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+Project Gutenberg's Men of Invention and Industry, by Samuel Smiles
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Men of Invention and Industry
+
+Author: Samuel Smiles
+
+Posting Date: August 16, 2008 [EBook #725]
+Release Date: November, 1996
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEN OF INVENTION AND INDUSTRY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Eric Hutton.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MEN OF INVENTION AND INDUSTRY
+
+
+by
+
+Samuel Smiles
+
+
+
+
+"Men there have been, ignorant of letters; without art, without
+eloquence; who yet had the wisdom to devise and the courage to perform
+that which they lacked language to explain.  Such men have worked the
+deliverance of nations and their own greatness. Their hearts are their
+books; events are their tutors; great actions are their
+eloquence."--MACAULAY.
+
+
+
+
+Contents.
+
+Preface
+
+CHAPTER I  Phineas Pett:
+  Beginnings of English Shipbuilding
+
+CHAPTER II  Francis Pettit Smith:
+  Practical Introducer of the Screw Propeller
+
+CHAPTER III  John Harrison:
+  Inventor of the Marine Chronometer
+
+CHAPTER IV  John Lombe:
+  Introducer of the Silk Industry into England
+
+CHAPTER V  William Murdock:
+  His Life and Inventions
+
+CHAPTER VI  Frederick Koenig:
+  Inventor of the Steam-printing Machine
+
+CHAPTER VII  The Walters of 'The Times':
+  Inventor of the Walter Press
+
+CHAPTER VIII William Clowes:
+  Book-printing by Steam
+
+CHAPTER IX  Charles Bianconi:
+  A Lesson of Self-Help in Ireland
+
+CHAPTER X  Industry in Ireland:
+  Through Connaught and Ulster to Belfast
+
+CHAPTER XI  Shipbuilding in Belfast:
+  By Sir E. J. Harland, Engineer and Shipbuilder
+
+CHAPTER XII  Astronomers and students in humble life:
+  A new Chapter in the 'Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties'
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+I offer this book as a continuation of the memoirs of men of invention
+and industry published some years ago in the 'Lives of Engineers,'
+'Industrial Biography,' and 'Self-Help.'
+
+The early chapters relate to the history of a very important branch of
+British industry--that of Shipbuilding.  A later chapter, kindly
+prepared by Sir Edward J. Harland, of Belfast, relates to the origin
+and progress of shipbuilding in Ireland.
+
+Many of the facts set forth in the Life and Inventions of William
+Murdock have already been published in my 'Lives of Boulton and Watt;'
+but these are now placed in a continuous narrative, and supplemented by
+other information, more particularly the correspondence between Watt
+and Murdock, communicated to me by the present representative of the
+family, Mr. Murdock, C.E., of Gilwern, near Abergavenny.
+
+I have also endeavoured to give as accurate an account as possible of
+the Invention of the Steam-printing Press, and its application to the
+production of Newspapers and Books,--an invention certainly of great
+importance to the spread of knowledge, science, and literature,
+throughout the world.
+
+The chapter on the "Industry of Ireland" will speak for itself. It
+occurred to me, on passing through Ireland last year, that much
+remained to be said on that subject; and, looking to the increasing
+means of the country, and the well-known industry of its people, it
+seems reasonable to expect, that with peace, security, energy, and
+diligent labour of head and hand, there is really a great future before
+Ireland.
+
+The last chapter, on "Astronomers in Humble Life," consists for the
+most part of a series of Autobiographies.  It may seem, at first sight,
+to have little to do with the leading object of the book; but it serves
+to show what a number of active, earnest, and able men are
+comparatively hidden throughout society, ready to turn their hands and
+heads to the improvement of their own characters, if not to the
+advancement of the general community of which they form a part.
+
+In conclusion, I say to the reader, as Quarles said in the preface to
+his 'Emblems,' "I wish thee as much pleasure in the reading as I had in
+the writing."  In fact, the last three chapters were in some measure
+the cause of the book being published in its present form.
+
+London, November, 1884.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+PHINEAS PETT: BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH SHIP-BUILDING.
+
+"A speck in the Northern Ocean, with a rocky coast, an ungenial
+climate, and a soil scarcely fruitful,--this was the material patrimony
+which descended to the English race--an inheritance that would have
+been little worth but for the inestimable moral gift that accompanied
+it.  Yes; from Celts, Saxons, Danes, Normans--from some or all of
+them--have come down with English nationality a talisman that could
+command sunshine, and plenty, and empire, and fame.  The 'go' which
+they transmitted to us--the national vis--this it is which made the old
+Angle-land a glorious heritage.  Of this we have had a portion above
+our brethren--good measure, running over.  Through this our
+island-mother has stretched out her arms till they enriched the globe
+of the earth....Britain, without her energy and enterprise, what would
+she be in Europe?"--Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1870).
+
+In one of the few records of Sir Isaac Newton's life which he left for
+the benefit of others, the following comprehensive thought occurs:
+
+"It is certainly apparent that the inhabitants of this world are of a
+short date, seeing that all arts, as letters, ships, printing, the
+needle, &c., were discovered within the memory of history."
+
+If this were true in Newton's time, how much truer is it now. Most of
+the inventions which are so greatly influencing, as well as advancing,
+the civilization of the world at the present time, have been discovered
+within the last hundred or hundred and fifty years.  We do not say that
+man has become so much wiser during that period; for, though he has
+grown in Knowledge, the most fruitful of all things were said by "the
+heirs of all the ages" thousands of years ago.
+
+But as regards Physical Science, the progress made during the last
+hundred years has been very great.  Its most recent triumphs have been
+in connection with the discovery of electric power and electric light.
+Perhaps the most important invention, however, was that of the working
+steam engine, made by Watt only about a hundred years ago.  The most
+recent application of this form of energy has been in the propulsion of
+ships, which has already produced so great an effect upon commerce,
+navigation, and the spread of population over the world.
+
+Equally important has been the influence of the Railway--now the
+principal means of communication in all civilized countries. This
+invention has started into full life within our own time. The
+locomotive engine had for some years been employed in the haulage of
+coals; but it was not until the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester
+Railway in 1830, that the importance of the invention came to be
+acknowledged.  The locomotive railway has since been everywhere adopted
+throughout Europe.  In America, Canada, and the Colonies, it has opened
+up the boundless resources of the soil, bringing the country nearer to
+the towns, and the towns to the country.  It has enhanced the celerity
+of time, and imparted a new series of conditions to every rank of life.
+
+The importance of steam navigation has been still more recently
+ascertained.  When it was first proposed, Sir Joseph Banks, President
+of the Royal Society, said:  "It is a pretty plan, but there is just
+one point overlooked: that the steam-engine requires a firm basis on
+which to work."  Symington, the practical mechanic, put this theory to
+the test by his successful experiments, first on Dalswinton Lake, and
+then on the Forth and Clyde Canal.  Fulton and Bell afterwards showed
+the power of steamboats in navigating the rivers of America and Britain.
+
+After various experiments, it was proposed to unite England and America
+by steam.  Dr. Lardner, however, delivered a lecture before the Royal
+Institution in 1838, "proving" that steamers could never cross the
+Atlantic, because they could not carry sufficient coal to raise steam
+enough during the voyage.  But this theory was also tested by
+experience in the same year, when the Sirius, of London, left Cork for
+New York, and made the passage in nineteen days.  Four days after the
+departure of the Sirius, the Great Western left Bristol for New York,
+and made the passage in thirteen days five hours.[1]  The problem was
+solved; and great ocean steamers have ever since passed in continuous
+streams between the shores of England and America.
+
+In an age of progress, one invention merely paves the way for another.
+The first steamers were impelled by means of paddle wheels; but these
+are now almost entirely superseded by the screw.  And this, too, is an
+invention almost of yesterday.  It was only in 1840 that the Archimedes
+was fitted as a screw yacht.
+
+A few years later, in 1845, the Great Britain, propelled by the screw,
+left Liverpool for New York, and made the voyage in fourteen days.  The
+screw is now invariably adopted in all long ocean voyages.
+
+It is curious to look back, and observe the small beginnings of
+maritime navigation.  As regards this country, though its institutions
+are old, modern England is still young.  As respects its mechanical and
+scientific achievements, it is the youngest of all countries.  Watt's
+steam engine was the beginning of our manufacturing supremacy; and
+since its adoption, inventions and discoveries in Art and Science,
+within the last hundred years, have succeeded each other with
+extraordinary rapidity.  In 1814 there was only one steam vessel in
+Scotland; while England possessed none at all.  Now, the British
+mercantile steam-ships number about 5000, with about 4 millions of
+aggregate tonnage.[2]
+
+In olden times this country possessed the materials for great things,
+as well as the men fitted to develope them into great results.  But the
+nation was slow to awake and take advantage of its opportunities.
+There was no enterprise, no commerce--no "go" in the people.  The roads
+were frightfully bad; and there was little communication between one
+part of the country and another.
+
+If anything important had to be done, we used to send for foreigners to
+come and teach us how to do it.  We sent for them to drain our fens, to
+build our piers and harbours, and even to pump our water at London
+Bridge.  Though a seafaring population lived round our coasts, we did
+not fish our own seas, but left it to the industrious Dutchmen to catch
+the fish, and supply our markets.  It was not until the year 1787 that
+the Yarmouth people began the deep-sea herring fishery; and yet these
+were the most enterprising amongst the English fishermen.
+
+English commerce also had very slender beginnings.  At the commencement
+of the fifteenth century, England was of very little account in the
+affairs of Europe.  Indeed, the history of modern England is nearly
+coincident with the accession of the Tudors to the throne.  With the
+exception of Calais and Dunkirk, her dominions on the Continent had
+been wrested from her by the French.  The country at home had been made
+desolate by the Wars of the Roses.  The population was very small, and
+had been kept down by war, pestilence, and famine.[3] The chief staple
+was wool, which was exported to Flanders in foreign ships, there to be
+manufactured into cloth.  Nearly every article of importance was
+brought from abroad; and the little commerce which existed was in the
+hands of foreigners.  The seas were swept by privateers, little better
+than pirates, who plundered without scruple every vessel, whether
+friend or foe, which fell in their way.
