as well as communicate a rapid movement to the ponderous stones of a flour-mill." In 1809 the fertility of his inventive powers was shown by a beautiful solution of a difficult problem laid before him by a water company at Glasgow, who, after establishing their works upon one side of the river Clyde, discovered that water of a very superior quality might be procured from a kind of natural filter on the other side, if they could overcome the difficulty of laying a main from their pumps across the bed of the river. Watt contrived for this purpose a flexible iron pipe, the pieces of which were connected by a kind of ball-and-socket joint, of which he took the idea from the tail of a lobster. The main was constructed from his designs in the following year with the most complete success; and it forms a tube of about a thousand feet long and two feet in diameter, capable of bending and applying itself to the bed of the river. Mr. Watt made many other discoveries which justly entitle him to the character of a natural philosopher and a man of science. We may conclude this slight sketch with the following extract from a description of the man of whom Scotland may be justly proud, given by his countryman and friend, the late Lord Jeffrey : 66 Independently of his great attainments in mechanics, Mr Watt was an extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. Perhaps no individual of his age possessed so much, and such varied and exact information: had read so much, or remembered what he had read so well. He had infinite quickness of apprehension, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of understanding, which extracted something precious out of all that was presented to it. That he should have been minutely and extensively skilled in chemistry and the arts, and in most branches of physical science, might have been conjectured; but it could not have been inferred, from his usual occupations, that he was curiously learned in many branches of antiquity, metaphysics, medicine, and etymology, and perfectly at home in all the details of architecture, music, and law. He was well acquainted, too, with most of the modern languages, and familiar with their recent literature. His astonishing memory was aided no doubt by a higher and rarer faculty ;-by his power of digesting and arranging in his mind all the valuable information he received, and of casting aside and rejecting, as it were instinctively, whatever was worthless or immaterial." The mention of music among these acquirements leads us to quote another passage from a different writer. The noble biographer of Mr. Watt thus speaks on that subject:-" He had no ear for music: not only was he insensible to its charms, but he could never distinguish one note from another; yet he undertook (in his younger days) the construction of an organ; and the instrument he made not only had every mechanical merit, but produced the most admirable harmonic results, so as to delight the best performers." He overcame the difficulty which nature appeared to have thrown in his way in this respect by surpassing industry and perseverance, and by practising a theory then little understood, and only contained in a work at once profound and obscure, "Sinith's Harmonics." Watt, while yet little known to fame, made a guitar for a young lady, for which he received in payment five guineas. One peculiarity of his manner is mentioned. "There was a little air of affected testiness, and a tone of pretended rebuke and contradiction, with which he used to address his younger friends, that was always felt by them as an endearing mark of kindness and familiarity, and prized above all the solemn compliments that ever proceeded from the lips of authority. His voice was deep and powerful, though he commonly spoke in a low and somewhat monotonous tone, which harmonized admirably with the weight and brevity of his observations, and set off to the greatest advantage the pleasant anecdotes which he delivered with the same grave brow and calm smile playing soberly on his lips." Lord Jeffrey further says that Mr. Watt "had in his character the utmost abhorrence for all sorts of forwardness, parade, and pretension; and, indeed, never failed to put such impostors out of countenance, by the manly plainness and honest intrepidity of his language and deportment." His great countryman, Sir Walter Scott, thus speaks of him :— "Amidst this company stood Mr. Watt, the man whose genius discovered the means of multiplying our national resources to a degree perhaps beyond his own stupendous powers of calculation and combination; bringing the treasures of the abyss to the summit of the earth,-commanding manufactures to arise, affording means of dispensing with that time and tide which wait for no man,-of sailing without that wind which defied the commands and threats of Xerxes himself. This potent commander of the elementsthis abridger of time and space-this magician, whose cloudy machinery has produced a change in the world, the effects of which, extraordinary as they are, are perhaps only now beginning to be felt-was not only the most profound man of science, the most successful combiner of powers and calculator of numbers, but one of the best and kindest of human beings. . . . In his eighty-first year, the