hall, who " to hear we are likely to receive some had much influence in Cornwall, and produce from our adventure to New that he expressed the opinion that, if York. One of the vessels our little the engines could do what Boulton brig took last year was fitted out at and Wawtt promised, they might soon New York, and in a cruise of 13 weeks get from 40,0001. to 80,0001. for them has taken 13 prizes, 12 of which are in Cornwall. Matthews accordingly carried safe in, and we have advice of recommended Boulton to apply to 200 hogsheads of tobacco being shipped Elliot and Praed, the Cornish bankers, as part of the prizes, which, if now for an advance on security of the here, would fetch us 10,0001. But engine contracts.-It would appear while the embargo on shipping at from a letter written to Boulton a few New York continues, they cannot stir days later, by Mr. Barton, Matthews's out of port. However, I think we partner, that Boulton was, amidst his shall see them before you raise that many speculations, engaged in a priva- sum from your engine concern, and teering adventure during the war of yet I hope that is not veryjfr off." CHAP. XIII. WATT'S FEAR OF ORDERS. 249 Dr. Black, "yet that success has, from various unavoidable circumstances, produced small profits to us; the struggles we have had with natural difficulties, and with the ignorance, prejudices, and villanies of mankind, have been very great, but I hope are now nearly come to an end, or vanquished." 1 His difficulties were not, however, nearly at an end, as the heavy liabilities of the firm had still to be met. More money had to be borrowed; and Watt continued to groan under his intolerable burden. " The thought of the debt to Lowe, Vere, and Co.," he wrote to his partner, "lies too heavy on my mind to leave me the proper employment of my faculties in the prosecution of our business; and, besides, common honesty will prevent me from loading the scheme with debts which might be more than it could pay." 2 A more hopeful man would have borne up under these difficulties; for the reputation of the engine was increasing, and orders were coming in from various quarters. Soho was full of work; and, provided their credit could be maintained, it was clear that the undertaking on which the firm had entered could not fail to prove remunerative. Watt could not see this, but his partner did; and Boulton accordingly strained every nerve to keep up the character of the concern. While Watt was urging upon him to curtail the business, Boulton sought in all ways to extend it. He sent accounts of his marvellous engines abroad, and orders for them came in from France3 and Holland. Watt was 1 Watt. to Black, 12th December, was necessary in the first place that 1778. Commissioners should certify that the 2 Watt to Boulton, 15th Jan., 1779. new engine was superior to the common s M. Perrier, of Paris, ordered an engine. This they could not do, and engine early in 1779, and the mate- the patent was not secured. Watt rials were despatched to Nantes by the feared that there was " a plot " against end of May in the same year. The him.; as Perrier immediately proceeded engine was erected by M. Jary at a with a manufacture of steam-engines colliery near Nantes, but the fitting after the alleged invention of M. was so bad-the steam-case having Betancourt, though this " invention" been forgotten-that it went only four turned out to be a close copy of the strokes per minute. As Boulton and engine M. Betancourt himself had imWatt sought a patent for France; it ported from Soho. 250 HOME ORDERS SATISFACTORY. CHAP. XIII. more alarmed than gratified by the foreign orders, fearing that the engine would be copied and extensively manufactured abroad, where patents had not yet been secured. He did not see that the best protection of all was in the superiority of his tools and mechanics, enabling first-class work to be turned out,-important advantages, in which the Soho firm had the start of the world. It is true his mechanics were liable to be bribed, and foreigners were constantly haunting Soho for the purpose of worming out the secrets of the manufacture, and decoying away the best men. Against this every precaution was taken, though sometimes in vain. Two Prussian engineers came over from Berlin in 1779, to whom Watt showed every attention; after which, in his absence, they got into the engine-room, and carefully examined all the details of "Old Bess," making notes. When Watt returned, he was in high dudgeon, and wrote to his partner that he "could not help it unless by discountenancing every foreigner who does not come avowedly to have an engine." Their principal reliance, however, was necessarily on home orders, and these came in satisfactorily. Eight more engines were wanted for Cornwall, those already at work continuing to give satisfaction. Inquiries were also made about pumping engines for collieries in different parts of England. But where coals were cheap, and the saving of fuel was of less consequence, the patentees were not solicitous for orders unless the purchasers would fix a fair sum for the patent right, or rate the coals used at a price that would be remunerative in proportion to the savings effected. The orders were, indeed, becoming so numerous, that the firm, beginning to feel their power, themselves fixed the annual royalty, though it was not always so easy to get it paid. Watt to Boulton, 27th January, 1779. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XIII. DEFECTS OF WORKMEN. 251 The working power of Watt himself was but limited. He still continued to suffer from intense headaches; and, as all the drawings of new engines were made by his own hands, it was necessary in some measure to limit the amount of work undertaken. "I beg," he wrote to his partner in May, 1779, relative to proposals made for two new engines, "that you will not undertake to do anything for them before Christmas. It is, in fact, impossible, at least on my part; I am quite crushed." But he was not always so dispirited, for in the following month we find him writing Boulton an exultant letter, announcing orders for three new engines from Cornwall.' Watt continued for some time longer to suffer great annoyance from the shortcomings of his workmen. He was himself most particular in giving his instructions, verbally, in writing, and in drawings. When he sent a workman to erect an engine, he sent with him a carefully drawn up detail of the step by step proceedings he was to adopt in fitting the parts together. Where there was a difficulty, and likely to be a hitch, he added a pen and ink drawing, rapid but graphic, and pointed out how the difficulty was to be avoided. It was not so easy, however, to find workmen capable of intelligently fitting together the parts of a machine so complicated and of so novel a construction. Moreover, the first engines were in a great measure experimental, and to have erected them perfectly, and provided by anticipation for their various defects, would have argued a knowledge of the principles of their construction almost as complete as that of Watt himself. He was not sufficiently disposed to make allowances for the work1 The following is Watt's letter, We make them a present of 100 guineaswritten in a very unusual style:- Peace and good-fellowship on earth" Birmingham, June 30th, 1779. Perrins and Evans to be dismissed" Halleljjalh! Hallelujee' 3 mole engines wanted in Colrnwall.We have concluded with Hawkesbulry, Dudley repentant and amendalt2171. per annum fiom lady-day last; Yozurs rejoicinl, 2751. 5s. for time past; 1571. on account. JAMES WlAT'r." 252 WATT'S COMPLAINTS OF ENGINEMEN. CHAP. XIII. men's want of knowledge and want of experience, and his letters were accordingly full of complaints of their shortcomings. He was especially annoyed with the mistakes of a foreman, named Hall, who had sent the wrong articles to Cornwall, and he urged Boulton to dismiss him at once. But Boulton knew better. Though Watt understood engines, he did not so well understand men. Had Boulton dismissed such as Hall because they made mistakes, the shop would soon have been empty. The men were as yet but at school, learning experience, and Boulton knew that in course of time they would acquire dexterity. He was ready to make allowance for their imperfections, but at the same time he did not abate in his endeavours to find out and engage the best hands, wherever they were to be found-in Wales, in Cornwall, or in Scotland. He therefore kept on Hall, notwithstanding Watt's protest, and the latter submitted.1 Watt was equally wroth with the enginemen at Bedworth. " I beg and expect," he wrote Boulton, " that so soon as everything is done to that engine, you will instantly proceed to trial before creditable witnesses, and if possible have the whole brood of these enginemen displaced, if any others can be procured; for nothing but slovenliness, if not malice, is to be expected of them." It must, however, be acknowledged that the Bedworth engine was at first very imperfect, having been made of bad iron, in consequence of which it frequently broke down. In Cornwall the men were no better. Dudley, Watt's erector at Wheal Chance and 1 Watt wrote Boulton, 2nd July, on the 6th Autgust, Watt wrote, "I 1778,-" On the subject of Mr. Hall look upon Hall as a very great blun1 should not have been so earnest derer, and very inattentive to everyhad I not been urged on by the pro- thing that has hitherto been committed spect of impending ruin, which may to his care; but I think that our prebe much accelerated by a wicked or sent necessities will oblige us to emcareless servant in his place." Later, ploy him."-Boulton MSS. CHAP. XIII. THE BEST PROVE FAITHLESS. 253 Hallamanin, was pronounced incapable and a blunderer. " If something be not very bad in London, I wish you would employ Hadley to finish those engines, and send Joseph here to receive his instructions and proceed to Cornwall, otherwise Dudley will ruin us."' The trusty "Joseph" was accordingly despatched to Cornwall to look after Dudley, and remedy the defects in Wheal Chance and Hallamanin engines; but when Watt arrived at Chacewater shortly after, he found that Joseph, too, had proved faithless. He wrote to Boulton, "Joseph has pursued his old practice of drinking in the neighbourhood in a scandalous manner, until the very enginemen turned him into ridicule..... I have not heard how he behaved in the west; but that he gave the ale there a bad character."2 Notwithstanding, however, his love of strong potations, Joseph was a first-rate workman. Two days later, Watt wrote, "Though Joseph has attended to his drinking, he has done much good at his leisure hours, and has certainly prevented much mischief at Hallamanin and some at Wheal Union. He has had some hard and long jobs, and consequently merits some indulgence for his foibles." By the end of the month "Joseph had conquered Hallamanin engine, all but the boiler," but Watt added, "htis indulgence has brought on a slight fit of the jaundice, and as soon as the engine is finished, he must be sent home." 3 By this time Watt had called to his aid two other skilled workmen, Law and Murdock, who arrived in Cornwall in the beginning of September, 1779. In Watt's letters we find frequent allusions to Murdock. Wherever any work had to be done requiring more than ordinary attention, Watt specially directed that "William" should be put to it. "Let William be sent 1 Watt to Boulton, 11th August, 1779. 1779. 3 Watt to Boulton, 28th October, 2 Watt to Boulton, 4th October, 1779. 254 WILLIAM MURDOCK. CHAP. XIII. for from Bedworth," he wrote from Cornwall in 1778, "to set the patterns for nozzles quite right for Poldice." Boulton wished to send him into Scotland to erect the engine at Wenlockhead, but Watt would not hear of it. "William" was the only man he could trust with the nozzles. Then William was sent to London to take the charge of Chelsea engine; next to Bedworth, to see to the completion of the repairs previous to the final trial; then to Birmingham again to attend to some further special instructions of Watt; and now we find him in Cornwall, to take charge of the principal engines erecting there. William Murdock was not only a most excellent and steady workman, but a man of eminent mechanical genius. He was the first maker of a model locomotive in this country; he was the introducer of lighting by gas, and the inventor of many valuable parts of the working steam-engine, hereafter to be described. His father was a millwright and miller, at Bellow Mill, near Old Cumnock, in Ayrshire, and was much esteemed for his probity and industry, as well as for his mechanical skill. He was the inventor of bevelled cast-iron gear for mills, and his son was proud to exhibit, on the lawn in front of his house at Sycamore Hill, Handsworth, a piece of the first work of the kind executed in Britain. It was cast for him at Carron Ironworks, after the pattern furnished by him, in 1766. William was born in 1754, and brought up to his father's trade. On arriving at manhood, he became desirous of obtaining a larger experience of mill-work and mechanics than he could acquire in his father's little mill. Hearing of the fame of Boulton and Watt, and the success of their new engine, he determined to travel south, and seek for a job at Soho. Many Scotchmen were accustomed to call there on the same errand, probably relying on the known clanship of their countrymen, and thinking that they would find a friend and advocate in Watt. But CHAP. XIII. MURDOCK'S FIRST INTERVIEW WITH BOULTON. 255'. strange to say, Watt did not think Scotchmen capable of becoming first-class mechanics.' When Murdock called at Soho, in the year 1777, to ask for a job, Watt was from home, but he saw Boulton, who was usually accessible to callers of every rank. In answer to Murdock's inquiry whether he could have a job, Boulton replied that work was rather slack with them then, and that every place was filled up. During the brief conversation that ensued, the blate young Scotchman, like most country lads in the presence of strangers, had some difficulty in knowing what to do with his hands, and unconsciously kept twirling his hat with them. Boulton's attention was directed to the twirling hat, which seemed to b6 of a peculiar make. It was not a felt hat, nor a cloth hat, nor a glazed hat; but it seemed to be painted, and composed of some unusual material. " That seems to be a curious sort of hat," said Boulton, looking at it more closely; "why, what is it made of?" "Timmer, sir," said Murdock, modestly. " Timmer! Do you mean to say that it is made of wood?" "Yes, sir." "Pray, how was it made?" "I turned it mysel', sir, in a bit lathey of my own making." Boulton looked at the young man again. He had risen a hundred degrees in his estimation. He was tall, good-looking, and of open and ingenuous countenance; and that he had been able to turn a wooden hat for himself in a lathe of his own making was proof enough that he was a mechanic of no mean skill. "You W1 att told Sir Walter Scott that the workmen."-Note to Lockhart's though hundreds probably of his'Life of Scott.' The fact, we suppose northern countrymen had sought em- was, that the Scotch mechanics were ployment at his establishment, he only as yet in course of training,-the never could get one of them to become a English having had a long start of first-rate mechanic. "Many of them," them. Though Watt's statement that said he, "were too good for that, and Scotchmen were incapable of being rose to be valuable clerks and book- first-class mechanics may have been keepers; but those incapable of this true in his day, it is so no longer, as sort of advancement had always the the workshops of the Clyde can prove; same insuperable aversion to toiling so some of the most highly finished long at any one point of mechanism steam-engines of modern times having as to gain the highest wages among been turned out of Glasgow workshops. 256 MURDOCK IN CORNWALL. CHAP. XIII. may call again, my man," said Boulton. "Thank you, sir," said Murdock, giving his hat a final twirl. When Murdock called again, he was at once put upon a trial job, after which he was entered as a regular hand. We learn from Boulton's memorandum-book that he was engaged for two years, at 15s. a week when at home, 17s. when from home, and 18s. when in London. Boulton's engagement of Murdock was amply justified by the result. Beginning as a common mechanic, he applied himself diligently and conscientiously to his work, and became trusted. More responsible duties were confided to him, and he strove to perform them to the best of his power. His industry and his skilfulness soon marked him for promotion, and he rose from grade to grade until he became Boulton and Watt's most trusted co-worker and adviser in all their mechanical undertakings of importance. When Murdock went into Cornwall to take charge of the engines, he gave himself no rest until he had conquered their defects and put them in thorough working order. He devoted himself to his duties with a zeal and ability that completely won Watt's heart. He was so filled with his work, that when he had an important job in hand, he could scarcely sleep at nights for thinking of it. When the engine at Wheal Union was ready for starting, the people of the house at Redruth, in which Murdock lodged, were greatly disturbed one night by a strange noise in his room. Several heavy blows on the floor made them start from their beds, thinking the house was coming down. They rushed to Murdock's room, and there was he in his shirt, heaving away at the bedpost in his sleep, calling out, "Now she goes, lads! now she goes." Murdock was not less successful in making his way with the Cornishmen with whom he was brought into daily contact; indeed, he fought his way to their CHAP. XIII. MURDOCK AND THE CORNISHMEN. 257 affections. One day at Chacewater, some half-dozen of the mining captains came into the engine-room and began bullying him. This he could not stand, and adopted a bold expedient. He locked the door, and said, "Now, then, you shall not leave this place until I have it fairly out with you." He selected the biggest, and put himself in a fighting attitude. The Cornishmen love fair play, and while the two engaged in battle, the others, without interfering, looked on. The contest was soon'over; for Murdock was a tall, powerful fellow, and speedily vanquished his opponent. The others, seeing the kind of man they had to deal with, made overtures of reconciliation; and they shook hands all round, and parted the best of friends.' Watt continued to have his differences and altercations with the Cornishmen, but he had no such way of settling them. Indeed, he was almost helpless when he came in contact with rough men of business. Most of the mines were then paying very badly, and the adventurers raised all sorts of objections to making the stipulated payment of the engine dues. Under such circumstances, altercations with them took place for which Watt was altogether unprepared. He was under the apprehension that they were constantly laying their heads together for the purpose of taking advantage of him and his partner'. He never looked on the bright side of things, but always on the darkest. " The rascality of mankind," said he to Dr. Black, "is almost beyond belief." Though his views of science were large, his views of men were narrow. Much of this may have been the result of his recluse habits and closet life, as well as of his constant ill-health. With his racking 1 The above anecdotes, of Murdock's a duel with Captain Trevithick (father introduction to Soho, and the fight of the Trevithick of Locomotive celewith the captains, were communicated brity), in consequence of a quarrel by his son, the late Mr. Mhrdock of between him and Watt, in which MurSycamore Hill near Birmingham. He dock conceived his master to have also informed us that Murdock fought been unfairly and harshly treated. S 258 WATT'S RELIANCE ON BOULTON. CHAP. XIII. headaches, it was indeed difficult for him to be cheerful. But no one could be more conscious of his own defectsof his want of tact, his want of business qualities, and his want of temper-than he was himself. He knew his besetting infirmities, from which even the best and wisest are not exempt. His greatness was mingled with imperfections, and his strength with weakness, else had he been more than human. It is not in the order of Providence that the gifts and graces of life should be concentrated in any one perfectly adjusted character. Even when we inquire into the " Admirable Crichton" of biography, and seek to trace his life, it vanishes almost into a myth. In the midst of his many troubles and difficulties, Watt's invariable practice was to call upon Boulton for help. Boulton was satisfied to take men as he found them, and try to make the best of them. Watt was a nman of the study; Boulton a man of the world. Watt was a master of machines; but Boulton, of men. Though Watt might be the brain, Boulton was the heart of the concern. " If you had been here," wrote Watt to Boulton, after one of his disagreeable meetings with the adventurers, " If you had been here, and gone to that meeting with your cheerful countenance and brave heart, perhaps they would not have been so obstinate." The scene referred to by Watt occurred at a meeting of the Wheal Union Adventurers, at which the savings effected by the new engine were to be calculated and settled. Here is Watt's own description of the affair, and his feelings on the occasion, which will give a good idea of the irksomeness of his position, and the disagreeable people he had occasionally to encounter:".At Wheal Union account our savings were ordered to be charged to the interest of Messrs. Edwards and Phillips; but when to be paid, God knows! Bevan said in a month. After all this was settled, in came Capt. Trevithick, I believe on purpose, as he came CHAP. XIII. ALTERCATION WITH TREVITHICK. 259 late and might have heard that I was gone there. He immediately fell foul of our account, in a manner peculiar to himself... laboured to demonstrate that Dalcoath engines not only surpassed the table, but even did more work with the coals than'Wheal Union did, and concluded with saying that we had taken or got the advantage of the adventurers. I think he first said the former and then hedged off by the latter statement. Mr. Phillips defended, and Mr. Edwards, I thought, seemed staggered, though candid. Mr. Phillips desired the data that he might calculate it over in his way. Mr. Edwards slipped away, but I found afterwards that he was in another room with Capt. Gundry (who, and Hodge also, behaved exceedingly well -I believe Gundry to be a very sincere, honest man). I went out to speak to Joseph, and on my return found only Trevithick, Bevan, Hodge, and some others. Soon after, Mr. Edwards called out Trevithick to him and Gundry. I heard them very loud, and waited their return for an hour; but they not seeming ready to return, night coming on, and feeling myself very uncomfortable, I came away -so know not what passed further. During all this time, I was so confounded with the impudence, ignorance, and overbearing manner of the man that I could make no adequate defence, and indeed could scarcely keep my temper; which however I did, perhaps to a fault; for nothing can be more grievous to an ingenuous mind than the being suspected or accused of deceit. To mend the matter, it had been an exceedingly rainy morning, and I had got a little wet going thither, which had rather hurt my spirits. Yesterday I had a violent headache and could do nothing..... Some means must be taken to satisfy the country, otherwise this malicious man will hurt us exceedingly. The point on which Mr. Edwards seemed to lay the most stress was the comparing with a 77 l, cylinder, as he alleged they would not have put in so large an engine; and in this there is some reason, as I do not think they believed that the engine would be so powerful as it is. Add to this, that the mine barely pays its way. Trevithick made a great noise about short strokes at setting on, &c. The Captains seemed to laugh at that; and I can demonstrate that, were it allowed for, it would not come to 2s. 6d. per month. I believe they can be brought to allow that they would have put in a 70-inch. Now, query if we ought to allow this to be calculated from a 70 (at which it will come to near 4001. a year), and on making this concession insist on our having a good paymaster to pay regularly once a month, and not be obliged to go like beggars to their accounts to seek our due and be insulted by such scoundrels into the bargain. As to ITallamanin, they have not met yet, and when they do meet, I shall not go to them. I cannot bear such treatment, but it is not prudent to resent it too warmly just now. I believe you must come here. I think fourteen days would s2 260 CORNISH RAIN. CHAP. XIII. settle matters. Besides my inability to battle such people, I really have not time to bestow on them."' In subsequent letters Watt continued to urge Boulton to come to him. His headaches were constant, unfitting him for work. Besides, he could scarcely stir out of doors for the rain. "It rains here," said he, "prodigiously. When you come, bring with you a waxed linen cloak for yourself, and another for me, as there is no going out now for a few miles without getting wet to the skin. When it rains in Cornwall, and it rains often, it rains solid." 1 Watt to Boulton, from Chacewater, 16th October, 1779. Boulton MSS. CARDOZO0 PUHPINGENGNE, UNITED MiNES. UNITED MIILES DISTRIC1 —ST. DAY IN T'lE MIDDLE. DISTANCE. [By R. P. Leitch] CHAPTER XIV. FIN-ANCIAL DIFFICULTIES- BOULTON IN CORNWALL-ATTACK AND DEFENCE OF THE ENGINE PATENT. BOULTON again went to Watt's help in Cornwall at the end of autumn, 1779. He could not afford to make a long stay, but left so soon as he had settled several long-pending agreements with the mine proprietors. The partners then returned to Birmingham together. Before leaving, they installed Lieutenant Henderson as their representative, to watch over their interests in their absence. Henderson was a sort of Jack-of-all-trades and master of none. He had been an officer of marines, and afterwards a West India sugar-planter. He lost all that he possessed in Jamaica, but gained some knowledge of levelling, draining, and machinery. He was also a bit of an inventor, and first introduced himself to Boulton's notice by offering to sell him a circular 262 FINANCIAL CRISIS. CHAP. XIV. motion by steam which lie alleged he had discovered. This led to a correspondence, which resulted in his engagement to travel for the firm, and to superintend the erection of engines when necessary. Henderson experienced the same difficulty that Watt had done in managing the adventurers, and during his stay in Cornwall he was never done calling upon Boulton to hasten to his assistance and help him, as he said, "to put them in good spirits and good temper." As the annual meetings drew near, Henderson anticipated a stormy time of it, and pleaded harder than ever for Boulton to come to him. It seemed as if it would be necessary for Boulton to take up his residence in Cornwall; and as the interests at stake were great, it might be worth his while to do so. By the summer of 1780, Boulton and Watt had made and sold forty pumpingengines, of which number twenty were erected and at work in different parts of Cornwall; and it was generally expected that before long there would scarcely be an engine of the old construction at work in the county. This was, in fact, the only branch of Boulton's extensive concerns that promised to be remunerative.1 He had become loaded with a burden of debt, from which the success of the engine-business seemed to offer the only prospect of relief. Boulton's affairs seemed indeed fast approaching to a crisis. He had raised money in all directions to carry on his extensive concerns. He had sold the Patkington estate, which came to him by his wife, to Lord Donegal, for 15,0001.; he had sold the greater part of his father's property, and raised further sums by mortgaging the remainder; he had borrowed largely from Day,2 Wedg1 It appears from a statement pre- ending 1780, had been upwards of pared by Zaccheus Walker, the ac- 11,0001.; and that but for the capital countant of Boulton and Fothergill, and credit of Matthew Boulton, that that on an invested capital of about concern must have broken down. 20,0001., the excess of losses over 2 Thomas Day, the eccentric but profits during the eighteen years kindly author of' Sandford and CHAP. XIV. BOULTON ANI) FOTIHERGILL. 263 wood, and others of his personal friends, and obtained heavy advances from his bankers; but all this was found insufficient, and his embarrassments seemed only to increase. Watt could do nothing to help him with money, though he had consented to the mortgage of the steamengine royalties to Mr. Wiss, by which the sum of 70001. had been raised. This liability lay heavy on the mind of Watt, who could never shake himself free of the horror of having incurred such a debt; and many were the imploring letters that he addressed to Boulton on the subject. "I beg of you," said he, "to attend to these money affairs. I cannot rest in my bed until they [i.e. the mortgage and banker's advance] have some determinate form. I beg you will pardon my importunity, but I cannot bear the uneasiness of my own mind, and it is as much your interest as mine to have them settled." The other partner, Fothergill, was quite as downhearted. He urged that the firm of Boulton and Fothergill should at once stop payment and wind up; but as this would have seriously hurt the credit of the engine firm, Boulton would not listen to the suggestion. They must hold on as they had done before, until better days came round. Fothergill recommended that at least the unremunerative branches of the business should be Merton,' lent Boulton 30001. at 4 per your sincerest friends, the late Dr. cent. When Boulton came to pay a Small, from acquiring that independhigher rate of interest on other loans, ence which you ought to have had long he wrote Day proposing to pay him ago. I should think that now, like a the same rate; but Day refused to good Christian, thoroughly convinced accept the advance, as he could not of the inutility of other works, you make more of his money elsewhere. ought to attach yourself to the one Day, however, offered him some good thing needful, and determine to be advice. " Give me leave," said he, saved'even as by fire.' Yout are now, " with the real interest of a sincere dear Sir, not of an age to sport any friend, to express my wishes that now longer with fortune. Forgive the at last when a fortune is within your freedom of these sentiments, a;nd power, you will contract that wide believe me, with the greatest sincerity sphere of business in which your in- and regard, Yours, &c., genuity has so long kept you engaged, " THOMAS DAI'." and which has prevented you hitherto, 1 Watt to Boulton, 20th January, if I may believe the words of one of 1779. 2(34 THE " SOHO PICTURES." CHAP. XIV. brought to a close. The heaviest losses had indeed been sustained through Fothergill himself, whose foreign connexions, instead of being of advantage to the firm, had proved the reverse; and Mr. Matthews, the London agent, repeatedly pressed Boulton to decline further transactions with foreigners. There was one branch of the Boulton and Fothergill business which Boulton at once agreed to give up. This was the painting and japanning business; by which, as appears from a statement prepared by Mr. Walker, now before us, the firm were losing at the rate of 5001. a year. The picture-painting business seems to have been begun in 1777, and was carried on for some years under the direction of Mr. Eginton, who afterwards achieved considerable reputation at Birmingham as a manufacturer of painted glass. A degree of interest has been recently raised on the subject of the Soho pictures, in consequence of the statements hazarded as to the method by which they are supposed to have been produced. It has been surmised that they were taken by some process resembling photography. We have, however, been unable to find anything in the correspondence of the firm calculated to support this view. On the contrary, they are invariably spoken of as " mechanical paintings," "pictures," or " prints," produced by means of " paints" or "colours." Though the precise process by which they were produced is not now known, there seems reason to believe that they were impressions from plates prepared in a peculiar manner. The impressions were taken "mechanically" on paper; and both oil and water coloursl were made use of. Some 1 Some of the specimens in water been thoroughly sifted by M. P. W. colour are to be seen at the Museum Boulton, Esq., in his'.Remarks on of Patents, South Kensington. When some Evidence recently communicated the paper is moistened with the finger, to the Photographic Society' (Bradthe colour easily rubs off. The whole bury and Evans, 1864), apropos of the subject of these pictures has recently Papers of Mr. W. P. Smith on the CHAP. XIV. LETTER-COPYING MACHINE. 265 of the pictures were of large size-40 by 50 inches-the suljects being chiefly classical. This branch of the business being found unproductive, was brought to a close in 1780, when the partnership with Eginton was at the same time dissolved. Another and more fortunate branch of business into which Boulton entered with Watt and Keir, about the same time, was the manufacture of letter-copying machines. Watt made the invention, Boulton found the money for taking out the patent, and Keir conducted the business. Watt was a very voluminous correspondent, and the time occupied by him in copying letters, the contents of which he desired to keep secret friom third parties, was such that in order to economise it he invented the method of letter-copying in such common use. The invention consisted in the transfer, by pressure, of the writing made with mucilaginous ink, to damped and unsized transparent copying-paper, by means either of a rolling press or a screw press. Though Watt himself preferred the rollers, the screw press is now generally adopted as the more simple and efficacious process. This invention was made by Watt in the summer of 1778. In June we find him busy experimenting on copying-papers of different kinds, requesting Boulton to send him specimens of " the most even and whitest unsized paper;" and in the following month he wrote Dr. Black, "I have lately discovered a method of same subject, in which it was sur- pressed to other persons, that in the mised that they were the result of some coloured specimens in the Museum, photographic process. Mr. Boulton there are indications that the colour clearly shows, from the original corre- was laid on mechanically,-not by spondence, that the process was me- hand or brush." As the process of chanical colour-printing. He also " dead-colouring" the pictures is occaadds,-" From the brief statements sionally referred to, it is probable that which I remember to have heard from the pictures passed through more my father concerning the polygraphic stages than one, as in the case of process, my impression of it was that modern colour-printing. In one of it copied colour mechanically, not Eginton's letters, three plates were merely chiaro-scuro. And I agree spoken of as necessary for taking imwith the opinion which has been ex- pressions of one of the pictures. 266 COPYING-PRESS - SUPPOSED DANGERS. CHAP. XIV. copying writing instantaneously, provided it has been written the same day, or within twenty-four hours. I send you a specimen, and will impart the secret if it will be of any use to you. It enables me to copy all my business letters."1 For two years Watt kept his method of copying a secret; but hearing that certain persons were prying into it with the view of turning it to account, he determined to anticipate them by taking out a patent, which was secured in May, 1780. By that time Watt had completed the details of the press and the copying-ink. Sufficient mahogany and lignum-vitat had been ordered for making 500 machines, and Boulton went up to London to try and get the press introduced in the public offices. He first waited upon several noblemen to interest them in the machine, amongst others on Lord Dartmouth, who proposed to show it to George III. "The King," said Boulton, in a letter to Watt, "writes a great deal, and takes copies of all he writes with his own hand, so that Lord Dartmouth thinks it will be a very desirable thing for His Majesty." Several of those to whom the machine was first shown, apprehended that it would lead to increase of forgery-then a great source of terror to commercial men. The bankers concurred in this view, and strongly denounced the invention; and they expostulated with Boulton and Watt's agent for offering the presses for sale. "Mr. Woodmason," wrote Boulton, "says the bankers mob him for having anything to do with it; they say that it ought to be suppressed." Boulton was not dismayed by this opposition, but proceeded to issue circulars to the members of the Houses of Lords and Commons, descriptive of the machine, inviting them to an inspection of it, after which he communicated the results to his partner:O.... n Tuesday morning last I waited on some particular noblemen, according to promise, at their own houses, with the press, 1 Watt to Dr. Black, 24th July, 1778. CHAP. XIV. DEMAND FOR PRESSES. 267 and at one o'clock I took possession of a private room adjoining the Court of Requests, Westminster Hall, where I was visited by several members of both Houses, who in general were well pleased with the invention; but all expressed their fears of forgery, which occasioned and obliged me to exercise my lungs very much. Many of the members tried to copy bank notes, but in vain. I had a full audienrce till half-past eight o'clock.... I had quite a mob of members next day; some of them mobbed me for introducing such wicked arts; however, upon the whole, I had a greater majority than Lord North hath had this year. On Thursday... at half-past two. I had a tolerable good House, even a better than the Speaker, who was often obliged to send his proper officer to fetch away from me the members to vote, and sometimes to make a House. As soon as the House formed into a Committee upon the Malt-tax, the Speaker left the chair and sent for me and the machine, which was carried through the gallery in face of the whole House into the Speaker's Chamber. I found him full of fears about the dreadful consequences, which I quieted before I left him, and he with his two friends subscribed. I attended again on Friday, but, from a very thin House and curiosity abating, I had very few [subscriptions]. Mr. Banks came to see the machine on Th;rsday. I thought it might be of service to show it to the Royal Society that evening.... After the business of the Society was over, he announced Mr. Watt's invention, and my readiness to show it, and it was accordingly brought in and afforded much satisfaction to a crowded audience. I did not show the list of subscribers and the proposals, nor dishonour philosophy by trade in that room. I spent Friday evening with Smeaton and other engineers at a coffee-house, when a gentleman (not knowing me) exclaimed against the copying-machine, and wished the inventor was hanged and the machines all burnt, which brought on a laugh, as I was known to most present.... There are great names enough already among the subscribers to give a sanction and authority to it, as well as to make it fashionable, which has more influence upon the minds of three-fourths of the Londoners than the intrinsic merit of the thing, and without which it would have been some years in making its way."' By the end of the year, the 150 machines first made were sold off, and more orders were coming in. Thirty were wanted for exportation abroad, and a still greater number were wanted at home. The letter-copying machine gradually and steadily made its way, until at length there was scarcely a house of any extensive 1 Boulton to Watt, 14th May, 1780. Boulton MSS. 268 MORE FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. CHAP. XIV. business transactions in which it was not to be found. Watt himself, writing of the invention some thirty years later, observed that it had proved so useful to himself that it had been worth all the trouble of inventing it, even had it been attended with no pecuniary profit whatever. Boulton's principal business, however, while in town, was not so much to push the letter-copying machine, but to set straight the bankers' account, which had been overdrawn to the amount of 17,0001. He was able to satisfy them to a certain extent by granting mortgages on the engine royalties payable in Cornwall, besides giving personal bonds for repayment of the advances within a given time. It was necessary to obtain Watt's consent to both these measures; but, though Watt was willing to agree to the former expedient,-he positively refused to be a party to the personal bonds.' Boulton was therefore under the necessity of arranging. the matter himself. He was thereby enabled to meet the more pressing claims upon the firm, and to make arrangements for pushing on the engine business with renewed vigour. Watt was, however, by no means so anxious on this score as Boulton was. He was even desirous of retiring from the concern, and going abroad in search of health. "Without I can spare time this next summer," he wrote, "to go to some more healthy climate to procure a little health, if climate will do, I must give up business and the world too. My head is good for nothing."2 While Boulton was earnestly pressing the invention on the mining interest, I On the 18th May, 1780, Watt too rigid, do not blame me, but my wrote Boulton, then in London, as ignorance and timidity." And again, follows: —" I am sorry, my dear Sir, on the 19th, on returning the draft to prove in any shape refractory to mortgage, he wrote:-" If my exewhat you desire, but my quiet, my cuting this deed cannot be dispensed peace of mind, perhaps my very exist- with, I will do it, but will not execute ence, depend on what I have told you. any personal bond for the money. I I am unhappy in not having any would rather assign you all Cornwall person I can advise with on this on proper conditions than execute subject; and my own knowledge of it this." is insufficient. Therefore, if I appear 2 Watt to Poulton, 11th April, 1780. CHAP. XIV. WAATT'S SUFFERINGS. 