last, and almost to the last having entertained hopes of his own recovery. At the time of his decease, Mr. Watt was unavoidably absent, at Broseley in Shropshire, on business connected with the engine; but Dr. Ash and Dr. Darwin, with both of whom Dr. Small had always lived on terms of the greatest intimacy, Mr. Boulton, Mr. Keir, and other attached friends, constantly attended him in his last illness. 66 Mr. Keir has regretted, to a certain extent not without reason, that "Dr. Small, although possessed of various and "eminent talents to instruct mankind, has left no trace "behind of all that store of knowledge and observation which “he had acquired, and from which his friends never left him "without drawing fresh information." But the panegyric is not small which he pronounces, when he adds ;-" He lives "only in the memory of those friends who knew his worth, "and of the poor, whom his humane skill was ever ready to "rescue from disease and pain." "It is needless," writes the same gentleman in announcing his death to his brother, the Rev. Robert Small of Dundee, "to say how universally he is "lamented; for no man ever enjoyed or deserved more the "esteem of mankind. Mr. Boulton and myself, who were more particularly blest with his intimacy and friendship, "are struck with a grief suitable to the loss which we have sustained, and which we know can never be repaired. We "loved him with the tenderest affection, and shall ever "revere his memory." "His numberless virtues," says Mr. Boulton," I should be happy to fall heir to, they being the only legacy that could reconcile me to his death." "Messrs. Keir, Darwin, Day, and self," adds Mr. Boulton at a later date, "have never yet agreed about a monument for the "church; but as there is nothing which I wish to fix in my "mind so permanently as the remembrance of my dear departed friend, I did not delay to erect one to his memory "in the prettiest but most obscure part of my garden; a part "that is modelled, at least characterised, since you were here. ""Tis a sepulchred grove, in which is a building adapted for contemplation; from one of its windows, under a Gothic "arch formed by trees, you see the church in which he was 66 66 66 66 66 * "interred, and no other object whatsoever except the monu"ment. It is a sarcophagus standing upon a pedestal, on "which is written M: S: Gulielmi Small, M.D. MDCCLXXV. "and upon the pedestal are inscribed some verses written by "Dr. Darwin, a copy of which, with a slight sketch of the "view from one of the windows of the building, I herewith "send you : "Ye gay and young, who, thoughtless of your doom, "Where Melancholy broods o'er many a tomb 'Mould'ring beneath the yew's unwholesome shade; "If chance ye enter these sequester'd groves, "Here, while no titled dust, no sainted bone, "Cold Contemplation leans her aching head, "For Science, Virtue, and for SMALL she mourns." Mr. Day also, who had hastened to England from Brussels as soon as he heard of the severe illness of his friend, (although unfortunately too late to be present with him in his last hour), and whose mind was long in recovering from the gloom caused by the loss of one whom he had always venerated as a wise and faithful instructor, composed the following epitaph on his "guide, philosopher, and friend :" "Beyond the rage of Time, or Fortune's power, *That of St. Philip, Birmingham. "O taught on reason's boldest wings to rise, "And catch each glimmering of the opening skies! "O gentle bosom! O unsullied mind! "O friend to truth, to virtue, and mankind! The "sepulchred grove" of Soho has fallen; the " sarco"phagus," — or, rather, cenotaph, --has perished; and the romantic grounds surrounding Mr. Boulton's mansion, with their woods and waters, little more than a century ago an unpeopled and uncultured waste, then transformed into a series of smiling gardens and shaded lawns, have now become the site of other houses, multiplying in proportion to the immense development of the steam-engine and its results in that central and busy district of our great manufacturing country. But not so soon will be forgotten the refinement of mind, the ardour in scientific pursuits, the community of sentiments, and the warmth of friendship, which long cheered those scenes with their sunshine, and seem still to visit them with a distant gleam. The passing of the Act of Parliament which ensured to Mr. Watt and his assignees the exclusive right to "make, use, "exercise, and vend" the steam-engines of his invention, now enabled him to arrange finally with Mr. Boulton the system on which their partnership and proposed manufacture of engines should be conducted. Of the great difficulties that still remained to be overcome in the further prosecution of their undertaking, we may form some faint estimate from the remarkable fact, that " at the period of the construction "of the first steam-engine upon the new principles at Soho, "the intelligent and judicious Smeaton, who had been invited "to satisfy himself of the superior performance of the engine "by his own experiments upon it, and had been convinced of "its great superiority over Newcomen's, doubted the practica"bility of getting the different parts executed with the requi"site precision; and augured, from the extreme difficulty of * Account of the Life and Writings of Thomas Day, Esq.' (by Mr. Keir), p. 93. 1791. attaining this desideratum, that this powerful machine, in "its improved form, would never be generally introduced. "Such," adds the relator of this curious anecdote, the late Mr. Boulton," was at that period the low state of the me"chanic arts, as fully to justify his opinion; but a school of "workmen, in every relevant branch, was speedily and successfully instituted, and the forms and construction of the "machine were perfected with a skill and accuracy till then "unknown in the execution of large machinery." 66 66 66 The general curiosity that had begun to be excited throughout England as to the nature and comparative utility of the new engines, gave promise of at least a fair remuneration, if they could be successfully manufactured. So far back as 1771, Dr. Small had written to Mr. Watt,-" At present I am "to tell you something of consequence, about which it will "be proper to speak with Dr. Roebuck, to whom I offer my "best respects. A friend of Boulton and me in Cornwall "sent us word four days ago that four or five copper-mines "are just going to be abandoned, because of the high price of coals, and begs me to apply to them instantly. The York Building 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 fireengines; because they must quit their mine if you cannot "relieve them." And, in April 1775, “There are several "engines," says Mr. Boulton, "now wanted in Cornwall; "some of the proprietors of mines are impatient to know the ❝event of our Bill and the terms we will propose. I have "ventured to say to Mr. Glover, (who was requested to wait upon us on that subject), that we will undertake and contract "to make an engine or engines capable of doing any quantity "of work that shall be requested and described, for as little 66 66 66 66 money as common engines will cost that are capable of doing as much work; and we will guarantee them to do "that work with half the expense of fuel that common ones *Speech at the Public Meeting in Freemasons' Hall, in 1824. |