+
+The British navy has risen from very low beginnings.  The English fleet
+had fallen from its high estate since the reign of Edward III., who won
+a battle from the French and Flemings in 1340, with 260 ships; but his
+vessels were all of moderate size, being boats, yachts, and caravels,
+of very small tonnage.  According to the contemporary chronicles,
+Weymouth, Fowey, Sandwich, and Bristol, were then of nearly almost as
+much importance as London;[4] which latter city only furnished
+twenty-five vessels, with 662 mariners.
+
+The Royal Fleet began in the reign of Henry VII.  Only six or seven
+vessels then belonged to the King, the largest being the Grace de Dieu,
+of comparatively small tonnage.  The custom then was, to hire ships
+from the Venetians, the Genoese, the Hanse towns, and other trading
+people; and as soon as the service for which the vessels so hired was
+performed, they were dismissed.
+
+When Henry VIII. ascended the throne in 1509, he directed his attention
+to the state of the navy.  Although the insular position of England was
+calculated to stimulate the art of shipbuilding more than in most
+continental countries, our best ships long continued to be built by
+foreigners.  Henry invited from abroad, especially from Italy, where
+the art of shipbuilding had made the greatest progress, as many skilful
+artists and workmen as he could procure, either by the hope of gain, or
+the high honours and distinguished countenance which he paid them. "By
+incorporating," says Charnock, "these useful persons among his own
+subjects, he soon formed a corps sufficient to rival those states which
+had rendered themselves most distinguished by their knowledge in this
+art; so that the fame of Genoa and Venice, which had long excited the
+envy of the greater part of Europe, became suddenly transferred to the
+shores of Britain."[5]
+
+In fitting out his fleet, we find Henry disbursing large sums to
+foreigners for shipbuilding, for "harness" or armour, and for munitions
+of all sorts.  The State Papers[6] particularize the amounts paid to
+Lewez de la Fava for "harness;" to William Gurre, "bregandy-maker;" and
+to Leonard Friscobald for "almayn ryvetts."
+
+Francis de Errona, a Spaniard, supplied the gunpowder.  Among the
+foreign mechanics and artizans employed were Hans Popenruyter,
+gunfounder of Mechlin; Robert Sakfeld, Robert Skorer, Fortuno de
+Catalenago, and John Cavelcant.  On one occasion 2,797L. 19s. 4 1/2d.
+was disbursed for guns and grindstones.  This sum must be multiplied by
+about four, to give the proper present value. Popenruyter seems to have
+been the great gunfounder of the age; he supplied the principal guns
+and gun stores for the English navy, and his name occurs in every
+Ordnance account of the series, generally for sums of the largest
+amounts.
+
+Henry VIII. was the first to establish Royal dockyards, first at
+Woolwich, then at Portsmouth, and thirdly at Deptford, for the erection
+and repair of ships.  Before then, England had been principally
+dependent upon Dutchmen and Venetians, both for ships of war and
+merchantmen.  The sovereign had neither naval arsenals nor dockyards,
+nor any regular establishment of civil or naval affairs to provide
+ships of war.  Sir Edward Howard, Lord High Admiral of England, at the
+accession of Henry VIII., actually entered into a "contract" with that
+monarch to fight his enemies.
+
+This singular document is still preserved in the State Paper office.
+Even after the establishment of royal dockyards, the sovereign--as late
+as the reign of Elizabeth--entered into formal contracts with
+shipwrights for the repair and maintenance of ships, as well as for
+additions to the fleet.
+
+The King, having made his first effort at establishing a royal navy,
+sent the fleet to sea against the ships of France.  The Regent was the
+ship royal, with Sir Thomas Knivet, Master of the Horse, and Sir John
+Crew of Devonshire, as Captains.  The fleet amounted to twenty-five
+well furnished ships.  The French fleet were thirty-nine in number.
+They met in Brittany Bay, and had a fierce fight.  The Regent grappled
+with a great carack of Brest; the French, on the English boarding their
+ship, set fire to the gunpowder, and both ships were blown up, with all
+their men.  The French fleet fled, and the English kept the seas.  The
+King, hearing of the loss of the Regent, caused a great ship to be
+built, the like of which had never before been seen in England, and
+called it Harry Grace de Dieu.
+
+This ship was constructed by foreign artizans, principally by Italians,
+and was launched in 1515.  She was said to be of a thousand tons
+portage--the largest ship in England.  The vessel was four-masted, with
+two round tops on each mast, except the shortest mizen.  She had a high
+forecastle and poop, from which the crew could shoot down upon the deck
+or waist of another vessel.  The object was to have a sort of castle at
+each end of the ship.  This style of shipbuilding was doubtless
+borrowed from the Venetians, then the greatest naval power in Europe.
+The length of the masts, the height of the ship above the water's edge,
+and the ornaments and decorations, were better adapted for the
+stillness of the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas, than for the
+boisterous ocean of the northern parts of Europe.[7] The story long
+prevailed that "the Great Harry swept a dozen flocks of sheep off the
+Isle of Man with her bob-stay."  An American gentleman (N.B. Anderson,
+LL.D., Boston) informed the present author that this saying is still
+proverbial amongst the United States sailors.
+
+The same features were reproduced in merchant ships.  Most of them were
+suited for defence, to prevent the attacks of pirates, which swarmed
+the seas round the coast at that time. Shipbuilding by the natives in
+private shipyards was in a miserable condition.  Mr. Willet, in his
+memoir relative to the navy, observes: "It is said, and I believe with
+truth, that at this time (the middle of the sixteenth century) there
+was not a private builder between London Bridge and Gravesend, who
+could lay down a ship in the mould left from a Navy Board's draught,
+without applying to a tinker who lived in Knave's Acre."[8]
+
+Another ship of some note built at the instance of Henry VIII. was the
+Mary Rose, of the portage of 500 tons.  We find her in the "pond at
+Deptford" in 1515.  Seven years later, in the thirtieth year of Henry
+VIII.'s reign, she was sent to sea, with five other English ships of
+war, to protect such commerce as then existed from the depredations of
+the French and Scotch pirates. The Mary Rose was sent many years later
+(in 1544) with the English fleet to the coast of France, but returned
+with the rest of the fleet to Portsmouth without entering into any
+engagement. While laid at anchor, not far from the place where the
+Royal George afterwards went down, and the ship was under repair, her
+gun-ports being very low when she was laid over, "the shipp turned, the
+water entered, and sodainly she sanke."
+
+What was to be done?  There were no English engineers or workmen who
+could raise the ship.  Accordingly, Henry VIII. sent to Venice for
+assistance, and when the men arrived, Pietro de Andreas was dispatched
+with the Venetian marines and carpenters to raise the Mary Rose.  Sixty
+English mariners were appointed to attend upon them.  The Venetians
+were then the skilled "heads," the English were only the "hands."
+Nevertheless they failed with all their efforts; and it was not until
+the year 1836 that Mr. Dean, the engineer, succeeded in raising not
+only the Royal George, but the Mary Rose, and cleared the roadstead at
+Portsmouth of the remains of the sunken ships.
+
+When Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1558, the commerce and navigation
+of England were still of very small amount.  The population of the
+kingdom amounted to only about five millions--not much more than the
+population of London is now. The country had little commerce, and what
+it had was still mostly in the hands of foreigners.  The Hanse towns
+had their large entrepot for merchandise in Cannon Street, on the site
+of the present Cannon Street Station.  The wool was still sent abroad
+to Flanders to be fashioned into cloth, and even garden produce was
+principally imported from Holland.  Dutch, Germans, Flemings, French,
+and Venetians continued to be our principal workmen.  Our iron was
+mostly obtained from Spain and Germany.  The best arms and armour came
+from France and Italy.  Linen was imported from Flanders and Holland,
+though the best came from Rheims.  Even the coarsest dowlas, or
+sailcloth, was imported from the Low Countries.
+
+The royal ships continued to be of very small burthen, and the
+mercantile ships were still smaller.  The Queen, however, did what she
+could to improve the number and burthen of our ships. "Foreigners,"
+says Camden, "stiled her the restorer of naval glory and Queen of the
+Northern Seas."  In imitation of the Queen, opulent subjects built
+ships of force; and in course of time England no longer depended upon
+Hamburg, Dantzic, Genoa, and Venice, for her fleet in time of war.
+
+Spain was then the most potent power in Europe, and the Netherlands,
+which formed part of the dominions of Spain, was the centre of
+commercial prosperity.  Holland possessed above 800 good ships, of from
+200 to 700 tons burthen, and above 600 busses for fishing, of from 100
+to 200 tons.  Amsterdam and Antwerp were in the heyday of their
+prosperity.  Sometimes 500 great ships were to be seen lying together
+before Amsterdam;[9] whereas England at that time had not four merchant
+ships of 400 tons each!  Antwerp, however, was the most important city
+in the Low Countries.  It was no uncommon thing to see as many as 2500
+ships in the Scheldt, laden with merchandize.  Sometimes 500 ships
+would come and go from Antwerp in one day, bound to or returning from
+the distant parts of the world.  The place was immensely rich, and was
+frequented by Spaniards, Germans, Danes, English, Italians, and
+Portuguese the Spaniards being the most numerous. Camden, in his
+history of Queen Elizabeth, relates that our general trade with the
+Netherlands in 1564 amounted to twelve millions of ducats, five
+millions of which was for English cloth alone.
+
+The religious persecutions of Philip II. of Spain and of Charles IX. of
+France shortly supplied England with the population of which she stood
+in need--active, industrious, intelligent artizans.  Philip set up the
+Inquisition in Flanders, and in a few years more than 50,000 persons
+were deliberately murdered. The Duchess of Parma, writing to Philip II.