269 and pushing for orders, Watt shuddered at the prospect of one. He saw in increase of business only increase of headaches. " The care and attention which our business requires," said he, " make me at present dread a fresh order with as much horr6r as other people with joy receive one. What signifies it to a man though he gain the whole world, if he lose his health and his life? The first of these losses has already befallen me, and the second will probably be the consequence of it, without some favourable circumstances which at present I cannot foresee should prevent it." Judging by the correspondence of Watt, his sufferings of mind and body at this time must have been excessive; and the wonder is how he lived through it. But " the creaking gate hangs long on its hinges," and he lived to the age of eighty-three, long surviving his stronger and more courageous partner. Intense headache seemed to be his normal state, and his only tolerable moments were those in which the headache was less violent than usual. His son has since described how he remembered seeing his father about this time, sitting by the fireside for hours together, with his head leaning on his elbow, suffering from most acute sick-headaches, and scarcely able to give utterance to his thoughts. " My headache," he would write to Boulton, "keeps its week-aversary to-day." At another time, "I am plagued with the blues; my head is too much confused to do any brainwork." Once, when he had engaged to accompany his wife to an evening concert, he wrote, " I am quite eat up with the mulligrubs, and to complete the matter I am obliged to go to an oratorio, or serenata, or some other nonsense, to-night." Mrs. Watt tried her best to draw him out of himself, but it was not often that she could divert him from his misery. What relieved him most was sleep, when he could obtain it; and, to recruit his powers, he was accustomed to take from nine to eleven hours sleep at night, besides naps during the 270 MORE CORNISH ENGINES WANTED. CHAP. X1V. day. When Boulton had erysipelas, in Cornwall, and could not stir abroad, he wrote to his partner complaining of an unusual lowness of spirits, on which Watt undertook to be his comforter in his own peculiar way. "There is no pitch' of low spirits," said he, "that I have not a perfect notion of, from hanging melancholy to peevish melancholy: conquer the devil when he is young." Watt experienced all the tortures of confirmed dyspepsia, which cast its dark shadow over the life of every day. His condition was often most pitiable. It is true, many of the troubles which beset him were imaginary, but he suffered from them in idea as much as if they had been real. Small evils fretted him, and great ones overwhelmed him. He met them all more than halfway, and usually anticipated the worst. He had few moments of cheerfulness, hopefulness, or repose. Speaking of one of his violent headaches, he said, "I believe it was caused by something making my stomach very acid;" and unhappily, as in the case of most dyspeptics, the acidity communicated itself to his temper. When these fits came upon him, and the world was going against him, and ruin seemed about to swallow him up quick, he would sit down and pen a long gloomy letter to his partner, full of agony and despair. His mental condition at the time shows at what expense of suffering in mind and body the triumphs of genius are sometimes achieved. In the autumn of 1780, Boulton went into Cornwall for a time to look after the business there. Several new engines had been ordered, and were either erected or in progress, at Wheal Treasury, Tresavean, Penrydee, Dalcoath, Wheal Chance, Wheal Crenver, and the United Mines. One of the principal objects of his visit was to settle the agreements with the mining companies for the use of these engines. It had been found difficult to estimate the actual savings of fuel, and the settlement of the accounts was a con CHAP. XIV. THE ENGINE-DUES. 271 stant source of cavil. There was so much temptation on the one side to evade the payments according to the tables prepared by Watt, and so much occasion for suspicion on the other that they had been evaded by unfair means, that it appeared to Boulton that the only practicable method was to agree to a fixed annual payment for each engine erected, according to its power and the work it performed. Watt was very averse to giving up the tables which had cost him so much labour to prepare; but Boulton more wisely urged the adoption of the plan that would work most smoothly, and get rid of the heartburnings on both sides. Boulton accordingly sent down to Watt a draft agreement with the Wheal Virgin adventurers, who were prepared to pay the large sum of 25001. a year in respect of five new engines erected for their firm; and urged him to agree to the terms. "You must not be too rigid," said he, "in fixing the dates of payment. A hard bargain is a bad bargain." Watt replied in a long letter, urging the accuracy of his tables, and intimating his reluctance to depart from them. To this Boulton responded, " Now, my dear Sir, the way to do justice to our own characters, and to trample under our feet envy, hatred, and malice, is to dispel the doubts, and to clear up the minds of the gentlemanly part of this our best of all kingdoms; for if they think we do wrong, it operates against us although we do none, just as much as if we really did the wrong. Patience and candour should mark all our actions, as well as firmness in being just to ourselves and others. A fair character and standing with the people is attended with great advantage as well as satisfaction, of which you are fully sensible, so I need say no more."1 1 Boulton, at Plengwarry, to Watt, in a cubic foot, so sure was I born in at Birmingham, 14th September, 1780. that year; and as sure as there are This day was Boulton's birthday, and 52 weeks in the year and 52 cards in alluding to the circumstance he wrote, the pack, so surely am I 52 years old " As sure as there are 1728 inches this very day. May you and Mrs. 272 BOULTON CHEERS WATT. CHAP. XIV. Watt did not give up his favourite tables without further expostulation and argument, but at length he reluctantly gave his assent to the Wheal Virgin agreement, by which the annual payment of 25001. was secured. Though this was really an excellent bargain, Watt seemed to regard it in the light of a calamity. In the letter intimating his reluctant concurrence, he observed: "These disputes are so very disagreeable to me, that I am very sorry I ever bestowed so great a part of my time and money on the steam-engine. I can bear with the artifices of the designing part of mankind, but having myself no intention to deceive others, I cannot brook the suspicions of the honest part, which I am conscious I never merited even in intention, far less by any actual attempt to deceive."l Two days later Watt again wrote, urging the superiority of his tables, concluding thus: "I have been so much molested with headaches this week, that I have perhaps written in a more peevish strain than I should have done if I had been in better health, which I hope you will excuse." Boulton replied, expressing regret at his lowness of spirits and bad health, advising him to cheer up. "At your leisure," said he, "you may amuse yourself with a calculation of what all the engines we shall have in eighteen months erected in Cornwall will amount to; you will find it good for low spirits." "I assure you," he said at another time, "you have no cause for apprehension as to anything in this country; all is going on well." Boulton seemed to regard his partner in the light of a permanent invalid, which he was; and on writing to his various correspondents on matters of business at Soho, he would abjure them not to cross Mr. Watt. To Fothergill he wrote respecting the execution of an order, "the matter must be managed Watt live very long and be very 1 Watt to Boulton, 10th October, happy." 1780. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XIV. MINING ADVENTURERS' MEETINGS. 273 with some delicacy respecting Mr. Watt, as you know that when he is low-spirited he is vexed at trifles." Another important part of Boulton's business in Cornwall, besides settling the engine agreement, was to watch the mining adventures* themselves, in which by this time Boulton and Watt had become largely interested. In the then depressed state of the mining interest, it was in many cases found difficult to raise the requisite money to pay for the new engines; and the engineers must either go without orders or become shareholders to prevent the undertakings dropping through altogether. Watt's caution impelled him at first to decline entering into such speculations. He was already in despair at what he considered the bad fortunes of the firm, and the load of debts they had incurred in carrying on the manufacture of engines. But there seemed to be no alternative, and he at length came to the conclusion with Boulton, that it was better "not to lose a sheep for a ha'porth of tar."' Rather than lose the orders, therefore, or risk the losses involved by the closing of the mines worked by their engines, the partners resolved to incur the risk of joining in the adventures, and in course of time they became largely interested in them. They also induced friends in the North to join them, more particularly Josiah Wedgwood and Johnl Wilkinson, who took shares to a large amount. Boulton now made it his business to attend the meetings of the adventurers, in the hope of improving their working arrangements, which he believed were very imperfect. He was convinced of this after his first meeting with the adventurers of the Wheal Virgin mine. He found their proceedings conducted without regard to order. The principal attention was paid to the dining, and after dinner and drink little real W1 att to Poulton, 20th Arril, 1780. T 274 ORGANISES THE MINING BUSINESS. CHAP. XIV' business could be done. No minutes were made of the proceedings; half the company were talking at the same time on different subjects; no one took the lead in conducting the discussions, which were disorderly and anarchical in the extreme. Boulton immediately addressed himself to the work of introducing order and despatch. He called upon his brother adventurers to do their business first, and dine and talk afterwards. He advised them to procure a minute-book in which to enter the resolutions and proceedings. His clear-headed suggestions were at once agreed to; and the next meeting, for which he prepared the agenda, was so entirely different from all that had preceded it, in respect of order, regularity, and the business transacted, that his influence with the adventurers was at once established. "The business," he wrote to Watt, "was conducted- with more regularity, and more of it was done, than was ever known at any previous meeting." He perceived, however, that there was still room for great improvements, and added, "somebody must be here all next summer... I shall be here myself the greater part of it, for there will want more kicking than you can do.. Grace au Dieu! I neither want health, nor spirits, nor even flesh, for I grow fat." To increase his influence among the adventurers, and secure the advantages of a local habitation among them, Boulton deemed it necessary to take a mansion capable of accommodating his family, and which should serve the same purpose for his partner when sojourning in the neighbourhood. Boulton's first idea was to have a portable wooden house built and fitted up in the manner of a ship's cabin, which might readily be taken to pieces and moved from place to place as business required. This plan was, however, eventually abandoned in favour of a residence of a more fixed kind. After much search1 Boulton to Watt, 25th and 30th September, 1780. Boulton MSS. CHrAt. XIV. HOUSE AT COSGARNE. 275 ing, a house was found which promised to answer the intended purpose,-an old-fashioned, roomy mansion, with a good-sized garden full of fruit trees, prettily situated at Cosgarne, in the Gwennap valley. Though the United Mines district was close at hand, and fourteen of Boulton and Watt's engines were at work in the immediate neighbourhood, not an engine chimney was to be seen from the house, which overlooked Tresamble Common, then an unenclosed moor. Here the partners by turns spend much of their time for several successive years, travelling about from thence on horseback from mine to mine to superintend the erection and working of their engines. COSGARNE H1O SE. By this time the old Newcomen engines had been almost completely superseded, only one of that construction remaining at work in the whole county of Cornwall. The prospects of the engine business were, indeed, so promising, that Boulton even contemplated retiring altogether from his other branches of business at Soho, and settling himself permanently in Cornwall.l 1 His partner Fothergill would not, and the Soho business was continued however, consent to let Boulton go, until the death of Fothergill (bankT2 276 MRS. WATT'S APPEAL TO BOULTON. CHAP. XIV. Notwithstanding the great demand for engines, the firm continued for some time in serious straits for money, and Boulton was under the necessity of resorting to all manner of expedients to raise it, sometimes with Watt's concurrence, but oftener without. Watt's inexperience in money matters, conjoined with his extreme timidity and nervousness, made him apprehend ruin and bankruptcy from every fresh proposition made to him on the subject of raising money. He was kept so utterly wretched by his fears as to be on occasions quite unmanned, and he would brood for days together on the accumulation of misery and anxiety which his great invention had brought upon him. His wife was kept almost as miserable as himself, and as Matthew Boulton was the only person, in her opinion, who could help him out of his troubles, she privately appealed to him in the most pathetic terms:" I know," she wrote, "the goodness of your heart will readily forgive me for this freedom, and your friendship for Mr. Watt will, I am sure, excuse me for pointing out a few things that press upon his mind. I am very sorry to tell you that both his health and spirits have been much worse since you left Soho. It is all that I can do to keep him from sinking under that fatal depression. Whether the badness of his health is owing to the lowness of his spirits, or the lowness of his spirits to his bad health, I cannot pretend to tell. But this I know, that there are several things that prey so upon his mind as to render him perfectly miserable. You know the bond that he is engaged in to Vere's house has been the source of great uneasiness to him. It is still so, and the thought of it bows him down to the very ground. He thinks that company has used both you and him very ill in refusing to release him, when you can give them security for a vast deal more than you are bound for. Forgive me, dear Sir, if I express myself wrong. It is a subject I am not used to write on. I know if you can you will set his mind at rest on this affair. I need not tell you that the seeing him so very unhappy must of consequence make me so. There is another affair that sits very heavy on his mind; that is, some old accounts that have remained unsettled since the commencement of the rupt) in 1782, after which it was continued for some time longer under the firm of Poulton and Scale. CHAP. XIV. WATT'S DISTRESS OF MIND. 277 business. They never come across his mind but he is rendered unfit for doing anything for a long time. A thousand times have I begged him to mention them to you.... I am sure he would suffer every kind of anxiety rather than ask you to do a thing you seemed not to approve of. I know the humanity of your nature would make you cheerfully give relief to any of the human race that was in distress, as far as was within your power. The knowledge of this makes me happy in the thought that you will exert every nerve to give ease to the mind of your friend. Believe me, there is not on earth a person who is dearer to him than you are. It causes him pain to give you trouble. The badness of his constitution, and his natural dislike to business, make him leave many things undone that he knows ought to be done, and, when it is perhaps too late, to make himself unhappy at their being neglected.... In his present state of weakness, every ill, however trifling, appears of a gigantic size, while on the other hand every good is diminished. Again, I repeat, that from the certain knowledge I have of his temper, nothing could contribute more to his happiness and make him go on cheerfully with business than having everything finished as he goes along, and have no unsettled scores to look back to and brood over in his mind."' Mrs. Watt concluded by entreating that ino mention would be made to her husband of her having written this letter, as it would only give him pain, and explaining that she had adopted the expedient merely in the hope that something might be done to alleviate his sufferings. This, however, was a very difficult thing to do. Boulton could remind his hopeless partner of the orders coming in for engines, and that such orders meant prosperity, not ruin; but he could not alter the condition of a mind essentially morbid. Boulton was himself really in far greater straits than Watt. He had risked his whole fortune on the enterprise; and besides finding money for buildings, plant, wages, materials, and credits, he was maintaining Watt until the engine business became productive. We find from the annual balance-sheets that Watt was regularly paid 3301. a year, which was charged upon the hardware Mrs. Watt to Mr. Boulton, then in London, 15th April, 1781. Boulton MSS. 278 THE PATENT AGAIN THREATENED. CHAP. XIV. business; and that this continued down to the year 1785. Till then everything had been out-go; the profits were all to come. It was estimated that upwards of 40,0001. were invested in the engine business before it began t6 yield profits; and all this was found by Boulton. In one of his letters to Matthews he wrote, "I find myself in the character of P, pay for all," but so long as his credit held good, Watt's maintenance was secure. So soon, however, as it became clear that the enterprise would be a success, and that the demand for engines must shortly become national, the firm was threatened with a danger of another kind, which occasioned almost as much alarm to Boulton as it did to Watt. This was the movement set on foot in Cornwall and elsewhere with the object of upsetting their patent. Had the engine been a useless invention, no one could have questioned their right of property in it; but;being recognised as of boundless utility, it began to be urged that the public ought to be free to use it without paying for it. It was alleged that it had become indispensable for the proper working of the mines, and that the abolition of the patent right would be an immense boon to the mining interest, and enable them to work the ores at a much reduced cost, while the general industry of the country would also be greatly benefited. When Boulton wrote Watt from Cornwall, informing him that the Cornishmen were agitating the repeal of the special Act by which their patent had been extended, and getting up petitions with that object, Watt replied, "I suspected some such move as this; and you may depend upon it they will never be easy while they pay us anything. This is a match of all Cornwall against Boulton and Watt; and though we may be the better players, yet they can hold longer out. However, if we do die, let us die hard."' I In another letter Watt described Chanceians.... In short," says he, himself as " worried by the Wheal " I am at this moment so provoked at CHAP. XIV. WOULD IT BE REVOKED? 279 But would Parliament really take away that right of property in the invention which they had granted, and deprive Watt and his partner of the fruits of their long labour and anxiety, and their heavy outlay, now that the superiority of the engine had become established? Would the legislature consign them to certain ruin because it would be for the advantage of the Cornish miners to have the use of the invention without paying for it? Watt would not for a moment believe this, and both he and Boulton felt strong in the conviction that their patent right would be maintained. Time was, when Watt would have gladly parted with his invention for a very small sum, and made the engine free to all, so far as he was concerned. Even after it had been perfected at Soho, after repeated and costly experiments, he declared his willingness to sell all his interest in it for 70001., which would have barely remunerated him for -the time and labour he had bestowed upon it, then extending over nearly twenty years of the best period of his life. And now, after six years of the partnership had run, and the heavy expenditure incurred by Boulton in introducing the engine was still unproductive, he regarded it as cruel in the extreme to attempt to deprive him of his just reward. To Boulton he disburdened himself fully, in strong and sometimes bitter terms. " They charge us," he said, "with establishing a monopoly, but if a monopoly, it is one by means of which their mines are made more productive than ever they were before. Have we not given over to them two-thirds of the advantages derivable from its use in the saving of fuel, and reserved only one-third to ourselves, though even that has been still further reduced to meet the pressure of the times? the undeserved rancour with which suffer the water to run out at their we are persecuted in Cornwall, that, adits, before I would relax the slightest were it not on account of the de- iota of what I thought my right in plorable state of debt I find myself in, their favour."-Watt to Boulton, 17th I would live on bread and cheese, and October, 1780. Boulton MSS. 280 WATT ON PATENT RIGHT. CHAP. XIV. They say it is inconvenient for the mining interest to be burdened with the payment of engine dues; just as it is inconvenient for the person who wishes to get at my purse that I should keep my breeches-pocket buttoned. It is doubtless also very inconvenient for the man who wishes to get a slice of the squire's land, that there should be a law tying it up by an entail. Yet the squire's land has not been of his own making, as the condensing engine has been of mine. He has only passively inherited his property, while this invention has been the product of my own labour, and of God knows how much anguish of mind and body;"" Why don't they," he asked, "petition Parliament to take Sir Francis Bassett's mines from him? He acknowledges that he has derived great profits from using our engines, which is more than we can say of our invention; for it appears by our books that Cornwall has hitherto eaten up all the profits we have drawn from it, as well as all that we have got from other places, and a good sum of our own money into the bargain. We have no power to compel anybody to erect our engines. What, then, will Parliament say to any man who comes there to complain of a grievance he can avoid, and which does not exist but in his own imagination? Will Parliament give away our property without an equivalent? Will they not collect that equivalent from the county of Cornwall? Will they adjudge them to pay us any less sum than it has cost ourselves? Will they not further add some reward for the quantity of life that has been devoted to the pursuit of what is evidently for the advantage of others, but hitherto has not been for our own? Lastly, will Parliament compel us to work for anybody without a remuneration adequate to our experience, or will they oblige us to labour for any one without our consent? We are in the state of the old Roman who was found guilty of raising better crops than his neighbours, and was therefore ordered to bring before the assembly of the people his instruments of husbandry, and to tell them of his art. He complied, and when he had done said,' These O Romans, are the instruments of our art; but I cannot bring into the forum the labours, the sweats, the watchings, the anxieties, the cares, which produced these crops.' So, every one sees the reward which we may yet probably receive from our labours; but few consider the price we have paid for that reward, which is by no means a certain annuity, but a return of the most precarious sort. To put an end, as far as lies in my power, to all disputes with the CHAP. XIV. BIRMINGHAM COPPER COMPANY. 281 people of Cornwall, let them pay my debts and give me a reasonable sum for the time I have lost, and I will resign my part in their favour, and think myself well off by the bargain. Or, if you can find any man who is agreeable to yourself, I'll sell him my share on reasonable terms, and, like the sailor, I will promise to contrive no more fire-engines. In short, my dear Sir, with a good cause in hand, I do not fear going before Parliament or anywhere. I am sure that if they did anything they would put us in a better position than we are in now."' The petition to Parliament, though much talked about, was not, however, presented; and the schemers who envied Boulton and Watt the gains which they had now the prospect of deriving from the use of their engine, shortly after resorted to other means of participating in them, to which we shall hereafter, refer. In the mean time Boulton, at the urgent entreaty of Watt, who described himself as "loaded to 12 lbs. on the inch," returned to Birmingham; though he had scarcely left before urgent entreaties were sent after him that he must come back again to Cornwall.2 While Boulton was in Cornwall, the principal manufacturers of Birmingham, dissatisfied with the bad and dear supply of copper, resolved to form themselves into a company for the purpose of making brass and spelter; and they wrote to Boulton offering to raise the requisite means, provided he would take the lead in the management of the concern. He could not but feel gratified at this best of all proofs of the esteem in which his townsmen held him, and of their confidence in his business qualities. Boulton, however, declined to undertake so large an addition to his labours. He felt that he would 1 Watt to Boulton, 31st October, now, I don't think his health would 1780. Boulton MSS. allow him to stand the battles with 2 "4 Though your long stay, when the different people. I have not written you were last here," wrote Henderson, to him freely on this subject, as I am the resident agent, "must have been afraid it would hurt him.... Your attended with great inconveniences, authority here as an adventurer has yet you are now very much wanted much greater weight than anything I in Wheal Virgin affairs.. Different can propose."-Henderson to Boulton, interests have produced a sort of 4th February, 1781. Boulton MSS. anarchy.... Were Mr. Watt here 282 IMPROVES ENGINE BOILERS. CHAP. X1V. soon be an old man, and that it would be necessary for him to contract rather than extend the field of his operations; besides, the engine business was already sufficiently prosperous to induce him to devote to it the chief share of his attention. But he promised to his Birmingham friends that he would always be glad to give them his best advice and assistance. He accordingly furnished them with a plan of operations, and drew up a scheme for their consideration, which was unanimously adopted, and the whole of the share capital was at once subscribed for. He also made arrangements with his Cornish friends for a regular supply of copper direct from the mines on the best terms. On his return to Birmingham, we find him entering upon an elaborate series of experiments, to determine the best constituents of brass; in the course of which he personally visited the principal calamine works in Wales and Derbyshire, for the purpose of testing their different produce. He diligently read all the treatises on the subject, and made inquiries as to the practice adopted in foreign countries. Finding, however, that the continuance of his connexion with the brass company was absorbing more of his time than he could afford to bestow upon it, he shortly withdrew from the concern, —partly also, because he was dissatisfied with what he considered the illiberal manner in which the managing committee were conducting its affairs. Another subject which occupied much of Boulton's attention about the same time, was the improvement of engine boilers. At an early period he introduced tubes in them, through which the heated air of the furnace passed, thereby greatly increasing the heating surface and enabling steam to be raised more easily and rapidly. We find him in correspondence with Watt on the subject, while residing at Redruth in the autumn of 1780. He first suggested iron tubes; but Watt wrote, " I cannot advise iron for the tubes of boilers, but CHAP. XIV. BOULTON'S EXPERIMENTS. 283 they may be thought of."' Next Boulton suggested the employment of copper tubes; to which Watt replied, "I approve of what you observe about making copper flanches to the boiler pipes in future, and Ale and Cakes can easily be converted to that way whenever they put up a second boiler." We find Boulton introducing four copper tubes 20 inches in diameter into the Wheal Busy boiler, which was 26 feet in length, —the fire passing through two of the tubes, and returning through the other two. Here, therefore, we have Boulton anticipating the invention of the tubular boiler, and clearly adopting it in practice, before the existence of the locomotive, for which it was afterwards re-invented. In fact, the multitubular boiler is but a modification and extension of Boulton's principle, as applied by him at so early a period in the-Cornish boilers. The numerous MS. books left by Boulton show the care with which he made his experiments, and the scrupulousness with which he recorded the results. Copies of his observations and experiments on boilers were sent to Watt, to be entered by him in "the calculation book," in which was recorded the tabulated experience of the firm. Boulton was also an excellent mechanical draughtsman, as appears from his tablets, which contain a number of beautifully executed drawings of engines and machinery, with very copious and minutely-written instructions for erecting them. Some of the drawings of sugar-mills are especially well executed, and delicately coloured. A rough sketch is given in one of the books, with a written explanation in Boulton's hand, of a mode of applying power in taking canal-boats through tunnels. It consists of an engine-boat, with toothed claws attached to it for the purpose of catching metal racks fastened along the sides of the tunnel, such being 1 Watt to Boulton, 17th October, 1780. 284 HIS INDEFATIGABLE INDUSTRY. CHAP. XIV. his design for working boats upon canals. While in Cornwall, he occupied his evenings in drawing sections of various mines, showing the adits, and the method of applying the pumping machinery, to which were also added numerous elaborate calculations of the results of engine working. He also continued to devise improvements in the construction and working of the steamengine, on which subject he exchanged his views with Watt at great length. In one of his letters he says: "I like your plan of making all the principal wearing parts of tempered steel, and the racks of best Swedish iron, with the teeth cut out. Query: Would it not be worth while to make a m7achine for dividing and cutting the teeth in good form out of sectors? The iron would be less strained by that mode of cutting." At other times, when the steam-engine subject seemed exhausted, he proceeded with the designing of road-carriages, in which he was an adept, filling a quarto drawing-book, entitled' Thoughts on Carriages,' with sketches of different kinds of vehicles, some in pencil and Indian ink, and others in colours, beautifully finished. Such were the leisure employments of this indefatigably industrious man. ENl RANCE T'~0 COSGARNE EOUSE ['HE'WAGGONN AN D l.ORSES,' A NIDSWORIH', CHAPTER XV. WATT AGAIN VISITS CORNWVALL-INVENTION OF THE ROTARY MOTION -THE PATENT RIGHT AGAIN ASSAILED, WATT'S presence being much wanted in Cornwall, he again proceeded thither, accompanied by his wife and famiilly, and arrived at Cosgarne towards the end of June, 1781. -He found that many things had gone wrong for want of the master's eye, and it was some tinle before he succeeded in putting affairs in order. The men had been neglecting their work, "going a-drinking." Cartwrigdht had "' contracted a fever 1in his working arm, and been swallowing ale for a. cure," until he heard Watt had comle, when the fever left him. Mrs. Waatt also found occasion to complain of sundry little grievances, and favoured Boulton with a long catalogue of them. Gregory and Jessy had caught cold on the journey, and workmi-en were hammering about the house rmtaking repairs. There was, however, one gleam of' 286 MEDITATES ROTARY MOTION. CHAP. XV. brightness in her letter: "James's spirits were surprisingly mended since his arrival." Watt was a most voluminous correspondent. ITe wrote Boulton several times a week great folio sheets, written close, in small hand. The letters must have occupied much of his time to write, and of Boulton's to read. The latter, seeing his partner's tendency to indulge in "worrit" about petty troubles, advised him in a kindly spirit not to vex himself so much about such matters, but to call philosophy to his aid. Why should he not occupy some of his spare time in writing out a history of all his steam-engine contrivances, to be dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks, and published in the'Transactions of to writing anything for publication, and the suggestion was not acted on. Then, knowing Watt's greatest pleasure to be in inventing, Boulton in a subsequent letter advised him to take up afresh, and complete a plan which they had often discussed, of producing rotary motion, by which the engine might be applied to work mills and drive machinery. Watt had from the first regarded the employment of the steam-engine in producing continuous rotary motion as one of its most useful applications, and with this object he invented his original wheel-engine. No steps were taken to introduce the invention to practical use; but it occurred to Watt that the same object might be better effected by employing the ordinary engine for the purpose, with certain modifications.' The subject had partially occupied his attention during his first visit 1 In June, 1780, we find Boulton machine. The steam wheel we have describing to Colonel Watson the not meddled with since you were at progress of the Soho business, as Soho, as we have been fully emfollows:-" Since I had the honour of ployed upon large beam-engines; seeing you in England we have erected besides, we have applied the beam upwards of 40 of our new steam- engine to rotative motions so successengines, and have (from so much ex- fully that the wheel engine seems perience) obviated every difficulty, and almost unnecessary." made it a most practicable and perfect CHAP. XV. EMPLOYS THE CRANK. 287 to Cornwall; for we find him writing Boulton from Chacewater, in 1779, "As to the circular motion, I will apply it as soon as I can, but foresee that I shall be very busy shortly, and much out of doors." On his subsequent return to Birmingham, after frequent conferences with his partner on the subject, he proceeded to prepare a model, in which he made use of a crank connected with the working beam of the engine to produce the rotary, motion. There was no originality in the employment of the crank, which was an expedient that Watt had long before made use of.1 The crank was, indeed, one of the most common of mechanical appliances. It was in daily use in every spinning-wheel, in every grindstone turned by hand, in every turner's and knife-grinder's foot-lathe, and in every potter's wheel. It was one of the commonest, as it must have been one of the oldest, of mechanical expedients. "The true inventor of the crank rotative motion," said Watt, "was the man who first contrived the common foot-lathe: applying it to the engine was THE CRANK AS APPLIED IN THE like taking a knife to cut FOOT-LATHE. cheese which had been made to cut bread." Though Watt had become very reserved, especially to strangers, about his inventions, he could not altogether keep from the knowledge of his workmen the contrivances on which his thoughts were occupied. He was under the necessity of employing them to make patterns after his drawings, from which any ingenious man might readily apprehend what he was aiming at. 1 Watt had made use of the crank denser, I laid aside the spiral wheels at a very early period. Thus we find because of the noise and thumping, him writing to Dr. Small on the 20th and substituted a crank: in other September, 1769, —" As to the con- respects it performed well enough." 288 "S8CENE AT THE " WAGGON AN) HOISES." CHAP. XVA. The Sollo workmlen wTere naturally curious about the new inventions and adaptations which \Watt was constantly producing, and these usually formled the subject of conversation at their by-hours. While the model of the crank engine was tunder construction at Soho in the summler of 1780, a number of the workmen met one Saturday evening, according to custom, to drink together at the "WaTggon and Horses," a little oldfashioned, low-roofed, roadside public-lhouse, still standing 1N\TEIllOIt 0t' 91F E "T \VAGGON AND JHORSES." [By Itercival Skelto.] in the village of iHanldsworth. The men were seated round the little kitchen-parlour, talking about their work, and boasting, as men will do over their beer, of the new and wonderful things which they were carryhing forward in the shops. Dick Cartwright, the pattern maker, was one of the loudest of the party. He was occupied upon a mLodel for the purpose of producing rotary miotion, which he declared would prove one of' the best things Mr. Watt had ever brought out. The other len were curious to know all about it, and to illustrate the action of the machine, Cartwrighlt pro CHAP. XV. MATTHEW WASHBOROUGH. 289 ceeded to make a rude sketch of the crank upon the wooden table with a bit of chalk. A person who sat in the kitchen corner in the assumed garb of a workman, drank in greedily all that the men had been saying; for there were many eavesdroppers constantly hanging about Soho, some for the purpose of picking up surreptitious information, and others to decoy away skilled workmen who were in the secrets of the manufacture. Watt himself had never thought of taking out a patent for the crank, not believing it to be patentable; but the stranger aforesaid had no such hesitation, and it is said he posted straight to London and anticipated Watt by securing a protection for the contrivance.' Watt was exceedingly wroth when he discovered the trick which had been played him, and he suspected that Matthew Washborough was at the bottom of it. Washborough was a Bristol mechanic, who carried on several branches of mechanical trade, amongst others that of clock-making on a large scale. Watt had employed Washborough to make nozzles for several of the Cornish engines, but was not satisfied with his work; for we find him writing to his partner, " If Washborough makes no better engifnes than he does eduction-pipes, he will soon be blown: the Wheal Union pipe is the worst job you ever saw, being worse than Forbes's, which was very bad; I scarce know what to do with it." It would appear from this that Washborough had begun to make engines, thereby turning to account the knowledge he had acquired in Cornwall. One of the first he made was for the purpose of driving the lathes of his own manufactory at Bristol; and it affords a clear proof of Washborough's ingenuity that in this engine he employed both the fly-wheel and the crank. He has been styled 1 The invention was patented by employing it in the engine invented James Pickard, a Birmingham button- by him for securing circular motion. maker, on the 23rd August, 1780 Washborough's own patent has no re(No. 1263). Matthew Washborough ference to the crank, though he is usuof Bristol arranged with Pickard for ally named as the inventor of it. U 290 WATT AND THE CRANK. CHAP. XV. the inventor of the fly-wheel, but he was no more its inventor than he was of the crank; the Irish Professor Fitzgerald having proposed to employ it as part of a Papin's engine as early as the year 1757. Washborough shortly after erected an engine after the same plan for a manufacturer on Snow Hill, Birmingham; and then, it was that Watt learned that he had been " bolted out," as he termed it, from making use of the crank. At first he was puzzled what to do to overcome the difficulty, but his prolific mind was rarely at a loss, and before many months were over he had contrived several other methods for effecting rotary motion. "I dare not, however," he wrote to Boulton, "make my new scheme, lest we be betrayed again; I believe we had best take the patent first." At the same time Watt was persuaded that no contrivance could surpass the crank' for directness, simplicity, and efficiency. He was therefore desirous, if possible, of making use of it in his rotative engine, as originally proposed; and he wrote to Boulton, then at Redruth, "I think you ought to call upon Washborough as you return, and let him know that we will dispute his having an exclusive right to those cranks."2 Boulton called upon Washborough accordingly, and gave him notice to this effect. But Watt hesitated to use the crank after all. Although the contrivance was by no means new, its application to the steam-engine was new; and, notwithstanding the unfair way in which Pickard had anticipated him, Watt did not like to set the example of assailing a patent, however disputable, as it might furnish a handle to those who were at the time seeking to attack his At a later date we find him writing then all our own machines of that to his partner thus:-" 1 cannot agree kind will be of no use, and I am conwith Mr. Palmer's notion about the vinced that the crank can be made crank engine, as, though a crank is not their superior."-Watt to Poulton, new, yet that application of it is new 15th October, 1781. and'never was practised except by us. 2 Watt to Boulton, 19th November, It is by no means our interest to 1780. demolish the crank patent, because CHAP. XV. WATT'S OPINION OF WASHBOROUGH. 291 own. The proposal was made to him that he should allow the Washborough Company to use his steamengine in exchange for their allowing him to use the crank; but this he positively refused to agree to, as he felt confident in yet being able to produce a circular motion without employing the crank at all. Thus matters stood until the beginning of the year 1781, when Washborough, having entered into an arrangement with the Commissioners of the Navy to erect an engine for grinding flour at the Deptford Victualling Yard,' a formal application was made to Boulton and Watt to apply their engine for the purpose. Watt protested that he could not bring himself to submit to such an indignity. If the Commissioners thought proper to employ him to erect the necessary engine, rotative motion, and machinery, he would exert every faculty which God had given him in doing so, but he "would never consent to hold the candle to Washborough." " Had I esteemed him," he wrote to Boulton, " a man of ingenuity and the real inventor of the thing in question, I should not have made any objection; but, when I know that the contrivance is my own, and has been stolen from me by the most infamous means, and, to add to the provocation, a patent been surreptitiously obtained for it, I think it would be descending below the character of a man to be found in any way aiding or assisting him in his pretended invention.... I think, therefore, that you should propose to the Honourable Board to undertake the direction of the whole; and, provided you can agree with them about the customary premium 1 Boulton and Watt were by this to the work of ten men for ten hours, time employing their engine for a like and these mills may be made very.purpose, as appears from a letter of much more powerful than any waterBoulton to S. Wyatt, dated 28th mills in England." To Mr. Henderson February, 1781, in which he says, — he wrote at the same date: —" I make "We are now applying our engines to no scruple to say but that I could all kinds of mills, such as corn mills, readily build a more powerful and in rolling iron and copper, winding coals every respect better copper-rolling mill out of the pit, and every other purpose by steam than any water-mill now in to which the wind or water mill is England. As soon as the Cornish applicable. In such applications, one engines are at work, I intend to turn hundred weight of coals will produce millwright and make our steam-mills as much mechanical power as is equal universally known." u2 292 SMEATON REPORTS AGAINST STEAM POWER. CHAP. XV. for the savings by our engine, you should do the whirligig part [the rotative motion] for love. If this proposal should not be accepted, I beg of you to decline having any concern with it, and leave the field clear to Washborough. We may perhaps gain more by so doing than we can lose, as I assure you I have a very mean opinion of the mechanical abilities of our opponents. They have committed many gross errors in such of their works as I have had occasion to know about, and we may get honour by rectifying their mistakes. Perhaps this may seem to you to savour of vanity. If it does, excuse it on account of the very provoking circumstances which have extorted the confession. If these engineers had let us alone, I should not have meddled with them; but, as it is, I think we should be wanting in common prudence if we suffered a marriage between our machine and theirs, and if we did not do all we could to strip them of their borrowed feathers, which I hope there is justice enough left in England to enable us to do." 1 Boulton acted on his partner's advice, and declined the proposed connexion. The Navy Board were placed in a dilemma by this decision. They then referred the matter to Mr. Smeaton, and requested him to report to them as to the most suitable plan of a flour-mill, and the steam-engine best calculated to drive it. To the great surprise of Watt as well as Washborough, Smeaton reported that both their engines were alike 1 Watt to Boulton, 21st April, 1781. action because a servile prudence may On the following day (the 22nd dictate it. If a king were to think April) Watt wrote another long letter Matt Washborough a better engineer to Boulton on the same subject. than me, I should scorn to undeceive His mind could not be at rest, him. I should leave that to Matthew. and he thus unburdened himself rl'he connexion would be stronger as of his indignation:-" If you find the evidence would be undeniable. So yourself so circumstanced, as you much for heroics!.... I will never say you are, that you dare not refuse meanly sue a thief to give me my [to erect the proposed engine for the own again, unless I have nothing left Navy Board], then let them pay M. behind. As it now stands, I have Washborough and have done with him, enough left to make their patent and let the engine be erected under tremble, and shall leave no mechanical our direction or Mr. Smeaton's. With stone unturned to aggrieve them. I the latter I will go hand in hand; nay will do more. I will publish my I will do more-I will submit to him inventions, by which means they will in all mechanical matters; but I will be entirely precluded, because they by no means submit to go on with must be fools indeed that will pay thieves and puppies, whose knowledge them for what they can have for and integrity I contemn. Though I nothing. I am very ill with a headam not so saucy as many of my coun- ache, therefore can write no more than trymen, I have enough of innate pride passion dictates." to prevent me from doing a mean CHAP. XV. ROTARY-MOTION ENGINE. 