whose family name was Muirhead, he received his first lessons in reading, and he learned from his father writing and arithmetic. Although he was entered as a pupil in the grammar school of Greenock, yet such was his delicate state of health, that his attendance there was so interrupted by constant indisposition that he could derive but little benefit from the opportunities of instruction which it afforded. For a great period of the year he was confined to his room, where he devoted himself to study without the aid of instruction. It was in the retirement of the sick chamber that the high intellectual faculties of Watt, which were destined to produce such precious fruits, began to unfold themselves. He was too sickly to be subjected to the restraints which the business of education usually imposes on children. His parents, therefore, found it necessary to leave him at liberty to choose his occupations and amusements. The following anecdotes will show the use he made of this freedom.

A friend of his father found the boy one day stretched upon the hearth tracing with chalk various lines and angles. “Why do you permit this child," said he, " to waste his time so; why not send him to school?" Mr. Watt replied, “You judge him hastily; before you condemn us, ascertain how he is employed." On examining the boy, then six years of age, it was found that he was engaged in the solution of a problem of Euclid!

Having observed the tendency of his son's mind, Mr. Watt placed at his disposal a collection of tools. These he soon learned to use with the greatest skill. He took to pieces and put together, again and again, all the children's toys which he could procure; and he was constantly employed in making new ones. Subsequently he used his tools in constructing a little electrical machine, the sparks proceeding from which became a great subject of amusement to all the playfellows of the poor invalid.

Though endowed with great retentive powers, Watt would probably never have figured among the prodigies of a common school: he would have been slow to commit his lessons to memory, from the repugnance which he would feel to repeat like a parrot anything which he did not perfectly

understand. The natural tendency of his mind to meditate on whatever came before it, would give him, to superficial observers, the appearance of dullness. Happily, however, he had a parent who was sufficiently clear-sighted, and who entertained high hopes of the growing faculties of his son. More distant and less sagacious relations were not so sanguine. One day Mrs. Muirhead, the aunt of the boy, reproaching him for what she conceived to be listless idleness, desired him to take a book and occupy himself usefully. "More than an hour has now passed away," said she, "and you have not uttered a single word. Do you know what you have been doing all this time? You have taken off, and put on, repeatedly, the lid of the tea-pot; you have been holding the saucers and the spoons over the steam, and you have been endeavouring to catch the drops of water formed on them by the vapour. Is it not a shame for you to waste your time so ?"

Mrs. Muirhead was little aware that this was the first experiment in the splendid career of discovery which was subsequently to immortalise her little nephew. She did not see, as we now can, in the little boy playing with the tea-pot, the great engineer preluding to those discoveries which were destined to confer on mankind benefits so inestimable.

One of the social qualities of mind which was remarkable throughout his life, was the singular felicity and grace with which he related anecdotes. This power was manifested even in his earliest childhood. The following is an extract from a letter written by Mrs. Marion Campbell, his cousin, and the playfellow of his childhood:

"He was not fourteen when his mother brought him to Glasgow to visit a friend of hers; his brother John accompanied him. On Mrs. Watt's return to Glasgow, some weeks after, her friend said, "You must take your son James home; I cannot stand the degree of excitement he keeps me in; I am worn out for want of sleep. Every evening before ten o'clock, our usual hour of 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

Watt had a younger brother, John, who was subsequently lost by shipwreck, in a voyage from Scotland to the United States. This lad, having determined on following the business of his father, left James more completely at liberty to choose his own occupation. But such a choice was difficult for a student who commanded equal success in every thing to which he directed his attention.

The excursions which he was in the habit of making on the Scottish mountains surrounding Loch Lomond, naturally directed his attention to botany and mineralogy, in each of which he attained considerable knowledge. His love of anecdote and romance was likewise gratified by the scenery which he enjoyed in these walks; and the traditions and popular songs with which they made him acquainted. When from illhealth, as constantly happened, he was confined to the house, he devoted himself to chemistry, natural philosophy, and even to medicine and surgery. In chemistry he acquired some experimental skill, and studied with eager zeal the elements of natural philosophy by S'. Gravesande. His own unhappy maladies prompted him to read works on surgery and medicine; and to such an extent did the activity of his mind impel him on these subjects, that he was found one day dissecting, in his room, the head of a child, who had died of some unknown disease, with a view to ascertain the cause of its death.