+in 1567, informed him that in a few days above 100,000 men had already
+left the country with their money and goods, and that more were
+following every day.  They fled to Germany, to Holland, and above all
+to England, which they hailed as Asylum Christi.  The emigrants settled
+in the decayed cities and towns of Canterbury, Norwich, Sandwich,
+Colchester, Maidstone, Southampton, and many other places, where they
+carried on their manufactures of woollen, linen, and silk, and
+established many new branches of industry.[10]
+
+Five years later, in 1572, the massacre of St. Bartholomew took place
+in France, during which the Roman Catholic Bishop Perefixe alleges that
+100,000 persons were put to death because of their religions opinions.
+All this persecution, carried on so near the English shores, rapidly
+increased the number of foreign fugitives into England, which was
+followed by the rapid advancement of the industrial arts in this
+country.
+
+The asylum which Queen Elizabeth gave to the persecuted foreigners
+brought down upon her the hatred of Philip II. and Charles IX.  When
+they found that they could not prevent her furnishing them with an
+asylum, they proceeded to compass her death.  She was excommunicated by
+the Pope, and Vitelli was hired to assassinate her.  Philip also
+proceeded to prepare the Sacred Armada for the subjugation of the
+English nation, and he was master of the most powerful army and navy in
+the world.
+
+Modern England was then in the throes of her birth.  She had not yet
+reached the vigour of her youth, though she was full of life and
+energy.  She was about to become the England of free thought, commerce,
+and manufactures; to plough the ocean with her navies, and to plant her
+colonies over the earth.  Up to the accession of Elizabeth, she had
+done little, but now she was about to do much.
+
+It was a period of sudden emancipation of thought, and of immense
+fertility and originality.  The poets and prose writers of the time
+united the freshness of youth with the vigour of manhood. Among these
+were Spenser, Shakespeare, Sir Philip Sidney, the Fletchers, Marlowe,
+and Ben Jonson.  Among the statesmen of Elizabeth were Burleigh,
+Leicester, Walsingham, Howard, and Sir Nicholas Bacon.  But perhaps
+greatest of all were the sailors, who, as Clarendon said, "were a
+nation by themselves;" and their leaders--Drake, Frobisher, Cavendish,
+Hawkins, Howard, Raleigh, Davis, and many more distinguished seamen.
+
+They were the representative men of their time, the creation in a great
+measure of the national spirit.  They were the offspring of long
+generations of seamen and lovers of the sea.  They could not have been
+great but for the nation which gave them birth, and imbued them with
+their worth and spirit.  The great sailors, for instance, could not
+have originated in a nation of mere landsmen.
+
+They simply took the lead in a country whose coasts were fringed with
+sailors.  Their greatness was but the result of an excellence in
+seamanship which prevailed widely around them.
+
+The age of English maritime adventure only began in the reign of
+Elizabeth.  England had then no colonies--no foreign possessions
+whatever.  The first of her extensive colonial possessions was
+established in this reign.  "Ships, colonies, and commerce" began to be
+the national motto--not that colonies make ships and commerce, but that
+ships and commerce make colonies.  Yet what cockle-shells of ships our
+pioneer navigators first sailed in!
+
+Although John Cabot or Gabota, of Bristol, originally a citizen of
+Venice, had discovered the continent of North America in 1496, in the
+reign of Henry VII., he made no settlement there, but returned to
+Bristol with his four small ships.  Columbus did not see the continent
+of America until two years later, in 1498, his first discoveries being
+the islands of the West Indies.
+
+It was not until the year 1553 that an attempt was made to discover a
+North-west passage to Cathaya or China.  Sir Hugh Willonghby was put in
+command of the expedition, which consisted of three ships,--the Bona
+Esperanza, the Bona Ventura (Captain Chancellor), and the Bona
+Confidentia (Captain Durforth),--most probably ships built by
+Venetians.  Sir Hugh reached 72 degrees of north latitude, and was
+compelled by the buffeting of the winds to take refuge with Captain
+Durforth's vessel at Arcina Keca, in Russian Lapland, where the two
+captains and the crews of these ships, seventy in number, were frozen
+to death.  In the following year some Russian fishermen found Sir John
+Willonghby sitting dead in his cabin, with his diary and other papers
+beside him.
+
+Captain Chancellor was more fortunate.  He reached Archangel in the
+White Sea, where no ship had ever been seen before.  He pointed out to
+the English the way to the whale fishery at Spitzbergen, and opened up
+a trade with the northern parts of Russia.  Two years later, in 1556,
+Stephen Burroughs sailed with one small ship, which entered the Kara
+Sea; but he was compelled by frost and ice to return to England.  The
+strait which he entered is still called "Burrough's Strait."
+
+It was not, however, until the reign of Elizabeth that great maritime
+adventures began to be made.  Navigators were not so venturous as they
+afterwards became.  Without proper methods of navigation, they were apt
+to be carried away to the south, across an ocean without limit.  In
+1565 a young captain, Martin Frobisher, came into notice.  At the age
+of twenty-five he captured in the South Seas the Flying Spirit, a
+Spanish ship laden with a rich cargo of cochineal.  Four years later,
+in 1569, he made his first attempt to discover the north-west passage
+to the Indies, being assisted by Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick. The
+ships of Frobisher were three in number, the Gabriel, of from 15 to 20
+tons; the Michael, of from 20 to 25 tons, or half the size of a modern
+fishing-boat; and a pinnace, of from 7 to 10 tons!  The aggregate of
+the crews of the three ships was only thirty-five, men and boys.  Think
+of the daring of these early navigators in attempting to pass by the
+North Pole to Cathay through snow, and storm, and ice, in such
+miserable little cockboats!  The pinnace was lost; the Michael, under
+Owen Griffith, a Welsh-man, deserted; and Martin Frobisher in the
+Gabriel went alone into the north-western sea!
+
+He entered the great bay, since called Hudson's Bay, by Frobisher's
+Strait.  He returned to England without making the discovery of the
+Passage, which long remained the problem of arctic voyagers.  Yet ten
+years later, in 1577, he made another voyage, and though he made his
+second attempt with one of Queen Elizabeth's own ships, and two barks,
+with 140 persons in all, he was as unsuccessful as before.  He brought
+home some supposed gold ore; and on the strength of the stones
+containing gold, a third expedition went out in the following year.
+After losing one of the ships, consuming the provisions, and suffering
+greatly from ice and storms, the fleet returned home one by one.  The
+supposed gold ore proved to be only glittering sand.
+
+While Frobisher was seeking El-Dorado in the North, Francis Drake was
+finding it in the South.  He was a sailor, every inch of him.
+
+"Pains, with patience in his youth," says Fuller, "knit the joints of
+his soul, and made them more solid and compact."  At an early age, when
+carrying on a coasting trade, his imagination was inflamed by the
+exploits of his protector Hawkins in the New World, and he joined him
+in his last unfortunate adventure on the Spanish Main.  He was not,
+however, discouraged by his first misfortune, but having assembled
+about him a number of seamen who believed in him, he made other
+adventures to the West Indies, and learnt the navigation of that part
+of the ocean.  In 1570, he obtained a regular commission from Queen
+Elizabeth, though he sailed his own ships, and made his own ventures.
+Every Englishman, who had the means, was at liberty to fit out his own
+ships; and with tolerable vouchers, he was able to procure a commission
+from the Court, and proceed to sea at his own risk and cost.  Thus, the
+naval enterprise and pioneering of new countries under Elizabeth, was
+almost altogether a matter of private enterprise and adventure.
+
+In 1572, the butchery of the Hugnenots took place at Paris and
+throughout France; while at the same time the murderous power of Philip
+II. reigned supreme in the Netherlands.  The sailors knew what they had
+to expect from the Spanish king in the event of his obtaining his
+threatened revenge upon England; and under their chosen chiefs they
+proceeded to make war upon him.  In the year of the massacre of St.
+Bartholomew, Drake set sail for the Spanish Main in the Pasha, of
+seventy tons, accompanied by the Swan, of twenty-five tons; the united
+crews of the vessels amounting to seventy-three men and boys.  With
+this insignificant force, Drake made great havoc amongst the Spanish
+shipping at Nombre de Dios.  He partially crossed the Isthmus of
+Darien, and obtained his first sight of the great Pacific Ocean.  He
+returned to England in August 1573, with his frail barks crammed with
+treasure.
+
+A few years later, in 1577, he made his ever-memorable expedition.
+Charnock says it was "an attempt in its nature so bold and
+unprecedented, that we should scarcely know whether to applaud it as a
+brave, or condemn it as a rash one, but for its success."  The squadron
+with which he sailed for South America consisted of five vessels, the
+largest of which, the Pelican, was only of 100 tons burthen; the next,
+the Elizabeth, was of 80; the third, the Swan, a fly-boat, was of 50;
+the Marygold bark, of 30; and the Christopher, a pinnace, of 15 tons.
+The united crews of these vessels amounted to only 164, gentlemen and
+sailors.
+
+The gentlemen went with Drake "to learn the art of navigation." After
+various adventures along the South American coast, the little fleet
+passed through the Straits of Magellan, and entered the Pacific Ocean.
+Drake took an immense amount of booty from the Spanish towns along the
+coast, and captured the royal galleon, the Cacafuego, laden with
+treasure.  After trying in vain to discover a passage home by the
+North-eastern ocean, though what is now known as Behring Straits, he
+took shelter in Port San Francisco, which he took possession of in the
+name of the Queen of England, and called New Albion.  He eventually
+crossed the Pacific for the Moluccas and Java, from which he sailed
+right across the Indian Ocean, and by the Cape of Good Hope to England,
+thus making the circumnavigation of the world. He was absent with his
+little fleet for about two years and ten months.