293 unsuited for such a purpose. "I apprehend," he said, "that no motion communicated from the reciprocating lever of a fire-engine can ever produce a perfect circular motion, like the regular efflux of water in turning a water-wheel!" This report relieved the Commissioners. They abandoned their scheme, and the order for Washborough's engine was at once countermanded.' So soon as Watt had got fairly settled at Cosgarne, in the summer of 1781, he proceeded to work out the plan of a rotary-working engine. Boulton was making experiments with the same object at Soho, communicating to him the results from day to day. He was stimulated to prosecute the inquiry by the applications which he received from many quarters for steam-engines suitable for driving mills. He therefore urged Watt to complete the invention, and to prepare the drawings and specification, declaring his readiness at any time to provide the money requisite for taking out a patent. " The people in London, Manchester, and Birmingham," said he, "are steam-mill mad. I don't mean to hurry you, but I think that in the course of a month or two we should determine to take out a patent -for certain methods of producing rotative motion from the vibrating or reciprocating motion of the fire-engine, —remembering that we have four months in which to describe the particulars of the invention."2 Watt proceeded to put his ideas in a definite shape as fast as his bad health and low spirits would allow. Every now and then a fit of despair came upon him about his liability to the bankers, and so long as it lasted he was unmanned, and could do nothing. At the very 1 Washborough was much mortified off in October, 1781, when only in by the decision of the Navy Board, his 28th year. He was unquestionand alleged that he had been badly ably a young man of much ingeused by them. The anxieties occa- nuity and merit, and had he lived sioned by his failure, and the pecu- would have achieved high eminence niary losses he had sustained, preyed and distinction as an engineer. heavily upon his mind, and he was 2 Boulton to Watt, 21st June, seized by a fever which carried him 1781. 294 WATT AND BOULTON'S CARES. CHAP. XV. time that Boulton was writing the letter last quoted, Watt was thus bewailing his unhappy lot: " When I executed the mortgage," said he, " my sensations were such as were not to be envied by any man who goes to death in a just cause; nor has time lessened the acuteness of my feelings.... I thought I was resigning in one hour the fruits of the labour of my whole life, —and that if any accident befell you or me, I should have left a wife and children destitute of the means of subsistence, by throwing away the only jewel Fortune had presented me with... These transactions have been such a burden upon my mind that I have become in a manner indifferent to all other things, and can take pleasure in nothing until my mind is relieved from them; and perhaps, from so long a disuse of entertaining pleasing ideas, never may be capable of receiving them any more."' Boulton made haste to console his partner, and prornised to take immediate steps to relieve his mind of the anxiety that weighed so heavy upon it; and he was as good as his word. At the same time he told Watt that he must not suppose he was the only man in the world who had cares and troubles to endure. Boulton himself had, perhaps, more than his share, but he tried to bear them as lightly as he could. With his heavy business engagements to meet, his large concerns to keep going, he was not a man much to be envied; yet he continued to receive his visitors as usual at Soho, and to put on a cheerful countenance. "I am obliged," he wrote, "to smile, to laugh, to be good-humoured, sometimes to be merry, and even go to the play! Oh, that I were at the Land's End! " Such was his playful way of reminding Watt of the necessity of cheerfulness to enable one to get through work pleasantly.2 But Watt's temperament was wholly dif1 Watt to Boulton, 21st June, bankers and get the account reduced 1781. to an advance of 12,0001., and thus 2 While Boulton spoke good hu- obtain Mr. Watt's release, he commouredly to his partner in Cornwall plained of the distress which the comwith the object of cheering him up, munications of the latter had caused he privately unbosomed himself to his him. He thought his conduct unfriend Matthews in London. When generous, taking all the circumstances requesting him to call at once on the into account, and considering that the CHAP. XV. ATTEMPTED EVASIONS OF PATENT. 295 ferent. His philosophy never rose to the height of taking things easy. He could not cast his cares behind him, nor lose sight of them; but carried them about with him by day, and took them to bed with hint at night; thus making life a sort of prolonged vexationa daily and nightly misery. But a new and still more alarming source of anxiety occurred to disturb the mind of poor Watt, and occasion him many more sleepless nights. The movement to abolish the patent by repeal of the Act of Parliament having broken down, attempts were now made in many quarters to evade it by ingenious imitations, in which the principle of Watt's engine was adopted in variously disguised forms. But to do this successfully would have required an inventive faculty almost as potent as that of Watt himself; and he had drawn the specification of his patent too carefully to be easily broken through by the clumsy imitators who made the attempt. It was, however, only natural that the success of the new engine should draw the attention of ingenious mechanics to the same subject. Watt had drawn a great'prize, and why should not they? though they little knew the burden of sorrow which his prize had brought upon him. They only knew of the large annual dues — probably exaggerated by the tongue of rumour-which were being paid to the patentees for the use of their engines; and they not unnaturally sought to share in the good fortune. There might possibly be other mechanical firm were within a year of being by the same rule I ought not to tolerably easy in money matters. neglect mine. His wife's fortune "When I xeflect," he wrote, " on his joined to his own did not amount to situation in 1772 and my own at that sixpence: my wife brought me in time, and compare them with his and money and land 28,0001. I advanced mine now, I think Iowe him little... him all he wanted without a security, I some time ago gave him a security but in return he is not content with of all my two-thirds, after paying off an ample security for advancing L. V. and W. [the bankers 1, from nothing at all but what he derived which you may judge how little from his connexion with me."reason he has to complain. He talks Boulton to Matthews, 28th June, of his duty to his wife and children; 1781. Boulton MSS. 296 THE I{ORNBLOWER FAMILY. CHAP. XV. methods by which the same objects were to be accomplished, without borrowing from Watt; at all events it was worth trying. Hence the number of mechanical schemers who made their appearance almost simultaneously in all parts of the country, and the number of new methods of various kinds contrived by them for the production of motive power. Watt was very soon informed of the schemes which were on foot in his immediate neighbourhood-much too soon for his peace of mind. He.at once wrote to his partner: "Some Camborne gentlemen (supposed to be Bonze and Trevithick) have invented a new engine which they say beats ours two-thirds, and one of the partners has gone to London to procure a patent for it. A. Mr. Vice says he has also invented a new engine, and that they have stolen his and compounded it with ours; he intends to take out a caveat against them." Though Bonze was an excellent engineer, and elicited the admiration of Watt himself, it turned out that he had no concern with the new invention. Its projectors proved to be the Hornblowers, also engineers of considerable local repute. Watt had befriended the family, and employed them in erecting his engines, by which means they became perfectly familiar with their construction and mode of action. Jonathan Hornblower had a large family of sons, of whom Jabez, Jesse, Jethro, and Jonathan were engineers, like their father. Jabez, one of the cleverest, had spent some time in Holland, from whence he had returned with some grand scheme in his head for carrying out an extensive system of drainage in that country. Like his father and the other sons, he was employed in erecting Watt's engines,2 which had the effect of directing his 1 Watt to BoultoU, 24thk Jue, 1781. 177T8) —" Capt. Paxl hkas trUned 2 Watt befriended Jabez like the Jabez adrift, having for some time other members of his family, as ap- taken umbrage at him because he pears from the following passage in a would do his work well and therefore letter to Boulton (6th September, expensively. Jabez has a bad wife, is CHAP. XV. THE HORNBLOWERS' ENGINE. 297 attention to the invention of a new power which should supersede that of his employer. It was for some time doubtful what was the precise character of the new engine. Indeed the Hornblowers themselves long remained undecided about its actual form, being still in the throes of invention. They knew that they must copy discreetly, so as not to lay themselves too open to attack; and though they urged the superiority of their engine so strongly as to induce several of the mining companies to believe in them, and even to withhold orders from Boulton and Watt, they refrained as yet from publishing their invention. Watt wrote to his partner that he understood the Hornblowers' engine was on some new principle, and the only novelty he could think of was a caloric air-engine. He therefore asked Boulton to make all the inquiries he could as to the respective bulks and prices per 1000 feet of all possible kinds of air in their most expanded states. "I am much vexed," he continued, " by this affair. Jabez does not want abilities: the rest are fools. If they have really found a prize, it will ruin us..... Bankruptcy might ensue to both. But I don't fear getting my bread independent of engines, though much easier with them."' Watt was, however, in error as to the nature of the Hornblowers' engine, which he discovered three days later, when he wrote Boulton, — "The matter is this: Ever since the ungrateful, idle, insolent Hornblowers knew anything about our engines, they have laboured poor and unhappy. He is very clever, blower has disobliged Mr. Daniel. I a good engineer, and industrious, have my fears they will not employ though he seems not to have the him; but when our own business is faculty of conciliating people's affec- sealed to-morrow, I will make a push tions. I fear he will go to Holland, and in his favour. That family hath not as he can hurt us [there being no patent been successful in conciliating the for the engine secured there] I must affections of the people in this neightry to get him bread here." Later, bourhood." Boulton wrote Watt from Redruth 1 Watt to Boulton, 16th July, (18th November, 1780), —" Old Horn- 1781. 298 WATT AND THE' "HORNERS." CHAP. XV. to evade our Act, and for that purpose have long been possessed of a copy of our specification. They made an attempt at Wheal Maid two years ago, by connecting two cylinders together and injecting into one of them, which did not succeed, although they had gathered together numbers of their friends in order to make a great exhibition. Since that, Jonathan the coppersmith, who, like Alexander of the like trade, hath done me much evil, has laboured close at some more successful evasion, which he says he has now completed and taken a patent for, —concerning which I hear as follows from public reports, propagated by Jethro's confidants: —lst. That Jonathan Hornblower is the inventor and patentee; that Winwood, Jones and Company, of Bristol, are his partners and supporters with money (that Winwood was lately in this country on a sleeveless errand is certain); that they have made their model work to 14 lbs. on the inch, and expect it will work to 18 lbs. 2ndly. That they press the piston down by steam, and maintain they have a right to do so, because, say they, it can be proved that such was done before my patent. I suppose by this they allude to Gainsborough's bauble, which, bythe-by, was after the patent. If they do not mean this I am at a loss, as I now declare that I do not know of any one having done it before the patent except myself. However, it behoves us to inquire into this, and if the exhibition was not a public one it avails not. 3rdly. That they pretend to condense the steam in the cylinder; but I have heard that they do it in a separate vessel within the cylinder, or close to it. 4thly. That they do not use an air or water pump, from which I conjecture that they let the hot water down the shaft by a pipe more than 30 feet long, as you know I proposed but had several objections to. You will remember, and I dare say Joseph and Peploe also do, that we made the 18-inch Soho cylinder work by blowing the hot water out of the eductionpipe and used no air-pump, but found a waste of steam by so doing. There is also some confused report about a wheel being employed on their engine, which makes me suspect that M. Washborough may be the Bristol man concerned with them."' Two days later Watt wrote,-" My principal hope is that almighty Nature will prove Lord Chancellor, and put a negative on their scheme. Amen, so be it! I abhor lawsuits, and reckon a cause half lost that is litigated." On the 23rd of July he returned to the subject:"The Horners," said he, "continue bragging of what they are to Watt to Poulton, 19th July, 1781. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XV. MORE INVENTORS. 299 do, and I hear the country in general takes part with them, as even the aversion they have to the Horners does not equal the pleasure they would feel at our undoing..... The Horners say they can make a common engine equal to ours, but that their new engine is one-third better. We must now attend to making use of all the elastic power of the steam, which, unless I am much deceived, will save one-half over our best engines, and at any rate it may easily be applied to work the condenser, which will save about one-eighth. I will not conceal from you that I am rendered very unhappy by one thing and another, but fight with it all I can." In the mean time Boulton continued to urge Watt to complete the specification and drawings of his rotative engine, informing him of the success of the model which he had now completed at Soho: "Though you studied a thousand years," said he, "I do not think you could make one ten per cent. better than a small model with two cones which Joseph has executed after my drawings. It has little friction, goes sweeter than anything of the kind you have yet touched, and has not the least shake. It is so perfect that I don't consider it worth while even to think of any other for horizontal motions. I am therefore positively decided in my mind as to the necessity of taking out a patent and including in it all the principles and constructions you please; for if it be not secured soon we may lose it." In the same letter, Boulton communicated to Watt the rumours that had reached him from Scotland of more inventions of engines that were to beat Watt's out of the field. "The cry is still, they come!" said he. "iHatley from Scotland is going with Lord Dunmore to Virginny; says that he and somebody else in Scotland have invented an engine that is three times better than yours." Boulton to Watt, 28th June, model made by Joseph that I am now 1781. On the 3rd July following he ashamed to send the little one. The writes, —" The great rotative engine great model makes a delightful horiis finished, and I expected the union zontal foot - lathe. I gave it a few between it and the little engine would strokes with my foot, and it made 30 have been performed this evening, but revolutions after I withdrew it, and it can't be till to-morrow. Robert set that in a quiet and peaceable manner, the elliptic out so true that it had no which shows how steady and frictionshake and required no alteration. It less it is." goes so much better than the little 300 WATT'S NEW INVENTIONS. CHAP. XV. Boulton recommended that a search should be made at the Patent-Office, to ascertain what was going on in new engine patents. Watt entirely approved of this, and urged that the search should be made at once. "I do not think we are safe a day to an end," he wrote, "in this enterprising age. One's thoughts seem to be stolen before one speaks them. It looks as if Nature had taken an aversion to monopolies, and put the same thing into several people's heads at once to prevent them; and I begin to fear that she has given over inspiring me, as it is with the utmost difficulty that I can hatch anything new." Notwithstanding this confession on the part of Watt, his inventive faculties were really never at any period of his life more vigorous than now; for he was rapidly maturing his rotative engine, with its various ingenious methods for securing circular motion; and working out the details of the double-cylinder expansion engine, with its many admirable contrivances hereafter to be described. Boulton continued to receive applications at Soho, from various quarters, for engines capable of working flour-mills and other machinery, and Watt himself was urged by like inquiries from manufacturers in Cornwall. "Mr. Edwards," he wrote Boulton, "waits impatiently the success of our rotative machine. He wants a power able to lift a hammer of 700 lbs., 2 feet high, 120 times per minute..... In relation to the circular engine, an experiment should be made on a large scale, and to work a hammer. I want your ideas on that head.".' A fortnight later, Watt had matured his own ideas, and made the necessary declaration of his invention before a magistrate, preliminary to making the usual application for a patent.2 Watt to Boulton, 5th July, 1781. or reciprocating motion of steam or 2 "4 Yesterday I went to Penryn and fire engines to produce a continued roswore that I had invented' certain tation or circular motion round an new methods of applying the vibrating axis or centre, and thereby to give CHAP. XV. BOULTON ENCOURAGES WATT. 301 Watt was exceedingly busy about this time in superintending the erection of new engines. No fewer than twelve were in progress in different parts of the county. As he travelled about from one mine to another on horseback, and spent a good deal of his time in the open air, his mind was diverted from preying upon itself according to his ordinary habit, and his health and spirits improved accordingly. Boulton was equally busy at Soho, where he was erecting a powerful engine for blowing the furnaces at Walker's ironworks at Rotherham, and another for Wilkinson's forges at Bradley, in which he proposed to employ a double cylinder, with a double crankl and a pair of fly-wheels. At intervals he went into Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Shropshire, to look after various other engines in progress; writing Watt cheerful letters as to the improving prospects of the firm. He found the steam-engine everywhere gaining in public estimation. "The more it is known," he wrote, " the more it will be in demand. As to the scheme of the Hornblowers, they shall sooner press me down into the earth than they shall press down a piston with steam." And again, " Give yourself no uneasiness about the Horners' engine. Our title to the invention is as clear as can be; and it is as well secured as an Act of Parliament can make it" Doubt that the sun is fire, Doubt all the powers of sight, Doubt truth to be a lyer, But never doubt our right." Watt's first surmise, that the Hornblowers intended to work their engine by heated air or gas, had set Boulton upon a series of inquiries and experiments on motion to the wheels of mills or other making use of the cranks. " In relamachines,' which affidavit and petition tion to Wilkinson's forges, I wish you I transmit to Mr. Hadley by this post would execute them without the with directions to get it passed with double crank. We shall soon have a all due expedition."-Watt to Boulton, bad enough lawsuit on our hands 26th July, 1781. without it."-Watt to Boulton, 19th 1 Watt suggested caution as to July, 1781. 302 SUSPECTED AIR-ENGINE. CHAP. XV the subject, in which he was assisted by Dr. Priestley, who had shortly before settled in Birmingham, and was a willing co-operator in all investigations of this nature. Their object was to ascertain whether it was practicable to produce mechanical power by the absorption and condensation of gas on the one hand, and by its disengagement and expansion on the other. "What you propose," Watt wrote, "is exceeding probable, and akin to what I have long contemplated —the use of mixed air and steam, which have a wonderful expansion and contraction. Nevertheless, I fear that there is in all such cases a proportional assumption of latent heat; but be it tried though it be beginning a new series of vexations and expense..... I suspect that a forcible compression would hinder the gas from separating from the water, and on the contrary any tolerable degree of vacuum would hinder the water from attracting it; but perhaps part of both may be used.... My greatest hope is in the expansive engine with double or single cylinder, which I consider as proved by many facts, and shall send you my ideas of the execution of it very soon. At the same time I am clear to take the air patent, which, as I have worded the petition, may include some other improvements on the steamengine.... I hope my last letters have relieved you, as the knowledge of the Horners' being a steam-engine working on our principle relieved me. I have some trust in the judges, though I have little in the law; and I think impartial people will regard us as injured persons, and not suffer the thief of our horse to escape because he has painted him of another colour." Watt's fears for his patent were about this time excited anew by the great Arkwright trial, in which Arkwright was nonsuited, and compelled to forego the rights derived from his improvements and combinations of spinning-machinery. The principal ground on which the patent was set aside was that the specification was unintelligible. On this, Watt observed, — "Though I do not love Arkwright, I don't like the precedent of ] Watt to Boulton, 28th July, " there is nothing to be feared from 1781. A few days later Boulton any of the tribe of gases, which cannot wrote Watt that Dr. Priestley had pro- be produced nearly so cheap as steam; ceeded with the experiments, and that and as to steam you know its limits he had come to the conclusion that better than any man." CHAP. XV. WATT'S FEARS FOR HIS PATENT. 303 setting aside patents through default of specification. I fear for our own. The specification is not perfect according to the rules lately laid down by the judges. Nevertheless, it cannot be said that we have hid our candle under a bushel. We have taught all men to erect our engines, and are likely to suffer for our pains.... I begin to have little faith in patents; for, according to the enterprising genius of the present age, no man can have a profitable patent but it will be pecked at, and no man can write a specification of a fireengine that cannot be evaded, if the words and not the true intent and meaning be attended to. As kissing goes by favour, and as, in dubious cases, men are actuated by their prejudices, so, where a blue is very like a green they may decide either way."' Watt continued to be alarmed by the rumours of the forthcoming Hornblowers' engine. " I have heard," he wrote, "that a female confidant of Jonathan's has seen the engine, and says that they evaporate half a hogshead of water with one ounce of coals!... that in a few days they are to publish in print what their invention is, illustrated with a copper-plate. Then we shall see and admire, if God pleaseth; I hope we shall not believe and tremble." Later he wrote, -"Our cause is good, and yet it has a bad aspect. We are called monopolists, and exactors of money firom the people for nothing. Would to God the money and price of the time the engine has cost us were in our pockets again, and the devil might then have the draining of their mines in place of me. Yet all are not alike. Some are just, and I believe do not grudge us, 1 Watt to Boulton, 30th July, In my opinion his patent should not 1781. Later he wrote,-" I am tired have been invalidated without it had of making improvements which by clearly appeared that he did not invent some quirk or wresting of the law the things in question. I fear we may be taken from us, as I think shall be served with the same sauce has been done in the case of Ark- for the good of the public! and in wright, who has been condemned that case I shall certainly do what he merely because he did not specify threatens. This you may be assured quite clearly. This was injustice, of, that we are as much envied here because it is plain that he has given as he is at Manchester, and all the this trade a being-has brought his bells in Cornwall would be rung at invention into use and made it of our overthrow."-Watt to Boulton, great public utility. Wherefore he 13th August, 1781. deserved all the money he has got. 304 THE HORNBLOWERS' INVENTION. CHAP. XV. and some are friendly. All this is to no purpose. The law must decide whether we have property in this affair or not, and we must submit to what we cannot help." At length Watt learnt the precise nature of the Hornblowers' invention. "It is no less," he wrote Boulton, "than our double-cylinder engine, worked upon our principle of expansion." This was an old idea of Watt's, which he had pursued while labouring upon his model at Kinneil. "It is fourteen years," he said, "since I thought of the double-cylinder engine, and I think that I mentioned it to Mr. Smeaton, when I explained the expansion engine to him in your parlour, some years ago. Winm. Murdock and Mr. Henderson can testify to my having mentioned it to them; but this of the Horners seems to be a different thing, being hung on the same beam." 2 As early as May, 1769, he had communicated to Dr. Small a clear and explicit description of his method of working steam expansively; and he adopted the principle in the Soho engine, in 1778, as well as in the Shadwell engine erected in the same year. He was, however, prevented carrying it out extensively in practice by the inexpertness of the workmen. " Though the effect of the steam," he explained to a correspondent, " is thereby increased 50 per cent. (by theory 100 per cent.), it cannot be done without rendering the machine more complicated than we wish; and simplicity is a most essential point in mechanics. There are other contrivances known to us which would increase the effect in an inferior degree, say from one-fourth to onesixth, but they are all attended with peculiar inconveniences which forbid their use until the illiterate and obstinate people who are intrusted with the care of the engines become more intelligent and better acquainted with the machine." 3 1 Watt to Boulton, 13th November, 1791. 1781. 3 Watt to Samuel Ewer, jun., 9th 2 Watt to Boulton, 19th November, July, 1781. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XV. WATT GOES ON INVENTING. 305 Though suffering much from his usual headaches, which frequently disabled him from thinking, Watt finished the drawings of the rotary engine in a week, and forwarded them to Boulton at Soho. "I believe," he said in a later letter, "a well-regulated expansiveengine is the ne plus ultra of our art." But he intimated that a new trouble had come upon him in the shape of another inventor of a steam-engine in which all the distinctive principles of his own invention were embodied. " If he be engine mad," said Watt, " and if it be agreeable to you, he shall have my share of them, provided he will come to my price. I wish to retire, and eat my cake in peace, but will not go without the cake. All mankind seem to have resolved to rob us. Right or wrong, they will pluck the meal from our mouths."l Boulton, on his next journey to London, called upon the alleged inventor, a Mr. Ewer, and declared to rWatt that the invention, so far as it was new, was not worth a farthing, and that all that was good in it was borrowed from their engine. "Though the white marks on your cow or your horse," said he, "may be changed to black, the cow and horse are not the less your property." He therefore counselled Watt to relieve himself of all anxiety on this account. Watt replied, "Ewer seems to have a genius more capable of inventing than of prudently examining the merits of his invention. Poets lose half the praise they would otherwise get did they but tell us what they discreetly blot. We must publish a book of blots." Meanwhile Watt went on inventing, even while he was complaining of his inability to invent, and of the uselessness of inventing. Invention had grown into a habit with him, which he could not restrain. In the very letter in which he wrote " It is of no use inventing — everybody is seizing upon our schemes," he commuWatt to Boulton, 30th August, 1781. X 306 A NEW CONTRIVANCE. CIIAP. XV. OLD'ENi:INE-HOUSE AT DALCOATIE. FBy R. P. Leitch.] nicated to Boulton that he had contrived a machine, then erecting at Dalcoath, for the purpose of stopping the engine when at full speed, when any accident happened to the rods or outside chains,-first taking away the power, and then holding the bob fast whenever it might be at the turn.' A few days later he communicated that he had contrived a new way of opening the regulators. He was also finishing his plan of the new equalising beam, and the double expansion engine, 1 Watt to Boulton, 30th August, but whenever the engine attempts to 1781. In a subsequent letter he ex- move quick, that valve shuts and all plained the invention as follows:- exit from the air is cut off, and it " The method I propose to stop an becomes a feather-bed to save the engine when the pump rods break blow of the engine. This is exeimpliis by means of an air bellows or fied by turning the valve-hole of a forcing pump of a good large diameter common bellows upwards and stopping fixed in the shaft and having a solid the nozzle, then working the bellows piston in it which is wrought con- first slowly and then quickly. I stantly by the engine and quite easily think this contrivance will be of great while it goes at its ordinary speed, use and may prevent damage, espebecause there is a large valve open cially those bangs which occur in in its bottom or rather top, which setting on an enlgir."-Watt to suffers the air to p)ass and repass easily; P3oulton, 27th September, 1781. CHAP. XV. WATT'S VARIOUS INVENTIONS. 307 which he requested might be proceeded with at once. "I have shown the equalising beam," said he, "to no person whatever. Please push it on. It is our dernier }ressort, and may perhaps be all that villany will leave us, and that not long." 1 Boulton wrote back, bidding his partner to be of good heart. "If our spirits don't fail us," said he, "I think our engine won't." At the same time Watt was inventing his new jointed top-working gear, which he reported answered exceedingly well with the Dalcoath engine; and, in pursuance of an idea thrown out by Boulton, he perfected the model of a horizontal-axled elliptical with one pulley, which he described as performing'a mierveille, being free from all untoward frictions. He was also busy inventing a new method of an equalising beam, by causing the gudgeon to change its place; and another by means of a roller acting upon a curve in the nature of the working gear. Besides his experiments in mechanics, he was prosecuting investigations as to the properties of nutgalls in combination with various chemical substances, for the purpose of obtaining the best kind of ink for use with his copying machines; and at another time we find him contriving various iron cements for joints, confessing that he had "lost all faith in putty;" the result of which was his discovery of the well-known metallic cement. In the correspondence between the partners on these various topics, we seem to see the ideas out of which so many inventions grew, in their various stages of birth, Boulton to Watt, 10th September, the purpose of equalising the power. 1781. Boulton immediately pro- I have removed the little portions into ceeded with the erection of the new the wooden house next the smith's engine as secretly as possible. " The shop, and have blinded the window principles of the expansion engine," and barred the door. There is a consaid he to Watt, "you had invented venient well that can be filled from before Dr. Small died, as Mr. Keir the back brook, and the engine may can testify as well as others. However, be applied to the raising of water, it is highly proper to execute every which is the best sort of load to calcukind of beam that can be devised for late from." x2 308 ILL HEALTH AND TEMPER. CHAP. XV. growth and development. They concealed nothing from each other, but wrote with the most perfect unreserve. Each improved on the other's ideas,-'Watt upon Boulton's, and Boulton upon Watt's; both experimenting on the same subject at the same time, and communicating the results in the most elaborate detail. The phrase often occurs in their letters: " I write thus fully that you may see exactly what is passing in mny mind." The letters were sometimes of extraordinary length, one of Boulton's (dated 25th September, 1781) extending to eight pages folio, closely written, containing upwards of 4000 words. Scarcely a day passed without their spending several hours in writing to each other. Boulton also kept up a correspondence with Mrs. Watt, in addition to his elaborate letters to her husband. The lady entered into various matters of personal interest, describing her occupations and domestic pursuits, and communicating the state of her husband's health, which was a matter of no less interest to Boulton than to herself. As the autumn set in with its fogs and rains, Watt's headaches returned with increased severity, and he repeatedly complained to Boulton of being " stupid and ill, and scarcely able to think." " I tremble," said he, " at the thought of making a complete set of drawings. I wish you could find me out a draughtsman of abilities; as I cannot stand it much longer."' Watt's temper was also affected by the state of his health; and he confessed that he felt himself not at all cut out for the work he had to do, so far as related to business: "I am not philosopher enough," he said, "to despise the ills of life; and when I suffer myself to get into a passion, I observe it hurts me more than it does anybody else. I never was cut out for business, and wish nothing so much as not to be obliged to do any; which perhaps W Watt to Boulton, 20th September, 1781. CHAP. XV. SUN AND PLANET MOTION. 309 will never fall to my lot; therefore I must drag on a miserable existence the best way I can."' Watt was very busy at this time in preparing the specification and drawings of the circular motion, which he said he found an extremely difficult job owing to the distracted state of his head. The letters patent for the invention had been secured on the 25th October, 1781, and he had four months allowed him in which to prepare and lodge the full description. He laboured at his work late and early, his mind being for months in the throes of invention. In the beginning of November we find him writing to Boulton, sending him the " first three yards of the specification," written out on folio sheets joined together. Watt's letters to his partner at this time contain numerous rough sketches of his proposed methods for securing circular motion without using the crank, from which he conceived himself to be in a measure precluded by Pickard's patent. He devised no fewer than five distinct methods by which this object might be accomplished, by means of wheels of various sorts rotating round an axis. The method eventually preferred was the one invented by Wm. Murdock, and commonly known as the sun and planet motion.2 "It has the singular property," said Watt, " of going twice round for each stroke of the engine, and may be made to go oftener round if required without additional machinery." macinery." SUN AND PLANET MOTWN. Rough sketches of these various methods were forwarded to Soho in order that the requisite careful drawings of them might be prepared in Watt to Boulton, 18th October, 1781. 2 Watt, in a letter to Boulton, dated the 3rd July, 1782, speaks of it 310 SUPERHEATING STEAM. CHAP. XV. time to be lodged with the specification; but when they reached Watt in Cornwall, he declared them to be so clumsily executed that he could not for very shame send them in; and though greatly pressed by mining business, and suffering from "backache, headache, and lowness of spirits," he set to work to copy them with his own hands. He worked up his spare time so diligently, that in ten days he had the plans finished and returned to Boulton, whom he wrote saying that he had improved the construction of several of the machines, and " got one copy of the specification drawing finished in an elegant manner upon vellum, being the neatest drawing he had ever made." The necessary measures being then taken to perfect the patent, it was duly enrolled on the 23rd February, 1782. During the time that Watt was busy completing the above specification and drawings, his mnind was full of other projects, one of which was the perfecting of his new expansive engine.2 It is curious to find him, in his letters to Boulton, anticipating the plan of superheating the steam before entering the cylinders, which has since been carried into effect with so much success. as an old plan of his own " revived matter of much consequence." and executed by William Murdock;" 1 Watt to Boulton, 26th Jan., 1782. but we were informed by the late 2 6" I have some time ago thought," Mr. Josiah Parkes, that at an inter- wrote Watt, "' of a new expansive view which he had with Mr. Watt at engine-a reciprocating engine with a Heathfield, at which Murdock was heavy circular fly moved by a pinion present, Murdock spoke of the Sun from the end of the beam, so as to and Planet motion as his invention, make three turns per down-stroke and which Watt did not contradict. as many contrariwise per return; so Boulton also attributed the invention that in the first half of the stroke it to Murdock, as appears from his letter may acquire a momentum which will to Henderson, dated 22nd January, carry it through the last half; and if 1782; in which he says,-"Mr. Watt's a weight equal to half the load be put packet is not ready. I am to wait till upon the inner end of the beam, and his drawings [of the rotatory motion] the engine be made to lift it during are completed, which he is executing the return, by making a vacuum himself. There was some informality above the piston and using a rack in those sent from Soho. Besides, he instead of a chain, a cylinder of the has another rotative scheme to add, present size may work to the same which I could have told him of long depth by half the steam; and I believe ago, when first invented by William the engine will work very sweetly."Murdock, but I did not think it a Watt to Boulton, 16th January, 1782. CHAP. XV. MORE COMPLAINTS OF WORKMEN. 311 By the middle of March he had sufficiently matured his ideas of a reciprocating expansive engine to enable him to take out letters patent, and the invention was enrolled on the 4th of July in the same year. It included the double engine and double-acting engine (steam pressing the piston upwards as well as downwards), the employment of steam on the expansive principle, various methods of equalising the power of the engine, the toothed rack and sector for guiding the piston-rod, and a rotative engine or steam-wheel. While perfecting these beautiful adaptations, Watt was often plunged in the depths of distress through many causes,-by sickness, headaches, and low spirits; by the pecuniary difficulties of the firm; by the repeated attempts of the Cornish miners to lower their dues; and by threatened invasions of his patent from all quarters. Another of his worries was the unsteadiness of his workmen. His letters to Boulton were full of complaints on this score. Excepting Wm. Murdock, who was in constant demand, there was scarcely one of them on whom he could place reliance. "We have very little credit, indeed," said he,' "in our Soho workmen. James Taylor has taken to dram-drinking at a most violent rate,-is obstinate, self-willed, and dissatisfied." And again, "Cartwright's engine has been a continued scene of botching and blunders. J. Smith and the rest are ignorant, and all of them must be looked at daily, or worse follows. Had I had any one man of common prudence and experience, who would have attended from morning till night, these things might have been avoided, and my life would have been more comfortable. As things are, it is much otherwise."' Three months later, matters had not mended. J. Smith is pronounced "a very slow hand," and " J. Taylor is sometimes three days together at the alehouse, except when he judged I Watt to Boulton, 20th September, 1781. 312 MURDOCK'S CONDUCT APPROVED. CHAP. XV. should be going my rounds..... Dick Cartwright also continues too much devoted to beer..... I have read all our men lectures upon industry and good hours, though I fear it will not be to much purpose; idleness is ingrained in their constitution." 1 Boulton wrote to him to "send home the most rascally of the Sohoites;" but this was impracticable, as better men to replace them were not at that time to be had. Things were quite as bad at Soho itself; for early in 1782 we find Boulton writing thus: "The forging-shop wants a total reformation; Peploe and others constantly drunk; spoke mildly to them at first, then threatened, and am now looking out for good hands, which are very scarce. William Murdock was by far the ablest and most efficient of the Soho men, and won golden opinions in all quarters; so much so, that he was in constant request. We find him described as "flying from mine to mine," putting the engines to rights. If anything went wrong, Murdock was immediately sent for. He was active, quick-sighted, shrewd, indefatigable, and an excellent workman. His wages, down to 1780, were only 20s. a week, and, thinking himself worth more, he asked for an advance to two guineas. Boulton, instead of refusing, adroitly managed to obtain a present of ten guineas from the owners of the United Mines, to which he added other ten, in acknowledgment of the admirable Watt to Boulton, 20th December, could not do without him. The next 1781. morning I went into the shop pre2 Boulton to Watt, 26th March, determined to part with him. I 1782. The following was Boulton's stopped the noise of bellows and method of dealing with a refractory and hammers, and appealed to the jury of drunken workman:-" I told you in the shop for the justice of my determy former letters how Jim Taylor mination, and made the best use I had gone on,-that I had talked to him could of the example. I sent Taylor in a friendly way but all to no purpose. off with deserved contempt, and to He came last Monday evening to the convince him that we really could do smith's shop, drank more ale, was without him. However we are very sent for, and he became abusive to much behind hand in nozzles."the men, saying we had nobody could Boulton to Watt, 19th April, work well but himself, and that we 1782. CHAP. XV. WANTED Al' WHEAL VIRGIN. 313 manner in which he had erected their new engine; Mr. Beauchamp, the Chairman of the Company, having publicly declared that "he regarded William as the most obliging and industrious workman he had ever known." Though Murdock's wages were not then raised, and though Bonze, the Cornish engineer —a man of means as well as of skill and experience-invited him to join in an engineering partnership, William remained loyal to the Boulton and Watt firm, and in due time he had his reward. Murdock's popularity with the Cornishmen increased so much that Watt seems to have grown somewhat jealous of him, for when William was to be had, they preferred him to Watt himself.' At Wheal Virgin, the adventurers insisted upon having him all to themselves; but this was not practicable, as there were other engines in progress requiring constant attention,Wheal Crenver, which Watt described as "in the enemy's country,. Pool hardly completed yet, and Dalcoath in its childhood." "I cannot now leave Wheal Virgin a single day," wrote Watt, "without running the risk of some vile blunder, particularly as the boilers are now setting. Win. Murdock was at Wheal Virgin one day this week, and that day was taken up with Mr. Wedgwood,2 so "To-day was account day at Watt to Boulton, 15th November, WVheal Virgin, when there was nothing 1781. remarkable, only that Mr. Phillips 2 One of the pleasantest events insisted upon William Murdock that occurred to Watt in the course being wholly at Wheal Virgin, which of his stay in Cornwall, was the visit I told him could not possibly be com- of Wedgwood, who had come to plied with, unless I went to C~renver inspect some of the mines in which, in his place, as I had nobody else on Boulton's recommendation, he had to send thither; nevertheless, that taken an interest, and at the same William should be here as much as time to search for clays for use in his possible.'This did not satisfy him, earthenware and porcelain manufacand I know not what to do, as Crenver ture at Etruria. "Mr. Wedgwood," will be ready to work in three weeks he wrote Boulton, "has been in this and must not be delayed...... I country some days hunting clays and think my personal attendance should soap rocks, cobalts, &c. I have had satisfy Wheal Virgin adventurers, but two visits of him at the expense of a as they seem to have more confidence day and a half. Nevertheless I don't in William, I will for peace's sake grudge that, as I am glad to see a yield to their will, being satisfied that Christian. He has just left me."William will do the business well."- Watt to Boulton, 18th October, 1781. 