alert, kind, benevolent old man had his attention ready for every one's question, his information at every one's command." Mr. Watt died peacefully at his residence in Staffordshire, on the 25th of August, 1819, in his eighty-fourth year. The prime minister of the time, Lord Liverpool, presided at his funeral; and the late lamented Sir Robert Peel expressed the obligation under which he lay to the genius of him whom they were then commemorating,-the fortunes of his family being raised by manufacturing industry, founded on the happy inventions of Arkwright and Watt. A fine statue of Watt, executed by Chantry, stands in Westminster Abbey, with an inscription written by Lord Brougham. Several statues have been erected to him in various places: among others, there is one in the cemetery of Père la Chaise, at Paris. Among other useful inventions of which Watt was the author, we must not forget the machine for copying letters, &c., so usefully employed by clerks in offices, and another for taking copies of sculptures, busts, &c. He also devised the method of heating buildings and hot-houses by steam; and he was the first who discovered the real nature of water, or the elements of its composition. His grand inventions, however, relate to steam and the steam-engine ; and in so briefly noticing his life and labours, we glanced no less briefly over the history of that wonderful power previous to his time. It is a curious fact, that steam is no less than one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight times greater in bulk than the water from which it was formed. The object of the steam-engine is to catch the water expanding into steam, and to make use of that expansive force, which is about eight times greater than the expanding force of gunpowder. Whatever knowledge may have existed on this subject, even from very early times, it was Watt alone who fully reduced the theory to practice. "IF we have no rain in less than eight-and-forty hours," exclaimed Mr. Dobson, the proprietor of a small farm in one of the eastern counties, "there will not be a turnip to be seen. Twice did I sow this field with the best seed I could get, and if I had sown it a third time it would have been to no better purpose, unless we have a change of weather directly." He said the same words the next morning, and that, too, in a tone of increased vexation. He viewed the clouds, consulted his "glass," which was never known to err: it stood at Fair, the point it had maintained for several days; and when he gently tapped it with his knuckles, the index refused to move, or, if there was any variation, it inclined towards a higher point. He watched anxiously whether the swallows flew near the ground, or otherwise; inquired whether the dew rose heavily the previous evening; what appearance the moon presented at the change, whether she lay on her back or not-the certain indication of rain in his opinion-but in vain ; disappointment followed equally his own observations and the replies of others. He did not, indeed, openly give vent to his dissatisfaction, or express the almost reproachful thoughts that lurked in his heart; but any one at all acquainted with him would have been at no loss to account for the unusual ill-humour he displayed, and to attribute his irritation to the idea of the total failure of his crop of turnips. In this unenviable state of mind, as he was riding home in the evening, he overtook a person who hired a farm adjoining his own, an honest and industrious man, with a large young family entirely dependent upon him, and who was not, like himself, in easy circumstances. He had never been "well-to-do," and had often been unfortunate where others had been successful. The usual expression of his countenance was careworn and dejected. This evening it was the very reverse. His manner, too, was entirely different. He was animated and cheerful; and, instead of the mere "good night," or "good morning," interchanged between them, Marsh-for that was his name-seemed even inclined to enter into conversation. "Bad weather this for us farmers," observed Mr. Dobson, again casting his eyes anxiously round the horrizon. "There is no more appearance of rain this evening than there was ten days ago. I shan't have a dozen turnips in my ten acres. I was in hopes we should have had a soaking rain both yesterday and to-day, but it has all passed off." "Heaven be praised that we had not!" fervently ejaculated Marsh. “I should have been ruined if we had had the soaking rain you speak of." "How so?" inquired Dobson. "O, by the by, I saw you busy with your mustard seed, so I did." "Yes," returned Marsh. "It was a great venture. All things lately have gone very hard with me. I lost both lambs and ewes in the spring, and my rent"-he sighed and shook his head, then cheerfully continuedI had been strongly advised to sow that field near yours with mustard. I yielded, because I valued the opinion of him that gave it; but I did so with a trembling heart, for you know what a precarious crop it is. The seed came up beautifully. There never was a better promise. It was getting ripe, but I really had not the courage to cut it. 