+
+Not less extraordinary was the voyage of Captain Cavendish, who made
+the circumnavigation of the globe at his own expense.  He set out from
+Plymouth in three small vessels on the 21st July, 1586.  One vessel was
+of 120 tons, the second of 60 tons, and the third of 40 tons--not much
+bigger than a Thames yacht.  The united crews, of officers, men, and
+boys, did not exceed 123! Cavendish sailed along the South American
+continent, and made through the Straits of Magellan, reaching the
+Pacific Ocean.  He burnt and plundered the Spanish settlements along
+the coast, captured some Spanish ships, and took by boarding the
+galleon St. Anna, with 122,000 Spanish dollars on board.  He then
+sailed across the Pacific to the Ladrone Islands, and returned home
+through the Straits of Java and the Indian Archipelago by the Cape of
+Good Hope, and reached England after an absence of two years and a
+month.
+
+The sacred and invincible Armada was now ready, Philip II. was
+determined to put down those English adventurers who had swept the
+coasts of Spain and plundered his galleons on the high seas. The
+English sailors knew that the sword of Philip was forged in the gold
+mines of South America, and that the only way to defend their country
+was to intercept the plunder on its voyage home to Spain.  But the
+sailors and their captains--Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Howard,
+Grenville, Raleigh, and the rest--could not altogether interrupt the
+enterprise of the King of Spain.  The Armada sailed, and came in sight
+of the English coast on the 20th of July, 1588.
+
+The struggle was of an extraordinary character.  On the one side was
+the most powerful naval armament that had ever put to sea. It consisted
+of six squadrons of sixty fine large ships, the smallest being of 700
+tons.  Besides these were four gigantic galleasses, each carrying fifty
+guns, four large armed galleys, fifty-six armed merchant ships, and
+twenty caravels--in all, 149 vessels.  On board were 8000 sailors,
+20,000 soldiers, and a large number of galley-slaves.  The ships
+carried provisions enough for six months' consumption; and the supply
+of ammunition was enormous.
+
+On the other side was the small English fleet under Hawkins and Drake.
+The Royal ships were only thirteen in number.  The rest were
+contributed by private enterprize, there being only thirty-eight
+vessels of all sorts and sizes, including cutters and pinnaces,
+carrying the Queen's flag.  The principal armed merchant ships were
+provided by London, Southampton, Bristol, and the other southern ports.
+Drake was followed by some privateers; Hawkins had four or five ships,
+and Howard of Effingham two.  The fleet was, however, very badly found
+in provisions and ammunition.  There was only a week's provisions on
+board, and scarcely enough ammunition for one day's hard fighting.  But
+the ships, small though they were, were in good condition.  They could
+sail, whether in pursuit or in flight, for the men who navigated them
+were thorough sailors.
+
+The success of the defence was due to tact, courage, and seamanship.
+At the first contact of the fleets, the Spanish towering galleons
+wished to close, to grapple with their contemptuous enemies, and crush
+them to death.  "Come on!" said Medina Sidonia.  Lord Howard came on
+with the Ark and three other ships, and fired with immense rapidity
+into the great floating castles.  The Sam Mateo luffed, and wanted them
+to board.  "No! not yet!"  The English tacked, returned, fired again,
+riddled the Spaniards, and shot away in the eye of the wind.  To the
+astonishment of the Spanish Admiral, the English ships approached him
+or left him just as they chose.  "The enemy pursue me," wrote the
+Spanish Admiral to the Prince of Parma; "they fire upon me most days
+from morning till nightfall, but they will not close and grapple,
+though I have given them every opportunity."  The Capitana, a galleon
+of 1200 tons, dropped behind, struck her flag to Drake, and increased
+the store of the English fleet by some tons of gunpowder.  Another
+Spanish ship surrendered, and another store of powder and shot was
+rescued for the destruction of the Armada.  And so it happened
+throughout, until the Spanish fleet was driven to wreck and ruin, and
+the remaining ships were scattered by the tempests of the north.  After
+all, Philip proved to be, what the sailors called him, only "a Colossus
+stuffed with clouts."
+
+The English sailors followed up their advantage.  They went on
+"singeing the Ring of Spain's beard."  Private adventurers fitted up a
+fleet under the command of Drake, and invaded the mainland of Spain.
+They took the lower part of the town of Corunna; sailed to the Tagus,
+and captured a fleet of ships laden with wheat and warlike stores for a
+new Armada.  They next sacked Vigo, and returned to England with 150
+pieces of cannon and a rich booty.  The Earl of Cumberland sailed to
+the West Indies on a private adventure, and captured more Spanish
+prizes.  In 1590, ten English merchantmen, returning from the Levant,
+attacked twelve Spanish galleons, and after six hours' contest, put
+them to flight with great loss.  In the following year, three merchant
+ships set sail for the East Indies, and in the course of their voyage
+took several Portuguese vessels.
+
+A powerful Spanish fleet still kept the seas, and in 1591 they
+conquered the noble Sir Richard Grenville at the Azores--fifteen great
+Spanish galleons against one Queen's ship, the Revenge.  In 1593, two
+of the Queen's ships, accompanied by a number of merchant ships, sailed
+for the West Indies, under Burroughs, Frobisher, and Cross, and amongst
+their other captures they took the greatest of all the East India
+caracks, a vessel of 1600 tons, 700 men, and 36 brass cannon, laden
+with a magnificent cargo.  She was taken to Dartmouth, and surprised
+all who saw her, being the largest ship that had ever been seen in
+England. In 1594, Captain James Lancaster set sail with three ships
+upon a voyage of adventure.  He was joined by some Dutch and French
+privateers.  The result was, that they captured thirty-nine of the
+Spanish ships.  Sir Amias Preston, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Francis
+Drake, also continued their action upon the seas.  Lord Admiral Howard
+and the Earl of Essex made their famous attack upon Cadiz for the
+purpose of destroying the new Armada; they demolished all the forts;
+sank eleven of the King of Spain's best ships, forty-four merchant
+ships, and brought home much booty.
+
+Nor was maritime discovery neglected.  The planting of new colonies
+began, for the English people had already begun to swarm.  In 1578, Sir
+Humphrey Gilbert planted Newfoundland for the Queen.  In 1584, Sir
+Waiter Raleigh planted the first settlement in Virginia.  Nor was the
+North-west passage neglected; for in 1580, Captain Pett (a name famous
+on the Thames) set sail from Harwich in the George, accompanied by
+Captain Jackman in the William.  They reached the ice in the North Sea,
+but were compelled to return without effecting their purpose! Will it
+be believed that the George was only of 40 tons, and that its crew
+consisted of nine men and a boy; and that the William was of 20 tons,
+with five men and a boy?  The wonder is that these little vessels could
+resist the terrible icefields, and return to England again with their
+hardy crews.
+
+Then in 1585, another of our adventurous sailors, John Davis, of
+Sandridge on the Dart, set sail with two barks, the Sunshine and the
+Moonshine, of 50 and 35 tons respectively, and discovered in the far
+North-west the Strait which now bears his name.  He was driven back by
+the ice; but, undeterred by his failure, he set out on a second, and
+then on a third voyage of discovery in the two following years.  But he
+never succeeded in discovering the North-west passage.  It all reads
+like a mystery--these repeated, determined, and energetic attempts to
+discover a new way of reaching the fabled region of Cathay.
+
+In these early times the Dutch were not unworthy rivals of the English.
+After they had succeeded in throwing off the Spanish yoke and achieved
+their independence, they became one of the most formidable of maritime
+powers.  In the course of another century Holland possessed more
+colonies, and had a larger share of the carrying trade of the world
+than Britain.  It was natural therefore that the Dutch republic should
+take an interest in the North-west passage; and the Dutch sailors, by
+their enterprise and bravery, were among the first to point the way to
+Arctic discovery.  Barents and Behring, above all others, proved the
+courage and determination of their heroic ancestors.
+
+The romance of the East India Company begins with an advertisement in
+the London Gazette of 1599, towards the end of the reign of Queen
+Elizabeth.  As with all other enterprises of the nation, it was
+established by private means.  The Company was started with a capital
+of 72,000L. in 50L. shares.  The adventurers bought four vessels of an
+average burthen of 350 tons.  These were stocked with provisions,
+"Norwich stuffs," and other merchandise.  The tiny fleet sailed from
+Billingsgate on the 13th February, 1601.  It went by the Cape of Good
+Hope to the East Indies, under the command of Captain James Lancaster.
+It took no less than sixteen months to reach the Indian Archipelago.
+
+The little fleet reached Acheen in June, 1602.  The king of the
+territory received the visitors with courtesy, and exchanged spices
+with them freely.  The four vessels sailed homeward, taking possession
+of the island of St. Helena on their way back; having been absent
+exactly thirty-one months.  The profits of the first voyage proved to
+be about one hundred per cent.  Such was the origin of the great East
+India Company--now expanded into an empire, and containing about two
+hundred millions of people.
+
+To return to the shipping and the mercantile marine of the time of
+Queen Elizabeth.  The number of Royal ships was only thirteen, the rest
+of the navy consisting of merchant ships, which were hired and
+discharged when their purpose was served.[11] According to Wheeler, at
+the accession of the Queen, there were not more than four ships
+belonging to the river Thames, excepting those of the Royal Navy, which
+were over 120 tons in burthen;[12] and after forty years, the whole of
+the merchant ships of England, over 100 tons, amounted to 135; only a
+few of these being of 500 tons.  In 1588, the number had increased to
+150, "of about 150 tons one with another, employed in trading voyages
+to all parts and countries." The principal shipping which frequented
+the English ports still continued to be foreign--Italian, Flemish, and
+German.