314 D)ESPONDENCY OF WVATT'. CHAP. XV. that it was partly lost. Yesterday he was taken away by Crenver people and is not returned. I fear I cannot get much of his help, and I assure you I need it much, for there cannot be a greater plague than to have five engines making by ignorant men and no helpmate to look after them. I have been tolerably well these few days, but cannot get up my spirits, from having too much to think upon." Combined with the troubles arising out.of the perversities, blunderings, and bad conduct of his workmen, Watt had also to struggle against torment of mind and body, aggravated by bad news from home. Boulton was in the crisis of his troubles with his partner Fothergill, from which he was desperately struggling to shake himself free.' Watt was made additionally miserable by the state of the bankers' account, which was still overdrawn to a very large amount. The bankers were urgent for repayment, but neither of the partners saw where the money was to come from. Watt again thought of giving up altogether, and selling his share of the business as the only means of relief which presented itself. " I am almost moved," he wrote, " if Lowe, Vere, and Williams will free me from any demands on my filture industry, to give up my present property altogether, and trust to Providence for my support. I cannot live as I am with any degree of comfort. The want of the superfluities of life is a trifle compared with continual anxiety. I do not see how you can pay L. V. & XV. 10001. per 1 Fothergill died insolvent in 1782. health so fervently as at present; for I Notwithstanding what he had suffered consider it my duty to act as a father by the connexion, Boulton acted with to that family to the best of my great generosity towards Fothergill's power, and the addition of a widow family, providing for his widow and and seven children is no small one." orphan children. " Whatever the Boulton was as good as his promises; conduct of any part of that family and he not only helped the Fothergill towards me may have been," said he, family through their difficulties, but "their present distresses turn every he undertook to pay an annual sum passion into tender pity. I waited (though under no obligation to do so) upon Mrs. Fothergill this morning, to a Mrs. Swellingrebel-a widowed and administered all the consolation lady from whom Fothergill had obthat words could give, but I must do tained money which he lost; and more, or their distresses will be great who, but for Boulton's generous help, indeed. I never wished for life and must have been left destitute. CHAP. XV. THE AGENT'S HOUSE ON FIRE. 315 quarter; I am sure it cannot be from the engine business, unless we can reduce the amount of our general expenses to 0 and live upon air ourselves..... Though you and I should entirely lose this business and all its profits, you will get quit of a burdensome debt; and as both of us lived before it had a being. so we may do afterwards. Therefore consider what can be done, and do it without reluctance, or with as little as you can; and depend upon it that I am sincerely your friend, and shall push you to nothing that I do not think to be for your advantage."' Two days later, while still in a heavily desponding humour, he wrote thus:"If matters were to come to the worst, many methods may be fallen upon whereby we may preserve some consequence in the world. A hundred hours of melancholy will npt pay one farthing of debt. Summon up your fortitute and try to turn your attention to business, and to correct the abuses at Soho..... All the idlers should be told that in case they persevere in want of attention, then dismission must ensue..... l'he Soho part of the business has been somehow a perpetual drain to us, and if it cannot be put on a better footing, must be cut off altogether by giving out the work to be done by others." 2 To add to their troubles, a fire broke out in the house of Boulton and Watt's London agent for the sale of their copying machines, and the building, with its contents, was burnt to the ground, thereby causing a loss to the firm of above a thousand pounds. The mining trade was also wretchedly bad in Cornwall, several of the more important mines being unproductive, while ore was selling at low prices. The adventurers were accordingly urging Watt to abate the agreed dues for the use of their engines, and in several cases threatened to close the mines unless he did so. The United Mines asked to be reduced 501. a month. Watt having refused to make the abatement, the mine was ordered to be stopped, on which he consented to give up the dues altogether for a period of six months. " There seemed," he wrote to Boulton, "to be no other course, if we Watt to Boulton, 16th March, 1782. 2 Watt to Poulton, 18th March, 1782. 316 WATT LEAVES CORNWALL. CHAP. XV. would maintain our right, and at the same time do justice to the poor people, who must otherwise absolutely starve, and are already riotously disposed through the stopping of Wheal Virgin."1 "In short," said he, "almost the whole county is against us, and look upon us as oppressors and tyrants, from whose power they believe the horned imps of Satan are to relieve them." Watt was indeed thoroughly sick of Cornwall, and longed to get back to Birmingham. He confessed he did not see how, under the present state of things, he could be of any more use there. The weather was very tempestuous, and he felt the fatigue of travelling from mine to mine too much for him to endure. On the 4tll of April he wrote, —" I returned from the coast to Cosgarne last night with an aching head, after a peregrination of two days in very stormy weather." "Upon the whole," he wrote to Boulton, "I look upon our present Cornish prospects as very bad, and would not have you build too much upon them nor upon the engine business, without some material change. I shall think it prudent to look out for some other way of livelihood, as I expect that this will be swallowed up in merely paying its burdens."2 Watt, accordingly, finding that he could do no more good in Cornwall, left it about the middle of April, and returned with an aching head and heavy heart to Birmingham. 1 Watt to Boulton, 27th March, 1782. 2 Watt to Boulton, 30th March, 1782. CHAP. XVI. IMPROVING PROSPECTS. 317 CHAPTER XVI. MORE DIFFICULTIES AND MORE INVENTIONS- BOULTON' AGAIN IN CORNWALL. THE battle of the firm had hitherto been all up-hill. Nearly twenty years had passed since Watt had made his invention. His life since then had been a constant struggle, and it was a struggle still. Thirteen years had passed since the original patent had been taken out, and seven since the Act had been passed for its extension. But the engine had as yet yielded no profit, and the outlay of capital continued. Notwithstanding Boulton's energy and resources, the partners were often in the greatest straits for money, and sometimes, as Saturday nights came round, they had to beat about among their friends for the means of paying the workmen's wages. Though Watt continued to imagine himself on the brink of ruin, things were not really so gloomy as he supposed. We find Boulton stating in a confidential letter to Matthews, that the dues payable on the pumping-engines actually erected in 1782 amounted to 43201. a year; and that when all the engines in progress had been finished, they would probably amount to about 90001. It is true, the dues were paid with difficulty by the mining interest, still in a state of great depression, but Boulton looked forward with confidence to better days coming round. Indeed, he already saw his way through the difficulties of the firm, and encouraged his doleful partner to hope that in the course of a very few years more, they would be rid of their burdens. 318 ROTARY ENGINES FOR MILLS. CHIAP. XVI. As Cornwall was, however, now becoming well supplied with pumping-engines, it became necessary to open up new branches of business to keep the Soho manufactory in full work. With this object, Boulton became more and more desirous of applying the engine to the various purposes of rotary motion. In one of his visits to Wales, in 1781, he had seen a powerful copper-rolling mill driven by water, and when told that its defect was that it was liable to be stopped in summer during drought, he immediately asked —" Why not use our engine? It goes night and day, summer and winter, and is altogether unaffected by drought." Immediately on his return home, he made a model of a steam rolling-mill, with two cylinders and two beams, connecting the power by a horizontal axis; and by the end of the year he had a steam forge erected at Soho on this plan. "It answers very well," he wrote to Matthews, "and astonishes all the ironmasters; for, although it is a small engine, it draws even more steel per day than a large rolling-mill in this neighbourhood draws by water." Mr. Wilkinson was so much pleased with it that he ordered one to be made on a large scale for the Bradley ironworks; and another was shortly after ordered for Rotherham. But the number of iron mills was exceedingly limited, and Boulton did not anticipate any large extension of business in that quarter. If, however, he could once get the rotary engine introduced as the motive power for corn and flour mills, he perceived that the demand would be considerable. Writing to Watt on the subject, he said, "When Wheal Virgin is at work, and all the Cornish business is in good train, we must look out for orders, as all our treaties are seemingly at an end, having none now upon the tapis. Trhere is no other Cornwall to be found, and the most likely line for increasing the consumption of our engines is the application of' them to mills, which is certainly an extensive field." CllAr. XVI. WA'TT ON ROTATIVES. 319 Watt, on his return to Birmingham from Cornwall, proceeded to embody his plan for securing rotary motion in a working engine, so that he might be enabled to exhibit the thing in actual work. He was stimulated to action by the report which reached his ears that a person in Birmingham had set agoing a self-moving steam rotator, in imitation of his, on which he exclaimed, "Surely the Devil of Rotations is afoot! I hope he will whirl them into Bedlam or Newgate."' Boulton, who had by this time gone to Cornwall for the winter, wrote to him fiom Cosgarne, "It is certainly expensive; but nevertheless I think, as we have so much at stake, that we should proceed to execute such rotatives as you have specified..... You should get a good workman or two to execute your ideas with despatch, lest they perish. The value of their wages for a year might be 1001., but it would be the means of our keeping the start that we now have of all others. But above all, there is nothing of more importance than the perfect completion of the double expansive reciprocating engine as soon as may be.2 Watt replied that he was busily occupied in getting the rotative motion applied to one of the Soho engines. "These rotatives," said he, "have taken up all my time and attention for months, so that I can scarcely say that I have done anything which can be called business. Our accounts lie miserably confused. We are going on in a very considerable weekly expense at Soho, and I can see nothing likely to be produced from it which will be an equivalent." Speaking of the prospect of further improvements, he added, "It is very possible that, excepting what can be done in improving the mechanics of' the engine, nothing much better than we have already done will be allowed by Nature, who has fixed,:a CZe plus ultra in most things." 3 W Vatt to Boulton, 19th Septemlber, 1782. P Ioulton to Watt, 28th Septellmber, 1782.:; Watt to lioultoll, 31(d Octobcr, 1782. 320 ALTERCATIONS WITH ADVENTURERS. CHAP. XV1. While thus hopelessly proceeding with the rotative engine, Watt was disquieted by the intelligence-which reached him from Boulton, as to the untoward state of affairs in Cornwall. At some of the most important mines, in which Boulton and Watt held shares, the yield had considerably fallen off, and the price of the ores being still very low, they had in a great measure ceased to be remunerative. Hence appeals were made to Boulton on all sides for an abatement of the engine dues. Unwilling to concede this, the adventurers proceeded to threaten him with the Hornblowers, whose engine they declared their intention of adopting. As, however, Boulton and Watt's engines were all going exceedingly well, and as the Hornblowers had not yet been able to get one of their boasted engines to work satisfactorily,' the adventurers hesitated for the present to take any overt steps in the matter. Boulton had a long and disagreeable battle to fight with the adventurers on this point, which lasted for many months, during which the Hornblowers continued to stimulate them with the agreeable prospect of getting rid of the dues payable in respect of the savings of fuel by the condensing engines. Boulton resisted' them at every point single-handed; the battle being, as he said, " Boulton and Watt against all Cornwall." 2 He kept Watt fully informed from day to day of all that passed, and longed for more rapid means of communi"c On my road to this place 30th September, 1782. (Cosgarne) I stayed two days at 2 "' I don't know a man in Cornwall Bristol in order to learn the particulars amongst the adventurers," he wrote, of Hornblower's new engine erected in " but what would think it patriotism that neighbourhood, and I had the to free the mines from the tribute satisfaction to find that it is worse they pay to us, and thereby divide than a common engine, although made our rights amongst their own dear upon our principles; but from the selves. Nevertheless, let us keep our various evasions introduced it is as tempers, and keep the firm hold we bad as need be. Nevertheless I have got; let us do justice, show think we should stop it in order to mercy and walk humbly, and all, I stop the effects of the numerous lies hope, will be right at last."they propagate in this county, and Boulton to Watt, 2nd November, other mischiefs."-Boulton to Watt, 1782. CHAP. XVI. BOULTON'S LIFE IN CORNWALL. 321 cation,-the postal service being then so defective that no less than thirteen days elapsed before Boulton, at Truro, could receive an answer from Watt at Birmingham. On one occasion we find Watt's letter eleven days on the road between the two places. The partners even had fears that their letters were tampered with in transit; and, in order to carry on their correspondence confidentially, Watt proposed to employ a shorthand alphabet, which he had learnt from Dr. Priestley, in which to write at least the names of persons, " as our correspondence," he observed, "ought to be managed with all possible secrecy, especially as to names." Boulton, as usual, led a very active life in Cornwall. Much of his time was occupied in riding from mine to mine, inspecting the engines at work, and superintending the erection of others. The season being far advanced, the weather was bad, and the roads miry; but, wet or dry, he went his rounds. In one of his letters he gives an account of a miserable journey home on horseback, on a certain rainy, windy, dark night in November, when he was " caught in water up to 12 hands." "It is very disagreeable," he adds, "that one cannot stay out till dark upon the most emergent business without risking one's life." But once at home he was happy. "The greatest comfort I find here," he says, "is in being shut out from the world, and the world from me. At the same time I have quite as much visiting as I wish for." One of his favourite amusements was collecting and arranging fossils, some for his friend Wedgwood, and others for his own " fossilry" at Soho. Boulton was well supported out of doors by William Murdock, now regarded as " the right hand" of the concern in Cornwall. "Murdock hath been indefatigable," he wrote Watt, "ever since they began [at Wheal Virgin new Engine]. He has scarcely been in bed or taken necessary food.... After slaving day and night on Thursday and Friday, a letter came from Wheal Virgin that he Y 322 MURDOCK AND THE MINERS. CHAP. XVI. must go instantly to set their engine to work or they would let out the fire. He went and set the engine to work: it worked well for the five or six hours he remained. He left it and returned to the Consolidated Mines about eleven at night, and was employed about the engines till four this morning, and then went to bed. I found him at ten this morning in Poldice Cistern, seeking for pins and casters that had jumped out, when I insisted on his going home to bed." l On one occasion, when an engine superintended by Murdock stopped through some accident occurring to it, the water rose in the mine, and the miners were drowned out. Upon this occurring, they came " roaring at him" for having thrown them out of work, and threatened to tear him to pieces. Nothing daunted, he went through the midst of the men, and proceeded to the invalided engine, which he succeeded in very shortly repairing and setting to work again. The miners were so rejoiced that they were carried by their feelings into the opposite extreme; and when he came out of the engine-house they cheered him vociferously, and insisted upon carrying him home on their shoulders in triumph! About this time, Boulton became increasingly anxious to ascertain what the Hornblowers were doing. They continued to brag of the extraordinary powers of the engine erected by them at Radstoke, near Bristol, whither he proposed to go, to ascertain its construction and qualities, as well as to warn the persons who were employing them as to the consequences of their infringing the existing patent. But he was tied to Cornwall by urgent business, and could not leave his post for a day. "During the forking of these two great mines,' said he, "I dare not stir two miles from the spot, and it will yet be six weeks before I regain my liberty."2 He determined, therefore, to send over James Law, a Soho man on whom he could rely, to Boulton to Watt, 30th September, 1782. 2 Poulton to Watson of Bristol, 7th November, 1782. CHTAP. XVI. WATT AT BRISTOL. 323 ascertain, if possible, the character of the new engine, and he also asked his partner Watt to wait upon the proprietors of Radstoke so soon as he could make it convenient to do so. Law accordingly proceeded- to Radstoke, and soon found out where the engine was; but as the Horners were all in the neighbourhood, keeping watch and ward over it turn and turn about, he was unable to see it except through the engine-house window, when it was not working. He learnt, however, that there was something seriously wrong with it, and that the engineers were considerably crestfallen about its performances. Watt proceeded to Bristol, as recommended by his partner, for the purpose of having a personal interview with Hornblower's employers. On his arrival, he found that Major Tucker, the principal partner, was absent; and though he succeeded in seeing Mr. Hill, another of the partners, he could get no satisfactory reply from him as to the intentions of the firm with respect to the new engine. Having travelled a hundred miles on his special errand, Watt determined not to return to Birmingham until he had seen the principal partner. On inquiry he found that Major Tucker had gone to Bath, and thither Watt followed him. At Bath he found that the Major had gone to Melcompton. Watt took a chaise and followed him. The Major was out hunting; and Watt waited impatiently at a little alehouse in the village till three o'clock, when the Major returned-" a potato-faced, chuckle-headed fellow, with a scar on the pupil of one eye. In short," said Watt, " I did not like his physiog." After shortly informing the Major of the object of his visit, who promised to bring the subject under the notice of his partners at a meeting to be held in about three weeks' time, Watt, finding that he could do no more, took his leave; but, before he left Bristol, he inserted in the local papers an advertisement, prepared by Boulton, cautioning the x 2 324 STEAM MILLS. CHAP. XVI. public against using the Hornblowers' engine, as being a direct infringement of their patent. For the present, indeed, there seemed but little reason to apprehend danger from the Hornblowers, whose engine was still undergoing alterations in detail, if not in principle; and it appeared doubtful, from the trials which had been made of it, whether it would ever prove an economical working engine. Watt then returned to Birmingham, to proceed with the completion of his rotary motion. Boulton kept urging that the field for pumping-engines was limited, that their Cornish prospects were still gloomy, and that they must very soon look out for new fields. One of his schemes was the applying of the steam-engine to the winding of coals. "A hundred engines at 1001. a year each," he said, " would be a better thing than all Cornwall." But the best field of all, he still held, was mills. "Let us remember," said he, "the Birmingham motto, to' strike while the iron is hot.'" Watt, as usual, was not so sanguine as his partner, and rather doubtful of the profit to be derived from this source. From a correspondence between him and Mr. William Wyatt, of London, on the subject, we find him discouraging the scheme of applying steamengines to drive corn-mills; on which Boulton wrote to Wyatt,"You have had a correspondence with my friend Watt, but I know not the particulars..... You must make allowance in what Mr. Watt says... he under values the merits of his own works.... 1 will take all risks in erecting an engine for a corn-mill.... I think I can safely say our engine will grind four times the quantity of corn per bushel of coal compared with any engine hitherto erected." About the same time we find Boulton writing to Watt,"You seem to be fearful that mills will not answer, and that you 1 Boulton to Wyatt, 16th December, 1782. CHAP. XVI. ROTARY MOTION APPLIED. 325 cannot make Reynolds's amount to more than 201. a year. For my part, I think that mills, though trifles in comparison with Cornish engines, present a field that is boundless, and that will be more permanent than these transient mines, and more satisfactory than these inveterate, ungenerous, and envious miners and mine lords. As to the trouble of small engines, I would curtail it by making a pattern card of them (which may be done in the course of next year), and confine ourselves to those sorts and sizes until our convenience admits of more." 1 In the mean time Watt, notwithstanding his doubts, had been proceeding with the completion of his rotative machine, and by the end of the year applied it with success to a tilt-hammer, as well as to a corn-mill at Soho. Some difficulties presented themselves at first, but they were speedily surmounted. The number of strokes made by the hammer was increased from 18 per minute in the first experiment, to 25 in the second; and Watt contemplated increasing the speed to even 250 or 300 strokes a minute, by diminishing the height to which the hammer rose before making its descending blow. "There is now no doubt," said he, "that fireengines will drive mills; but I entertain some doubts whether anything is to be got by them, as by any computation I have yet made of the mill for Reynolds [recently ordered] I cannot make it come to more than 201. per annum, which will do little more than pay trouble. Perhaps some others may do better."2 The problem of producing rotary motion by steampower was thus solved to the satisfaction even of Watt himself. But though a boundless field for the employment of the engine now presented itself, Watt was anything but elated at the prospect. For some time he doubted whether it would be worth the while of the Soho firm to accept orders for engines of this sort. When Boulton went to Dublin to endeavour to secure a patent for Ireland, Watt wrote to him thus:-" Some 1 Boulton to Watt, 7th December 2 Watt to Boulton, 28th November, 1782. 1782. 326 "OLD BESS" ENGINE. C-HAP. XV 1. i':ii~~l~aOLD BESSB engine to work a cotton-mill but fiom their letter and with the alterations subsequently i- regular work until within the lastl!llr:.: ii ll llidn "OLD BESS."1 treople at Burton are maroduc ing application to us for an engine to work a cotton-mill; but from their letter and the man they have sent here, I have no great opinion 1 The above illustration represents engine became known at Soho as the first engine employed at Soho, "(Old Bess," and she continued in with the alterations subsequently in- regular -work until within the last troduced, for the purpose of producing eight years. The illustration shows rotary motion. The old Kinneil the state in which the engine now engine, "Beelzebub," as Watt called stands in South Kensington Museum. her, was entirely removed, and re- A. steam cylinder; B. steam pipe; C. placed by this engine, as explained by throttle valve; D, steam va'lve; E. educWatt in his MS. Memoir of Boulton tion valve; F. eduction pipe; G. valve now before us, wherein he states,- gearing; H. condenser; I. air pump; K. "The first engine of 18 inches cylin- air pomp rod; L. foot valve; M. hand der, which was employed in returninc gear tappet rot; N. parallel motion;' O. balance weight; P. rocking beam; the water to Soho mill, was replaced. balance weight; P. rockin beam; Q. connecting rod; IR. feed pump rod; about 1778 or 1779 by a larger engine, In. engine, S. sun wheel; T. planet wheel; U. fly the first on the expansive principle, wheel; W. governor; X. feedwater which still remains there." The cistern. CHAP. XVI. FIRST ROTATIVE ENGINES. 327 of their abilities.... If you come home by way of Manchester, please not to seek for orders for cotton-mill engines, because I hear that there are so many mills erecting on powerful streams in the north of England, that the trade must soon be overdone, and consequently our labour may be lost." Boulton, however, had no such misgivings. He foresaw that before long the superior power, regularity, speed, and economy, of the steam-engine, must recommend it for adoption in all branches of manufacture in which rotative motion was employed; and he had no hesitation in applying for orders notwithstanding the opposition of his partner. The first rotary engine was made for Mr. Reynolds, of Ketley, towards the end of 1782, and was used to drive a corn-mill. It was some time before another order was received, though various inquiries were made about engines for the purpose of polishing glass, grinding malt, rolling iron, and such like.1 The first engine of the kind erected in London was at Goodwyn and Co.'s brewery; and the second, still working, though in an altered form, at the Messrs. Whitbread's. These were shortly followed by other engines of the same description, until there was scarcely a brewery in London that was not supplied with one. In the mean time, the works at Soho continued to be fully employed in the manufacture of pumping-engines. But as the county of Cornwall was becoming well supplied,-no fewer than twenty-one having now been erected there, only one of the old Newcomen construction continuing in work, —it was probable that before 1 " We have had a visit to-day to call on him, and says he had some from a Mr. Cort of Gosport, who says correspondence with you on the subhe has a forge there, and has found ject. He seems a simple goodnatured out some grand secret in the making man, but not very knowing. He of iron, by which he can make double says he has most of the smith-work the quantity at the same expense and for the king's yard, and has a forge, in the same time as usual. He says a rolling and slitting mill. I think he wants some kind of engine, but him a brother projector." —Watt to could not tell what; wants some of us Boulton, 14th December, 1782. 328 BOULTON'S HEALTH GIVES WAY. CHAP. XVI. long the demand from that quarter must slacken, if not come to an end. There were, however, other uses to which the pumping-engine might be applied; and one of the most promising was the drainage of the Fen lands. Some adventurers at Soham, near Cambridge, having made inquiries on the subject, Watt wrote to his partner, "I look upon these Fens as the only trump card we have left in our hand." The adventurers proposed that Boulton and Watt should take an interest in their scheme by subscribing part of the necessary capital. But Watt decidedly objected to this, as he did not wish to repeat his Cornish difficulties in the Fens. He was willing to supply engines on reasonable terms, but as for shares he would have none of them. The conclusion he eventually arrived at with respect to his proposed customers was this,-" Consider Fen men as Cornish men, only more cunning." In the midst of his great labours, Boulton was reminded that he was human. He had for years been working at too high pressure, and the tear and wear began to tell upon his health. Watt expostulated with him, telling him that he was trying to do half-a-dozen men's work; but in vain. He was committed to so many important enterprises -he had so much at stake -the liabilities he had to meet from day to day were so heavy-that he was in a measure forced to be active. To his friend Matthews he lamented that he was under the necessity of "slaving from morning till night, working fourteen hours a day, in the drudgery of a Birmingham manufacturer and hardware merchant." But this could not last, and before long he was threatened with a break-down. His friends Drs. Withering and Darwin urged him at once to " knock off" and take a long holiday-to leave Soho and its business, its correspondence, and its visitors, and get as far away from it as possible. 1 4th December, 1782. CIAP. XVI. HE VISITS SCOTLAND. 329 Acting on their advice, he resolved on making a longpromised visit to Scotland, and he set out on his tour in the autumn of 1783. He went by Newcastle, where he visited the principal coal mines, and from thence to Edinburgh, where he had some pleasant intercourse with Dr. Black and Professor Robison. It is evident from his letters that he did not take much ease during his journey, for he carried about with him his steamengine-at least in his head. " I talked with Dr. Black and another chemical friend," he wrote, "respecting my plan for saving alkali at such bleach-grounds as our fireengines are used at instead of water-wheels: the Doctor did not start any objections, but, on the contrary, much approved it." From Edinburgh he proceeded to the celebrated ironworks at Carron, a place in which he naturally felt a peculiar interest. There his friend'Roebuck had started his great enterprise, and there Watt had erected his first engine. His visit there, however, was not so much for curiosity or pleasure, but for business and experiment. "During my residence in Scotland," said he, "one month of my time was closely. employed at Carron Ironworks in settling accounts, but principally in making a great number of experiments on all their iron ores, and in putting them into the train of making good bar-iron, in which I succeeded to my wishes, although they had never made a single bar of tough iron at Carron before." In the course of his journey he made a large collection of fossils for his museum, and the weight of his bags sensibly increased almost daily. On his way through Ayrshire he called on Lord Dundonald, a kindred spirit in chemical and mechanical scheming, and examined his mineral tar works. He wrote to Mr. Gilbert, the Duke of Bridgewater's manager at Worsley, that " the tar is better for the bottoms of vessels than the vegetable tar; and the Letter to Thomas Knox, M.P. 330 RETURNS IMPROVED TO SOHO. CHAP. XVI. coal-oil hath many uses. Query-if such a work might not be a useful appendage to your colliery and canal." Boulton returned to Soho greatly improved in health, and was shortly immersed as before in the business of the factory. He found considerable arrears of correspondence requiring to be brought up. Several of the letters waiting for him were from schemers of new inventions connected with the steam-engine. Whenever an inventor thought he had discovered anything new, he at once rushed to Boulton with it. He was looked upon as the lord and leader of steam power. His reputation for enterprise and business aptitude, and the energetic manner in which he had pushed Watt's invention, were now so widely known, that every new schemer saw a fortune within his reach could he but enlist Boulton on his side. Hence much of his time was occupied in replying to letters from schemers,from inventors of perpetual motion, of flying-machines, of locomotion by steam, and of various kinds of rotary motion. In one of his letters we find him complaining of so much of his time being "taken up in answering great numbers of letters he had lately been plagued with from eccentric persons of no business;" for it was his practice never to leave a letter unanswered, no matter how insignificant or unreasonable his correspondent might be.' 1 With an almost excess of polite- inanimate mechanism to produce the ness, Boulton wrote long letters to least degree of power or to augment unknown correspondents to set them the sum total of the primzum mobile. right about mechanical errors into Mechanism may communicate or con-which they seemed to him to have centrate or economise power, but cannot fallen. Thus a. Mr. Knipe of Chel- create or augment it." Knipe replied sea, supposing he had discovered at great length, vindicating his invena perpetual motion machine, wrote tion. His enthusiasm pleased Boulton, inviting Boulton to join him as a who, in the generosity of his nature, partner. Though the man was without sent him a draft for ten guineas on his means and evidently foolish, Boulton London bankers to enable the poor wrote him several long letters in the inventor to secure his invention if kindest spirit, pointing out that his there was really anything in it. But scheme was contrary to reason and sci- nothing more was heard of Knipe's ence. "It is impossible," said he, " for Perpetual Motion Machine. CHAP. XVI. GRUMBLING IN CORNWALL. 331 After a short visit to London, Boulton proceeded into Cornwall to look after the engines there, and watch the progress of the mining operations in which by this time he had become so largely interested. He found the adventurers in a state of general grumble at the badness of the times, the lowness of prices, the losses incurred in sinking for ore that could not be found, and the heaviness of the dues for engine-power payable to Boulton and Watt. At such times, the partners were usually beset with applications for abatement, to which they were under the necessity of submitting to prevent the mines being altogether closed. Thus the dues at Chacewater were reduced from 25001. to 10001. a year, and the adventurers were still pressing for further reductions.' What provoked Boulton most, however, was, not the loss of dues so much as the threats which were constantly held out to him that unless the demands of the adventurers were complied with, they would employ the Hornblowers. " It is a disagreeable thing," he wrote, " to live amongst one's enemies, and all the adventurers are so, except Phillips and the Foxes, who are fair men although they would rather have engines free. I have had many hints given me that the Trumpeters were reviving their mischief, and many causes for uneasiness, but I did not wish you to partake of them, and therefore have been silent; but they are now striking at the root of us, and therefore we must defend 1 No wonder the miners were so death's door, still in a tottering urgent for reductions in working ex- state; Wheal Union stopped, after penses, as we find from a communica- losing about 80001.; Dalcoath 5001. tion from Watt to Boulton, of facts to spent on timber per month, and a new be laid before Parliament against the kibble-rope, of above a ton weight, proposed tax on coal, that Chacewater worn out in a fortnight. [To draw a had sunk 50,0001. in setting the mine kibble of ore then, weighing about to work; Wheal Virgin 28,0001. in 3 cwt., took fully fifteen minutes, ten months, and still unprosperous; owing to the great depth of that mine, Poldice a very large sum, and merely and two-thirds of the stuff drawn was paying expenses; Wheal Chance stones.] To which Watt added, " if we 35,0001., and only moderately pros- had not furnished the miners with perous; Pool 14,0001., without much more effectual means of draining the prospect of recovery; Roskere lan- water, almost all the deep mines gruishing, and not paying expenses; would have been abandoned before United Mines, which had been at now." 332 FURTHER CONCESSIONS. CHAP. XVI. ourselves or fall.... I think if we could but keep up our spirits and be active we might vanquish all the host. But I must own that I have been low-spirited ever since I have been here-have been indolent, and feel as if the springs of life were let down." It does not, however, appear from the letter to Watt in which this complaint occurs, that Boulton had been at all indolent, as he speaks of being in almost daily attendance at the miners' meetings; one day at Poldice, the next at Consolidated Mines, and so on. Of the latter meeting he says,"There was a full attendance; Jethro looked impudent, but mortified to see the new little engine drawing kibbles from two pits exceedingly well and very manageable, and afterwards it worked six stamps each 2.2- 14 cwt., lifted twice at each revolution, or four times for every stroke of the engine. I suppose there were a thousand people present to see the engine work." Watt was, on his part, rather opposed to making further concessions, which only seemed to have the effect of inviting demands for more. "People," said he, " do not employ us out of personal regard, but to serve themselves; and why should not we look after ourselves in like manner.... John Taylor died the other day worth 200,0001., without ever doing one generous action. I do not mean that we should follow his example. I should not consent to oppression or to take any unfair advantage of my neighbour's necessity, but I think it blameable to exercise generosity towards men who display none towards us. It is playing an unfair game when the advantage is wholly on their side. If Wheal Virgin threatened to stop unless we abated one-half, they should stop for me; but if it appeared that, according to the mode settled in making the agreement, we had too high a premium, I should voluntarily reduce it to whatever was just." While Boulton was fighting for dues in Cornwall, and labouring as before to improve the business management of the mines in which he was interested as a shareholder, Watt was busily occupied at Soho in turning out new engines for various purposes, as well as in perfecting several long-contemplated inventions. The manufactory, which had for a time been unusually CHAP. XVI. PRESS OF WORK AT SOHO. 333 slack, was again in full work. Several engines were in hand for the London brewers. Wedgwood had ordered an engine to grind flints;1 and orders were coming in for rotative engines for various purposes, such as driving saw-mills in America and sugar-mills in the West Indies. Work was, indeed, so plentiful that Watt was opposed to further orders for rotatives being taken, as the drawings for them occupied so much time, and they brought in but small profit. "I see plainly," said he, "that every rotation engine will cost twice the trouble of one for raising water, and will in general pay only half the money. Therefore I beg you will not undertake any more rotatives until our hands are clear, which will not be before 1785. We have already more work in hand than we have people to execute it in the interval. 2 One reason why Watt was more than usually economical of his time was, that he was then in the throes of the inventions patented by him in the course of this year. Though racked by headaches which, he complained, completely " dumfounded" him and perplexed his mind, he could not restrain his irrepressible instinct to invent; and the result was the series of inventions embodied in his patent of 1784, including, among other things, the application of the steam-engine to the *working of a tilt-hammer for forging iron and steel, to driving wheel-carriages for carrying persons and goods, and for other purposes. The specification also included the beautiful invention of the parallel motion, of which Watt himself said, " Though I am not over anxious after fame, yet I am more proud of the parallel motion than of any other mechanical invention I have ever made." Watt was led to meditate this contrivance by the practical 1 The engine was of 40-horse power. construction still remaining in exIt was erected at the " Black Works," istence. Etruria, where it continues working 2 Watt to Poulton, 22nd June, with the sun and planet motion,-one 1784. of the very few engines of the old 334 THE PARALLEL MOTION. CHAP. XVI. inconvenience which he experienced in communicating the direct vertical motion of the piston-rod by means of racks and sectors, to the *~~, angular motion of the working beam. He was iX gradually led to entertain the opinion that some means might be contrived for accomplishing this object by motions turning upon centres; and, working upon this idea,, he gradually elaborated' his THE P`&RALLEL MOTION. invention. So soon as he caught sight of the possible means of overcoming the difficulty, he wrote to Boulton in Cornwall," I have started a new hare. I have got a glimpse of a method of causing a piston-rod to move up and down perpendicularly by only fixing it to a piece of iron upon the beam, without chains or perpendicular guides or untowardly friction, arch heads, or other pieces of clumsiness; by which contrivance it answers fully to expectation. About 5 feet in the height of her house may be saved in 8-feet strokes, which I look upon as a capital saving, and it will answer for double engines as well as for single ones. I have only tried it in a slight model yet, so cannot build upon it, though I think it a very probable thing to succeed. It is one of the most ingenious, simple pieces of mechanism I have ever contrived, but I beg nothing may be said on it till I specify."' He immediately set to work to put his idea to the practical proof, and only eleven days later he wrote," I have made a very large model of the new substitute for racks and sectors, which seems to bid fair to answer. The rod goes up and down quite in a perpendicular line without racks, chains, or guides. It is a perpendicular motion derived from a combination of motions about centres-very simple, has very little friction, has nothing standing higher than the back of the beam, and requires the centre of the beam to be only half the stroke of the engine higher than the top of the piston-rod when at lowest, and has Watt to Boulton, 30th June, 1784. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XVI. THE GOVERNOR. 335 no inclination to pull the piston-rod either one way or another, only straight up and down..... However, don't pride yourself on it-it is not fairly tried yet, and may have unknown faults."' Another of Watt's beautiful inventions of the same period, was the Governor, contrived for the purpose of regulating the speed of the engine. This was a point of great importance in all cases where steam-power was employed in processes of manufacture. To modify the speed of the piston in the single-acting pumping-engine, Watt had been accustomed to use what is called a throttle valve, which was regulated by hand as occasion required. But he saw that to ensure perfect uniformity of speed, the action of the engine must be made automatic if possible, and with this object he contrived the Governor, which has received no improvement since it left his hand. Two balls are fixed to the ends of arms connected with the engine by a moveable socket, which plays up and down a vertical rod revolving by a band placed upon the axis or spindle of the fly-wheel. According to the centrifugal force with which the balls revolve, they diverge more or less from the central fixed point, and push up or draw down the moveable collar; which, being connected by a crank with the throttlevalve, thereby regulates with the most perfect precision the passage of the steam between the boiler and the cylinder. When the pressure of steam is great, and the tendency of the engine is to go faster, the governor TEE GOVERNOR. shuts off the steam; and when it is less, the governor opens the throttle-valve and increases the supply. By The parallel motion was first put Boulton (27th October, 1785) that in practice in the engine erected for " the parallel motion of Whitbread's Mr. Whitbread; Watt informing answers admirably." 336 MURDOCIK'S MODEL LOCOMOTIVE. CHAP. XVI. this simple and elegant contrivance the engine is made to regulate its own speed with the most beautiful precision. Among the numerous proposed applications of the steam-engine about this time, was its employment as a locomotive in driving wheel-carriages. It will be remembered that Watt's friend Robison- had, at a very early period, directed his attention to the subject; and the idea had since been revived by Mr. Edgeworth, who laboured with great zeal to indoctrinate Watt with his views. The latter, though he had but little faith in the project, nevertheless included a plan of a locomotive engine in his patent of 1784; but he took no steps to put it in execution, being too much engrossed with other business at the time. His plan contemplated the employment of steam either in the form of high-pressure or low-pressure, working the pistons by the force of steam only, and discharging it into the atmosphere after it had performed its office, or discharging it into an air-tight condenser made of thin plates or pipes, with their outsides exposed to the wind or to an artificial current of air, thereby economising the water which would otherwise be lost. Watt did not carry his design into effect; and, so far as he was concerned, the question of steam locomotion would have gone no further. But the subject had already attracted the attention of William Murdock, who had for some time been occupied during his leisure hours in constructing an actual working model of a locomotive. When his model was finished, he proceeded to try it in the long avenue leading to the parsonage at Redruth, in the summer of 1784; and in so doing nearly frightened out of his wits the village pastor, who encountered the hissing, fiery little machine, while enjoying his evening walk.' 1'Lives of Engineers,' iii. 77. CHAP. XVI. WATT AND THE LOCOMOTIVE. 