traordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. Perhaps no individual in his age possessed so much, and such varied and exact information; had read so much, or remembered what he had read so accurately and well. His stores of miscellaneous knowledge were immense, and yet less astonishing than the command he had at all times over them: it seemed as if every subject that was casually started in conversation, with him had been that which he had been last occupied in studying and exhausting; such was the copiousness, the precision, and the admirable clearness of the information which he poured out upon it without effort or hesitation. Nor was this promptitude and compass of knowledge confined, in any degree, to the studies connected with his ordinary pursuits. That he should have been minutely and extensively skilled in chemistry and the arts, and in most of the branches of physical science, might, perhaps, have been conjectured; but it could not have been inferred from his usual occupations, and, probably, is not generally known, 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 most recent literature. Nor was it at all extraordinary to hear the great mechanician and engineer detailing and expounding, for hours together, the metaphysical theories of the German logicians, or criticising the measures or the matter of the German poetry. He generally seemed, indeed, to have no choice or predilection for one subject of discourse rather than another; but allowed his mind, like a great cyclopædia, to be opened at any letter his associates might choose to turn up; and only endeavoured to select from his inexhaustible stores, what might be best adapted to the taste of his present hearers."

Lord Brougham, Sir James Mackintosh, Mr. Huskisson,

Sir Humphrey Davy, Sir Robert Peel, M. Dupin, M. Arago, and many others, have all joined in similar panegyrics, exaggerated as they appear. It would seem, indeed, all but impossible that one mind could justify these descriptions, coming, too, from persons themselves so remarkable. Yet, to enumerate the historians, philosophers, and statesmen, who have united in calling him greatest, and in depositing the crown of perpetuelles on the monument of Mr. Watt, would be to record the most illustrious names of England and France. An empire has grown great by his discoveries; he has left the resources of greatness to others, and nations have joined in friendly rivalry of admiration and gratitude to the greatest benefactor of mankind.

On the 18th of June, 1824, one of the most illustrious assemblages of talent that, perhaps, was ever known for a similar object, met to do homage to the genius of Mr. Watt, by erecting a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey.

This, doubtless, was owing to an eloquent Frenchman, Baron Dupin, who first roused the apathy of this country, in the following passage of his "Commercial Power of Great Britain," read to the French Institute, on the 2nd of June, 1823. Speaking of him as "the greatest honour to England," he observes, "Watt is one of England's best benefactors, and brightest ornaments. I asked, with much eagerness, what brilliant reward he had received from the gratitude of the nation? and my question remained unanswered. It should seem that not the king, nor his ministers, nor the parliament, could discover anything worthy of commemoration in the life or memory of a man, to whom the ancients would have erected statues and altars, as they did to Triptolemus, the

inventor of agricultural improvements. The ashes of Garrick, the performer, repose under the sacred roof of Westminster Abbey; and the ashes of Watt lie in the obscure retreat of some unknown burying ground."*

Excepting M. Dupin and M. Arago, all were present whose names have been mentioned. Party feeling was forgotten: the strife of politics was laid aside, whilst the congregated talent of London united in recording the gratitude of their country to him whom they all allowed superior. It is to be regretted that the eulogiums of such an assemblage have not been preserved, but in the limited half-column of a newspaper. The king, with accustomed liberality, sent, by his ministers, a cordial concurrence with the object of the meeting, and £500 to promote it. Sir Robert, then Mr. Peel, nobly declared that he owed everything to Mr. Watt-family, wealth, and honours-that his steam engine had done all.

Whether it is that France and Italy pay more respect to the memory of their illustrious dead, on account of the rarity; or that foreigners may best learn the history of these countries by reading it in the numerous statues they see around them; or whether they think such memorials of past greatness are the best incitement to future generations, it is certain this country requires more stimulus to record its gratitude to its own. Newton-whom Dr. Johnson said would have been worshipped as a Deity in ancient Greece-Nelson, Byron, and Scott-and which name is wider spread it would be difficult to say-yet remain to be so recorded; not shut up in Westminster Abbey, but to meet us in some commanding situations.

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* Baron Dupin has entered fully upon the services rendered by Watt to mankind, in his Considerations sur les avantages de l'industrie et des machines, en France et en Angleterre," delivered to the Institute of France, in April, 1821.

It is somewhat singular, that one so remarkable in life as Mr. Watt, should, at his death, unite in the record to his memory, so rare a combination of talent. The following epitaph is written by Lord Brougham, graven on a monument sculptured by Chantrey, to commemorate the genius of Watt:

NOT TO PERPETUATE A NAME,

WHICH MUST ENDURE WHILE THE PEACEFUL ARTS FLOURISH,

BUT TO SHOW

THAT MANKIND HAVE LEARNT TO HONOUR THOSE

WHO BEST DESERVE THEIR GRATITUDE;

THE KING,

HIS MINISTERS, AND MANY OF THE NOBLES

AND COMMONERS OF THE REALM,

RAISED THIS MONUMENT TO

WHO, DIRECTING

JAMES WATT,

THE FORCE OF AN ORIGINAL GENIUS,

EARLY EXERCISED IN PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH,
TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF

CHAPTER II.

APPLICATION OF STEAM TO NAVIGATION. DIFFICULTY IN ASCERTAINING THE REAL AUTHOR OF AN INVENTION.-CAUSES.-HARD FATE OF INVENTORS.-CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL AND THE LATE MR. SYMINGTON. MR. SYMINGTON THE REAL INVENTOR, BY FIRST PROVING ITS PRACTICABILITY.

To rescue the brilliant thought of genius from the grasp of rival candidates, or to search it out from amidst accumulations that would prevent its discovery, or obscure its rays, in order to restore to its rightful owner the honour of an invention which too many would deprive him of, is the duty of all who profess to treat of the rise and progress of a science. Yet it too frequently happens that the labour of research, the carelessness of investigation, the pride of country, or the partialities of friendship, prevent those minute inquiries which would lead to a discovery of the truth; and thus the memory of the dead is deprived of the only honours that remain to be paid.

.

Fate, or Providence, seems to reserve an accumulation of ills for the talented, but poor inventor. It does not seem enough, that the man who has passed a life of hope and despondency, subject oftentimes to many privations, in seeking to perfect what may, in its results, control the resources of a nation; spending, as too many have done, all they possessed, in bringing it just to the state that enables one more wealthy to seize it—should live neglected and die in poverty. Considered by many an enthusiast before his time, or a fool after it, even at his death the merit of his invention is too fre