+
+Liverpool, now possessing the largest shipping tonnage in the world,
+had not yet come into existence.  It was little better than a fishing
+village.  The people of the place presented a petition to the Queen,
+praying her to remit a subsidy which had been imposed upon them, and
+speaking of their native place as "Her Majesty's poor decayed town of
+Liverpool."  In 1565, seven years after Queen Elizabeth began to reign,
+the number of vessels belonging to Liverpool was only twelve.  The
+largest was of forty tons burthen, with twelve men; and the smallest
+was a boat of six tons, with three men.[13]
+
+James I., on his accession to the throne of England in 1603, called in
+all the ships of war, as well as the numerous privateers which had been
+employed during the previous reign in waging war against the commerce
+of Spain, and declared himself to be at peace with all the world.
+James was as peaceful as a Quaker.  He was not a fighting King;--and,
+partly on this account, he was not popular.  He encouraged manufactures
+in wool, silk, and tapestry.  He gave every encouragement to the
+mercantile and colonizing adventurers to plant and improve the rising
+settlements of Virginia, New England, and Newfoundland. He also
+promoted the trade to the East Indies.  Attempts continued to be made,
+by Hudson, Poole, Button, Hall, Baffin, and other courageous seamen, to
+discover the North-West passage, but always without effect.
+
+The shores of England being still much infested by Algerine and other
+pirates,[14] King James found it necessary to maintain the ships of war
+in order to protect navigation and commerce.  He nearly doubled the
+ships of the Royal Navy, and increased the number from thirteen to
+twenty-four.  Their size, however, continued small, both Royal and
+merchant ships.  Sir William Monson says, that at the accession of
+James I. there were not above four merchant ships in England of 400
+tons burthen.[15] The East Indian merchants were the first to increase
+the size. In 1609, encouraged by their Charter, they built the Trade's
+Increase, of 1100 tons burthen, the largest merchant ship that had ever
+been built in England.  As it was necessary that, the crew of the ship
+should be able to beat off the pirates, she was fully armed.  The
+additional ships of war were also of heavier burthen.  In the same
+year, the Prince, of 1400 tons burthen, was launched; she carried
+sixty-four cannon, and was superior to any ship of the kind hitherto
+seen in England.
+
+And now we arrive at the subject of this memoir.  The Petts were the
+principal ship-builders of the time.  They had long been known upon the
+Thames, and had held posts in the Royal Dockyards since the reign of
+Henry VII.  They were gallant sailors, too; one of them, as already
+mentioned, having made an adventurous voyage to the Arctic Ocean in his
+little bark, the George, of only 40 tons burthen.  Phineas Pett was the
+first of the great ship-builders.  His father, Peter Pett, was one of
+the Queen's master shipwrights.  Besides being a ship-builder, he was
+also a poet, being the author of a poetical piece entitled, "Time's
+Journey to seek his daughter Truth,"[16] a very respectable
+performance.  Indeed, poetry is by no means incompatible with
+ship-building--the late Chief Constructor of the Navy being, perhaps,
+as proud of his poetry as of his ships.  Pett's poem was dedicated to
+the Lord High Admiral, Howard, Earl of Nottingham; and this may
+possibly have been the reason of the singular interest which he
+afterwards took in Phineas Pett, the poet shipwright's son.
+
+Phineas Pett was the second son of his father.  He was born at
+Deptford, or "Deptford Strond," as the place used to be called, on the
+1st of November, 1570.  At nine years old, he was sent to the
+free-school at Rochester, and remained there for four years. Not
+profiting much by his education there, his father removed him to a
+private school at Greenwich, kept by a Mr. Adams.  Here he made so much
+progress, that in three years time he was ready for Cambridge.  He was
+accordingly sent to that University at Shrovetide, 1586, and was
+entered at Emmanuel College, under charge of Mr. Charles Chadwick, the
+president.  His father allowed him 20L. per annum, besides books,
+apparel, and other necessaries.
+
+Phineas remained at Cambridge for three years.  He was obliged to quit
+the University by the death of his "reverend, ever-loving father,"
+whose loss, he says, "proved afterwards my utter undoing almost, had
+not God been more merciful to me."  His mother married again, "a most
+wicked husband," says Pett in his autobiography,[17] "one, Mr. Thomas
+Nunn, a minister," but of what denomination he does not state.  His
+mother's imprudence wholly deprived him of his maintenance, and having
+no hopes of preferment from his friends, he necessarily abandoned his
+University career, "presently after Christmas, 1590."
+
+Early in the following year, he was persuaded by his mother to
+apprentice himself to Mr. Richard Chapman, of Deptford Strond, one of
+the Queen's Master shipwrights, whom his late father had "bred up from
+a child to that profession."  He was allowed 2L. 6s. 8d. per annum,
+with which he had to provide himself with tools and apparel.  Pett
+spent two years in this man's service to very little purpose; Chapman
+then died, and the apprentice was dismissed.  Pett applied to his elder
+brother Joseph, who would not help him, although he had succeeded to
+his father's post in the Royal Dockyard.  He was accordingly
+"constrained to ship himself to sea upon a desperate voyage in a
+man-of-war."  He accepted the humble place of carpenter's mate on board
+the galleon Constance, of London.  Pett's younger brother, Peter, then
+living at Wapping, gave him lodging, meat, and drink, until the ship
+was ready to sail.  But he had no money to buy clothes. Fortunately one
+William King, a yoeman in Essex, taking pity upon the unfortunate young
+man, lent him 3L. for that purpose; which Pett afterwards repaid.
+
+The Constance was of only 200 tons burden.  She set sail for the South
+a few days before Christmas, 1592.  There is no doubt that she was
+bound upon a piratical adventure.  Piracy was not thought dishonourable
+in those days.  Four years had elapsed since the Armada had approached
+the English coast; and now the English and Dutch ships were scouring
+the seas in search of Spanish galleons.
+
+Whoever had the means of furnishing a ship, and could find a plucky
+captain to command her, sent her out as a privateer.  Even the
+Companies of the City of London clubbed their means together for the
+purpose of sending out Sir Waiter Raleigh to capture Spanish ships, and
+afterwards to divide the plunder; as any one may see on referring to
+the documents of the London Corporation.[18]
+
+The adventure in which Pett was concerned did not prove very fortunate.
+He was absent for about twenty months on the coasts of Spain and
+Barbary, and in the Levant, enduring much misery for want of victuals
+and apparel, and "without taking any purchase of any value."  The
+Constance returned to the Irish coast, "extreme poorly."  The vessel
+entered Cork harbour, and then Pett, thoroughly disgusted with
+privateering life, took leave of both ship and voyage.  With much
+difficulty, he made his way across the country to Waterford, from
+whence he took ship for London. He arrived there three days before
+Christmas, 1594, in a beggarly condition, and made his way to his
+brother Peter's house at Wapping, who again kindly entertained him.
+The elder brother Joseph received him more coldly, though he lent him
+forty shillings to find himself in clothes.  At that time, the fleet
+was ordered to be got ready for the last expedition of Drake and
+Hawkins to the West Indies.  The Defiance was sent into Woolwich dock
+to be sheathed; and as Joseph Pett was in charge of the job, he allowed
+his brother to be employed as a carpenter.
+
+In the following year, Phineas succeeded in attracting the notice of
+Matthew Baker, who was commissioned to rebuild Her Majesty's Triumph.
+Baker employed Pett as an ordinary workman; but he had scarcely begun
+the job before Baker was ordered to proceed with the building of a
+great new ship at Deptford, called the Repulse.
+
+Phineas wished to follow the progress of the Triumph, but finding his
+brother Joseph unwilling to retain him in his employment, he followed
+Baker to Deptford, and continued to work at the Repulse until she was
+finished, launched, and set sail on her voyage, at the end of April,
+1596.  This was the leading ship of the squadron which set sail for
+Cadiz, under the command of the Earl of Essex and the Lord Admiral
+Howard, and which did so much damage to the forts and shipping of
+Philip II. of Spain.
+
+During the winter months, while the work was in progress, Pett spent
+the leisure of his evenings in perfecting himself in learning,
+especially in drawing, cyphering, and mathematics, for the purpose, as
+he says, of attaining the knowledge of his profession.  His master, Mr.
+Baker, gave him every encouragement, and from his assistance, he adds,
+"I must acknowledge I received my greatest lights."  The Lord Admiral
+was often present at Baker's house.  Pett was importuned to set sail
+with the ship when finished, but he preferred remaining at home.  The
+principal reason, no doubt, that restrained him at this moment from
+seeking the patronage of the great, was the care of his two
+sisters,[19] who, having fled from the house of their barbarous
+stepfather, could find no refuge but in that of their brother Phineas.
+Joseph refused to receive them, and Peter of Wapping was perhaps less
+able than willing to do so.
+
+In April, 1597, Pett had the advantage of being introduced to Howard,
+Earl of Nottingham, then Lord High Admiral of England. This, he says,
+was the first beginning of his rising.  Two years later, Howard
+recommended him for employment in purveying plank and timber in Norfolk
+and Suffolk for shipbuilding purposes. Pett accomplished his business
+satisfactorily, though he had some malicious enemies to contend
+against.  In his leisure, he began to prepare models of ships, which he
+rigged and finished complete.  He also proceeded with the study of
+mathematics.  The beginning of the year 1600 found Pett once more out
+of employment; and during his enforced idleness, which continued for
+six months, he seriously contemplated abandoning his profession and
+attempting to gain "an honest and convenient maintenance" by joining a
+friend in purchasing a caravel (a small vessel), and navigating it
+himself.
+
+He was, however, prevented from undertaking this enterprise by a
+message which he received from the Court, then stationed at Greenwich.
+The Lord High Admiral desired to see him; and after many civil
+compliments, he offered him the post of keeper of the plankyard at
+Chatham.  Pett was only too glad to accept this offer, though the
+salary was small.  He shipped his furniture on board a hoy of Rainham,
+and accompanied it down the Thames to the junction with the Medway.
+There he escaped a great danger--one of the sea perils of the time.