337 When Watt heard of this experiment, he wrote to Boulton, advising that Murdock should be gently counselled to give up his scheme, which might have the effect of withdrawing him from the work of the firm, in which he had become increasingly useful. "As to my own part," wrote WVatt, " I shall form no obstacle to the scheme. My only reasons against it were that I feared it would deprive us of a valuable man; that it would, if we were to be concerned in it, divert us from more valuable business, and perhaps prove a sinking fund; and lastly, that I did not like that a scheme which I had revolved in my mind for years and hoped to be able at some favourable time to bring to perfection, if capable of it, should be wrested from me, or that I should be compelled to go into it as a secondary person. But I have now made the latter objection give way. And as to the first, I think it will take place at any rate, so we must make the best of it."' Boulton was accordingly recommended in the first place to endeavour to dissuade Murdock from pursuing the subject further, but if he could not succeed in that, rather than lose him, he was to let him have an advance to the extent of 1001., to enable him to prosecute his experiments; and if within a year he succeeded in making an engine capable of drawing a postchaise carrying two ordinary persons and the driver, with 200 lbs. of luggage, fuel for four hours, and water for two hours, going at the rate of four miles an hour, then a partnership was to be entered into, in which Boulton and Watt were to find the capital, and Murdock was to conduct the business and take his share of the profits. I In a letter dated 28th August, this method might be applied with advan1784, Watt communicated his views tage yet, because it needs no fly, and has to his partner on the subject of loco- other conveniences. motive engines at great length. In 1" From what I have said, and from much the course of the letter he says,- more which a little reflection will suggest to you, you will see that without several " My original ideas on this subject were circumstances turn out more favourable than prior to my invention of the improved has been stated, the machine will be clumsy engines, or before the crank or any other and defective, and that it will cost much rotative motions were thought of. My time to bring it to any tolerable degree of plan then was to have two inverted cylin- perfection; and that for me to attempt to ders with toothed racks instead of' piston interrupt the career of my business to bestow rods, which were to be applied to the any attention to it, would be imprudent. ratchet wheels on the axletree, and to act I even grudge the time I have taken to write alternately; and I am partly of opinion that these comments on it." z 338 BOULTON'S PRAISE OF MURDOCK. CHAP. XVI. Murdock, however, had so many urgent matters to attend to, that, sanguine though he continued to be as to the success of his scheme, he could not find time to pursue it. He was a man after Boulton's own heart, unsparing of himself and indefatigable in whatsoever he undertook; nor was Boulton sparing of praises of him in his confidential letters to Watt. " We want more Murdocks," he wrote on one occasion, " for of all our men he is the most active. He is the best engine erector I ever saw, and of his energy I had one of the best proofs this day. They stopped Poldice lower engine last Monday and took her all to pieces; took out the condenser, took up out of the shaft the greatest part of the pumps, took the nozzles to pieces, cut out the iron seatings and put in brass ones with new valves, mended the eduction-pipe, and did a great number of repairs about the beam and engine; put the pumps down into the new engine shaft, did much work at the new engine; and this done, about noon both the engines, new and old, were set to work again complete. When I look at the work done it astonishes me, and is entirely owing to the spirit and activity of Murdock, who hath not gone to bed for three nights, and I expect the mine will be in full fork again by Wednesday night. I have got him into good humour again without any coaxing, have prevailed on him not to give up Wheal Virgin engine, which he had been resolved to do from the ungenerous treatment he received from the captains. I have also prevailed on him to put off his determined journey to Scotland until North Downs engines are got to work, and have quieted his mind about wheel carriages till then."' Notwithstanding Watt's fears of a falling off, the 1 Boulton to Watt, 8th November, patent, to what purpose should anybody 1784.'Ihouah Murdock was thus labour at it? I have still the same opinions occupied, he did not abandon his idea concerning it that I had, but to prevent as of makinda worlking locomotive. Two much as possible more fruitless argument years later we find Watt thus writing about it, I have one of some size under hand, eBoalton:s and am resolved to try if God will work a miracle in favour of these carriages. I shall "I am extremely sorry that W. Murdock in some future letter send you the words of still busies himself with the steam carriages. my specification on that subject. In the In one of my specifications I have secured it, mean time I wish William could be brought as well as words could do, according to my to do as we do, to mind the business in idea of it, and if to that you add Syming- hand, and let such as Symington and Sadler ton's and Sadler's patents, it can scarcely he throw away their time and money in hunting patentable, even if fiee of the general specifi- shadows." - Watt to Boulton, 12th Sept., cation in the Act of Parliament; for even 1786. In a subsequent letter, Watt exgranting that what I have done cannot secure presses himself as much gratified to learn it, yet it can act as a prior invention against "that William applies to his business." anybody else; and if it cannot be secured by CHAP. XVI. POLGOOTH MINE. 339 POLGOOTHE. [ By R. P. Leitch.] engine business still continued to prosper in Coornwall. Although the mining interests were suffering from continued depression, neTw mines were being opelned out, fotr Twhich pumlping-enginles were wanted; and Boulton and Waatt's continued to mainrtain their superiority over all otlhers. None of their threatened rivals had yet been able to exhibit an engine in successful work; and tlhose of the old construct;on lhad been almost completely superseded. In 1784, new engines were in course of erection at Poldice, New; Poldory, Wheal Maid, Polgooth, and other mines. Almost the last of thle Newcomen engines in CornwTall hlad been discarded at Polgooth in favour of one of Boulton and Watt's 58-inch cylinder engines. Tlhe dues paid yearly in respect of these and otlher engines previously erected were very considerable; Boulton estimating tlhat, if duly paid, they would amount to about 12,000/. a year. Tlere seemed, tlherez2 340 BOULTON'S LETTER TO HIS SON. CHAP. XVI. fore, every reasonable prospect of the financial difficulties of the firm at last coming to an end. Boulton's visit to Cornwall on this occasion was enlivened by the companionship of his wife, and her friend Miss Mynd. Towards midsummer he looked forward with anticipations of increased pleasure to the visit of his two children-his son Matt and his daughter Nancy- during their school holidays. It was a source of much regret to him, affectionate as his nature was, that the engrossing character of his business prevented him enjoying the society of his family so much as he desired. But he endeavoured to make up for it by maintaining a regular correspondence with them when absent. His letters to his children were full of playfulness, affection, and good advice. To his son at school he wrote telling him of'his life in Cornwall, describing to him the house at Cosgarne, the garden and the trees he had planted in it, the pleasant rides in the neighbourhood, and the visit he had just been paying to the top of Pendennis Castle, from which he had seen about a hundred sail of ships at sea, and a boundless prospect of land and water. He proceeded to tell him of the quantity of work he did connected with the engine business, how he had no clerk to assist him, but did all the writing and drawing of plans himself: "When I have time," said he; "I pick up curiosities in ores for the purpose of assays, for I have a laboratory here. There is nothing would so much add to my pleasure as having your assistance in making solutions, precipitates, evaporations, and crystallisations." After giving his son some good advice as to the cultivation of his mind, as calculated to render him an intelligent and useful member of society, he proceeded to urge upon him the duty of cultivating polite manners, as a means of making himself agreeable to others, and at the same time of promoting his own comfort. "But remember," he added, "I do not wish you to be polite at the expense of honour, truth, sin CHAP. XVI. DOMESTIC ENJOYMENT AT COSGARNE. 341 cerity, and honesty; for these are the props of a manly character, and without them politeness is mean and deceitful. Therefore, be always tenacious of your honour. Be honest, just, and benevolent, even when it appears difficult to be so. I say, cherish those principles, and guard them as sacred treasures," At length his son and daughter joined him and took part in his domestic and out-door enjoyments. They accompanied him in his drives and rides, and Matt took part in his chemical experiments. One of their great delights was the fabrication of an immense paper balloon, and the making of the hydrogen gas to fill it with. After great preparations the balloon was made and filled, and sent up in the field behind the house, to the delight of all concerned. To Mrs. Watt he wrote expressing to her how much pleasanter his residence in Cornwaill had become since his son and daughter's visit. "I shall be happier," he said, "during the remainder of my residence here than in the former part of it; for I am ill calculated to live alone in an enemy's country, and to contest lawsuits. Besides, the only source of happiness I look for in my future life is in my children. Matt behaves extremely well, is active and goodhumoured; and my daughter, too, has, I think, good dispositions and sentiments, which I shall cherish, and prevent as much as possible from being sullied by narrow and illiberal-minded companions." After a few months' pleasant social intercourse with his family at Cosgarne, varied by occasional bickerings with the adventurers out of doors about dues, Boulton returned to Birmingham, to enter upon new duties and undertake new enterprises. 342 COMMERCIAL POLITICS. CHAP. XVI1. CHAPTER XVII. COMMERCIAL POLITICS-THE ALBION MILLS -RIOTS IN CORNWALL -PROSPERITY OF BOULTON AND WATT. WHEN Boulton returned to Birmingham, he was urgently called upon to take part in a movement altogether foreign to his habits. He had heretofore been too much engrossed by business to admit of his taking any active part in political affairs. Being, however, of an active temperament, and mixing with men of all classes, he could not but feel an interest in the public movements of his time. Early in 1784, we find him taking the lead in getting up a loyal address to the King on the resignation of the Portland Administration and the appointment of Mr. Pitt as Prime Minister. It appears, however, that Pitt disappointed his expectations. One of his first projects was a scheme of taxation, which he introduced for the purpose of remedying the disordered state of the finances, but which, in Boulton's opinion, would, if carried, have the effect of seriously damaging the national industry. The Minister proposed to tax coal, iron, copper, and other raw materials of manufacture, to the amount of about a million a year. Boulton immediately bestirred himself to oppose the adoption of the scheme. He held that for a manufacturing nation to tax the raw materials of wealth was a suicidal measure, calculated, if persevered in, to involve the producers of wealth in ruin. "Let taxes," he said, "be laid upon luxuries, upon vices, and if you like upon property; tax riches when got, and the expenditure of them, but not the means of CHAP. XVII. AGITATION AGAINST MINISTERS. 343 getting them; of all things, don't cut open the hen that lays the golden eggs." 1 Petitions and memorials were forthwith got up in the midland counties, and presented against the measure; and Boulton being recognised as the leader of the movement in his district, was summoned by Mr. Pitt to London to an interview with him on the subject. He then took the opportunity of pressing upon the Minister the necessity of taking measures to secure reciprocity of trade with foreign nations, as being of vital importance to the trade of England. Writing to his partner Scale, he said, " Surely our Ministers must be bad politicians, to suffer the gates of nearly every commercial city in the world to be shut against us." " There is no doubt," he wrote to his friend Garbett, "but the edicts, prohibitions, and high duties laid upon our manufacturers by foreign powers will be severely felt, unless some new commercial treaties are entered into with such powers. I fear our young Minister is not sufficiently aware of the importance of the subject, and I likewise fear he will pledge himself before Parliament meets to carry other measures in the next session that will be as odious to the country as his late attempts." As Boulton had anticipated, the Ministry introduced several important measures, calculated to have a highly injurious effect upon English industry, and he immediately bestirred himself, in conjunction with Josiah Wedgwood, of Etruria, to organise a movement in opposition to them. Wedgwood and Boulton met at Birmingham in February, 1785, and arranged to assemble a meeting of delegates from the manufacturing districts, who were to meet and sit in London " all the time the Irish commercial affairs were pending." A printed statement of the objects of the movement 1 Boulton to Wilson, 16th December, 1784. Boulton MSS. 344 THE "IRISH RESOLUTIONS." CHAP. XVII. was circulated, and Boulton and Wedgwood wrote to their friends in all quarters to meet and appoint delegates to the central committee in London. Boulton was unanimously appointed the delegate for Birmingham, and he proceeded to London furnished with a bundle of petitions from his neighbourhood. The delegates proceeded to form themselves into a Chamber of Manufacturers, over the deliberations of which Wedgwood, Boulton, or John Wilkinson usually presided. The principal object of these meetings and petitionings was to prevent, if possible, the imposition of the proposed taxes on coal, iron, and raw materials generally, as well as the proposed export duties on manufactured articles. At a time when foreign governments were seeking to exclude English manufactures from their dominions by heavy import duties, it was felt that this double burden was more than English industry could bear. The Irish Parliament were at the same time legislating in a hostile spirit towards English commerce; imposing taxes upon all manufactures imported into Ireland from England, while Irish manufactures were not only sent into England duty free, but their own parliament encouraged them by a bounty on exportation. The committee strongly expostulated against the partial and unjust spirit of this legislation, and petitioned for free interchange on equal terms. So long as such a state of things continued, the petitioners urged that "every idea of reciprocity in the interchange of manufactures between Britain and Ireland was a mere mockery of words." Although Watt was naturally averse to taking any public part in politics, his services were enlisted in the cause, and he drew up for circulation "An answer to the Treasury Paper on the Iron Trade of England and Ireland." The object of his statement was to show that the true way of encouraging manufactures in Ireland was, not by bounties, not by prohibitions, but by entire CHAP. XVII. WATT ON FREE COMMERCE. 345 freedom of industry. It was asserted by the supporters of the propositions, that the natives of Ireland were ignorant, indolent, and poor. "If they be so," said Watt, "the best method of giving them vigour is to have recourse to British manufacturers, possessed of capital, industry, and knowledge of trade." The old covenanting spirit of his race fairly breaks out in the following passage:"It is contemptible nonsense to argue that because Ireland has never had iron manufactories she cannot soon have them..... One hundred years ago the Irish had no linen manufacture; they imported linen; and now they sell to us to the amount of a million annually. How came this about? The civil wars under Charles I., and the tyranny of the Scotch Privy Council under Charles II., chased the people out of Scotland, because they were Presbyterians. Ireland received and protected them; they peopled the northern provinces; many of them were weavers; they followed their business in Ireland, and taught others. Philip II. chased the inhabitants out of Flanders, on account of religion; Queen Elizabeth received and protected them; and England learnt to manufacture woollen cloth. The persecutions of Lewis XIV. occasioned the establishment of a colony in Spitalfields. And the Parliament of Britain, under the auspices of - and -, and others, imposed oppressive duties on glass; and -'s Act gave the Irish liberty to export it to our Colonies; the glass-makers fled from the tyranny of the Excise; Ireland has now nine glass-houses. Britain has lost the export trade of that article! More examples of the migrations of manufactures could be adduced, but it seems unnecessary; for it cannot be denied that men will fly from tyranny to liberty, whether Philip's Priests, Charles's Dragoons, or our Excisemen be the instruments of the tyranny. And it must also be allowed that even the Inquisition itself is not more formidable than our Excise Laws (as far as property is concerned) to those who unhappily are subjected to them." Towards the end of the statement he asks, "Would it not be more manly and proper at once to invite the Irish to come into a perfect union with Britain, and to pay the same duties and excises that we do? Then every distinction of country might with justice be done away with, and they would have a fair claim to all the advantages which we enjoy." 346 WATT OPPOSED TO AGITATION. CHAP. XVII. The result of the agitation was that most of the proposals to impose new taxes on the raw materials of manufacture were withdrawn by the Ministry, and the Irish resolutions were considerably modified. But the relations of British and Irish industry were by no means settled. The Irish Parliament might refuse to affirm the resolutions adopted by the British Parliament, in which case it might be necessary again to oppose the Ministerial measures; and to provide for this contingency, the delegates separated, with the resolution to maintain and extend their organisation in the manufacturing districts. Watt did not, however, like the idea of his partner becoming engrossed in political agitation, even in matters relating to commerce. He accordingly wrote to Boulton in London, "I find myself quite unequal to the various business now lying behind, and wish much you were at home, and that you would direct your attention solely to your own and to Boulton and Watt's business until affairs can be brought into reasonable compass."' Later he wrote, —"At Manchester they are busy making a collection for the Chamber of Manufacturers, which I fancy will be in vogue again next winter. But I hope that neither you nor I will be mad enough to be demagogues then. Let us leave that to those who can defy Ministers, and get our property secured, which may be done in the confusion.'" Watt was at this time distressed by an adverse decision against the firm in one of the Scotch courts. "I have generally observed," he wrote, "that there is a tide in our affairs. We have had peace for some time, but now cross accidents have begun, and more are to be feared." His anxieties were increased by the rumour which reached his ears from several quarters of a grand cominbination of opulent manufacturers to make use of every beneficial patent that had been taken out, and cut them 1 Watt to Boulton, 31st March, 1785. CHAP. XVII. COMBINATION AGAINST PATENTS. 347 down by scire facias, as they had already cut down Arkwright's. It was said that subscriptions had been obtained by the association amounting to 50,0001. Watt was requested to join a counter combination of patentees to resist the threatened proceedings. To this, however, he objected, on the ground that the association of men to support one another in lawsuits was illegal, and would preclude the members from giving evidence in support of each other's rights. " Besides," said he, "the greater number of patentees are such as we could not associate with, and if we did it would do us more harm than good."' Towards the end of 1785 the engines which had been in hand were nearly finished, and work was getting slacker than usual at Soho. Though new orders gave Watt trouble, and occasioned him anxiety, still he would 1 Watt to Boulton, 21st July, lishing in this country an invention 1785. Writing to Boulton on a later of the highest importance to one of our occasion on the subject of these greatest manufactures. Moreover, it threatened attacks on all patents, he tends to destroy the greatest of all said, " A pursuance of such decisions stimulants to invention, viz. the idea as have been given lately in several of enjoying the fruits of one's own cases must at length drive men of labour. Some late decisions against invention to take shelter in countries the validity of certain patents have where their ingenuity will be pro- raised the spirits of the illiberal, sordid, tected; and the other states of Europe unjust, ungenerous, and inventionless know their interest too well to neglect misers, who prey upon the vitals of any opportunity of curbing the inso- the ingenious, and make haste to seize lence and humbling the pride of upon what their laborious and often Britain. If the minister should not costly application has produced. The think it right to amend and confirm decisions to which I refer have enthe patent laws, the next best thing courageed a combination in Cornwall to would be to make a law totally taking erect engines on Boulton and Watt's away the king's power of granting principles, contrary to the Law of them. 1 mean, this would be the Patents and the express provisions of lhonest part."-Watt to Boulton, 19th an Act of Parliament; and this they March, 1786. Boulton himself had are setting about in order to drive us equally strong views on the subject of into a court of law, flattering thempatents, believing that they tended to selves that it is the present disposition encourage industrious and ingenious of the judges to set their faces against men to labour for the common good. all patents. Should such a disposition Referring to the decision against Ar- (so contrary to Lord Mansfield's decigand's lamp patent, he wrote De Luc sions) continue to prevail, it will proin 1787,-" It was hard, unjust, and duce far greater evils to the manufacimpolitic, as it hath (to my knowledge) turing industry of the kingdom than discouraged a very ingenious French the gentlemen of the law can have any chemist from coming over and estab- idea of." 348 SOHO AGAIN BUSY. CHAP XVII. rather not be without them. "It will be well," he wrote to his partner, "if we can get some orders now for engines worth while. What we have been doing lately has been very trifling, and if we don't get orders soon, our men will be idle. As it happens at present, we have at least three engineers too few here, there being eight engines to be done in two or three months, and only three engineers."' It was matter of gratification to Watt to be able to report that the engines last delivered had given great satisfaction. The mechanics were improving in skill, and their workmanship was becoming of a superior character. "Strood and Curtis's engine," said he, " has been at work some time, and does very well. Whitbread's has also been tried, and performs exceedingly well." The success of Whitbread's engine was such that it had the honour of a visit from the King, who was greatly pleased with its performances. Not to be outdone, "Felix Calvert," wrote Watt, "has bespoken one, which is to outdo Whitbread's in magnificence." The slackness of work at Soho was not of long continuance. Orders for rotative engines came in gradually; one from Harris, of Nottingham; another from Macclesfield, to drive a silk-mill; a third from Edinburgh, for the purposes of a distillery; and others from different quarters. The influx of orders had the effect at the same time of filling Soho with work, and plunging Watt into his usual labyrinth of perplexity and distress. In September we find him writing to Boulton," My health is so bad that I do not think I can hold out much longer, at least as a man of business, and I wish to consolidate something before I give over."... Again, "I cannot help being dispirited, because I find my head fail me much, business an excessive burden to me, and little prospect of my speedy release from it. Were we both young and healthy, I should see no reason to despair, but very much the contrary. However, we must do the 1 Watt to Boulton, 27th August, 1785. CHAP. XVII. THE CORNISH COPPER-MINERS. 349 best we can, and hope for quiet in heaven when our weary bones are laid to rest." A few months later, so many more orders had come in, that Watt described Soho as "fast for the next four months," but the additional work only had the effect of' increasing his headaches. "In the anguish of my mind," he wrote, "amid the vexations occasioned by new.and unsuccessful schemes, like Lovelace I'curse my inventions,' and almost wish, if we could gather our money together, that somebody else should succeed in getting our trade from us. However, all may yet be well. Nature can be conquered if we can but find out her weak side." We return to the affairs of the Cornish copper-miners, which were now in a very disheartening condition. The mines were badly and wastefully worked; and the competition of many small companies of poor adventurers kept the copper trade in a state of permanent depression. In this crisis of their affairs it was determined that a Copper Company should be formed, backed by ample capital, with the view of regulating this im.portant branch of industry, and rescuing the mines and miners from ruin. Boulton took an active part in its formation, and induced many of his intimate friends in the north to subscribe largely for shares. An arrangement was entered into by the Company with the adventurers in the principal mines, to buy of them the whole of the ore raised, at remunerative prices, for a period of eleven years. At the first meeting, held in September, 1785, for the election of Governor, Deputy-Governor, and Directors, Boulton held in his hands the power of determining the appointments, representing, as he did by proxy, shares held by his northern friends to the amount of 86,0001. The meeting took place in the Town-hall at Truro, and the proceedings passed off 1 Watt to Boultori, 24th September, 1785. 350 THE COPPER COMPANY ORGANISED. CHAP. XVII. satisfactorily; Boulton using his power with due discretion. "We met again on Friday," he wrote to Matthews, "and chose the assayers and other subordinate officers, after which we paid our subscriptions, and dined together, all in good humour; and thus this important revolution in the copper trade was finally settled for eleven years." Matters were not yet, however, finally settled, as many arrangements had to be made for setting the Company to work, in which Boulton took the leading part; the Governor and Directors pressing him not to leave Cornwall until they were definitely settled. It happened to suit his convenience to remain until the Wheal Fortune engine was finished-one of the most formidable engines the firm had yet erected in Cornwall. In the mean time he entered into correspondence with various consumers of copper at home and abroad, with the object of finding a vend for the metal. He succeeded in obtaining a contract through Mr. Hope, of Amsterdam, for supplying the copper required for the new Dutch coinage; and he opened out new markets for the produce in other quarters. Being a large holder of mining shares, Boulton also tried to introduce new and economical methods of working the mines; but with comparatively little result. To Wilkinson he wrote, — "Poldice is in a desponding way, and must give up unless better managed. North Downs is managed as badly by incapable, ignorant, drunken captains, who hold their posts not by merit, but by their cousinship to some of the adventurers..... I should spend a great part of next year in Cornwall, and make myself master of the minutia. I think I could then accomplish many necessary regulations."' Though actively bestirring himself for the good of the mining interest, Boulton had but small thanks for B1 oulton to Wilkinson, 21st November, 1785. CHAP. XVII. RIOTS IN CORNWALL. 351 his pains. The prominence of his position had this disadvantage, that if the price of the ore went down, or profits declined, or the yield fell off, or the mines were closed, or anything went wrong, the miners were but too ready to identify him in some way with the evil; and the services which he had rendered to the mining interest 1 were in a moment forgotten. On one occasion the discontent of the miners broke out into open revolt, and Boulton was even threatened with personal violence. The United Mines having proved unprofitable in the working, notice was given by the manager of an intended reduction of wages, this being the only condition on which the mines could be carried on. If this could not be arranged, the works must be closed, as the adventurers declined to go on at a loss. On the announcement of the intended lowering of wages being made, there was great excitement and discontent among the workpeople. Several hundreds of them hastily assembled at Redruth, and took the road for Truro, to pull down the offices of the Copper Mining Company, and burn the house of the manager. They were especially furious with Boulton, vowing vengeance on him, and declaring that they would pull down every pumpingengine he had set up in Cornwall. When the rioters reached Truro, they found a body of men, hastily armed with muskets taken from the arsenal, stationed in front of the Copper Mining Company's premises, supported by six pieces of cannon. At sight of this formidable demonstration the miners drew back, and, muttering threats that they would repeat their visit, returned to Redruth 1 Writing to M. De Luc, the Queen's bringing our engine to its present Librarian, of what he and his partner degree of perfection, those mines must had done for Cornwall, Boulton said, inevitably have stopped working, and -" The copper and tin mines of Cornwall at this time would not have Cornwall are now sunk to so great a existed as a mining county. The very depth that had not Mr. Watt and article of extra coals lor common myself nearly expended our fortunes engines would have amounted to more and hazarded our ruin by neglecting than the entire profits of their workour regular business, and by a long ing."-Boulton to De Luc, 31st March, series of expensive experiments in 1787. 352 BOULTON'S CORNISH FRIENDS. CHAP. XVII. as they had come. Two companies of soldiers and two of local militia were brought into the town immediately after; and the intended assault was not made. When Watt was informed of the violence with which his partner had been threatened, he wrote,-" In my opinion nothing can be more ungrateful than the behaviour of those people who endeavour to make you the object of the resentment of the mob, at a time when (setting aside former services) you are doing all that lies in your power to serve them..... If you still find the same spirit continue, for God's sake leave them immediately. The law can reach the adventurers, if it cannot the miners." This was, however, but the wild and unreasoning clamour of misguided and ignorant men. Boulton was personally much esteemed by all who were able to appreciate his character, and to understand the position of himself and his partner with reference to the engine patent. The larger mining owners invited him to their houses, and regarded him as their friend. The more intelligent of the managers were his strenuous supporters. First and foremost among these was Mr. Phillips, manager of the Chacewater mines, of whom he always spoke with the highest respect, as a man of the most scrupulous integrity and honour. Mr. Phillips was a member of the Society of Friends, and his wife Catherine was one of the most celebrated preachers of the body. Boulton and Watt occasionally resided with them before the house at Cosgarne was taken, and conceived for both the warmest friendship. If Watt was attracted by the Cornish Anabaptists, Boulton was equally so by the Cornish Quakers. We find him, in one of his letters to Mrs. Boulton, describing to her a great meeting of Friends at Truro which he had attended, "when," he said, " I heard our friend Catherine Phillips preach with great energy and good sense for an hour and a half, although so weak in body that she was obliged to CHAP. XVII. ALBION MILL SCHEME. 3053 lie abed for several days before." Boulton afterwards dined with the whole body of Friends at the principal inn, being the only person present who was not of the Society; and he confessed to have spent in their company a very pleasant evening.l We return to the progress of the engine business at Soho. The most important work in hand about this time was the double-acting engine intended for the Albion Mill, in Southwark.2 This was the first rotative with a parallel motion erected in London; and as the more extended use of the engine would in a great measure depend upon its success, the firm naturally looked forward with very great interest to its performances. The Albion Mill scheme was started by Boulton as early as 1783.. Orders for rotatives were then coming in very slowly, and it occurred to him that if he had but the opportunity of exhibiting the powers of the new engine in its best form, and in connexion with the best machinery, the results would be so satisfactory and conclusive as to induce manufacturers generally to follow the example. On applying to the London capitalists, Boulton found them averse to the undertaking; and at length Boulton and Watt became persuaded that if the concern was to be launched at all, they 1 Two days after this event, when garden near Redruth. Boulton, in about to set out for Polgooth, a mes- writing to Mrs. Boulton, said, " I wish senger arrived at Boulton's lodgings, I had time to give you the history and bringing him the sad news of Mr. character of my departed friend, as Phillips's sudden death. He describes you know but little of his excellences. the scene at the funeral, at which I cannot say but that I feel a gloomy Catherine Phillips, though strongly pleasure in dwelling upon the life and urged by him to stay away, insisted death of a good man: it incites to on being present. " She was attended piety and elevates the mind above by a widow lady who had lost a good terrestrial things. Now, let me ask husband last year, and though she had you to hold a silent meetingr in your not been accustomed to speak in the heart for half an hour and then return congregation of the righteous, yet on to your work." this occasion she stood with her hand The Albion Mill engine was set upon her husband's coffin and spoke to work in 1786. The first rotative above an hour, delivering one of the with a parallel motion in Scotland, most pathetic discourses I ever heard." was erected for Mr. Stein, of Kennet A large concourse of people attended Pans near Alloa, in the followingZ the interment, which took place in a year. 2A 354 ENGINES FOJR ALBION MILL. CHAP. XVII. must themselves find the principal part of the capital. A sufficient number of shareholders was got together to make a start, and application was made for a charter of incorporation in 1784; but it was so strongly opposed by the millers and mealmen, on the ground that the application of steam-power to flour-grinding would throw wind and water mills out of work, take away employment from the labouring classes, and reduce the price of bread,' that the charter was refused; and the Albion Mill Company was accordingly constituted on the ordinary principles of partnership. By the end of the year the Albion Mill engines, carefully designed by Watt, were put in hand at Soho; the building was in course of erection, after the designs of Mr. Wyatt, the architect; while John Rennie, the young Scotch engineer, was engaged to design and fit up the flour-grinding and dressing machinery. "I am glad," wrote Boulton to Watt, " you have agreed with Rennie. Mills are a great field. Think of the crank -of Wolf, Trumpeter, Wasp, and all the ghosts we are haunted by." The whole of the following year was occupied in the erection of the buildings and machinery; and it was not until the spring of 1786 that the mill was ready to start. Being the first enterprise of the kind, on an unprecedented scale, and comprising many novel combinations of machinery, there were many "hitches" before it could be got to work satisfactorily. After the first trial, at which Boulton was present, he wrote his partner expressing his dissatisfaction with the working of the double-acting 1 In a letter to Mr. Matthews (30th applies to wind and tide mills or any April, 1784) Boulton wrote, —" It other means whereby corn can be seems the millers are determined to ground. So all machines should be be masters of us and the public. stopped whereby men's labour is Putting a stop to fire-engine mills saved, because it might be argued because they come into competition that men were thereby deprived of a with water-mills, is as absurd as livelihood. Carry out the argument, stopping navigable canals would be and we must annihilate water-mills because they interfere with farmers themselves, and thus go back again to and waggoners. The argument also the grinding of corn by hand labour!" CHAP. XVII. THE DOUBLE-ACTING ENGINE. 355...... =o, tOE-CTIENGINE ALBO DOUBELE-ACTING ENGINE, ALBION MILL. engine, expressing the opinion that it would have been better if they had held by the single-acting one.' Watt Watt, however, continued to regulators, and not opened too sudadhere to his own views as to the denly, as indeed the others ought not superiority of the plan adopted:-" I to be. Otherwise the shock comes so am sorry to find," he observed in his violently in the opposite direction that reply to Boulton, " so many things are no pins or brasses will stand it. amiss at Albion Mill, and that you Malcolm has no notion how to make have lost your good opinion of double gear work quietly, nor do I think he engines, while my opinion of them is properly understands it. You must mended. The smoothness of their therefore attend to it yourself, and not going depends on the steam regulators leave it until it is more perfect." — being opened a little before the vacuum I Watt to Boulton, 3rd March, 1786. 2A 2 3.56 - DIFFICULTIES WITH THE ENGINES. CHAP. XVII was urged to run up to town himself and set matters to rights; but he was up to the ears in work at Soho, and could not leave for a day. "I can by no means leave home at present," he wrote, " otherwise we shall suffer much greater losses than can come from the Albion Mill. The work for Cornwall which must be planned and put in train is immense, and there will more come from that quarter. Besides, I am pulled to pieces by demands for, forwardness from every side. I have lost ten days by William Murdock, Wilson, Wilkinson, and headaches, and I have neither health nor spirits to make the necessary exertions. If I went to London I should be in torment all the while with the thoughts of what was lying behind here." After pointing out what course should be taken to discover and remedy the faults of the engine, he proceeded: "Above all, patience must be exercised and things coolly examined and put to rights, and care be taken not to blame innocent parts. Everything must, as much as possible, be tried separately. Remind those who begin to growl, that in new, complicated, and difficult things, human foresight falls short-that time and money must be given to perfect things and find out their defects, otherwise they cannot be remedied." 1 Not being able to persuade Watt to come to his help, Boulton sent to Cornwall for Murdock, always ready to lend a hand on an emergency, and in the course of a few weeks he was in town at work upon the engines. The result is best told in Wyatt's letter to Boulton, who had by this time returned to Birmingham:"Mr. Murdock has just set the engine to work. All the rods are altered. I think he has done more good than all the doctors we have had before; and his manner of doing it has been very satisfactory-so different from what we have been used to. He has been through all the flues himself, and really takes uncommon pains. Pray write to him; thank him for his attention. He will not have left town before he gets your letter, and press him to stay as long as he can be essentially serviceable." There was, however, so great a demand for Murdock's Watt to Boulton, 10th March, 1786. —Boulton MSS. CHAP. XVII. ALBION MILL FOLLIES. 357 presence in Cornwall, that he could not be spared for another day, and he hurried back again' to his multifarious duties at the mines. The cost of erecting the mill proved to be considerably in excess of the original estimate, and Watt early feared that it would turn out a losing concern. He had no doubt about the engines or the machinery being able to do all that had been promised; but he feared that the absence of business capacity on the part of the managers would be fatal to its commercial success.l He was especially annoyed at finding the mill made a public show of, and that it was constantly crowded with curious and frivolous people, whose presence seriously interfered with the operations of the workmen. It reached his ears that the managers of the mill even intended to hold a masquerade in it, with the professed object of starting the concern with eclat! Watt denounced this as sheer humbug. "cWhat have Dukes, Lords, and Ladies," said he, "to do with masquerading in a flour-mill? You must take steps to curb the vanity of, else it will ruin him. As for ourselves, considering that we are much envied at any rate, everything which contributes to render us conspicuous ought to be avoided. Let us content ourselves with doing."2 It was also found that the mill was becoming a nest for schemers and speculators occupied in devising 1 " The Albion Mill," wrote Watt body except Mr. W. and ourselves, to Boulton, " requires your close at- and that if we go on as expensively tention and exertions. I look upon it in carrying on the business as in the as a weight about our necks that will erection, it is impossible but that we sink us to the bottom, unless people should be immense losers, and thus of'real activity and knowledge of probably our least loss will be to business are found to manage it. I stop where we are. As to our repuwould willingly forfeit a considerable tation as engineers, I have no doubt sum to be clear of the concern. If but the mill will perform its business, anybody will take my share I will but whether with the quantity of cheerfully give him 5001. and reckon coals and labour is what I cannot say." myself well quit. My reasons are -Watt to Boulton, 19th March, that none of the parties concerned 1786. are men of business, that no attention 2 Watt to Boulton, 17th April, has been hitherto paid to it by any- 1786. 358 THE MILL BURNT BY INCENDIARIES. CHAP. XVII. all manner of new projects. Boulton bestirred himself to put matters in a more business-like train. Steps were taken to close the mill against the crowd of idle visitors; and Boulton shortly after reported that "the manufacturing of Bubbles and new schemes is removed from the Mill to a private Lodging." When the mill was at length set to work, it performed to the entire satisfaction of its projectors. The engine, on one occasion, ground as much as 3000 bushels of wheat in twenty-four hours. The usual rate of work per week of six days was 16,000 bushels of wheat, cleaned, ground, and dressed into fine flour (some of it being ground two or three times over); or sufficient, according to Boulton's estimate, for the weekly consumption of 150,000 people. The important uses of the double rotative engine were thus exhibited in the most striking manner; and the fame of the Albion Mill extended far and wide. It so far answered the main purpose which Boulton and Watt had in view in originally embarking in the enterprise; but it must be added that the success was accomplished at a very serious sacrifice. The mill never succeeded commercially. It was too costly in its construction and its management, and though it did an immense business it was at a loss. The concern was, doubtless, capable of great improvement, and, had time been allowed, it would probably have come round. When its prospects seemed to be brightening,' it was set on fire in several places by incendiaries on the night of the 3rd of March, 1791. The villains had made their arrangements with deliberation and skill. They fastened the main cock of the water-cistern, and chose the hour of low tide for firing the building, so that water could not be got to play upon the flames, and the mill was burnt to the W1 att wrote Boulton from London, the mill sold above 40001. worth of 1st October, 1789,-" I called on Wyatt flour last week and is doing well." (the architect) last night. He says CHAP. XVII. DEMAND FOR ROTATIVE ENGINES. 