'Come, come,' said Clarke, we must not dally any longer in this way. Never be afraid. You shall see me and my whole party the day after to-morrow, men, women, and children, tarpauling and all.' If I had chosen the weather to suit me, it could not have been more favourable. Not a drop of rain, as you know, has fallen upon it; it has been cut, threshed, and safely lodged, all in a few hours, in the finest condition. The price is high, the quality is excellent, and I shall now overcome all my difficulties. O, Mr. Dobson, if rain had come and spoilt my crop, my children would have been without a home, and my wife and I beggars!" Dobson was a kind-hearted man, and a sensible one too. He was thoughtful for a few instants, and then, every feature lighting up with a genuine expression of pleasure, he exclaimed, "I am glad to hear it, Marsh; right glad to hear that you are straight again. Now I'll own the truth. I grumbled at this fine weather, and was so cross yesterday I could have quarrelled with a straw for lying in my way, fancying myself a better judge of what weather was proper for us than He who sent it. And now what is the consequence? That which has only injured me partially, has been of the utmost service to you. Yes, yes, it is wisest and safest too, to let God govern his own world as he sees fit; for come what weather it may, it must needs suit some; and sure enough no one is forgotten or overlooked in the right time, and when his turn comes round." MAN THE WORK OF AN ALMIGHTY CREATOR. CAN any man, endowed with common sense, imagine that such a body as any of us doth bear about him, so neatly composed, fitted to so many purposes of action, furnished with so many goodly and proper organs; that eye, by which we reach the stars, and in a moment have, as it were, all the world present to us; that ear, by which we so subtlely distinguish the differences of sound, are sensible of so various harmony, have conveyed into our minds the words and thoughts of each other; that tongue, by which we so readily imitate those vast diversities of voice and tone, by which we communicate our minds with such ease and advantage; that hand, by which we perform so many admirable works, and which serves instead of a thousand instruments and weapons unto us; to omit those inward springs of motion, life, sense, imagination, memory, passion, with so stupendous curiosity contrived; can any reasonable man, I say, conceive that so rare a piece, consisting of such parts, unexpressibly various, unconceivably curious, the want of any of which would discompose or destroy us; subservient to such excellent operations, incomparably surpassing all the works of the most exquisite art that we could ever observe or conceive, be the product of blind chance; arise from the fortuitous jumblings of matter; be effected without exceeding great wisdom, without most deep counsel and design? Might not the most excellent pieces of human artifice, the fairest structures, the finest pictures, the most useful engines, such as we are wont most to admire and praise, much more easily happen to be without any skill or contrivance? If we cannot allow these rude and gross imitations of nature to come of themselves, but will presently, so soon as we see them, acknowledge them the products of art, though we know not the artist, nor did see him work; how much more reasonable is it that we believe the works of nature, so much more fine and accurate, to proceed from the like cause, though invisible to us, and performing its workmanship by a secret hand?-BARROW. THE USEFUL ARTS AND MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN. HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. WRITERS of antiquity abound in allusions to clothing made of wool and flax; there are, however, but few notices among Greek and Latin writers, and not one among Hebrew writers, referring to cotton. In the old world the growth and manufacture of cotton were confined to those populous regions lying beyond the Indus, which were long unknown to the nations bordering on the Mediterranean; and even in modern times, in the middle ages, continual mention is made of stuffs of woollen, linen, silk, and gold, but cotton remains unnoticed. evident, from the fact, that among Wool was probably one of the first materials used by mankind for cloth. It is mentioned in the Scriptures in connexion with linen, (Deut. xxii." the Indians wore linen garments, 11; Prov. xxxi. 13); and the manufacture of both these fabrics existed in Greece in the days of Homer. The arts of spinning and weaving rank next in importance among mankind to agriculture, and must have been invented at a very early period in man's history. They existed in considerable perfection in Egypt, at the time when the Israelites were in bondage in that land. Linen was the national manufacture among the ancient Egyptians. That they were not acquainted with cotton seems the substance whereof they were made growing upon trees; and this is indeed flax, or rather something much whiter and finer than flax. They wear shirts of the same, which reach down to the middle of their legs; and veils, which cover their head and a great part of their shoulders." Strabo also, on the authority of Nearchus, mentions the Indians as being celebrated flowered cottons or chintzes, and for their various and beautiful dyes. This geographer states, that in his own day (he died A.D. 25) cotton grew, for |