+The mouths of navigable rivers were still infested with pirates; and as
+the hoy containing Pett approached the Nore about three o'clock in the
+morning, and while still dark, she came upon a Dunkirk picaroon, full
+of men. Fortunately the pirate was at anchor; she weighed and gave
+chase, and had not the hoy set full sail, and been impelled up the
+Swale by a fresh wind, Pett would have been taken prisoner, with all
+his furniture.[20]
+
+Arrived at Chatham, Pett met his brother Joseph, became reconciled to
+him, and ever after they lived together as loving brethren.  At his
+brother's suggestion, Pett took a lease of the Manor House, and settled
+there with his sisters.  He was now in the direct way to preferment.
+Early in the following year (March, 1601) he succeeded to the place of
+assistant to the principal master shipwright at Chatham, and undertook
+the repairs of Her Majesty's ship The Lion's Whelp, and in the next
+year he new-built the Moon enlarging her both in length and breadth.
+
+At the accession of James I. in 1603, Pett was commanded by the Lord
+High Admiral with all possible speed to build a little vessel for the
+young Prince Henry, eldest son of His Majesty.  It was to be a sort of
+copy of the Ark Royal, which was the flagship of the Lord High Admiral
+when he defeated the Spanish Armada. Pett proceeded to accomplish the
+order with all dispatch.  The little ship was in length by the keel 28
+feet, in breadth 12 feet, and very curiously garnished within and
+without with painting and carving.  After working by torch and candle
+light, night and day, the ship was launched, and set sail for the
+Thames, with the noise of drums, trumpets, and cannon, at the beginning
+of March, 1604.  After passing through a great storm at the Nore, the
+vessel reached the Tower, where the King and the young Prince inspected
+her with delight.  She was christened Disdain by the Lord High Admiral,
+and Pett was appointed captain of the ship.
+
+After his return to Chatham, Pett, at his own charge, built a small
+ship at Gillingham, of 300 tons, which he launched in the same year,
+and named the Resistance.  The ship was scarcely out of hand, when Pett
+was ordered to Woolwich, to prepare the Bear and other vessels for
+conveying his patron, the Lord High Admiral, as an Ambassador
+Extraordinary to Spain, for the purpose of concluding peace, after a
+strife of more than forty years. The Resistance was hired by the
+Government as a transport, and Pett was put in command.  He seems to
+have been married at this time, as he mentions in his memoir that he
+parted with his wife and children at Chatham on the 24th of March,
+1605, and that he sailed from Queenborough on Easter Sunday.
+
+During the voyage to Lisbon the Resistance became separated from the
+Ambassador's squadron, and took refuge in Corunna.  She then set sail
+for Lisbon, which she reached on the 24th of April; and afterwards for
+St. Lucar, on the Guadalquiver, near Seville, which she reached on the
+11th of May following.  After revisiting Corunna, "according to
+instructions," on the homeward voyage, Pett directed his course for
+England, and reached Rye on the 26th of June, "amidst much rain,
+thunder, and lightning."  In the course of the same year, his brother
+Joseph died, and Phineas succeeded to his post as master shipbuilder at
+Chatham.  He was permitted, in conjunction with one Henry Farvey and
+three others, to receive the usual reward of 5s. per ton for building
+five new merchant ships,[21] most probably for East Indian commerce,
+now assuming large dimensions.  He was despatched by the Government to
+Bearwood, in Hampshire, to make a selection of timber from the estate
+of the Earl of Worcester for the use of the navy, and on presenting his
+report 3000 tons were purchased.  What with his building of ships, his
+attendance on the Lord Admiral to Spain, and his selection of timber
+for the Government, his hands seem to have been kept very full during
+the whole of 1605.
+
+In July, 1606, Pett received private instructions from the Lord High
+Admiral to have all the King's ships "put into comely readiness" for
+the reception of the King of Denmark, who was expected on a Royal
+visit.  "Wherein," he says, "I strove extraordinarily to express my
+service for the honour of the kingdom; but by reason the time limited
+was short, and the business great, we laboured night and day to effect
+it, which accordingly was done, to the great honour of our sovereign
+king and master, and no less admiration of all strangers that were
+eye-witnesses to the same."  The reception took place on the 10th of
+August, 1606.
+
+Shortly after the departure of His Majesty of Denmark, four of the
+Royal ships--the Ark, Victory, Golden Lion, and Swiftsure--were ordered
+to be dry-docked; the two last mentioned at Deptford, under charge of
+Matthew Baker; and the two former at Woolwich, under that of Pett.  For
+greater convenience, Pett removed his family to Woolwich.  After being
+elected and sworn Master of the Company of Shipwrights, he refers in
+his manuscript, for the first time, to his magnificent and original
+design of the Prince Royal.[22]
+
+"After settling at Woolwich," he says, "I began a curious model for the
+prince my master, most part whereof I wrought with my own hands."
+After finishing the model, he exhibited it to the Lord High Admiral,
+and, after receiving his approval and commands, he presented it to the
+young prince at Richmond.  "His Majesty (who was present) was
+exceedingly delighted with the sight of the model, and passed some time
+in questioning the divers material things concerning it, and demanded
+whether I could build the great ship in all parts like the same; for I
+will, says His Majesty, compare them together when she shall be
+finished.  Then the Lord Admiral commanded me to tell His Majesty the
+story of the Three Ravens[23] I had seen at Lisbon, in St. Vincent's
+Church; which I did as well as I could, with my best expressions,
+though somewhat daunted at first at His Majesty's presence, having
+never before spoken before any King."
+
+Before, however, he could accomplish his purpose, Pett was overtaken by
+misfortunes.  His enemies, very likely seeing with spite the favour
+with which he had been received by men in high position, stirred up an
+agitation against him.  There may, and there very probably was, a great
+deal of jobbery going on in the dockyards.  It was difficult, under the
+system which prevailed, to have any proper check upon the expenditure
+for the repair and construction of ships.  At all events, a commission
+was appointed for the purpose of inquiring into the abuses and
+misdemeanors of those in office; and Pett's enemies took care that his
+past proceedings should be thoroughly overhauled,--together with those
+of Sir Robert Mansell, then Treasurer to the Navy; Sir John Trevor,
+surveyor; Sir Henry Palmer, controller; Sir Thomas Bluther, victualler;
+and many others.
+
+While the commission was still sitting and holding what Pett calls
+their "malicious proceedings," he was able to lay the keel of his new
+great ship upon the stocks in the dock at Woolwich on the 20th of
+October, 1608.  He had a clear conscience, for his hands were clean.
+He went on vigorously with his work, though he knew that the
+inquisition against him was at its full height. His enemies reported
+that he was "no artist, and that he was altogether insufficient to
+perform such a service" as that of building his great ship.
+Nevertheless, he persevered, believing in the goodness of his cause.
+Eventually, he was enabled to turn the tables upon his accusers, and to
+completely justify himself in all his transactions with the king, the
+Lord Admiral, and the public officers, who were privy to all his
+transactions.  Indeed, the result of the enquiry was not only to cause
+a great trouble and expense to all the persons accused, but, as Pett
+says in his Memoir, "the Government itself of that royal office was so
+shaken and disjoined as brought almost ruin upon the whole Navy, and a
+far greater charge to his Majesty in his yearly expense than ever was
+known before."[24]
+
+In the midst of his troubles and anxieties, Pett was unexpectedly
+cheered with the presence of his "Master" Prince Henry, who specially
+travelled out of his way from Essex to visit him at Woolwich, to see
+with his own eyes what progress he was making with the great ship.
+After viewing the dry dock, which had been constructed by Pett, and was
+one of the first, if not the very first in England,--his Highness
+partook of a banquet which the shipbuilder had hastily prepared for him
+in his temporary lodgings.
+
+One of the circumstances which troubled Pett so much at this time, was
+the strenuous opposition of the other shipbuilders to his plans of the
+great ship.  There never had been such a frightful innovation.  The
+model was all wrong.  The lines were detestable.  The man who planned
+the whole thing was a fool, a "cozener" of the king, and the ship,
+suppose it to be made, was "unfit for any other use but a dung-boat!"
+This attack upon his professional character weighed very heavily upon
+his mind.
+
+He determined to put his case in a staightforward manner before the
+Lord High Admiral.  He set down in writing in the briefest manner
+everything that he had done, and the plots that had been hatched
+against him; and beseeched his lordship, for the honour of the State,
+and the reputation of his office, to cause the entire matter to be
+thoroughly investigated "by judicious and impartial persons."  After a
+conference with Pett, and an interview with his Majesty,  the Lord High
+Admiral was authorised by the latter to invite the Earls of Worcester
+and Suffolk to attend with him at Woolwich, and bring all the accusers
+of Pett's design of the great ship before them for the purpose of
+examination, and to report to him as to the actual state of affairs.
+Meanwhile Pett's enemies had been equally busy.  They obtained a
+private warrant from the Earl of Northampton[25] to survey the work;
+"which being done," says Pett, "upon return of the insufficiency of the
+same under their hands, and confirmation by oath, it was resolved
+amongst them I should be turned out, and for ever disgraced."
+
+But the lords appointed by the King now interfered between Pett and his
+adversaries.  They first inspected the ship, and made a diligent survey
+of the form and manner of the work and the goodness of the materials,
+and then called all the accusers before them to hear their allegations.
+They were examined separately.  First, Baker the master shipbuilder was
+called.  He objected to the size of the ship, to the length, breadth,
+depth, draught of water, height of jack, rake before and aft, breadth
+of the floor, scantling of the timber, and so on.  Then another of the
+objectors was called; and his evidence was so clearly in contradiction
+to that which had already been given, that either one or both must be
+wrong.  The principal objector, Captain Waymouth, next gave his
+evidence; but he was able to say nothing to any purpose, except giving
+their lordships "a long, tedious discourse of proportions, measures,
+lines, and an infinite rabble of idle and unprofitable speeches, clean
+from the matter."
+
+The result was that their lordships reported favourably of the design
+of the ship, and the progress which had already been made.