359 ground in a few hours. A reward was offered for the apprehension of the criminals, but they were never discovered. The loss sustained by the Company was about 10,0001. Boulton and Watt were the principal sufferers; the former holding 60001., and the latter 30001. interest in the undertaking.1 Meanwhile orders for rotative engines were coming in apace at Soho,-engines for paper-mills and cottonmills, for flour-mills and iron-mills, and for sugar-mills in America and the West Indies. At the same time pumping-engines were in hand for France, Spain, and Italy. The steam-engine was becoming an established power, and its advantages were every day more clearly recognised. It was alike docile, regular, economical, and effective, at all times and seasons, by night as by day, in summer and in winter. While the wind-mills were stopped by calms and the water-mills by frosts, the steam-mill worked on with untiring power. "There is not a single water-mill now at work in Staffordshire," wrote Boulton to Wyatt in December; "they are all frozen up, and were it not for Wilkinson's steam-mill, the poor nailers must have perished; but his mill goes on rolling and slitting ten tons of iron a day, which is carried away as fast as it can be bundled up; and thus the employment and subsistence of these poor people are secured." As the demand for rotative engines set in, Watt became more hopeful as to the prospects of this branch of manufacture. He even began to fear lest the firm should be unable to execute the orders, so fast did they follow each other. " I have no doubt," he wrote to Boulton, "that we shall soon so methodize the rotative engines as to get on with them at a great pace. Indeed, that is already in some degree the case. But we must have more men, and these we can only have For further particulars as to the Albion Mill, see Life of Pennie ill'Lives of the Engineers,' ii. 137. 360 FAULTS OF WORKMEN. CHAP. XVII. by the slow process of breeding them."' A fortnight later he wrote, "Orders for rotative engines are coming in daily; but, if we part with any more men here, we must stop taking them in." Want of skilled workmen continued to be one of Watt's greatest difficulties. When the amount of work to be executed was comparatively small, and sufficient time was given to execute it, he was able to turn out very satisfactory workmanship; but when the orders came pouring in, new hands were necessarily taken on, who proved a constant source of anxiety and trouble. Even the "old hands," when sent to a distance to fit up engines, being left, in a great measure, to themselves, were apt to become careless and ill-conditioned. With some, self-conceit was the stumbling-block, with others temper, but with the greater number, drink. "I am very sorry to hear," wrote Watt to Boulton, "that Malcolm Logan's disease increases. I think you should talk to him roundly upon it, and endeavour to procure him to make a solemn resolution or oath against drinking for some given term." Another foreman sent to erect an engine in Craven was afflicted with a distemper of a different sort. He was found to have put the engine very badly together, and, instead of attending to his work, had gone a-hunting in a pig-tail wig! "If the half of this be true," wrote Watt, "as I fear it is, he will not do to be sent to New River Head [where an engine was about to be erected], and I have at present nobody else here I suppose I shall be obliged to send Joseph over, for we must not have a bad engine if it can be helped..... e seem to be getting into our old troubles again." 1 Watt to Boulton, 23rd September, not the smallest leak and scarce any 1786. noise.... The working gear and 2 He spoke of Goodwyn's Brewery joints are the best I ever saw." engine, finished in 1784, as the best 3 Watt to Boulton, 24th February, that Soho had up to that timle turned 1786. out-it " per'1rnled wonderful well CHAP. XVII. PRESS OF ORDERS AT SOHO. 361 William Murdock continued, as before,- an admirable exception. He was as indefatigable as ever, always ready with an expedient to remedy a defect, and willing to work at all hours. A great clamour had been raised in Cornwall during his stay in London while setting the Albion Mill to rights, as there was no other person there capable of supplying his place, and fulfilling his numerous and responsible duties. Boulton deplored that more men such as Murdock were not to be had; -" He is now flying from mine to mine," he wrote, "and hath so many calls upon him that he is inclined to grow peevish; and if we take him from North Downs, Chacewater, and Towan (all of which engines he has the care of), they will run into disorder and ruin; they have not a man at North Downs that is better than a stoker." Towards the end of 1786 the press of orders increased at Soho. A rotative engine of forty-horse power was ordered by the Plate Glass Company to grind glass. A powerful pumping-engine was in hand for the Oxford Canal Company. Two engines, one of twenty and the other of ten horse power, were ordered for Scotch distilleries, and another order was shortly expected from the same quarter. The engine supplied for the Hull paper-mill having been found to answer admirably, more orders for engines for the same purpose were promised. At the same time pumping-engines were in hand for the great French waterworks at Marli. "In short," said Watt, "I foresee I shall be driven almost mad in finding men for the engines ordered here and coining in." Watt was necessarily kept very full of work by these orders, and we gather from his letters that he was equally full of headaches. He continued to give his personal attention to the preparation of the drawings of the engines, even to the minutest detail. On an engine being ordered by Mr. Morris, of Bristol, for the purpose of driving a tilt-hammer, Boulton wrote 362 WEDGWOOD'S ADVICE TO WATT. CHAP. XVII. to him,-" Mr. Watt can never be prevailed upon to begin any piece of machinery until the plan of the whole is settled, as it often happens that a change in one thing puts many others wrong. However, he has now settled the whole of yours, but waits answers to certain questions before the drawings for the founder can be issued."' At an early period his friend Wedgwood had strongly urged upon Watt that he should work less with his own head and hands, and more through the heads and hands of others.2 Watt's brain was too active for his body,.and needed rest; but rest he would not take, and persisted in executing all the plans of the new engines himself. Thus in his fragile, nervous, dyspeptic state, every increase of business was to him increase of brainwork and increase of pain; until it seemed as if not only his health, but the very foundations of his reason must give way. At the very time when Soho was beginning to bask in the sunshine of prosperity, and the financial troubles of the firm seemed coming to an end, Watt wrote the following profoundly melancholy letter to a friend: "I have been effete and listless, neither daring to face business, nor capable of it, my head and memory failing me much; my stable of hobby-horses pulled down, and the horses given to the dogs for carrion.... I have had serious thoughts of laying down the burden I find myself unable to carry, and perhaps, if other sentiments had not been stronger, should have thought of throwing off the mortal coil; but, if matters do not grow worse, I may Boulton to Morris, 2nd November, through your whole machinery, and 1 1786. am persuaded you will soon find some 2 "Your mind, my friend, is too salutary effects front this application. active, too powerful for your body, Seriously, I shall conclude in saying and harasses it beyond its bearing. to you what Dr. Fothergill desired If this was the case with any other me to say to Brindley —' Spare your machine under your direction, except machine a little, or like others under that in whose regulation your friends your direction, it will wear out the take so much interest, you would sooner by hard and constant usage."' soon find out a remedy. For the Josiah Wedgwood to Watt, December present permit me to advise a more 10, 1782. ample use of the oil of delegation CHAP. XVII. THE ENGINE AT LAST PRODUCTIVE. 363 perhaps stagger on. Solomon said that in the increase of knowledge there is increase of sorrow; if he had substituted business for knowledge, it would have been perfectly true." 1 As might be expected, from the large number of engines sold by the firm to this time, and the increasing amounts yearly payable as dues, their income from the business was becoming considerable, and promised, before many years had passed, to be very large. Down to the year 1785, however, the outlay upon new foundries, workshops, and machinery had been so great, and the large increase of business had so completely absorbed the capital of the firm, that Watt continued to be paid his household expenses, at the rate of so much a year, out of the hardware business, and no division of profits upon the engines sold and at work had as yet been made, because none had accrued. After the lapse of two more years, matters had completely changed; and after long waiting, and indescribable distress of mind and body, Watt's invention at length began to be productive to him. During the early part of his career, though his income had been small, his wants were few, and easily satisfied. Though Boulton had liberally provided for these from the time of his settling at Birmingham, Watt continued to feel oppressed by the thought of the debt to the bankers for which he and his partner were jointly liable. In his own little business he had been accustomed to deal with such small sums, that the idea of being responsible for the repayment of thousands of pounds appalled and unnerved him; and he had no peace of mind until the debt was discharged. Now at last he was free, and in the happy position of having a balance at his bankers. On the 7th of December, 1787, Boulton wrote to Matthews, the London agent,-" As Mr. Watt is now at Mr. Mac1 Watt to his brother-in-law, Gilbert Hamilton, Glasgow, June 18, 1786. 364 SPECULATIVENESS OF BOULTON. CHAP. XVII. gregor's, in Glasgow, I wish you would write him a line to say that you have transferred 40001. to his own account, that you have paid for him another 10001. to the Albion Mill, and that about Christmas you suppose you shall transfer 20071. more to him, to balance." But while Watt's argosies were coming into port richly laden, Boulton's were still at sea. Though the latter had risked, and often lost, capital in his various undertakings, he continued as venturesome, as enterprising as ever. When any project was started calculated to bring the steam-engine into notice, he was immediately ready with his subscription. Thus he embarked 60001. in the Albion Mill, a luckless adventure in itself, though productive in other respects. But he sadly missed the money, and as late as 1789, feelingly said to Matthews, "Ol that I had my Albion Mill capital back again!" When any mining adventure was started in Cornwall for which a new engine was wanted, Boulton would write, "If you want a stopgap, put me.down as an adventurer;" and too often the adventure proved a failure. Then, to encourage the Cornish Copper Mining Company, he bought large quantities of copper, and had it sent down to Birmingham, where it lay long on his hands without a purchaser. At the same time we find him expending 50001. in building and rebuilding two mills and a warehlouse at Soho, and an equal amount in "preparing for the coinage." These large investments had the effect of crippling his resources for years to come; and when the commercial convulsion of 1788 occurred, he felt himself in a state of the most distressing embarrassment. The circumstances of the partners being thus in a measure reversed, Boulton fell back upon Watt for temporary help; but, more cautious than his partner, Watt had already invested his profits elsewhere, and could not CHAP XVII. HIS HEALTH FAILING. 365 help him.1 He had got together his store of gains with too much difficulty to part with them easily; and he was unwilling to let them float away in what he regarded as an unknown sea of speculation. To add to his distresses, Boulton's health began to fail him. To have seen the two men, no one would have thought that Boulton would have been the first to break down; but so it was. Though Watt's sufferings from headaches, and afterwards from asthma, seem to have been almost continuous, he struggled on, and even grew in strength and spirits. His fragile frame bent before disease, as the reed beads to the storm, and rose erect again; but it was different with Boulton. He had toiled too unsparingly, and was now feeling the effects. The strain upon him had throughout been greater than upon Watt, whose headache had acted as a sort of safetyvalve by disabling him from pursuing further study until it had gone off. Boulton, on the other hand, was kept in a state of constant anxiety by business that could not possibly be postponed. He had to provide the means for carrying on his many businesses, to sustain his partner against despondency, and to keep the whole organisation of the firm in working order. While engaged in bearing his gigantic burden, disease came upon him. In 1784 we find him writing to his winemerchant, with a cheque in payment of his account,"We have had a visit from a new acquaintance-the gout." The visitor returned, and four years later we find him complaining of violent pain from gravel and stone, to which he continued a martyr to the close of his life. "I am very unwell indeed," he wrote to Matthews "Mr. Watt hath lately remitted Duke's at 701., and not an ounce of all his money to Scotland, and 1 have either yet used. In short, I shall be lately purchased a considerable quan- in a very few weeks in great want of tity of copper at the request of Mr. money, and it is now impossible to Williams.... Besides which I have borrow in London or this neighbourmore than 45 tons of copper by hood as all confidence is fied." —Boulton me, 20 of which was bought of the to Wilson, 4th May, 1788. Cornish Metal Company, and 20 of the 366 BOULTON'S "DARKEST HOUR." CHAP. XVII. in London; "I can get no sleep; and yet I have been obliged to wear a cheerful face, and attend all this week on M. l'Abbe de Callone and his friend Brunelle." He felt as if life was drawing to an end with him: he asked his friend, for a continuance of his sympathy, and promised to exert himself, " otherwise," said he, "I will lay me down and die." He was distressed, above all things, at the prospect of leaving his family unprovided for, notwithstanding all the labours, anxieties, and risks he had undergone. " When I reflect," he said, " that I have given up my extra advantage of one-third on all the engines we are now making and are likely to make,2 -when I think of my children, now upon the verge of that time of life when they are naturally entitled to expect a portion of their patrimony,-when I feel the consciousness of being unable to restore to them the property which their mother intrusted to me, —when I see all whom I am connected with growing rich, whilst I am groaning under a load of debt and annuities that would sink me into the grave if my anxieties for my children did not sustain me,-I say, when I consider all these things, it behoves me to struggle through the small remaining fragment of my life (being now in my 60th year), and do my children all the justice in my power by wiping away as many of my incumbrances as possible." It was seldom that Boulton wrote in so desponding a strain as this; but it was his "darkest hour," and happily it proved the one "nearest the dawn." Yet, we shortly after find him applying his energies, apparently unabated, in an entirely new direction-that of coining money —which, next to the introduction of the steam-engine, was the greatest enterprise of his life. 1 Boulton to Matthews, 22nd De- two-thirds, and Watt one-third profits, cember, 1788. Boulton providing the requisite capital 2 Boulton acted with his usual open- and being at the risk and expense of handed generosity in his partnership all experiments, he subsequently, at arrangements with Watt. Although Watt's request, agreed to the profits the original bargain between them being equally divided between them. provided that Boulton was to take CHAP. XVIII. BOULTON'S FRIENDSHIPS. 367 CHAPTER XVIII. FRIENDS OF BOTJLTON AND WATT-THE LUNAR SOCIETY. As men are known by the friends they make and the books they read, as well as by the recreations and pursuits of their leisure hours, it will help us to an appreciation of the characters of Boulton and Watt if we glance briefly at the social life of Soho during the period we have thus rapidly passed under review. Boulton was of a thoroughly social disposition, and made friends wherever he went. He was a favourite alike with children and philosophers, with princely visitors at Soho, and with quiet Quakers in Cornwall. When at home, he took pleasure in gathering about him persons of kindred tastes and pursuits, in order at the same time to enjoy their friendship, and to cultivate his nature by intercourse with minds of the highest culture. Hence the friendships which he early formed for Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Small, Dr. Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood, Thomas Day, Lovell Edgeworth, and others equally eminent; out of which eventually grew the famous Lunar Society. Towards the close of last century, there were many little clubs or coteries of scientific and literary men established in the provinces, the like of which do not now exist, —probably because the communication with the metropolis is so much easier, and because London more than ever absorbs the active intelligence of England, especially in the higher departments of science, art, and literature. The provincial coteries of which we speak, were usually centres of the best and most intelligent society of their neighbourhoods, and were 368 LUNAR SOCIETY FORMED. CHAP. XVIII. for the most part distinguished by an active and liberal spirit of inquiry. Leading minds attracted others of like tastes and pursuits, and social circles were formed which proved in many instances the source of great intellectual activity as well as enjoyment. At Liverpool, Roscoe and Currie were the centres of one such group; at Warrington, Aikin, Enfield, and Priestley, of another; at Bristol, Dr. Beddoes and Humphry Davy of a third; and at Norwich, the Taylors and Martineaus of a fourth. But perhaps the most distinguished of these provincial societies was that at Birmingham, of' which Boulton and Watt were among the most prominent members. From an early period, the idea of a society, meeting by turns at each other's houses, seems to have been entertained by Boulton. It was probably suggested in the first place by his friend Dr. Small. The object of the proposed Society was to be at the same time friendly and scientific. The members were to exchange views with each other on topics relating to literature, art, and science; each contributing his quota of entertainment and instruction. The meetings were appointed to be held monthly at the full of the moon, to enable distant members to drive home by moonlight; and this was the more necessary as some of them-such as Darwin and Wedgwood-lived at a considerable distance from Birmingham. When Watt visited Soho in 1768, on his way home from London to Glasgow, some of the members of the Society —Dr. Small, Dr. Darwin, and Mr. Keir —were invited to meet him at l'k6tel de l'arnitie' sur H:andsworth/ Heath, as Boulton styled his hospitable mansion. The Society must, however, have been in a somewhat undefined state at even a considerably later period, as we find Boulton writing to Watt in 1776, after the latter had settled in Birmingham, "Pray remember that the celebration of the third filll moon will be on Saturday, CHAP. XVIII. DR. DARWIN. 369 March 3rd. Darwin and Keir will both be at Soho. I then propose to submit many motions to the members respecting new laws and regulations, such as will tend to prevent the decline of a Society which I hope will be lasting." The principal members, besides those above named, were Thomas Day, R. Lovell Edgeworth, Samuel Galton, Dr. Withering, Baskerville the printer, Dr. Priestley, and James Watt. Each member was at liberty to bring a friend with him, and thus many visitors of distinction were present at the meetings of the Society, amongst whom may be named Mr. Smeaton, Dr. Parr, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir William Herschel, Dr. Solander, De Luc, Dr. Camper, and occasional scientific' foreigners. Dr. Darwin was regarded as the patriarch of the Society. His fame as a doctor, philosopher, and poet, was great throughout the Midland Counties. He was extremely speculative in all directions, even in such matters as driving wheel-carriages by steam,-also a favourite subject of speculation with Mr. Edgeworth.' Dr.. Darwin's time, however, was so much engrossed by his practice at Lichfield, that he was not very regular in his attendance at the meetings, but would excuse himself for his absence by such a letter as the following: "IDEAR BOULTON,-I am sorry the infernal divinities who visit mankind with diseases, and are therefore at perpetual war with Doctors, should have prevented my seeing all your great men at Soho to-day. Lord! what inventions, what wit, what rhetoric, metaphysical, mechanical, and pyrotechnical, will be on the wing, bandied like a shuttlecock from one to another of your troop of philosophers! while poor I, I by myself I, imprison'd in a postchaise, am joggled, and jostled, and bump'd, and bruised along the King's high-road, to make war upon a stomach-ache or a fever! "2 1 As early as August, 1768, we carriages by steam, and has made find Dr. Small in one of his letters considerable progress in the short describing Edgeworth to Watt as " a space of time that he has devoted to gentleman of fortune, young, mechani- the study." cal, and indefatigable, who has taken 2 Dr. Darwin to Boulton, April 5, a resolution to move land and water 1778. When the Doctor removed to 2 i 370 DR. PRIESTLEY. CHAP. XVIII. While Dr. Darwin and Mr. Edgeworth were amongst the oldest members of the Society, Dr. Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen and other gases, was one of the most recent. We find Boulton corresponding with him in 1775,' principally on chemical subjects, and supplying him with parcels of fluor spar for purposes of experiment. Five years later, in 1780, he was appointed minister of the Presbyterian Congregation assembling in the New Meeting-house, Birmingham; and from that time forward he was one of the most active members of the Lunar Society, by whom he was regarded as a great acquisition. Dr. Priestley was a man of extraordinary gifts and accomplishments. He had mastered many languages before he was twenty years old. He was well versed in mechanical philosophy and metaphysics, a skilled dialectician, and the most expert chemist of his time. Possessed by an irrepressible activity and untiring perseverance, he became an enthusiast on whatever subject he undertook, whether it was an inquiry into history, Derby in 1782, he wrote,-" [ am I well remember poor old Mr. Seward here cut off from the milk of science, comparing the Immortality of the which flows in such redundant streams Soul (in a devout sermon) to a firefrom your learned Lunatics, and which, engine. He might now have made it I can assure you, is a very great regret a type of the mortality of this world, to me." In another letter he said, — and the conflagration of all things." "I hope philosophy and fire-engines l In a letter from Priestley to continue to go on well. You heard Boulton, dated London, 6thNovember, we sent your Society an air-balloon, 1775, he wrote,-" I shall not quarrel which was calculated to have fallen in with you on account of our different your garden at Soho; but the wicked sentiments in politics. When I tell wind carried it to Sir Edward Little- you, what is fact, that the Americans ton's. Pray give my compliments to have constructed a cannon on a new your learned Society." In another principle, by which they can hit a letter he wrote, —" I hope Behemoth mark at a distance of a mile, you will has strength in his loins. Belial and say their ingenuity has come in aid of Ashtaroth are two other devils of conse- their cowardice! I would tell you quence, and good names for engines of the principle of it, but that I am Fire." When he heard of the Albion afraid it would set your superior Mill being burnt down, the Doctor ingenuity to improve upon it for the wrote, —" The conflagration of the use of their enemies." From Boulton's Albion Millgrieved me sincerely, both memoranda-books we find that the as it was a grand and successful effort subject of improved artillery had of human art, and also because I fear occupied his attention some ten years you were a considerable sufferer by it. before. CHAP. XVIII. HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS. 371 theology, or science. He himself likened experimental philosophy to hunting, and in his case it was the pursuit of facts that mainly concerned him. He was cheerfill, DB, PRIESTLEY. hopeful, and buoyant; possessed of a most juvenile temperament; happiest when fullest of work; ranging front subject to subject with extraordinary versatility; laying aside metaphysics to pursue experiments in electricity, next taking up history and politics, and resting from these to experiment on gases,-all the while carrying on some public controversy on a disputed point in religion or politics. For it is a curious flact, that gentle, affectionate, and amiable though Priestley was,-devout in temperament, and single-minded in the pursuit of 2 iu 2 372 HIS ENTHUSIASM IN CHEMISTRY. CHAP. XVIII. truth,'-he was almost constantly involved in paper wars. He described himself, and truly, as "one of the happiest of men;" yet wherever he went, in England or America, he stirred up controversy and exasperated opponents, seeming to be the very Ishmael of polemics. At the time when he settled at Birmingham, Priestley was actively engaged in prosecuting inquiries into the constitution of bodies. He had been occupied for several years before in making investigations as to the gases. The discovery of carbonic acid gas by Dr. Black of Edinburgh, had attracted his attention; and, living conveniently near to a brewery at Leeds, where he then was, he proceeded to make experiments on the fixed air or carbonic acid gas evolved during fermentation. From these he went on to other experiments, making use of the rudest apparatus,phials, tobacco-pipes, kitchen utensils, a few glass tubes, and an old gun-barrel. The pursuit was a source of constant pleasure to him. He had entered upon an almost unexplored field of science. Then was the childhood of chemistry, and he gazed with large-eyed wonder at the marvels which his investigations brought to light. He had no teacher to guide him. — nothing but experiment; and he experimented constantly, carefully noting the results. Observation of facts was his great object; the interpretation of the facts he left to others. Such was Priestley, and such were his pursuits, when he settled at Birmingham in 1780. 1 Mrs. Schimmelpenninck, who had sharp and acute intellectual perception, no sympathy for Dr. Priestley's re- often a pointed, perhaps a playful ligious views, nevertheless bears expression, was combined in him with eloquent testimony to the beauty of a most loving heart... Dr. l'riestley his character. She speaks of him as always spent part of every day in "a man of admirable simplicity, devotional exercises and contemplagentleness, and kindness of heart, tion; and unless the railroad has united with great acuteness of'in- spoilt it, there yet remains at Dawlish tellect. I can never forget," she says, a deep and beautiful cavern, since " the impression produced on me by known by the name of " Dr. Priestley's the serene expression of his counte- cavern," where he was wont to pass nance. He, indeed, seemed ever an hour every day in solitary retirepresent with God by recollection, and ment. —' Life of Mary Ann Schimmelwith man by cheerfulness.... A penninck.' CHAP. XVIII. BOULTON STUDIES CHEMISTRY. 373 There can be little doubt that his enthusiasm as an experimenter in chemistry exercised a powerful influence on the minds of both Boulton and Watt, who, though both full of work, anxiety, and financial troubles, were nevertheless found taking an active interest from this time forward in the progress of chemical science. Chemistry became the chief subject of discussion at the meetings of the Lunar Society, and chemical experiments the principal recreation of their leisure hours. " I dined yesterday at the Lunar Society (Keir's house)," wrote Boulton to Watt; "there was Blair, Priestley, Withering, Galton, and an American'rebel,' Mr. Collins. Nothing new except that some of my white Spathos Iron ore was found to contain more air than any ore Priestley had ever tried, and, what is singular, it contains no common air, but is part fixable and part inflammable." 1 To Henderson, in Cornwall, Boulton wrote, two months later,"Chemistry has for some time been my hobby-horse, but I am prevented from riding it by cursed business, except now and then of a Sunday. However, I have made great progress since I saw you, and am almost an adept in metallurgical moist chemistry. I have got all that part of Bergmann's last volume translated, and have learnt from it many new facts. I have annihilated Wm. Murdock's bedchamber, having taken away the floor, and made the chicken kitchen into one high room covered over with shelves, and these I have filled with chemical apparatus. I have likewise set up a Priestleyan water-tub, and likewise a mercurial tub for experiments on gases, vapours, &c., and next year 1 shall annex to these a laboratory with furnaces of all sorts, and all other utensils for dry chemistry." 2 The "Priestleyan water-tub" and "mercurial tub," here alluded to, were invented by Priestley in the course of his investigations, for the purpose of collecting and handling gases; and the pneumatic trough, with glass 1 Boulton to Watt, 3rd July, 1781. furnace or other means extracted it Dr. Black denominated carbonic acid from its fixture. gas " fixed air " because of his having 2 Boulton to Henderson, 6th Sepfirst discovered it in chalk, marble, tember, 1781. &c., wherein it was fixed until the 374 JOSIAH WEDGWOOD. CHAP. XVIII. retorts and receivers, shortly became part of the furniture of' every chemical laboratory. Josiah Wedgwood was another member of the Lunar Society who was infected by Dr. Priestley's enthusiasm for chemistry; and, knowing that the Doctor's income from his congregation was small, he and Boulton took private counsel together as to the best means of providing him with funds so as to place him in a position of comparative ease, and enable him freely to pursue his investigations. The correspondence which took place on the subject is creditable to all parties concerned; and the more so to Boulton, as he was embarrassed at the time by financial difficulties of the most distressing kind, as has been already explained in a preceding chapter. Wedgwood had undertaken to sound Dr. Priestley, and he thus communicated the result to Boulton: — "The Doctor says he never did intend or think of making any pecuniary advantage from any of his experiments, but gave them to the public with their results, just as they happened, and so he should continue to do, without ever attempting to make any private emolument from them to himself. "I mentioned this business to our good friend, Dr. Darwin, who agrees with us in sentiment, that it would be a pity that Dr. Priestley should have any cares or cramps to interrupt him in the fine vein of experiments he is in the midst of, and is willing to devote his time to the pursuit of, for the public good. The Doctor will subscribe, and has thought of some friends who, he is persuaded, will gladly do the same.... "You will see by the enclosed list that one cannot decently exceed ten guineas unless it be under the cover of a friend's name, which method I shall take if I think it necessary to write more than ten; but that is the subscription I shall begin with, and for three years certain. " Dr. Darwin will be very cautious who he mentions this affiir to, for reasons of delicacy which will have equal weight with us all. I mentioned your generous intention to Dr. P., and that we thought of 201. each; but that, you will perceive, cannot be, and the Doctor says much less will suffice, as he can go on very well with 1001. per annum.'' Wedgwood to Poulton, Etruria, 10th March, 1781. CHAP. XVIII. DISCUSSIONS AT THE LUNAR SOCIETY. 375 Boulton wrote Wedgwood in reply, requesting that the money subscribed should be collected and paid to Dr. Priestley in such a way as not to wound his sensitive feelings. He suggested that in order to avoid this, it might be better if, instead of an annual subscription, a dozen gentlemen were found willing to give a hundred pounds each for the purpose of buying an annuity, or investing the amount in stock for the Doctor's benefit. " I have never yet spoken to him on the subject," he added; " I wish to avoid it, and so doth my neighbour Galton. Therefore I beg you will manage the affair so that we may contribute our mites to so laudable a plan, without the Doctor knowing anything of the matter, and favour us with a line on the subject at your leisure."' In a subsequent part of the same letter he indicated the subject of Priestley's experiments at the time: — "We have long talked," said he, " of Phlogiston without knowing what we talked about; but now that Dr. Priestley hath brought the matter to light, we can pour that element out of one vessel into another, can take it out of one metal and put it into another, can tell how much of it, by accurate measurement, is necessary to reduce a calx to a metal, which is easily done, and without putting that calx into contact with any visible thing. In short, this goddess of levity can be measured and weighed like other matter. For the rest, I refer you to the Doctor himself." The discussions at the Lunar Society were not, however, exclusively chemical, but were varied according to the visitors who from time to time honoured the members with their presence. Thus, in the autumn of 1782, the venerable Smeaton, having occasion to be in Birmingham upon canal business, was invited to attend a meeting of the Society held in Watt's house at Harper's Hill. Watt thus described the evening's proceedings in a letter to Boulton, then in London:"He [Smeaton] grows old, and is rather more talkative than he was, but retains in perfection his perspicuity of expression and good sense. He came to the Philosophers' Meeting at my 1 Boulton to Wedgwood, 30th March, 1781. 376 PRIESTLEY'S DISCOVERIES. CHAP. XVIII. house on Monday, and we were receiving an account of his experiments on rotatives and some new ones he has made, when unluckily his facts did not agree with Dr. Moyes the blind philosopher's theories, which made Moyes contradict Smeaton, and brought on a dispute which lost us the information we hoped for, and took away all the pleasure of the meeting, as it lasted two hours without coming half an inch nearer to the point." 1 A few days. later, we find De Luc paying his first visit to Watt at Birmingham, accompanied by Baron Reden, who desired to inspect the Soho works. "M. De Luc," wrote Watt, " is a modest ingenious man. On Wednesday, Wilkinson, Reden, and he sent for me to'The Castle' after dinner, and kept me to supper. On the following day De Luc came to breakfast, and spent the whole forenoon, insensing 2 himself with steam and steam-engines. He is making a book, and will mention us in it. Dr. Priestley came also to dinner, and we were all good company till six o'clock, when Wilkinson set off for Broseley, and they for London." Meanwhile Priestley continued to pursue his investigations with indefatigable zeal, discovering one gas after another,3 and immediately proclaiming the facts which he brought to light, so that other minds might be employed on them besides his own. He kept nothing secret. Perhaps, indeed, he was too hasty in publishing the results of experiments still unfinished, as it occasionally led him into contradictions which a more cautious method of procedure would have enabled him to avoid. But he was thoroughly honest, ingenuous, and singleminded in all his proceedings, entertaining the conviction that in the end truth would vindicate itself, and 1 Watt to Boulton, 26th October, Cavendish and Rutherford), nitric 1782. oxide, nitrous oxide, sulphurous acid, 2 A common word in the north, — muriatic acid (chlorine), volatile ammeaning literallyputting sense into one. monia, fluo-silicic acid, and carbonic 3 He discovered, in the course of oxide, —" a tribute to science," as is his inquiries at different periods, no truly observed by Dr. Henry, "greatly fewer than nine new gases, —oxygen, exceeding in richness and extent that nitrogen (a discovery also claimed by of any contemporary." CHAP. XVIII. THE COMPOSITION OF WATER. 377 that all that was necessary was to inquire ardently, to experiment incessantly, and to publish freely. One of the most interesting speculations to which Priestley's experiments gave rise was the composition of water. The merit of discovering the true theory has been variously attributed to Watt, to Cavendish, and to Lavoisier; and perhaps no scientific question has been the subject of more protracted controversy. It had been known for some years that a certain mixture of inflammable and dephlogisticated air (hydrogen and oxygen), or common air and hydrogen, could be fired by the electric spark. The experiment had been made by Volta and Macquer in 1776-7; and in the spring of 1781 Priestley made what he called a "random experiment" of the same kind, to entertain some philosophical friends. He exploded a mixture of common air and hydrogen in a glass globe by sending an electric spark through it, and when the explosion had taken place it was observed that the sides of the glass were bedewed with moisture. Mr. Warltire, a lecturer on Natural Philosophy at Birmingham,' was present at the experiment, and afterwards repeated it in a copper flask for the purpose of trying "whether heat is heavy or not." In the mean time, Mr. Cavendish, who had for some years been occupied in the special study of pneumatic chemistry, and satisfactorily solved the question of the true composition of atmospheric air, having had his attention directed to Mr. Warltire's experiment, repeated it in London, in the summer of 1781, employing a We find among the Boulton MSS., of Air at Birmingham. I think him a letter from Priestley, dated Calne, an excellent philosopher, as well as a 28th September, 1776, introducing modest and agreeable man. He is Warltire to Boulton as follows: —" As perfectly acquainted with his subject, I know you will take pleasure in and has prepared a set of experiments everything in which the advancement which have given the greatest satisof science is concerned, I take the faction wherever he has been. He liberty to recommend to you Mr. has been so obliging as to spend some Warltire, who has been some time in time with me, and has given me much this part of the country, and who is assistance in my late experiments, of going to read lectures on the subject which he can give you some account." 378 WATT'S THEORY. CHAP. XVIII. glass vessel instead of a copper one; and again the deposit of dew was observed on the sides of the glass. This phenomenon, which Priestley had disregarded, appeared to him to be of considerable importance, and "likely to throw great light" upon the subject of the disappearance of oxygen during combustion, which he had been pursuing experimentally by means of his well-known eudiometer. "The liquid which resulted from the detonations was very carefully analysed, and proved in all the experiments with hydrogen and air, and in some of those with hydrogen and oxygen, to be pure water; but in certain of the latter it contained a sensible quantity of nitric acid. Till the source of this was ascertained, it would have been premature to conclude that hydrogen and oxygen could be turned into pure water."' These experiments, however, were not published, being still regarded as inconclusive. But with the communicativeness which distinguishes the true man of science, Cavendish made them known to Priestley, and, through his friend Dr. Blagden, to Lavoisier. It was not until January, 1784, that he coImmunicated the results of his long series of experiments on the subject to the Royal Society. In the mean time Watt's attention had been directed to the same subject by the experiments of Priestley, and he was led to the same conclusions as Cavendish, though altogether independent of him, and by means of a different class of experiments. We find him writing to Boulton, then at Cosgarne, as follows, in 1782:"You may remember that I have often said that if water could be heated red hot, or something more, it would probably be converted into some kind of air, because steam would in that case have lost all its latent heat, and that it would have been turned 1 Wilson's' Life of Cavendish,' p. Muirhead in his'Correspondence of 60. In this work, the claims of the late James Watt on his Discovery Cavendish are strongly advocated. of the Theory of the Composition of The case in favour of Watt is alike Water.' strongly and ably stated by Mr. CHAP. XVIlI. CAVENDISH AND WATT. 379 wholly into sensible heat, and probably a total change of the nature of the fluid would ensue. Dr. Priestley has proved this by experiment. He took lime and chased out all the fixed air, and made it exceedingly caustic by long-continued and violent heat. He then added to it two ounces of water, and as expeditiously as possible subjected it again to a strong heat, and he obtained two ounces' weight of air; and, what is most surprising, a balloon which he interposed between the retort and receiver was not sensibly moistened, nor at all heated that could be observed. The air produced was but very little more than common air, and contained scarce any fixed air. So here is a plain account of where the atmospheric air comes from.'T'he Doctor does. me justice as to the theory."' The results of this experiment were by no means conclusive. That water was composed, at least in part, of air or gas of some kind was obvious; but what the gas was, and whether it existed in combination with other gases, was still a matter of conjecture. But Priestley, having proceeded to repeat Cavendish's experiment 2 of exploding a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen in a glass vessel, which was followed by the usual deposit of water, communicated the fact to Watt, and this at once put him on the track of the true theory. In a letter to Dr. Black, he communicated the result of Dr. Priestley's experiments, stating that "when quite dry pure inflammable air (hydrogen) and quite dry pure dephlogisticated air (oxygen) are fired by the electric spark in a close vessel, he finds, after the vessel is cold, a quantity of water adhering to the vessel equal, or very 1 Watt to Boulton, 10th December, toujours trouv6 de l'eau dans les vases 1782. ou il avoit bruild un melange de l'air 2 De Luc, Watt's "ami zdle," as he inflammable et d'air atmosphe'rique, described himself, confirms the fact s'dtoit appliqud' decouvrir la source of Cavendish having, in 1782, com- de cette eau, et qu'il avoit trouve municated to Priestley the nature of qu'un me'lange d'air inflammable et his experiments as well as his theory d'air dephlogistique en proportion conof the composition of water, in the venable, etant allume' par l'etincelle following passage: —" Vers la fin de dlectrique, se convertissoit tout entier l'ann6e 1782, j'allai k Birmingham, en eau.-Je fus frappe au plus haut ou le Dr. Priestley s'etoit etabli depuis degrd de cette de'couverte."-' Ide'es quelques annces. I1 me commnuniqua sur la Me'teorologie,' tome 2, 1787, alors que M. Cavendish, d'aprbs une pp. 206-7. remarque de M. Warltire, qui avoit 380 THE DISPUTED DISCOVERY. CHAP. XVIII. nearly equal, to the weight of the whole air..... Are we not then authorised to conclude, that water is composed of dephlogisticated and inflammable air or phlogiston deprived of part of their latent heat; and that dephlogisticated or pure air is composed of water deprived of its phlogiston and united to heat and light; and if light be only a modification of heat, or a component part of phlogiston, then pure air consists of water deprived of its phlogiston or latent heat?"' At the same time Watt wrote to Priestley, - who did not himself see the force of the experiments as establishing the true composition of water,-demonstrating the conclusions which they warranted, and which were identical with those already drawn by Cavendish. Whether Priestley had communicated to Watt the theory of Cavendish does not appear; but it is probable that both arrived at the same conclusions independently of each other; Cavendish from the result of his own experiments, and Watt from those of Priestley. Each was quite competent to have made the discovery; nor is it necessary for the fame of either to strip a leaf of laurel from the brow of the other. Moreover, we are as unwilling to believe that Cavendish would have knowingly appropriated to himself the idea of Watt, as that Watt would have knowingly appropriated the idea of Cavendish. As it was, however, Cavendish and Wratt both claimed priority in the discovery; the advocates of Watt's claim resting their case mainly on the fact of his having first stated his views on the subject in writing, in a letter which he wrote to Dr. Priestley for the purpose of being read to the Royal Society in April, 1783. Before that letter was read, Watt asked that it should be withheld until the results of some new experiments of Dr. Priestley could be ascertained. These proving delusive, Watt sent a W1 att to Black, 21st April, 1783. CHAP. XVIII. BLEACHING BY CHLORINE. 