In 1775, at the age of nineteen, at the recommendation of Dr. Dick, professor of natural philosophy in the university of Glasgow, he went to London, where he employed himself in the house of Mr. John Morgan, a mathematical instrument maker, in Finch Lane, Cornhill, to whom he apprenticed himself for three years. He remained, however, only a year, at the expiration of which (probably owing to his delicate state of health) he was released from his apprenticeship, and returned to Glasgow, with the intention of establishing himself in business as an optician and mathematical instrument maker. In the fulfilment of this intention, however, he was obstructed by the interposition of the Corporation of Trades in that town, who regarded him as an intruder, not qualified by the necessary apprenticeship to carry on business. All means of conciliation being ex

hausted, the Professors of the University interfered, and gave him the use of three apartments within the college, for carrying on his business, and likewise appointed him mathematical instrument maker to the University. Soon afterwards the opposition of the local trades seems to have given way, and he opened a shop in Glasgow for the sale of mathematical instruments.

After the celebrity at which he has arrived, it will be easily believed that every trace of his earlier connection with Glasgow college is carefully cherished. There are accordingly preserved at that place little instruments and pieces of apparatus of exquisite workmanship, which were executed entirely by the hand of Watt, at a time when he was not in a condition to command the aid of workmen under him.

At the time of obtaining this appointment in the University, Watt was in his twenty-first year. His natural talents and winning manners were speedily the means of gaining for him the esteem and friendship of all those eminent persons connected at the time with that university whose regard was most valued. Among these the earliest of his friends and patrons were - ADAM SMITH, the author of "The Wealth of Nations ;" BLACK, afterwards celebrated for his chemical discoveries, and more especially for his theory of latent heat; and ROBERT SIMSON, rendered illustrious by his works on ancient geometry. In releasing Watt from the persecution of the Glasgow corporation, these distinguished persons first imagined that they were conferring a benefit. merely on an industrious and clever artisan, whose engaging manners won their regard; but a short acquaintance with him was sufficient to convince them how superior his mind was to his position, and they conceived towards him the most lively friendship. His shop became the common rendezvous, the afternoon lounge, of all who were most distinguished for literary and scientific attainments among the professors and students. There they met to discuss the topics of the day in art, science, and literature. Among these students, the name which afterwards attained the highest distinctions, and among these distinctions, not the least, the lasting personal friendship and esteem of Watt himself, was ROBISON,

G

the author of a well known work on Mechanics, and one of the contributors to the Encyclopædia Britannica.

The following extract from an unpublished manuscript by Robison himself will show at once the estimation in which Watt was held, and will illustrate one of the most interesting traits of his personal character :

“I had always, from my earliest youth, a great relish for the natural sciences, and particularly for mathematical and mechanical philosophy, when I was introduced by Drs. Simson, Dick, and Moor, gentlemen eminent for their mathematical abilities, to Mr. Watt. I saw a workman, and expected no more; but was surprised to find a philosopher as young as myself, and always ready to instruct me. I had the vanity to think myself a pretty good proficient in my favourite study, and was rather mortified at finding Mr. Watt so much my superior. Whenever any puzzle came in the way of any of the young students, we went to Mr. Watt. He needed only to be prompted, for every thing became to him the beginning of a new and serious study, and we knew that he would not quit it till he had either discovered its insignificancy, or had made something of it. He learnt the German language in order to peruse Leupold's Theatrum Machinarum ;' so did I, to know what he was about. Similar reasons made us both learn the Italian language. * * When to his superiority of knowledge is added the naïve simplicity and candour of Mr. Watt's character, it is no wonder that the attachment of his acquaintances was strong. I have seen something of the world, and am obliged to say I never saw such another instance of general and cordial attachment to a person whom all acknowledged to be their superior. But that superiority was concealed under the most amiable candour, and a liberal allowance of merit to every man. Mr. Watt was the first to ascribe to the ingenuity of a friend things which were nothing but his own surmises, followed out and embodied by another. I am the more entitled to say this, as I have often experienced it in my own case."

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Watt never permitted the inquiries which arose out of these reunions to interfere with the discharge of the duties of his workshop. There he passed the day, devoting the