+
+The Earl of Nottingham interposed his influence; and the King himself,
+accompanied by the young Prince, went down to Woolwich, and made a
+personal examination.[26]  A great many witnesses were again examined,
+twenty-four on one side, and twenty-seven on the other.  The King then
+carefully examined the ship himself:  "the planks, the tree-nails, the
+workmanship, and the cross-grained timber."  "The cross-grain," he
+concluded, "was in the men and not in the timber."  After all the
+measurements had been made and found correct, "his Majesty," says Pett,
+"with a loud voice commanded the measurers to declare publicly the very
+truth; which when they had delivered clearly on our side, all the whole
+multitude heaved up their hats, and gave a great and loud shout and
+acclamation.  And then the Prince, his Highness, called with a high
+voice in these words:  'Where be now these perjured fellows that dare
+thus abuse his Majesty with these false accusations?  Do they not
+worthily deserve hanging?"'
+
+Thus Pett triumphed over all his enemies, and was allowed to finish the
+great ship in his own way.  By the middle of September 1610, the vessel
+was ready to be "strucken down upon her ways"; and a dozen of the
+choice master carpenters of his Majesty's navy came from Chatham to
+assist in launching her.  The ship was decorated, gilded, draped, and
+garlanded; and on the 24th the King, the Queen, and the Royal family
+came from the palace at Theobald's to witness the great sight.
+Unfortunately, the day proved very rough; and it was little better than
+a neap tide. The ship started very well, but the wind "overblew the
+tide"; she caught in the dock-gates, and settled hard upon the ground,
+so that there was no possibility of launching her that day.
+
+This was a great disappointment.  The King retired to the palace at
+Greenwich, though the Prince lingered behind.  When he left, he
+promised to return by midnight, after which it was proposed to make
+another effort to set the ship afloat.  When the time arrived, the
+Prince again made his appearance, and joined the Lord High Admiral, and
+the principal naval officials.  It was bright moonshine.  After
+midnight the rain began to fall, and the wind to blow from the
+southwest.  But about two o'clock, an hour before high water, the word
+was given to set all taut, and the ship went away without any straining
+of screws and tackles, till she came clear afloat into the midst of the
+Thames.  The Prince was aboard, and amidst the blast of trumpets and
+expressions of joy, he performed the ceremony of drinking from the
+great standing cup, and throwing the rest of the wine towards the
+half-deck, and christening the ship by the name of the Prince Royal.[27]
+
+The dimensions of the ship may be briefly described.  Her keel was 114
+feet long, and her cross-beam 44 feet.  She was of 1400 tons burthen,
+and carried 64 pieces of great ordnance.  She was the largest ship that
+had yet been constructed in England.
+
+The Prince Royal was, at the time she was built, considered one of the
+most wonderful efforts of human genius.  Mr. Charnock, in his 'Treatise
+on Marine Architecture,' speaks of her as abounding in striking
+peculiarities.  Previous to the construction of this ship, vessels were
+built in the style of the Venetian galley, which although well adapted
+for the quiet Mediterranean, were not suited for the stormy northern
+ocean.  The fighting ships also of the time of Henry VIII. and
+Elizabeth were too full of "top-hamper" for modern navigation.  They
+were oppressed by high forecastles and poops.  Pett struck out entirely
+new ideas in the build and lines of his new ship; and the course which
+he adopted had its effect upon all future marine structures.  The ship
+was more handy, more wieldy, and more convenient.  She was
+unquestionably the first effort of English ingenuity in the direction
+of manageableness and simplicity.  "The vessel in question," says
+Charnock, "may be considered the parent of the class of shipping which
+continues in practice even to the present moment."
+
+It is scarcely necessary to pursue in detail the further history of
+Phineas Pett.  We may briefly mention the principal points. In 1612,
+the Prince Royal was appointed to convey the Princess Elizabeth and her
+husband, The Palsgrave, to the Continent.  Pett was on board the ship,
+and found that "it wrought exceedingly well, and was so yare of conduct
+that a foot of helm would steer her."  While at Flushing, "such a
+multitude of people, men, women, and children, came from all places in
+Holland to see the ship, that we could scarce have room to go up and
+down till very night."
+
+About the 27th of March, 1616, Pett bargained with Sir Waiter Raleigh
+to build a vessel of 500 tons,[28] and received 500L. from him on
+account.  The King, through the interposition of the Lord Admiral,
+allowed Pett to lay her keel on the galley dock at Woolwich.  In the
+same year he was commissioned by the Lord Zouche, now Lord Warden of
+the Cinque Ports, to construct a pinnace of 40 tons, in respect of
+which Pett remarks, "towards the whole of the hull of the pinnace, and
+all her rigging, I received only 100L. from the Lord Zouche, the rest
+Sir Henry Mainwaring (half-brother to Raleigh) cunningly received on my
+behalf, without my knowledge, which I never got from him but by
+piecemeal, so that by the bargain I was loser 100L. at least."
+
+Pett fared much worse at the hands of Raleigh himself.  His great ship,
+the Destiny, was finished and launched in December, 1616. "I delivered
+her to him," says Pett, "on float, in good order and fashion; by which
+business I lost 700L., and could never get any recompense at all for
+it; Sir Walter going to sea and leaving me unsatisfied."[29] Nor was
+this the only loss that Pett met with this year.  The King, he states,
+"bestowed upon me for the supply of my present relief the making of a
+knight-baronet," which authority Pett passed to a recusant, one Francis
+Ratcliffe, for 700L.; but that worthy defrauded him, so that he lost
+30L. by the bargain.
+
+Next year, Pett was despatched by the Government to the New Forest in
+Hampshire, "where," he says, "one Sir Giles Mompesson[30] had made a
+vast waste in the spoil of his Majesty's timber, to redress which I was
+employed thither, to make choice out of the number of trees he had
+felled of all such timber as was useful for shipping, in which business
+I spent a great deal of time, and brought myself into a great deal of
+trouble."  About this period, poor Pett's wife and two of his children
+lay for some time at death's door.  Then more enquiries took place into
+the abuses of the dockyards, in which it was sought to implicate Pett.
+During the next three years (1618-20) he worked under the immediate
+orders of the Commissioners in the New Dock at Chatham.
+
+In 1620, Pett's friend Sir Robert Mansell was appointed General of the
+Fleet destined to chastise the Algerine pirates, who still continued
+their depredations on the shipping in the Channel, and the King
+thereupon commissioned Pett to build with all dispatch two pinnaces, of
+120 and 80 tons respectively.  "I was myself," he says, "to serve as
+Captain in the voyage"--being glad, no doubt, to escape from his
+tormentors.  The two pinnaces were built at Ratcliffe, and were
+launched on the 16th and 18th of October, 1620.  On the 30th, Pett
+sailed with the fleet, and after driving the pirates out of the
+Channel, he returned to port after an absence of eleven months.
+
+His enemies had taken advantage of his absence from England to get an
+order for the survey of the Prince Royal, his masterpiece; the result
+of which was, he says, that "they maliciously certified the ship to be
+unserviceable, and not fit to continue--that what charges should be
+bestowed upon her would be lost."  Nevertheless, the Prince Royal was
+docked, and fitted for a voyage to Spain.  She was sent thither with
+Charles Prince of Wales and the Duke of Buckingham, the former going in
+search of a Spanish wife.  Pett, the builder of the ship, was commanded
+to accompany the young Prince and the Duke.
+
+The expedition sailed on the 24th of August, 1623, and returned on the
+14th of October.  Pett was entertained on board the Prince Royal, and
+rendered occasional services to the officers in command, though nothing
+of importance occurred during the voyage.
+
+The Prince of Wales presented him with a valuable gold chain as a
+reward for his attendance.  In 1625, Pett, after rendering many
+important services to the Admiralty, was ordered again to prepare the
+Prince Royal for sea.  She was to bring over the Prince of Wales's
+bride from France.  While the preparations were making for the voyage,
+news reached Chatham of the death of King James. Pett was afterwards
+commanded to go forward with the work of preparing the Prince Royal, as
+well as the whole fleet, which was intended to escort the French
+Princess, or rather the Queen, to England.  The expedition took place
+in May, and the young Queen landed at Dover on the 12th of that month.
+
+Pett continued to be employed in building and repairing ships, as well
+as in preparing new designs, which he submitted to the King and the
+Commissioners of the Navy.  In 1626, he was appointed a joint
+commissioner, with the Lord High Admiral, the Lord Treasurer
+Marlborough, and others, "to enquire into certain alleged abuses of the
+Navy, and to view the state thereof, and also the stores thereof,"
+clearly showing that he was regaining his old position.  He was also
+engaged in determining the best mode of measuring the tonnage of
+ships.[31] Four years later he was again appointed a commissioner for
+making "a general survey of the whole navy at Chatham."  For this and
+his other services the King promoted Pett to be a principal officer of
+the Navy, with a fee of 200L. per annum.  His patent was sealed on the
+16th of January, 1631.  In the same year the King visited Woolwich to
+witness the launching of the Vanguard, which Pett had built; and his
+Majesty honoured the shipwright by participating in a banquet at his
+lodgings.
+
+From this period to the year 1637, Pett records nothing of particular
+importance in his autobiography.  He was chiefly occupied in aiding his
+son Peter--who was rapidly increasing his fame as a shipwright--in
+repairing and building first-class ships of war.  As Pett had, on an
+early occasion in his life, prepared a miniature ship for Prince Henry,
+eldest son of James I., he now proceeded to prepare a similar model for
+the Prince of Wales, the King's eldest son, afterwards Charles II.
+This model was presented to the Prince at St. James's, "who entertained
+it with great joy, being purposely made to disport himself withal."  On
+the next visit of his Majesty to Woolwich, he inspected the progress
+made with the Leopard, a sloop-of-war built by Peter Pett.  While in
+the hold of the vessel, the King called Phineas to one side, and told
+him of his resolution to have a great new ship built, and that Phineas
+must be the builder.  This great new ship was The Sovereign of the
+Seas, afterwards built by Phineas and Peter Pett.  Some say that the
+model was prepared by the latter; but Phineas says that it was prepared
+by himself, and finished by the 29th of October, 1634.  As a
+compensation for his services, his Majesty renewed his pension of 40L.