381 revised edition of the letter to his friend De Luc, in November, but the reading of it was delayed until the 29th April, 1784, before which time, on the 15th January, Cavendish's paper on the same subject had been communicated to the Society. Watt was much' annoyed at the circumstance, and alleged that Cavendish had been guilty of " plagiarism."' At a late period of his life, when all bitter feelings on the subject had subsided, Watt declared himself indifferent to the subject of controversy:" After all," said he, " it matters little whether Cavendish or I discovered the composition of water; the great thing is, that it is discovered." Pneumatic chemistry continued to form the principal subject of discussion at the Lunar Society, as we find from numerous references in Boulton and Watt's letters. " The Lunar Society," wrote Watt to his partner, "was held yesterday at Mr. Galton's at Barr. It was rather dull, there having been no philosophical news lately except Mr. Kirwan's discovery of an air from phosphorus, which takes fire of itself on being mixed with common or dephlogisticated air."2 Among Watt's numerous scientific correspondents was M. Berthollet, the eminent French chemist, who communicated to him the process he had discovered of bleaching by chlorine. Watt proceeded to test the value of the discovery by experiment, after which he recommended his father-in-law, Mr. Macgregor, of Glasgow, to make trial of it on a larger scale. This, however, was postponed 1 That Watt felt keenly on the that, Mr. Cavendish has read a paper subject, is obvious from his letter to to the Royal Society on the same idea, Mr. Fry of Bristol (15th May, 1784), without making the least mention of wherein he says,-" I have had the me. l'he one is a French financier; and honour, like other great men, to have the other a member of the illustrious had my ideas pirated. Soon after I house of Cavendish, worth above wrote my first paper on the subject, 100,0001., and does not spend 10001. a Dr. Blagden explained my theorly to year. Rich men may do mean actions. M. Lavoisier at Paris; and soon after May you and I always persevere in that, M. Lavoisier invented it himself, our integrity, and despise such doings." and read a paper on the subject to the 2 Watt to Boulton, 20th September, Royal Academy of Sciences. Since 1785. 382 SUPPOSED DISCOVERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY. CHAP. XVIII. until Watt himself could find time to superintend it in person. At the end of 1787, we find him on a visit to Glasgow for the purpose, and writing Boulton that he is making ready for the trial. "I mean," lie writes, " to try it to-morrow, though I am somewhat afraid to attack so fierce and strong a beast. There is alhnost no bearing the fumes of it. After all, it does not appear that it will prove a cheap way of bleaching, and it weakens the goods more than could be wished, whatever good it may do in the way of expedition."' The experiment succeeded, and we find Mr. Macgregor, in the following February, "engaged in whitening 1500 yards of linen by the process." The discovery, not being protected by a patent, was immediately made use of by other firms; but the offensive odour of the chlorine was found exceedingly objectionable, until it was discovered that chlorine could be absorbed by slaked lime, the solution of which possessed great bleaching power, and this process in course of time superseded all the old methods of bleaching by chlorine. It has been recently surmised that the action of light upon nitrate of silver formed the subject of discussion at the Lunar Society, and of experiments by Boulton and Watt; but we find no indications of this in their correspondence. They were so unreserved with each other on all matters of business as well as science that, had any phenomena of so remarkable a character as those which have issued in the art of photography become known to either Boulton or Watt, we feel confident that they must have formed the subject of much personal discussion, and of many written communications. But both correspondents are alike entirely silent on the subject; and we infer that no such experiments were made by them, or, if made, that they led to no results!2 Watt to Poulton, 30th December, Museum, raised this question at'a 1787. Boulton MSS. meeting of the Photographic Society 2 Mr. W. P. Smith, of the Patent held on the 3rd November, 1863. CHAP. XVIII. M. FAUJAS-SAINT-FOND. 383 Among the many foreigners who were attracted by this distinguished circle of scientific men, we find M. Faujas-Saint-Fond, who visited Birmingham in the course of his tour in England in 1785, while the circle was as yet unbroken, and Watt, Boulton, Priestley, and the rest, were in the full tide of business, invention, and inquiry. Saint-Fond had the pleasure of dining one day with Watt when Dr. Priestley was present, and describes in glowing terms the interest of their conversation. " Watt," he says, "joins to the frankness of a Scotchman the amiability and kindness of a man of the world. Surrounded by charming children, well educated and full of talent, he enjoys in their midst the happiness of regarding them as his friends, while he is almost worshipped by them as the best of fathers." A subsequent visit which he paid to Dr. Priestley in company with Dr. Withering, leads him to describe the Certain photographic pictures on metal used by a Miss Wilkinson, an expeplates were found in Mr. Boulton's rimenter in photography after its inlibrary at Soho, which, it was sup- vention by Niepce, these photographs posed, had not been opened for about were merely the results of her first fifty years; and it was accordingly amateur experiments in the art.'The inferred that these photographs had late Mr. Murdock, son of William been the work of Mr. Boulton, or some Murdock of Soho, who lived in the member of the Lunar Society, about immediate neighbourhood, was also a the year 1791. One of them was sup- very good photographist, and was posed to be a view of Soho House accustomed to meet Miss Wilkinson " before the alterations, which were to make experiments in the new art. made previous to 1791." But the There can be no doubt that the evidence is very defective, as has been Wedgwoods of Etruria, more particuclearly shown by M. P. W. Ioulton, larly Josiah's son Thomas, as well as Esq., the grandson of Mr. Boulton, Humphry Davy, were early engaged in his' Remarks concerning certain in experimenting on the action of light Photographs supposed to be of early upon nitrate of silver, but they wholly Date' (Bradbury and Evans, 1864). failed in fixing the pictures. A letter, Instead of having been closed for fifty dated " January, 1799," is quoted in years, the room in which the pictures the' Photographic Journal' for Jan. 15, were found, was in constant use, and 1864, as from James Watt to Josiah the books were freely accessible. It Wedgwood (which must be an error, is also very doubtful whether the as Josiah died in 1795), in which the house represented in one of the pic- following words occur: —"1 thank tures is old Soho House; the strong you for your instructions respecting probability being that it is not, but a the silver pictures, about which, when house still standing at Winson Green. at home, I Bwill make some experiThe explanation given by Mr. M. P. W. ments." If such experiments were Boulton seems to be the true one- really made, we have been unable to that the room in question having been find any record of them. 384 PRIESTLEY'S HOUSE AT FAIRHILL. CHAP. XVIII philosopher's house at Fairhill, then about a mile and a half from Birmingham. "It is," he says, "a charming residence, with a fine meadow 6cn one side, and a beautiful garden on the other. There was an air of perfect neatness about the place within and without." He describes the Doctor's laboratory, in which he conducted his experiments, as "situated at the extremity of a court, and detached from the house to avoid the danger of fire." "It consists of several apartments on the ground floor. On entering it, I was struck with the sight of a simple and ingenious apparatus for making experiments on inflammable gas extracted from iron and water reduced to vapour. It consisted of a tube, tolerably long and thick, made out of one piece of copper to avoid soldering. rT'he part exposed to the fire was thicker than the rest. He introduced into the tube cuttings or filings of iron, and instead of letting the water fall into it drop by drop, he preferred introducing it as vapour. The furnace was fired by coke instead of coal, this being the best of combustibles for intensity and equality of heat..... Dr. Priestley kindly allowed me to make a drawing of his apparatus for the purpose of communicating it to the French chemists who are engaged in the same investigations as himself....The Doctor has embellished his rural retreat with a philosophical cabinet, containing all the instruments necessary for his scientific labours; as well as a library, containing a store of the most valuable books. He employs his time in a variety of studies. History, moral philosophy, and religion, occupy his attention by turns. An active, intelligent mind, and a natural avidity for knowledge, draw him towards the physical sciences; but a soft and impressible heart again leads him to religious and philanthropic inquiries.... I had indeed the greatest pleasure in seeing this amiable savant in the midst of his books, his furnaces, and his philosophical instruments; at his side an educated wife, a lovely daughter, and in a charming residence, where everything bespoke industry, peace, and happiness."' Only a few years after the date of this visit, while Priestley was still busied with his chemical investigations, his house at Fairhill, thus described by Saint1'Voyage en Angleterre, en Ecosse, et aux Iles Hebrides.' Par B. FaujasSaint-Fond. 2 vols. Paris, 1797. CHAP. XVIII. MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE LUNAR SOCIETY. 385 Fond, was invaded by a brutal mob, who ruthlessly destroyed his library, his apparatus, and his furniture, and forced him to fly from Birmingham, glad to escape with his life. The Lunar Society continued to exist for some years longer. But one by one the members dropped off. Dr. Priestley emigrated to America; Dr. Withering, Josiah Wedgwood, and Dr. Darwin, died before the close of the century; and, without them, a meeting of the Lunar Society was no longer what it used to be. Instead of an assembly of active, inquiring men, it was more like a meeting of spectres with a Death's head in the chair. The associations connected with the meeting — reminding the few lingering survivors of the losses of friends-became of too painful a character to be kept alive; and the Lunar Society, like the members of which it was composed, gradually expired. Its spirit, however, did not die. The Society had stimulated inquiry, and quickened the zeal for knowledge of all who had come within the reach of its influence; and this spirit diffused and propagated itself in all directions. Leonard Horner, who visited Soho in 1809, thus referred to the continued moral influence of the association:"The remnant of the Lunar Society," he says, " and the fresh remembrance in others of the remarkable men who composed it, are very interesting. The impression which they made is iot yet worn out, but shows itself, to the second and third generation, in a spirit of scientific curiosity and free inquiry, which even yet makes some stand against the combined forces of Methodism, Toryism, and the love of gain."' 1 orner's' Memoirs and Correspondence,' ii. 2. 2 c 386 THE "BRUMMAGEM" MINTS. CHAP. XIX. CHAPTER XIX. BOULTON'S APPLICATION OF THE STEAM-ENGINE TO COINING. THE manufacture of counterfeit money was very common at Birmingham about the middle of last century, —so common, indeed, that it had become an almost recognised branch of trade. The machinery which was capable of making a button with a device and letters stamped upon one side of a piece of metal, was capable, with a few modifications, of making a coin with a device and letters stamped upon both sides. It was as easy to counterfeit one kind of coin as another-gold and silver, as well as copper; the former only requiring a little extra skill in manipulation, to which the button-makers were found fully equal. The profits of this illegal trade were of course very large; and so long as the coiners could find a vend for their productions, they went on producing. But at length the public, smarting from many losses, acquired sufficient experience to detect the spurious issues of the Birmingham mints; and when an unusually bright shilling or guinea was offered, they had little difficulty in pronouncing upon its "Brummagem"' origin. But though profitable, the prosecution of this branch of business was by no means unattended with risks. While some who pursued it on a large scale contrived to elevate themselves among the moneyed class, others, less fortunate, secured an elevation of a very different kind,-one of the grimmest sights of those days being:L The word "Brumnimaem" doubtless originated in the numerous issues of counterfeit money fronl the Birmlingham mints. CHAP. XIX. ILLEGAL COINING OPPOSED. 387 the skeletons of convicted coiners dangling from gibbets on Handsworth Heath.' The production of counterfeit gold and silver coins came to be avoided as too dangerous; but the production of counterfeit copper money continued active at Birmingham down to the middle of last century, when numerous illegal mints were found in active operation. A Royal proclamation was issued on the 12th July, 1751, warning the coiners against the consequences of their illegal proceedings; and shortly after, the Solicitor for the Mint went down to Birmingham, and had many of the more noted offenders tried, convicted, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The principal manufacturers and traders of the town met and passed strong resolutions, condemning the practice of illegal coining; but the evil still continued; and in 1753 it was estimated that not less than half the copper coin in circulation was counterfeit. This disgraceful state of the coinage suggested, and partly justified, companies, firms, and local bodies, in circulating copper coinages of their own. These were followed by provincial pence and halfpence, which were, in their turn, counterfeited by pieces of baser metal. Most of the new copper coins of all sorts, good and bad, were executed at Birmingham; and thus coining shortly became one of the leading branches of business there. Boulton, as the owner of the largest and best-equipped manufactory in the neighbourhood, might have done any amount of coining that he desired; but the disreputable character of the business deterred him from entering upon it, and he refused all orders for counterfeit money, whether for home or abroad.2 He took 1 The punishment for this crime was burnt before the debtor's door at Newsometimes of a very brutal character. gate! In March, 1789, a woman, convicted of 2 " I lately received a letter from a coining in London, was first strangled Jew about making for him a large by the stool being taken from under quantity of base money, but I should her, and then fixed to a stake and be sorry ever to become so base as to 2c2 388 EVILS OF DEBASED COIN. CHAP. XIX. an active part in the measures adopted by the leading manufacturers to prevent illegal coining; and the interest which he felt in commercial questions generally continued to keep his attention directed to the subject. One of the greatest evils of debased coinage, in his opinion, consisted in the serious losses that it occasioned to the labouring people; many of the lower classes of traders and manufacturers buying counterfeit money from the coiners at half its current value, and paying it in wages at full value, thereby wronging and defrauding the workmen of their hire. He came to the conclusion that the public interest imperatively required that the whole of the so-called copper coinage in circulation should be swept away and superseded by the issue of new coins, the intrinsic value and superior workmanship of which should be so palpable as effectually to suppress counterfeiting and its numerous evils. He had many interviews with the ministers of state on the subject; and we find him alleging in one of his letters to a friend that "his principal reason for turning coiner was to gratify Mr. Pitt in his wishes to put an end to the counterfeiting of money."' Other circumstances, doubtless, concurred in keeping his attention directed to the subject. Thus, he had become largely interested in the copper-trade of Cornwall through the shares he held in the mines as well as in the Copper Mining Company; and he was himself a large holder of copper, which he had purchased from that Company at a time when they could not dispose of it elsewhere. It was also one of his favourite ideas to apply the power of the steam-engine to the stamping execute such orders. On the contrary the counterfeiting of British or other I have taken some measures to put a money-that being the principle on stop to the execution of them by which I am acting." —Boulton to others, and if Mr. Butcher hath any Matthews, December, 1787. plan of that sort he would do well to 1 Boulton to Woodman, 13th Noguard against me; as I certainly shall vember, 1789. endeavour all in my power to prevent CHAP. XIX. BOULTON TURNS COTNER. 389 of money,-an idea of which he has the exclusive merit. As early as 1774, Watt says Boulton had many conversations with him on the subject; but it was not until the year 1786 that he successfully applied the engine for the first time in executing his contract with the East India Company for above a hundred tons of copper coin. James Watt, in his MS. memoir of his friend Boulton, gives the following account of the origin of his connexion with the coining business:"When the new coinage of gold took place in 178-, Mr. Boulton was employed to receive and exchange the old coin, which served to revive his ideas on the subject of coinage, which he had long considered to be capable of great improvement. Among other things, he conceived that the coin should all be struck in collars, to make it exactly round and of one size, which was by no means the case with the ordinary gold pieces; and that, if thus made, and of one thickness, the purity of the gold might be tested by passing it through a gauge or slit in a piece of steel made exactly to fit a properly made coin. He had accordingly a proof guinea made, with a raised border, and the letters en creux, somewhat similar to the penny pieces he afterwards coined for Government. This completely answered his intention, as any piece of baser metal which filled the gauge was found to be considerably lighter; or, if made to the proper weight, then it would not go through the gauge. Such money was also less liable to wear in the pocket than the common coin, where all the impression was prominent. The proposals on this head were not however approved by those who then had the management of His Majesty's Mint, and there the matter rested for the time. "In 1786 Mr. Boulton and I were in France, where we saw a very fine crown-piece executed by Mr. P. Droz in a new manner. It was coined in a collar split into six parts, which came together when the dies were brought in contact with the blank, and formed the edge and the inscription upon it. Mr. Droz had also made several improvements in the coining-press, and pretended to others in the art of multiplying the dies. As, to his mechanical abilities, Droz joined that of being a good die-sinker, Mr. Boulton contracted with him to come over to England at a high salary and work at Soho, Mr. B. having then the prospect of an extensive copper coinage for the East India Company as well as a probability of one from Government. In anticipation of this contract, a number of coining-presses were constructed, and a steam-engine was applied to work them. 390 BOULTON'S COINING MACHINERY. CHAP. XIX. "Mr. Droz was found to be of a very troublesome disposition. Several of his contrivances, being found not to answer, were obliged to be better contrived or totally changed by Mr. Boulton and his assistants. The split collar was found to be difficult of execution, and being subject to wear very soon when in use, it was consequently unfit for an extensive coinage. Other methods were therefore invented and applied by Mr. Boulton, and the use of Droz's collar was entirely given up."' Although the machinery of the " H6tel de Monnaie," which Boulton erected at Soho, was found sufficient for the execution of his contract with the East India Company, its action was "violent and noisy," and did not work to his satisfaction. He accordingly, with his usual determination to reach the highest degree of mechanical perfection, proceeded to remodel the whole of his coining machinery, in the course of which he introduced many entirely new contrivances and adaptations. In this he was ably assisted by William Murdock, Peter Ewart, James Lawson, and John Southern; but he himself was throughout the leading spirit, and took the principal part of the work. He originated numerous essential improvements in the rolling, annealing, and cleaning of the metal,-in the forging, multiplying, and tempering of the dies,-and in the construction of the milling and cutting-out machines,-which were worked out in detail by his assistants, after various trials, examined and tested by himself; while the arrangement and methodising of the system of coining-in a word, the organisation of the mint-was entirely his own work. " To his indefatigable energy and perseverance," wrote Murdock many years later, "in pursuit of this, the favourite and nearly the sole object of the last twenty years of the active part of Mr. Boulton's life, 1 Watt says Droz "did not know quarrelsome and litigious, he was so much on the subject as Boulton shortly after dismissed with liberal himself did," and being found incom- payment. petent, a pretender, and disposed to be CHAP. XIX. IMPROVED COPPER C()INAGE. 391 is, in a great measure, to be attributed the perfection to which the art of coining has ultimately attained." While thus labouring at the improvement of his presses, dies, and the application of the steam-engine to the process of coining, PIoulton was actively engaged in stirring up public opinion on the subject of an improved copper coinage. Six presses were fitted and ready for work at Soho by the end of 1788;2 but the only considerable orders which had as yet been executed were the copper coinage of the East India Company, another fobr the American Colonies, and a silver coinage for the Sierra Leone Company; so that the Soho mint, notwithstanding the capital, skill, and labour bestowed upon it, remained comparatively idle. Boulton continued to stir up the Government through his influential friends; 3 and he was at length called before the Privy In a letter written by James Law- to work after the rate of 1500 tons a son to Matthew Robinson Boulton year. I fear I must have eight presses shortly after his father's death, he ob- [eight were eventually erected] in served,-" God only knows the anxiety which case I must lengthen the buildand unremitting perseverance of your ing next the Gate road. Pray push father to accomplish the end; and we forward, and be silent." Various all aided and assisted to the best of details as to the working of the our powers, without ever considering presses and the execution of the coin by whose contrivance anything was were given in succeeding letters. brought to bear. Indeed the bringing T'o Lord Hawkesbllry he wrote of everything to bear was by your (14th April, 1789),-" In the course father's perseverance, and by his hints of my journeys I observe that I receive and personal attendance; for often he upon an average two-thirds counterfeit attended and persevered in the experi- halfpence for change at toll-gates, &c.; ments till we were all tired." —Lawson and I believe the evil is daily into M. R. Boulton, January 10, 1810. creasing, as the spurious money is Boulton MSS. carried into circulation by the lowest 2 We find numerous letters from class of manufacturers, who pay with Boulton to Joseph Harrison relative it the principal part of the wages of the to the execution of the presses, and poor people they employ. They purthe manner in which the various chase from the subterraneous coiners 36 details of the work were to be carried shillinas'-worth of copper (in nominal out. On the 16th of January, 1788, value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit he wrote,-" Push forward with the derived from the cheating is very large. utmost expedition six of the cutting- The trade is carried on to so great an out presses and one of the coining extent that at a public meeting at presses. I have engaged to have six Stockport in Cheshire, in January last, of each kind at work by this day the magistrates and inhabitants came four months.... I shall be obliged to a resolution to take no other half 392 OPPOSED BY THE MINT OFFICIALS. CHAP. XIX. Council and examined as to the best means of preventing the issue of counterfeit money. He stated his views to them at great length; and the members were so much impressed by his statements that they authorised him to prepare and submit to them a model penny, halfpenny, and farthing. This he at once proceeded to do, and forwarded them to the Privy Council, accompanied by an elaborate report, setting forth the superiority of the new coins over those then issued from the Mint; demonstrating that their adoption would effectually prevent counterfeiting of base copper money, and offering to guarantee the execution of a contract for a new coinage, at "not exceeding half the expense which the common copper coin hath always cost at his Majesty's Mint."' Although the specimens submitted by Boulton to the Privy Council were approved and eventually adopted, the officials of the Mint were enabled, by mere passive resistance, to delay the adoption of the new, copper coinage for more than ten years. With their lumbering machinery they could not execute one-third part of the copper coin required for the ordinary purposes of currency; but they could not brook the idea of inviting a private individual to do that which they were found unable to do with all the powers of the State at their back. Rather than thus publicly confess their incompetency, they were satisfied to execute only one-third of the copper coinage, leaving it to the forgers and private coiners to supply the rest. Boulton began to fear that the coining presses which he had erected with so much labour, contrivance, and expenditure of money, in anticipation of the expected Government contract, would remain comparatively idle pence in future than those of the papers." Anglesey Company [also an illegal 1 Boulton to the Lords of the Privy coinage, though of full weight and Council for Trade, 16th December, value of copper], and this resolution 1787. they have published in their news CHAP. XIX. APPEALS TO PUBLIC OPINION. 393 after all. But he did not readily give up the idea of executing the new coinage. "Of all the mechanical subjects I ever entered upon," he wrote Mr. Garbett, "there is none in which I ever engaged with so much ardour as that of bringing to perfection the art of coining in the reign of George III., as well as of checking the injurious and fatal crime of counterfeiting." It occurred to him that it might be possible to overcome the obstructiveness of officialism by means of public opinion; and he proceeded with his usual vigour to rouse the trading interests throughout the country on the subject. He had a statement printed and extensively circulated among the leading merchants and manufacturers, to whom he also sent specimens of his model penny and halfpenny, the superiority of which to the rubbishy government and counterfeit coin then in circulation, was made apparent at a glance. He also endeavoured to act upon the Ministry through the influence of the King, to whom he presented copies of his model gold, silver, and copper coins; but though his Majesty expressed himself highly pleased with them, the question of their adoption still remained as much in suspense as ever. The appeals to the public were followed by numerous petitions to Parliament and memorials to the Privy Council against counterfeit money, and in favour of the proposed Boulton coinage.' 1 In 1787, and again in 1789, we to take counterfeit copper coin in find the merchants, traders, and payment of their commodities and others in Southwark urgently memo- wages; and concluded by stating that, rialising the Lords of the Treasury on having seen specimens of a new copper the subject. The Memorial addressed coinage made by Mr. Boulton of to them in the latter year was signed Birmingham (under order of the Lords by 800 of the. principal inhabitants of the Privy Council) the Memorialists of the Borough, and presented to take leave to represent, that such a Mr. Pitt by a deputation, headed by coinage, from its greater weight and Mr. Barclay, of Thrale's Brewery. It superior execution, would in their set forth that the counterfeits of cop- opinion afford to themselves and the per coin had become a very serious public at large a certain remedy for burden and loss, more especially to the present grievance, and they therepoor manufacturers, labourers, and fore strongly recommended its adopothers, many of whom were compelled tion. 394 ORDERS FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. CHAP. XIX. In the mean time, to find employment for the coining presses he had set up, Boulton sought for orders from foreign and colonial governments. In 1790 and 1792 he executed a large quantity of beautiful copper coin 1 for the revolutionary government of France while we remained at peace with that country. The coin was afterwards suppressed when the government was overturned, to the great loss of the French contractors, who, nevertheless, honourably fulfilled their engagement with Mr. Boulton. In 1791 he executed for the colony of Bermuda a penny coinage; about the same time he turned out a large number of provincial halfpenny tokens; 2 and in 1794 he supplied the Madras Presidency with its four-faluce and two-faluce coinage. By way of exhibiting the artistic skill of Soho, and its ability to turn out first-class medal work, Boulton took advantage of the King's recovery in 1789, to execute a very fine The coins were: in 1790, a five- said Gabriel and his angel have, however, sous piece, " Pacte Fddle'ratif;" in condescended to adopt common sense so fhr 1792, a four sous "Hercule; " and a as to take up their lodgings in my cottage! two sons " Liberte." Boulton's repu- "The woist of all is, I am at this juncture tation as a coiner abroad, brought extremely busy and can't bear interruption; upo himt while at P aris, a host of n but all that is a trifle when compared with uipon him while at Paris, a host of the magnitude of his project, viz. converting foreign schemers, one of whom pre- 15001. into 60,0001.! But he says a small tended that he had discovered an,experiment may be made in three days and infallible method of converting copper three nights in my laboratory. 1 must, into gold! The schemer and his wife however, own that I had rather be in Jonah's followed Boulton to Soho, accompanied situation duling that time. by a letter of introduction from his "I wish not to offend this angelic couple, friend Baumgarten. After taking but I should pref'er that you had them back measure of the schemer, Boultosn again, with all the favours land profits inreplied to Baumgarten as follows: tended for me. However, I caninot help wishing you a better thing; for in spite of "Dear Sir, —Who the devil have you sent your last favour I sincerely desire for you me? Is he the angel or the demon (abriel? and all that are dear to you, many manly Is he a seraphim or a swindler? His plo- happy and prosperous years, positions appear in such a questionable flrm, "Ever your faithful and affectionate friend, that I know not whether to pronounce him " M. BOULTON." F. or R. or S., which are flavourite letters amongst English philosophers. 2 The following were the principal " 1)oth lie mean to make gold by Alchemy, provincial halfpenny tokens executed at or after the family receipt by whic:h his Soho: 178s, Cronebaneand Dundeed mother and brother extracted two hundred guineas firom my simplicity when at Parlis? n C " I am content with the copper coinage, and Hornchurch, Southampton; 1793, shall leave the golden one to you and G(abiel. Leeds, London, Penryn, John WilkinThe science of'alchemy soars so much above son's; 1794, Inverness, Lancaster; common sense that I never could obtain so 1795, Bishops Stortford; 1800, Ennismuch as a peep into its lower regions. This corthy. CHAP. XIX. BOULTON'S SUCCESS IN MEDALLING. 395 medal commemorative of the event. He sent the first specimen to his friend M. De Luc, the Queen's Librarian at Windsor, for presentation to her Majesty, who expressed herself much pleased with the medal. In his letter to De Luc, Boulton stated that he had been the more desirous of turning out a creditable piece of workmanship, as the art of medalling was one of the most backward in England, and had made the least progress of any during the reign of his present Majesty. In preparing this medal, he had the co-operation of Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy, who rendered him valuable assistance in supplying the best models and portraits of the King from which a satisfactory likeness could be made, and he also inspected and corrected the engraving of the dies. The success of the medal commemorative of the King's preservation was such as to induce Boulton to prosecute this department of business, —not that it was attended with profit, for some of his most costly medals were produced for presentation to individuals, and not for sale,-but that it increased the reputation of Soho, and reflected new credit upon the art manufacture of England. In preparing the dies for his various coins and medals, we find Boulton seeking and obtaining the assistance of Nollekens, Flaxman, Bacon, and Wilton (sculptors); Mayer (King's miniature painter); Gossett (modeller); but above all, he was mostly indebted for friendly help to Benjamin West, who cordially entered into his views of "establishing elegant records of the medallic arts in the reign of George III." Boulton also executed a series of medals commemorative of the great events of the French Revolution, for which there must have been a considerable demand, as we find him sending at one time not less than twenty tons of historical medals to Messrs. Monneron his Paris agents. Amongst these, we may mention his medals of the 396 DESCRIPTION OF THE SOHO MINT. CHAP. XIX. following subjects:-The Emperor of Russia; Assassination of the King of Sweden; Restoration of the King of Naples; Final Interview of the King of France; Execution of the King of France; Execution of the Queen of France; Serment du Roi; Lafayette; J. J. Rousseau; and Respublica Gallica.' The Boulton MS. contains a brief description, in Mr. Boulton's handwriting, of the Soho Mint in 1792, from which we make the following extract: "This Mint consists of eight large coining-machines, which are sufficiently strong to coin the largest money in current use, or even medals; and each machine is capable of being adjusted in a few minutes, so as to strike any number of pieces of money from fifty to one hundred and twenty per minute, in proportion to their diameter and degree of relief; and each piece being struck in a steel collar, the whole number are perfectly round and of equal diameter. Each machine requires the attendance of one boy of only twelve years of age, and he has no labour to perform. He can stop his press one instant, and set it going again the next. The whole of the eight presses are capable of coining, at the same time, eight different sizes of money, such as English crowns, 6-livre pieces, 24-sous pieces, 12-sous, or the very smallest money that is used in France. The number of blows at each press is proportioned to the size of the pieces, say from fifty to one hundred and twenty blows per minute, and if greater speed is wanted, he has smaller machines that will strike 200 per minute. "As the blows given by Mr. B.'s machinery are much more uniform than what are given by the strength of men's arms when applied to the working of the common press, the dies are not so liable to break, nor the spirit of the engraving to be so soon injured; yet nevertheless, from the natural imperfections of steel, and other unavoidable causes, some time will be lost in changing the 1 The following medals were also Volunteers; Frogmore Medal; Prince struck by Mr. Boulton at Soho:- Regent of Portugal; and the Emperor Prince and Princess of Wales on their Alexander of Russia. The execution marriage; Marquis Cornwallis on the of the Trafalgar Medal furnishes a peace with Tippoo; Earl Howe on his remarkable illustration of Boulton's victory of the First of June; Hudson's princely munificence. It was struck Bay Company; Slave Trade abolished; on the occasion of Lord Nelson's last Chareville Forest; General Suwarrow victory, and presented by him, with on his successes in Italy; the Empress the sanction of government, to every Catherine of Russia; in commemora- officer and man engaged in the action. tion of British Victories; Union with He gave an additional value to the Ireland; on the peace of 1802; Battle present by confining the medal to this of Trafalgar; Manchester and Salford purpose only. CHAP. XIX. COMBINATION AGAINST BOULTON. 397 dies and other interruptions. However, it is decided by experience that Mr. Boulton's new machinery works with less friction, less wear, less noise, is less liable to be out of order, and can strike very much more than any apparatus ever before invented:; for it is capable of striking at the rate of 26,000 Ecus or English crowns, or 50,000 of half their diameter, in one hour, and of working night and day without fatigue to the boys, provided two sets of them work alternately for ten -hours each." When Boulton's eight presses were in full work, the quantity of copper coin they turned out was very large. They could work off with ease twelve hundred tons of coin annually. The quantity of copper thus consumed was so great that a difficulty began to be experienced in keeping up the supply. Instead of being glutted with the metal, as Boulton had been before the Mint was started, he had now considerable difficulty in obtaining sufficient for his purposes. He seems to have been, in some measure, the victim of a combination to keep him out of a supply; for when the holders of copper found out that his contract with the East India Company required him to deliver the coin within a given time, and that he mlust have the metal, they raised the prices upon him, and copper went up about 61. a ton. On this, the Birmingham white metal button-makers lowered the wages of their workmen, alleging as the cause the rise in the price of copper, "for which they must thank Mr. Boulton." The usual strikes followed, with meetings of trades delegates and street commotions. Though Boulton had confidence in the Birmingham workmen generally, among whom he had the reputation of being a good master, he feared that, in their excited state, malice might stir them to mischief; and he apprehended an attack upon his manufactory. For this he accordingly made due preparation, placing a strong armed guard of his own workmen upon Soho, having the fullest confidence in their fidelity. Writing to his friend Wilson in Cornwall, he said, — ',-98 COINAGE ORDER FROM GOVERNMENT. CHAP. XIX.... "From the misrepresentations that have been made by the delegates, this town has been greatly misguided, and I expect every hour riots of a serious nature. " Workmen are parading the streets with cockades in their hats. They are assembled by beat of drum, and headed by Ignorance and Envy, with their eyes turned towards Soho. "Yet I am no competitor with the Birmingham trades. I follow no business but what I have been myself the father of, and I have done much more for the Birmingham manufactures than any other individual. I have declined the trade of XWhite Metal Buttons, which is the article so much affected by the rise of metals, and that in which the rioters are employed. " I mix with no clubs, attend no public meetings, am of no party, nor am I a zealot in religion; I do not hold any conversation with any Birmingham persons; and therefore I know no grounds but what may be suggested by wicked and envious hearts for supposing me to be the cause of the late rise of copper. " However, I am well guarded by justice, by law, by men, and by arms."' The danger, however, shortly passed, and the threatened attack was not made. It was not until the year 1797 that Boulton was employed to execute a copper coinage for Britain. Ten years before, encouraged by the Lords of the Treasury, he had fitted up the Mint machinery at a heavy cost, in anticipation of this very order; and now, after executing coinages for many foreign governments, the order came at last. The new coins consisted of twopenny, penny,- halfpenny, and farthing pieces. Altogether, about 4200 tons of these coins were issued from the Soho Mint between 1797 and 1806. So sensible were the authorities at the Royal Mint of the advantages of Mr. Boulton's improvements in coining machinery, that they employed him to erect the new Mint on Tower Hill, one of the most complete establishments of the kind until then in existence. The plans of the new Mint, as regarded the distribution of the buildings connected with the mechanical department, were arranged by him; and the coining maI loultonl to Wilson, 26th February, 1792. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XIX. WATT'S PRASE OF BOULTON. 3 )'9 chinery and steam-enginles were executed at Soho under his immediate directions, though he was at the time labour;ing under the infirmities of age as well as suffering under the pressure of a painful disease. He had also the honour of supplying Royal Mints for the Russian, Spanish, and Danish governments; and at a later period for Mexico, Calcutta, and Bombay. "In short," said Mr. Watt, in thle MAS. memoir from which we have already quoted, "C had Mr. Boulton done nothling more in the world than he has accomplished in improving- the coinage, his name would deserve to be immortalised; and if it be considered that this was done in tlhe midst of various other important avocations, an-d at enormous expense, for which, at the time, he could have had no certainty of an adequate return, w e shall be at a loss whether most to admire his ingenuity, his perseverance, or his munificence. He has conlucted the whole more like a sovereign tlan a private manufacturer; and the love of fame has always been to him a greater stimulus than the love of gain. Yet it is to be hoped that, even in the latter point of view, the enterprise answered its purpose." _''h C) l"I h — {5 ),Li. NO\ V' -RA IU D C) F I E E SO 400 PROSPERITY OF SOHO. CHAP. XX. CHAPTER XX. PROSPERITY OF SOHO-YOUNG BOULTON AND WATT - THE RIOTSWVILLIAM MURDOCK. THE steam-engine had now become firmly established as a working power. Beginning as a water pumper for miners, it had gradually been applied to drive corn and cotton mills, to roll and hammer iron, to coin money, to work machinery, and to perform the various labour in which the power of men and horses, of wind and water, had before been employed. The numerous orders for new engines which came in at Soho kept the works increasingly busy. Many skilled workmen had by this time been trained into expertness and dexterity; and, being kept to their special departments of work,fathers training their sons to work with them at the same benches,-a degree of accuracy and finish was reached which contributed to establish and maintain the prestige of the manufactory. The prosperity of the firm was also materially promoted by the able assistants who had been trained at Soho, and were in due time promoted to superintend special departments of the business. Among these were Murdock, Walker, Southern, Ewart, and Lawson, who enjoyed the fullest confidence of their chiefs, and repaid it with unswerving loyalty. When the concern had become thoroughly organised under these able heads of departments, Boulton and Watt began to breathe more freely. Their financial difficulties had now disappeared, and instead of laying out capital, they had begun to accumulate it. They had laboured hard for their reward and richlyv earned CHAP. XX. PLEASURE AND BUSINESS. 