the narration, interspersed with a little skill among the details of science, relieves their gravity. Yet I will relate it, were it only to show in what a humble condition projects were elaborated, which were destined to raise the British nation to an unheard-of height of power. I shall endeavour, above all, to describe with minute accuracy the fertile inventions which for ever connect the name of Watt with that of the steam-engine. son." I am perfectly aware of the dangers of this course. I foresee that it may be said, on leaving this place, "We expected an historical eloge, and we have been present at a dry and tedious lesBut if the lesson were comprehended, I should stand in but little dread of the reproach. I shall, therefore, use every endeavour not to weary your attention. I shall bear in mind that the good breeding of those who address the public consists in perspicuity. THE CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JAMES WATT ; HIS PROMOTION TO THE OFFICE OF MATHEMA- James Watt, one of the eight Foreign Associates of the Academy of Sciences, was born at Greenock, in Scotland, on the 19th of January 1736. Our neighbours on the other side of the channel have the good sense to be of opinion, that the genealogy of a respectable and industrious family is quite as deserving of preservation as the parchments of certain titled houses, which have attained celebrity only by the enormity of their crimes or their vices. Hence I am enabled to state with certainty, that the great-grandfather of James Watt was a farmer, living in the county of Aberdeen;-that he perished in one of the battles of Montrose ;-that the victorious party, as was then, -I had almost said as is still,-the practice in civil contentions, held death to be no sufficient atonement for the opinions for which the unfortunate farmer had fought; that they punished him in the person of his son, by confiscating his little property; that this poor orphan, Thomas Watt, was taken under the care of distant relations; that in the complete seclusion into which he was driven by the difficulties of his situation, he devoted himself assiduously to study; that in more tranquil times he established himself at Greenock, where he taught mathematics and the elements of navigation; that he lived in the adjoining burgh of Crawford's Dyke, of which he was for several years the chief magistrate or baron-baillie; and finally, that he died in 1734, at the age of ninety-two.* Thomas Watt had two sons. The elder, John, followed, at Glasgow, the profession of his father. He died, aged fifty, in 1737, leaving a survey of the course of the Clyde, which was published by his brother James. This latter, the father of the * In the inscription upon his tomb, in the West Churchyard at Greenock, he is styled "Professor of the Mathematicks."-TRANS LATOR. great engineer, was for upwards of twenty years a member of, and during great part of the time treasurer to the Town-Council of Greenock, a magistrate, and distinguished by an ardent zeal and enlightened spirit in promoting the improvements of the town.* He united,—(il cumulait,† be not alarmed; this expression, which has become in France, at the present day, a universal cause of anathema, will do no injury to the memory of James Watt)—he united three kinds of occupations; he was at once a ship-chandler, supplying vessels with nautical apparatus, stores and instruments, a builder, and a merchant. This, unfortunately, did not prevent him, in consequence of certain commercial enterprises, undertaken towards the close of his life, suffering the loss of a portion of the honourable fortune which he had previously acquired. He died, at the age of eighty-four, in 1782. James Watt, the subject of this eloge, was born with an extremely delicate constitution. His mother, whose family name was Muirheid, gave him * We find in the minutes of the Town Council of Greenock, under date of 3d June 1774, that Mr. Watt then gave in his resignation of the office of a manager and councillor; upon which the meeting of the Magistrates and Council returned him thanks for the many good services he had done to the community. He was also agent to the late Lord Cathcart in the management of his property at Greenock, who, upon Mr. Watt's death, bore honourable testimony to his memory, in a letter to his son.-TR. + Il cumulait. This refers to a current joke and bye-word among the members of the Academy, relative to a greed of places; from which it would appear that even philosophers are not exempt!— TR. his first lessons in reading. Writing and arithmetic he learned from his father. He also attended the public elementary school at Greenock. The humble grammar - schools of Scotland will thus have a right to inscribe, with just pride, the name of the celebrated engineer among those of the pupils whom they have trained; as the college of La Flèche could heretofore boast of Descartes, as the University of Cambridge still boasts of Newton. To be exact, I ought to say, that continual ailments prevented young Watt from regularly attending the public school of Greenock; that for a great part of the year he was confined to his room, and there devoted himself to study without any assistance from others. As usually happens, the high intellectual faculties destined to bear such happy fruits, began to develope themselves in retirement and reflection. Watt was of too sickly a habit for his parents to think of imposing any constant occupation upon him; they even left to him the free choice of his amusements. You will see presently whether he abused this licence. 66 A friend of Mr. Watt one day found the little James stretched on the floor and drawing, with a piece of chalk, all sorts of intersecting lines. Why," he said, "do you allow this child to idle away his time in this manner? Send him away to the public school." Mr. Watt replied, "you may find, Sir, that you are mistaken;-before you blame me, examine attentively what my son is about." Amends was speedily made ;-the boy of six years old was trying to solve a problem of geometry. Guided by his enlightened affection, the father had early placed a certain number of tools at the young scholar's disposal, who made use of them with the greatest address, taking to pieces and putting together again the children's toys which fell into his hands, and continually making new ones. Afterwards, with these he constructed a small electrical machine, the brilliant sparks from which became a subject of much amusement and surprise to all the companions of the poor invalid.† Watt, though possessed of an excellent memory, might, perhaps, have made no distinguished figure among the little prodigies of ordinary schools. He would have refused to learn lessons like a parrot, because he felt the necessity of sedulously working out the intellectual elements which were set before his mind; because he was specially formed by nature for meditation. James Watt, however, augured very favourably of the nascent faculties of his son; more distant and less quicksighted relations did not share in the same hopes. Sitting one evening with his aunt, Mrs. Muirheid, at the tea table, she said, "James Watt, I never * Upon this occasion Mr. Watt's friend put various questions to the boy, was astonished and gratified with the mixture of intelligence, quickness, and simplicity displayed in his answers, and used the remarkable expression, "This is no common child.”—TR. + This must have been about the years 1750-53. It will be recollected that the Leyden Phial was invented in the years 1745-46. See Priestley's History of Electricity, p. 80, edit. 1769.-TR. |