401 it; and after their long up-hill struggle, they well deserved rest and peace at last. They now began to take occasional journeys of recreation, with which they varied their journeys of business. Thus, in the autumn of 1789, we find Boulton making a tour in Derbyshire, during which he was overtaken at Buxton by a letter from the Lords of the Privy Council on coining business, giving him "'marching orders for London;" but a party having been formed to visit the Peak Cavern, he decided " to obey the Ladies rather than the Lords." Three days later, however, we find him in London, " writing in a full chattering coffee-house at Charing Cross," and desiring his friend Mr. Barrow to pay his respects to the ladies whom he had so hurriedly left. While in London, he received a letter inviting him to pay a visit to Holland and stand godfather to his friend Mr. Hoofletter's son; to which he replied, that he would be glad to stand godfather to the boy and have the name of Boulton associated with an honest race, but was sorry that he could not assist at the christening or at the dinner. " But pray act for me," he added; "do everything that's proper (as is the custom in the country); give the nurse five guineas'from me, and I will repay you. My best respects to Mrs. Hoofletter, and my blessing on the young Christian." Watt's troubles and anxieties -also were in course of gradual abatement. Though still suffering from headaches, asthma, and low spirits, he seems on the whole to hlave become more satisfied with his lot. Prosperity agreed with him as it does with most people. It is a condition easy to bear, and Watt took to it kindly. As years passed over his head, he became placid, contented, and even cheerful. His health improved, and he enjoyed life in his old age as he had never done in his youth. He ceased longing for the rest. of the grave, and gave over "cursing his inventions." On the other hand, he took pleasure in looking 2 _D 402 WATT'S TOURS OF PLEASURE. CHAP. XX. back over the long and difficult road he had traversed, and in recounting the various steps by which he had perfected his great inventions. Nor did he cease to invent; for he went on inventing new things to the close of his life; but he followed the pursuit as a recreation and delight, and not as a business and a drudgery. Watt too, like his partner, began to make tours of pleasure, for the purpose at the same time of gathering health and seeing the beauties of nature. In August, 1789, he wrote Boulton from Cheltenham, that he had been making a delightful journey through the Western Counties, by way of Worcester, Malvern, Hereford, and Chepstow, and that he felt in better health and spirits than he had been for a very long time. Occasional letters reached him from Birmingham about orders received for engines, nothing being done without first consulting him. That the concern was thriving, may be inferred from the comparative indifference with which he now regarded such orders. An engine having been ordered by a doubtful person, Watt wrote-" I look upon such orders as of little value. They are so precarious in their duration, and in this case there is risk of bad payment or swindling. Whatever care we take, he is like a shaved pig with a soaped tail." On a demand being made upon him for abatement of dues, he wrote-" We have never made concessions to anybody but they have been attended with loss to us and half a dozen more; and it would appear that, if our patent lasted long enough, the power of a horse would grow to that of an elephant." There was a great deal of graphic it worked both badly. They had also vigour in Watt's correspondence about incleased the weight of the hammer. engines. Thus, in the case of an Watt wrote,-" It was easy to foresee engine supplied to F. Scott and Co. all this; and the only adequate remedy to drive a hammer, it appears that is to have another engine to blow the instead of applying it to the hammer bellows. It is impossible that, a reonly, they applied it also to blow the gular blast cant be had while the bellows. The consequence was, that engine works the hammer and bellows, CIIA1'. XX. INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. 403 In the course of the following summer, Watt visited the pleasantest spots in the neighbourhood of London, and amongst other places took Windsor in his way, where he had the honour of an interview with the King. He had already.met his Majesty at Whitbread's brewery in the early part of 1787, for the purpose of explaining to him the action of the new rotary engine; and the King had expressed the desire to see him again when in the neighbourhood of Windsor. The following is Watt's brief account of the visit:" At Windsor I had a short conversation With the King. He never mentioned you nor the coinage, nor anything that led to it; therefore I could not bring it on; nor do I believe it could have been of any service. He asked about engines, and how the Albion mill was going on?-.Answer: Very well in respect to grinding, but not so well in regard to the trade. Asked: Who was the manager? -Answer: Mr. J. WXyatt, who made the wooden hospitals. He observed, that Wyatt was not bred to the milling business; how had he learnt it?-Answer; That he was a man of ability and observation. Asked: What sort of engines were we making?Answer: For almost everything, but at present principally for brewers, distillers, cotton-spinners, iron-men, &c. —Asked: How we were paid for them?-Answer: By horses power, 51. a year in the country, and that we made none under four-horses power.-Asked: If these premiums afforded sufficient profit? —Answer: That they did in large engines, but not in small."' As Boulton and Watt advanced in years they looked forward with pleasure to the prospect of their two eldest sons Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt, junior -joining them in the business they had established, and relieving them of the greater part of their anxieties and labours in connexion with it. Both were young men of intelligence and character, carefully educated, good linguists, and well versed in practical science. We find many references to the without a regulating belly as big as a regular, they must have a blowing churrc.... They have been for engine; otherwise they will lose the having a pocket bible in large print. price of one in a few months." If they mean to carry on their work 1 Watt to Boulton, 27th June, 1790. 2 D 2 404 EDUCATION OF THEIR TWO SONS. CHAP. XX. education of the two young men in the letters of Boulton; few or none in those of Watt. The former alike attracted young people and was attracted by them, entering heartily into their pursuits; the latter was too much absorbed by study, by inventions, and by business, to spare time for the purpose. Besides, he was, like his countrymen generally, reserved and undemonstrative in all matters relating to the feelings and affections. Both boys were trained and educated so as to follow in their fathers' steps. Every pains was taken to give them the best culture, and to imbue them with the soundest principles. The two boys usually spent their holidays together at Soho; and, growing up together, they learnt to think, and feel, and work together. "Jim returns to school this evening," wrote Boulton, to Watt in Cornwall; " he has behaved exceedingly well, and not a single bill of indictment has been found against him. He had got it into his head that he would not be an engineer, which I did not contradict, but I gave him and Matt the small wooden waterwheel, which they proceeded to erect below my duck-pond, and there worked a forge; but not having water enough, necessity has put them upon erecting a Savery's engine, which is not yet finished, though they are both exceedingly keen upon it. We have killed many poor robins by pouring fixable air upon them, and had some amusement in our electrical and chemical hobby-horsery, which the' young ones like much better than dry Latin. Jim desires me to ask you to give him leave to learn French." At the same time Boulton's own son was making good progress under the Rev. Mr. Stretch, to whom Boulton wrote,"Baron Reden has gone to the North. On his return, he will leave his son'iith you for a year or two, and then invites Matt to return with him to Germany. Youth is the time to learn languages, and the Baron's offer is certainly a great temptation... let him [Matt] not neglect the present, but apply himself so as to become well grounded in Grammar and Latin... he is capable, but not of close application, to which he must be inured, as no proficiency of any kind can be acquired without it." CHAP. XX. BOULTON'S SON AT PARIS. 405 The Baron's offer was not, however, accepted; but desirous that his son should acquire proficiency in French, Boulton took him over to Paris, towards the end of 1786, and placed him under a competent master. Many kindly letters passed between father and son during the latter's stay at Paris. The young man spent rather more money than his father thought could do him good. He therefore asked him to keep an account of his personal expenses, which "must balance exactly," and implored him above all things to " keep out of bad company." "The future reputation and happiness of your life," wrote the anxious father, "depend upon your present conduct. I must therefore insist that you do not go strolling about Sodom and Gomorrah under any pretence whatever.... It will not be pleasant to you to read this, but I must do my duty to'you or I shall not satisfy my own conscience. I therefore hope you will do your duty to yourself, or you cannot do it to me. There is nothing on earth I so much wish for as to make you a man, a good man, a useful man, and consequently a happy man."' The father's anxieties abated with time; the son applied himself assiduously to French and German, and gave promise of becoming a man of ability and character. Writing to his friend Matthews, Boulton said"Matt is a tolerable good chemist.... He hath behaved very well, and I shall be glad when the time arrives for him to assist me in the business." In the summer of 1788, young Boulton paid his father a holiday visit at Soho, returning again to Paris to finish his studies. Writing of his departure, to Matthews in London, the father said-" I hope that my son is set off for Dover: my heart overflows with blessings and love to him." 2 1Boulton to his son, 19th De- been exceedingly harassed last week, cember, 1787. have many letters before me un2 Boulton to Matthews, 25th answered. I cannot sleep at nights, August, 1788. In a letter dated the and the room I write in is so hot by preceding day, he wrote-" I have the fire-engine chimney as to relax 406 YOUNG WATT'S MONEY AFFAIRS. CHAP. XX. The education of young Watt was equally well cared for. After leaving school at Birmingham, his father sent him for a year to Mr. Wilkinson's ironworks at Bersham, to learn carpentry in the pattern shop.' He then returned to his father's, from whence he was sent to school at Geneva, where he remained for three years perfecting himself in the modern languages. On his return to England in 1788, we find Boulton writing to Mr. Barrow of Manchester, asking him to obtain a position for young Watt in some respectable countinghouse, with a view to his acquiring a thorough commercial training. He was eventually placed in the house of Messrs. Taylor and Maxwell, where he remained for about two years, improving himself in his knowledge of business affairs. His father's reputation and standing, as well as his own education and accomplishments, served to introduce the young gentleman to many friends in Manchester; and, although far from extravagant in his habits, he shortly found that the annual sum allowed him by his father was insufficient to pay for his board, clothing, and lodging, and at the same time enable him to keep clear of debt. Knowing Boulton's always open hand and heart, and his sympathy for young people, the embarrassed youth at once applied to him for help. Why he did not apply to his father will be best understood from his own letter:"I am at this moment," he explained, "on the best footing possible with my father, but were I to inform him of my necessities, I do not know what would be the consequence. Not that I suppose me, and my head is distracted by the Wales, where he is to study practical noise of the engine, by the making book-keeping, geometry, and algebra, and riveting of boilers, and by a at his leisure hours; and three hours constant knocking at my door by in the day he works in a carpenter's somebody or other; but I believe and shop. I intend he should stay there suspect that the separation of my son a year; what I shall do with him from me contributes more to the next I know not, but I intend to fit oppression of my spirits than anything him for some employment not so preelse." carious as my own." —Watt to Mrs. 1 "I have sent my son to Mr. Campbell, 30th May, 1784. Wilkinson's ironworks at Bersham, in CHAP. XX. BOULTON TO YOUNG WATT. 407 the money in itself would be an object to him, but because he would look upon it in the light of encouraging what he would call my extravagances. Never having been a young man himself, he is unacquainted with the inevitable expenses which attend my time of life, when one is obliged to keep good company, and does not wish to act totally different from other young men. My father's reputation, and his and my own station in life, require that I should live at least on a decent footing. I am not conscious of having committed any foolish extravagances, and I have avoided company as much as possible; but I have also constantly avoided the reputation of avarice, or of acting meanly on any occasion. My father, unfortunately for me, measures the present times and circumstances by those when he was of my age, without making the proper allowances for their immense disparity; consequently it is in vain for me to endeavour to convince him of the necessity of my conduct."' He concluded by expressing his sense of Mr. Boulton's many friendly acts towards him, and confessing that there was no other person on whom he'could so confidently rely for help in his emergency. The reply of Boulton was all that he could desire. With sound fatherly advice,2 such as he would have given to his 1 Watt, jun., to Boulton, 4th debt, but that you may experience ere long December, 1789. how pleasant and how cheerful is independ2 Mr. Boulton having been absent ence, which no man can possess who is in that condition. at Bath, some time elapsed before that condition. young Watt's letter reached him. " It is possible your father's ideas may be too limited -in regard to the quantum necesReceiving no reply, the youth became sary for your expenses; but I think it equally apprehensive that his letter had fallen probable that yours may be too diffuse, and into his father's hands, and wrote a'therefore can't help wishing it in my power second letter expressing his fears. to expand the one and contract the other. Thus Boulton replied to both letters "' I know and speak from experience, that at the same time, informing his corre- the principal articles of expenditure in the spondent for his satisfaction that they generality of young men who live in large had reached him "sunopened." He towns are such as produce the least additions hadproceaeded hi "unpeed" eto their happiness or reputation; for which as well as fobr some others I know of, I cannot " I now send agreeably to your request, help urging you to cut your coat according my draft for 501.-payable to myself, that to your cloth, as the sure means of preserving I might thereby conceal your name from all the good opinion of your father, and as the persons; and you may tranquillise yourself in most likely to induce him to open his hand respect to your father, as I promise you he more liberally to you. shall not know aught of the transaction. " It's a subject I can't speak to him upon "Although I would not willingly give you without raising his suspicions, but you may pain, yet I must honestly tell you that I am state to him such arguments as may seem not very sorry you experienced some pain meet to yourself in favour of a further and anxiety by my delay; that you may not allowance, and if he speaks to me upon the only feel how uncomfortable it is to be in subject; I will do the best I can for you. 408 POLITICAL EXCITEMENT. CHAP. XX. own son under similar circumstances, he sent him a draft for 501., the amount required by young Watt to clear him of his debts. Among the friendships which he formed at Manchester, was one of an intimate character with Mr. Cooper, a gentleman engaged in an extensive business, fond of books, and a good practical chemist. We find young Watt requesting Boulton to recommend to Mr. Cooper " a person to keep his library in order and to make experiments for him, he not having time enough to attend to the details of them himself."' Cooper was besides a keen politician, and took an active interest in the discussion of the important questions then agitating the public mind. Watt was inflamed by the enthusiasm of his friend, and with the ardour of youth entered warmly into his views as to the regeneration of man and the reconstruction of society. Mrs. Schimmelpenninck has, in her autobiography, given a vivid picture of the interest excited in the circle of friends amongst whom she moved, by the thrilling events then occurring in France, and which extended even to the comparatively passionless philosophers of the Lunar Society. At one of the meetings held at her father's house in the summer of 1788 " Mr. Boulton," she says, "presented to the company his son, just returned from a long sojourn at Paris. I well remember my astonishment at his full dress in the highest adornment of Parisian fashion; but I noticed, as a remarkable thing, that the company (which consisted of some of the first men in Europe) all with one "I wish you to keep in view that all our freely and so unreservedly.... great Cornish profits have died away till "I remain, dear Watt, now they ale very small,-that your father is "Your faithful and affectionate fiiend, building an expensive house,-and that he is "MATTHEW BOULTON." married. For these and other reasons, I wish you to alter the scale of your expenses, as the -Boulton to Watt, junr., 26th December, surest means of securing your credit and your 1789. Boulton MSS. happiness, which I am desirous of promoting 1 Watt, jnnr., to Boulton, 26th or I should not have expressed myself so March, 1789. CHAP. XX. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 409 accord gathered round him, and asked innumerable questions, the drift of which I did not fully understand. It was wonderful to me to see Dr. Priestley, Dr. Withering, Mr. Watt, Mr. Boulton himself, and Mr. Keir, manifest the most intense interest, each according to his prevailing characteristics, as they almost hung upon his words; and it was impossible to mistake the indications of deep anxiety, hope, fear, curiosity, ardent zeal, or thoughtful gravity, which alternately marked their countenances, as well as those of my own parents. My ears caught the words' Marie Antoinette,''The Cardinal de Rohan,''diamond necklace,''famine,''discontent among the people,''sullen silence instead of shouts of'Vive le Roi!' All present seemed to give a fearful attention. Why, I did not then well know, and, in a day or two, these things were almost forgotten by me; but the rest of the party heard, no doubt, in this young man's narrative, the distant, though as yet faint rising of the storm which, a year later, was to burst upon France and, in its course, to desolate Europe." 1 A few short months passed, and the reign of brotherhood began. "One evening, towards the end of July," continues Mrs. Schimmelpenninck, "we saw at a distance a vehicle (usually employed to carry servants to town or church) returning at more than its usual speed. After some minutes the door of the drawingroom opened, and in burst Harry Priestley, a youth of sixteen or seventeen, waving his hat, and crying out,'Hurrah! Liberty, Reason, brotherly love for ever! Down with kingcraft and priestcraft. The majesty of the people for ever! France is free, the Bastille is taken!'"2 "I have seen," she adds, "the reception of the victory of Waterloo and of the carrying of the Reform Bill; but I never saw joy comparable in its'' Life of Mary Ann Schimmelpenninck,' 3rd ed., 1859, pp. 125-6. 2 Ibid., p. 181. 410 PRIESTLEY ADVOCATES FRATERNITY. CHAP. XX. intensity and universality to that occasioned by the early promise of the French Revolution." The impressionable mind of Dr. Priestley was moved in an extraordinary degree by the pregnant events which followed each other in quick succession at Paris; and he entered with zeal into the advocacy of the doctrines of liberty, equality, and fraternity, so vehemently promulgated by the French " friends of man." His chemical pursuits were for a time forgotten, and he wrote and preached like one possessed, of human brotherhood, and of the downfall of tyranny and priestcraft. He hailed with delight the successive acts of the National Assembly abolishing monarchy, nobility, church, corporations, and other long established institutions. He had already been long and hotly engaged in polemical discussions with the local clergy on disputed points of faith; and now he addressed a larger audience in a work which he published in answer to Mr. Burke's famous attack on the' French Revolution.' Burke, in consequence, attacked him in the House of Commons; while the French Revolutionists on the other hand hailed him as a brother, and admitted him to the rights of French citizenship.' These proceedings concentrated on Dr. Priestley an amount of local exasperation that shortly after burst forth in open outrage. On the 14th of July, 1791, a public dinner was held at the principal hotel to celebrate the second anniversary of the French Revolution. About eighty gentlemen were present, but Priestley was not of "The address of the Soci&t4 des ensuite le rapport des ouvrages de Amis de la Constitution de Bourdeaux" MM. Priestley et Payne qui ont to the Revolutionary Society in vengcr M. Price des ouvrages de M. London, dated the 21st May, 1791, Burke; et c'est ainsi que nous avons contains the following passage:-" Le fait son oraison funebre. Peut-etre, jour consacre d porter le deuil de M. Messieurs, apprendrez vous avec Price [the Rev. Dr. Price recently quelque intreft, que nous avons inscrit dead, —an ardent admirer of the dans la liste de nos Membres les French Revolution in its early stages], noms de MM. Payne et Priestley; nous avons entendu la lecture du c'est l'hommage de notre estime, et Discours de M. l'Eveque d'Autun sur l'estime d'hommes libres a toujours la Liberte des Cultes: on nous a fait son prix." CHAP. XX. HIS CHAPEL AND HOUSE BURNT. 411 the number. A mob collected outside, and after shouting " Church and King," they proceeded to demolish the inn windows. The magistrates shut their eyes to the riotous proceedings, if they did not actually connive at them. A cry was raised, "To the New Meetinghouse," the chapel in which Priestley ministered; and thither the mob surged. The door was at once burst open, and the place set on fire. They next gutted the old Meeting-house, and made a bonfire of the pews and bibles in the burying-ground. It was growing dusk, but the fury of the mob had not abated. They made BURNING OF DR. PRIESTLF,Y'S EOUSE AT FA1RHILL,1 at once for Dr. Priestley's house at Fairhill, about a mile and a half distant. The Doctor and his family had The representation given above of of the prihcipal Houses destroyed durDr. Priestley's house is taken from a ing the Riots at Birmingham, 1791.' rare book, entitled' Views of the Ruins London, 1792. 412 RIOTS AT BIRMINGHAM. CHAP. XX. escaped about half an hour before their arrival; and the house was at their mercy. They broke in at once, emptied the cellars, smashed the furniture, tore up the books in the library, destroyed the philosophical and chemical apparatus in the laboratory, and ended by setting fire to the house. The roads for miles round were afterwards found strewed with shreds of the valuable manuscripts in which were recorded the results of twenty years labour and study,-a loss which Priestley continued bitterly to lament until the close of his life. Thus an utter wreck was made of the philosopher's dwelling at Fairhill. The damage done was estimated at upwards of 40001., of which the victim recovered little more than one-half from the county. The next day, and the next, and the next, the mob continued to run riot, burning and destroying. On the second day, about noon, they marched to Easyhill and attacked and demolished the mansion of Mr. Ryland, one of the most munificent benefactors of the town. Bordesley Hall, the mansion of Mr. Taylor, the banker, was next sacked and fired. The shop of the estimable William Hutton, the well-known bookseller and author, was next broken open and stripped of everything that could be carried away; and from his shop in the town they proceeded to his dwelling-house at Bennett's Hill in the country, and burnt it to the ground.' On the third day, six other houses were sacked and destroyed; three of them were blazing at the same time. On the fourth day, which was a Sunday, the rioters dispersed in bands over the neighbourhood, levying contributions in "At midnight," says Hutton, " I at night, they laboured till eight the could see from my house the flames next morning, when they had so of Bordesley Hall rise with dreadful completely ravaged my dwelling that aspect. I learned that after I quitted I write this narrative in a house Birminghaml the mob attacked my without furniture, without roof, door, house there three times. My son chimneypiece, window, or windowbought them off repeatedly; but in frame.-' The Life of William Hutt6n,' the fourth, which began about nine written by himself. London, 1816. CHAP. XX. THE LUNAR SOCIETY IN DANGER. 413 money and drink; one body of them burning on their way the Dissenting chapel-house and minister's dwelling-house at Kingswood, seven miles off. Other Dissenters, of various persuasions, farmers, shopkeepers, and others, had their houses broken into and robbed in open day. It was not until the Sunday evening that three troops of the Fifteenth Light Dragoons entered Birmingham amidst the acclamations of the inhabitants, who welcomed them as deliverers. At the instant of their arrival, the mob had broken into Dr. Withering's house at Edgbaston Hall, and were rioting in his winecellars, but when they heard that "the soldiers" had come at last, they slunk away in various directions. The members of the Lunar Society, or "the Lunatics," as they were popularly called, were especially marked for attack during the riots. A common cry among the mob was " No philosophers —Church and King for ever! " and some persons, to escape their fury, even painted "No philosophers" on the fronts of their houses! There could be no doubt as to the meaning of this handwriting on the wall. Priestley's house had been sacked, and Withering's plundered. Boulton and Watt were not without apprehensions that an attack would be made upon them, as the head and front of the " Philosophers" of Birmingham. They accordingly prepared for the worst; called their workmen together, pointed out to them the criminality of the rioters' proceedings, and placed arms in their hands on their promising to do their utmost to defend the premises if attacked. In the mean time everything portable was packed up and ready to be removed at a moment's notice. Thus four days of terror passed, but the mob came not; Watt attributing the safety of Soho to the fact that most of the Dissenters lived in another direction.l "T'l'hough our principles, which are republican principles, should have well known, as friends to the estab- been our protection from a mob whose lished government and enemies of watchword was Church and King, 414 SYMPATHISElRS WITH FRENCH RIEVOLUTION. C. XX. AMlany of the rioters were subsequently apprehended, ndcl several of theml were hanged; but the dalmage inflicted on those whose houses had been sacked was irreparable, and could not be compensated. As for Dr. Priestley, he shook the dust of Birmingham from his feet, and fled to London; froln thence emigrating to LAmnerica, where he died in 1804.'While such was the blind filry of the populace of Birimingham, the principles of the French Revolution found adherents in all parts of England. Clubs were formed in London and the principal provincial towns, and a brisk correspondence was carried on between themn and the Revolutionary leaders of France. lAmlong those invested with the rig'hts of French citizenship were Dr. Priestley, Mr. Wilberforce, Thomas rIooke, and Mr. (afterwards Sir) Jalmes Mackintosh. Thomlas Paine and Dr. Priestley were chosen members of tbe National Convention; and though the former took his seat for Calais, the latter declined, on the ground of his inability to speak the language sufficiently. Among those carried away by the political epidemic of the tilme, were young James WTatt and his friend Mr. Cooper of Manchester. In 1792 they were deputed, by the "Constitutional Society" of that town, to proceed to Paris and present an address of congratulation to the Jacobin Club, then known as the " Societe des Amis de la Constitution." While at Paris, young Watt seemns to have taken an active part in the fiery agitation of the time. He was on intimate terms with the Jacobin leaders. Southey yet our safety was principally owing! known as a Churchman. We had to most of the Dissenters livinrg south everything most portable packedl u:), of the town; for after the first mo- fearing the worst. However, all is ments they did not seem over nice in well with us."-Watt to De Luc, their discrimination of religion and 19th July, 1791. principles. I, among others, was 1 The' Discours' delivered by the pointed out as a Presbyterian, though iMM. Cooper and Watt (1792) may be I. never was in a mleeting-house in seen at the British Museum. lirumingllam, and'Mr. Boulton is well CHAP. XX. YOUNG WATT IN DANGER. 415 says that he was even the means of preventing a duel between Danton and Robespierre, to the former of whom he acted as second.1 Robespierre afterwards took occasion to denounce both Cooper and Watt as secret emissaries of Pitt, on which young Watt sprang into the tribune, pushing Robespierre aside, and defended himself in a strain of vehement eloquence, which completely carried the assembly with him. From that moment, however, he felt his life to be unsafe, and he fled from Paris without a passport, never resting until he had passed the frontier and found refuge in Italy. The public part he had taken in French Revolutionary politics could not fail to direct attention to him on this side of the channel. His appearance at a public procession, in which he carried the British colours, to celebrate the delivery of some soldiers released from the galleys, was vehemently denounced by Mr. Burke in the House of Commons. The notoriety which he had thus achieved, gave his father great anxiety; and after young James's return to England in 1794, he was under considerable apprehensions for his safety. Several members of the London political Societies had been apprehended and lodged in the Tower, and Watt feared lest his son might in some way be compromised by his correspondence with those societies. Boulton, then in London, informed him of the severe measures of the Government, and of the intended suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act; to which Watt replied," I thank you for your intelligence, which I have communicated with due caution to Mr. S. and my son. The former says he has had no correspondence whatever with any of these societies, nor has frequented any here,-that he may have uttered unguarded or foolish words in private companies, but that he knows nothing of, nor is he concerned in, any plot or political scheme whatsoever. The latter says he never corresponded with any of them at any' Life of Southey,' vi. 209. 416 WATT'S ALARM FOR HIS SON. CHAP. XX. time, though he once executed a commission for one of them, and sent his answer to Mr. Tr.,-that for these two years he has had no sort of connexion with any of them, and for more than a year all his correspondence has been recommending his friends not to intermeddle with public affairs. As he proposes to see you to-morrow, he will explain himself, and I need not bid you council him for the best." 1 A few days later, his apprehensions of danger to his son not being removed, he wrote Boulton again as follows: "I am made very uneasy on account of James by this Bastille Act 2 now (I fancy) passed, and which I cannot help thinking un peu trop. I submit whether it might not be best for you to endeavour to make his peace with M[inistJry by a candid avowal of his errors, and of his subsequent change of sentiment and renunciation of all correspondence with these traitors. In the mean time he had better make the best of his way to here, Liverpool, or Scotland; from either of the latter he might find his way to America if necessary. In any case let him not go in company with any of the persons who have laid themselves open to suspicion. I would not, however, have him rashly run out of the country. M[inist]ry must know who have been the active abettors of the plot, and, if they act wisely, will not molest those who have seen their error or have had the good sense to, resist all temptations of engaging in plots against the peace of the country, whatever their opinions about parliamentary representation might be..... Query, whether Denmark, Hamburg, or Norway, might not be preferable to America, lest we go to war with the latter. If you find he is obnoxious, his letters to me should be directed by another hand, and not signed." Four days later, Watt's alarm was not abated by the appearance in Birmingham of king's messengers making seizures of persons concerned in seditious correspondence. " They have taken up," he wrote, "one Pare, who kept a reforming club at his house, and one or two others. The soldiers were ordered under arms to prevent tumult. I hear also that Wilkinson has been threatened with a mob at Bradley, and has prepared to 1 Watt to Boulton, 16th May, pended on the 23rd May, 1794. 1794. Boulton MSS. s Watt to Boulton, 19th May, T'he Habeas Corpus Act was sus- 1794. Boulton MSS. CHAP. XX. THE YOUNG PARTNERS. 417 defend himself with cannon, pikes, &c., but that matters are now quiet there. In respect to James, you must advise him, I cannot; but I think he would be better at home, following his business, than elsewhere." James eventually returned to Birmingham, where we find him fiom this time forward taking an increasingly active part in the affairs of the concern. He took entire charge of the manufacture of the letter-copying machines, now become a considerable branch of the business; and he shortly after entered the engine firm as a partner, in conjunction with Mr. Boulton's eldest son, Matthew Robinson. The infusion of young blood had the effect of imparting new vigour to all the branches of manufacture at Soho, and at the same time of relieving the senior partners from a considerable amount of labour and anxiety. The business was now in a very thriving state; there was abundance of orders for engines t Watt to Boulton, 23rd May, of you to preserve for us 1 cwt. of 1794. Young Watt continued to that necessary article." To which sympathise with his political friends; Watt, jun. replied, -" Your new as we find him, some months later, order is in train, so that I hope writing Matthew R. Boulton from (whatever the poor may suffer by London as follows: —" The citizens the destruction of so scarce an article here are all in very high spirits since of nourishment) your aristocratical the late trials; and I had the honour of vanity will be gratified, with only the dining with two of the acquitted felons additional sacrifice of one guinea per on Sunday last." Watt, junr., having annumn to your immaculate friend Mr. remained for some time in London on Pitt, for the purpose of carrying on business connected with the prosecu- this'just and necessary war!' tion of Bull and others for infringement Under the existing circumstances, I of his father's patent, Boulton, junr., am doubtful whether I shall not kept up an active correspondence with sacrifice my aristocratical appendage him on the affairs of the firm. In [queues being then the appendages of one letter (19th February, 1795), after gentlemen], as it goes much against discussing various matters of detail my inclination to throw away my relating to the letter-copying machine money at this moment of personal and engine business, Boulton entreats poverty, or to contribute any sum, his friend to send him down a supply however small, to the support of of hair-powder. " I have to intrust measures which I reprobate in toto. to your care," he says, " the execution On the other hand, however, I do say of an important commission on the that, of all the taxes which have ever part of the ladies and myself. The been imposed within my memory, report of a scarcity of hair-powder has this is the most politic and the least caused great consternation amongst likely to be burdensome to the poor." the beaux and belles here, and we beg — Boulton MSS. 2E 418 COLLECTION OF PATENT DUES. CHAP. XX. coming in; and the principal difficulty of the firm was in finding skilled workmen enough to execute them. Thus we find Watt junior writing to Boulton junior in January, 1795, —" We must have additional men, rather too many than too few, until we have got the start of our orders, for without that we shall always feel ourselves embarrassed and clogged. I shall therefore desire Rennie to renew his applications at Lancaster, which appear as yet to have been unsuccessful." The junior members of the firm were also useful in protecting the engine patent right, the infringement of which had become general all over the country. This was a disagreeable part of their business; but, if not attended to, the patent must be given up as worthless. The steam-engine was now regarded as an indispensable power in manufacturing operations. It had become employed in all important branches of industry; and it was, of course, the interest of the manufacturers to avoid the payment of dues wherever they could. An instance of this evasion was detected at the Bowling Ironworks near Bradford, and notice was given of proceedings against the Company for recovery of dues. On this the Bowling Company offered to treat, and young Watt went down to Leeds for the purpose of meeting the representatives of the Bowling Company on the subject. On the 24th February, 179 6, he wrote his friend Matthew Robinson Boulton as follows: "Inclosed you have a copy of the treaty of peace, not amity, concluded at Leeds, on Saturday last, between me, Minister Plenipotentiary to your Highnesses on the one part, and the Bowling Pirates in person on the other part. I hope you will ratify the terms, as you will see they are founded entirely upon the principle of indemnity for the past and security for the future. The diameter and length of stroke of their different engines, four in number, I have; the times of their commencing to work will be sent you by Mr. Paley; and the amounts of the premiums may be definitively calculated upon my arrival, which will be about the latter end of this week." CHAP. XX. THE CORNISH PIRATES. 419 Another engine constructed after Watt's patent was discovered working at a mill at Carke, in Cartinel, Lancashire. Mr. Stockdale, son of the proprietor, tells the following story of its detection. He states that the first engine employed at the works was one on Newcomen's construction, which was used to pump water into the reservoir which supplied the water-power by which the mill was driven. It was then determined to apply the steam-power direct to the machinery, and a new engine was ordered from Manchester, without communicating with the patentees. The mill was in full work when a stranger called, representing that he belonged to the concern of Boulton and Watt, and requesting to inspect the engine. The request was complied with, and Mr. Stockdale afterwards invited him to stay to dinner; but it was the dearest dinner he ever gave, as only a few weeks later a claim for 18001. was made by Boulton and Watt for dues upon the engine, which was, however, eventually compromised by the payment of 4001. The most unscrupulous pirates, however, were the Cornishmen who, emboldened by the long quiescence of Boulton and Watt, and knowing that the patent had only five or six more years to run, believed that they might set the patentees at open defiance, which they proceeded to do. Notwithstanding the agreements entered into and ratified on both sides, they refused point blank to pay further dues; and Boulton and Watt were thus at last driven to have recourse to the powers of the law. Had they remained passive, it might have been construed into a tacit admission that the patent right had from the first been indefensible, and that the sums which they had up to that time levied for the use of their engine had been wrongfully paid to them. But neither had ceased to have perfect faith in the validity of their patent, and both determined, even at this late stage, to defend it. 2 E 2 420 LEGAL PROCEEDINGS BEGUN. CHAP. XX. "The rascals," wrote Watt to Boulton, "seem to have been going on as if the patent were their own.... We have tried every lenient means with them in vain; and since the fear of God has no effect upon them, we must try what the fear of the devil can do." 1 Legal proceedings were begun accordingly. The two actions on which the issues were tried were those of Boulton and Watt v. Bull, and Boulton and Watt v. Hornblower and Maberley; and they were fought on both sides with great determination. The proceedings extended over several years, being carried from court to court; but the result was decisive in both cases in favour of Boulton and Watt. It was not until January, 1799, that the final decision of the judges was given;2 almost on the very eve of expiry of the patent, which had not then a full year to run. It was not, however, with a view to the future that these costly, anxious, and protracted legal proceedings had been carried on, but mainly for the recovery of dues under existing agreements, and for dues on engines erected in various quarters in infringement of the patent. Most of the Cornish adventurers had paid nothing for years. Thus Poldice had paid nothing since October, 1793, and was in arrear 23301. Wheal Gons had paid nothing since May, 1793, and was in arrear 42901. The Wheal Treasure adventurers, and many others, had set Boulton and Watt at open defiance, and paid nothing at all. On the issue of the proceedings against Bull, Boulton and Watt called upon the Mining Companies to " cash up," and arrears were shortly collected, though with considerable difficulty, to the amount of about 30,0001. Young Boulton went into Cornwall for the purpose Watt to Boulton, 20th March, judgment. Some of them made better 1796. arguments in our favour than our own 2 4 "We have WON THE CAUSE hol- counsel, for Rous's speech was too low," Watt wrote from London. " All long and too divergent. I most sinthe Judges have given their opinions cerely give you joy." — Watt to carefully in our favour, and have passed Boulton, 25th January, 1799. CHAP. XX. PROGRESS OF THE ENGINE BUSINESS. 421 of arranging the settlements, and managed the business with great ability. " I am now to congratulate you," Watt wrote to his partner from Glasgow, whither he had gone on a visit, " on the success of Mr. R. Boulton's very able transactions in Cornwall; and I hope that at last we may be freed from the anxiety of the issue of law which has so long attended us, and enjoy in peace the fruits of our labours. When you write to Mr. B. I beg you will present my best wishes and best respects to him, expressing my warmest approbation of his exertions." On another occasion, while the cause was in progress before the courts of law, Watt wrote,"In the whole affair, nothing was so grateful to me as the zeal of our friends and the activity of our young men, which was unremitting." The senior members of the firm had for some time been gradually withdrawing from the active management of the concern. We find Watt writing to Dr. Black in 1798, —" In regard to the engine business, I now take little part in it, but it goes on successfully." Four years later he wrote,-"c Our engine trade thrives; the profits per cent. are, however, very, very moderate; it is by the great capital and expensive establishment of engineers, &c., that we keep it up; without our tools and men very little could be done, as we have many competitors, some of whom are men of abilities." But the business was now safe in the hands of the young and active partners, who continued to carry it on for many years, with even greater success than their fathers had done. They reaped the harvest of which the others had sown the seed. The patent right expired in 1800; but the business of the firm, nevertheless, became larger and more remunerative than it had ever been before. The superior plant which they had accumulated, their large and increasing capital, the skilled workmen whom they had trained, and the first-class character of the work which they turned outs gave the 422 WILLIAM MURDOCK. CHAP. XX. establishment of Boulton and Watt a prestige which they long continued to maintain. The young partners had also the great advantage of the skilled heads of the different departments, who had been trained by long and valuable experience. WIT.T,IAMI NI L RT)OC;K, For many years William Murdock was the Mentor of the firm. Though tempting offers of partnerships were made to him, he remained loyal to Boulton and Watt to the last. They treated him generously, and he was satisfied to spend his life in their service. He had gradually worked his way to the foremost place in their establishment, besides achieving reputation as an inventor and