+(which had been previously stopped), with orders for all the arrears
+due upon it to be paid.
+
+To provide the necessary timber for the new ship, Phineas and his son
+went down into the North to survey the forests.  They went first by
+water to Whitby; from thence they proceeded on horseback to Gisborough
+and baited; then to Stockton, where they found but poor entertainment,
+though they lodged with the Mayor, whose house "was only a mean
+thatched cottage!"  Middlesborough and the great iron district of the
+North had not yet come into existence.
+
+Newcastle, already of some importance, was the principal scene of their
+labours.  The timber for the new ship was found in Chapley Wood and
+Bracepeth Park.  The gentry did all they could to facilitate the object
+of Pett.  On his journey homewards (July, 1635), he took Cambridge on
+his way, where, says he, "I lodged at the Falcon, and visited Emmanuel
+College, where I had been a scholar in my youth."
+
+The Sovereign of the Seas was launched on the 12th of October, 1637,
+having been about two years in building.  Evelyn in his diary says of
+the ship (19th July, 1641):--"We rode to Rochester and Chatham to see
+the Soveraigne, a monstrous vessel so called, being for burthen,
+defence, and ornament, the richest that ever spread cloth before the
+wind.  She carried 100 brass cannon, and was 1600 tons, a rare sailer,
+the work of the famous Phineas Pett."  Rear-Admiral Sir William Symonds
+says that she was afterwards cut down, and was a safe and fast ship.[32]
+
+The Sovereign continued for nearly sixty years to be the finest ship in
+the English service.  Though frequently engaged in the most injurious
+occupations, she continued fit for any services which the exigencies of
+the State might require.  She fought all through the wars of the
+Commonwealth; she was the leading ship of Admiral Blake, and was in all
+the great naval engagements with France and Holland.  The Dutch gave
+her the name of The Golden Devil.  In the last fight between the
+English and French, she encountered the Wonder of the World, and so
+warmly plied the French Admiral, that she forced him out of his
+three-decked wooden castle, and chasing the Royal Sun, before her,
+forced her to fly for shelter among the rocks, where she became a prey
+to lesser vessels, and was reduced to ashes.  At last, in the reign of
+William III., the Sovereign became leaky and defective with age; she
+was laid up at Chatham, and being set on fire by negligence or
+accident, she burnt to the water's edge.
+
+To return to the history of Phineas Pett.  As years approached, he
+retired from office, and "his loving son," as he always affectionately
+designates Peter, succeeded him as principal shipwright, Charles I.
+conferring upon him the honour of knighthood.  Phineas lived for ten
+years after the Sovereign of the Seas was launched.  In the burial
+register of the parish of Chatham it is recorded, "Phineas Pett, Esqe.
+and Capt., was buried 21st August, 1647."[33]
+
+Sir Peter Pett was almost as distinguished as his father.  He was the
+builder of the first frigate, The Constant Warwick.  Sir William
+Symonds says of this vessel:--"She was an incomparable sailer,
+remarkable for her sharpness and the fineness of her lines; and many
+were built like her."  Pett "introduced convex lines on the immersed
+part of the hull, with the studding and sprit sails; and, in short, he
+appears to have fully deserved his character of being the best ship
+architect of his time."[34] Sir Peter Pett's monument in Deptford Old
+Church fully records his services to England's naval power.
+
+The Petts are said to have been connected with shipbuilding in the
+Thames for not less than 200 years.  Fuller, in his 'Worthies of
+England,' says of them--"I am credibly informed that that mystery of
+shipwrights for some descents hath been preserved faithfully in
+families, of whom the Petts about Chatham are of singular regard.  Good
+success have they with their skill, and carefully keep so precious a
+pearl, lest otherwise amongst many friends some foes attain unto it."
+
+The late Peter Bolt, member for Greenwich, took pride in being
+descended from the Petts; but so far as we know, the name itself has
+died out.  In 1801, when Charnock's 'History of Marine Architecture'
+was published, Mr. Pett, of Tovil, near Maidstone, was the sole
+representative of the family.
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter I.
+
+[1] This was not the first voyage of a steamer between England and
+America.  The Savannah made the passage from New York to Liverpool as
+early as 1819; but steam was only used occasionally during the voyage,
+In 1825, the Enterprise, with engines by Maudslay, made the voyage from
+Falmouth to Calcutta in 113 days; and in 1828, the Curacoa made the
+voyage between Holland and the Dutch West Indies.  But in all these
+cases, steam was used as an auxiliary, and not as the one essential
+means of propulsion, as in the case of the Sirius and the Great
+Western, which were steam voyages only.
+
+[2] "In 1862 the steam tonnage of the country was 537,000 tons; in
+1872, it was 1,537,000 tons; and in 1882, it had reached 3,835,000
+tons."--Mr. Chamberlain's speech, House of Commons, 19th May, 1884.
+
+[3] The last visit of the plague was in 1665.
+
+[4] Roll of Edward the Third's Fleet.  Cotton's Library, British Museum.
+
+[5] Charnock's History Of Marine Architecture, ii. 89.
+
+[6] State Papers.  Henry VIII.  Nos. 3496, 3616, 4633.  The principal
+kinds of ordnance at that time were these:--The "Apostles," so called
+from the head of an Apostle which they bore; "Curtows," or "Courtaulx";
+"Culverins" and "Serpents"; "Minions," and "Potguns"; "Nurembergers,"
+and "Bombards" or mortars.
+
+[7] The sum of all costs of the Harry Grace de Dieu and three small
+galleys, was 7708L. 5s. 3d.  (S.P.O. No. 5228, Henry VIII.)
+
+[8] Charnock, ii. 47 (note).
+
+[9] Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, ii. 126.
+
+[10] The Huguenots: their Settlements, Churches, and Industries, in
+England and Ireland, ch. iv.
+
+[11] Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, ii. 156.
+
+[12] Ibid. ii. 85.
+
+[13] Picton's Selections from the Municipal Archives and Records of
+Liverpool, p. 90.  About a hundred years later, in 1757, the gross
+customs receipts of Liverpool had increased to 198,946L.; whilst those
+of Bristol were as much as 351,211L.  In 1883, the amount of tonnage of
+Liverpool, inwards and outwards, was 8,527,531 tons, and the total dock
+revenue for the year was 1,273,752L.!
+
+[14] There were not only Algerine but English pirates scouring the
+seas.  Keutzner, the German, who wrote in Elizabeth's reign, said, "The
+English are good sailors and famous pirates (sunt boni nautae et
+insignis pyratae)."  Roberts, in his Social History of the Southern
+Counties (p. 93), observes, "Elizabeth had employed many English as
+privateers against the Spaniard.  After the war, many were loth to lead
+an inactive life.  They had their commissions revoked, and were
+proclaimed pirates.  The public looked upon them as gallant fellows;
+the merchants gave them underhand support; and even the authorities in
+maritime towns connived at the sale of their plunder.  In spite of
+proclamations, during the first five years after the accession of James
+I., there were continual complaints.  This lawless way of life even
+became popular.  Many Englishmen furnished themselves with good ships
+and scoured the seas, but little careful whom they might plunder."  It
+was found very difficult to put down piracy.  According to Oliver's
+History of the city of Exeter, not less than "fifteen sail of Turks"
+held the English Channel, snapping up merchantmen, in the middle of the
+seventeenth century!  The harbours in the south-west were infested by
+Moslem pirates, who attacked and plundered the ships, and carried their
+crews into captivity.  The loss, even to an inland port like Exeter, in
+ships, money, and men, was enormous.
+
+[15] Naval Tracts, p. 294.
+
+[16] This poem is now very rare.  It is not in the British Museum.
+
+[17] There are three copies extant of the autobiography, all of which
+are in the British Museum.  In the main, they differ but slightly from
+each other.  Not one of them has been published in extenso.  In
+December, 1795, and in February, 1796, Dr. Samuel Denne communicated to
+the Society of Antiquaries particulars of two of these MSS., and
+subsequently published copious extracts from them in their transactions
+(Archae. xii. anno 1796), in a very irregular and careless manner.  It
+is probable that Dr. Denne never saw the original manuscript, but only
+a garbled copy of it.  The above narrative has been taken from the
+original, and collated with the documents in the State Paper Office.
+
+[18] See, for instance, the Index to the Journals of Records of the
+Corporation of the City of London (No. 2, p. 346, 15901694) under the
+head of "Sir Walter Raleigh."  There is a document dated the 15th
+November, 1593, in the 35th of Elizabeth, which runs as
+follows:--"Committee appointed on behalf of such of the City Companies
+as have ventured in the late Fleet set forward by Sir Walter Raleigh,
+Knight, and others, to join with such honourable personages as the
+Queen hath appointed, to take a perfect view of all such goods, prizes,
+spices, jewels, pearls, treasures, &c., lately taken in the Carrack,
+and to make sale and division (Jor. 23, p. 156).  Suit to be made to
+the Queen and Privy Council for the buying of the goods, &c., lately
+taken at sea in the Carrack; a committee appointed to take order
+accordingly; the benefit or loss arising thereon to be divided and
+borne between the Chamber [of the Corporation of the City] and the
+Companies that adventured (157).  The several Companies that adventured
+at sea with Sir Waiter Raleigh to accept so much of the goods taken in
+the Carrack to the value of 12,000L. according to the Queen's offer.  A
+committee appointed to acquaint the Lords of the Council with the
+City's acceptance thereof (167).  Committee for sale of the Carrack
+goods appointed (174).  Bonds for sale to be sealed (196)....
+Committee to audit accounts of a former adventure (224 b.)."
+
+[19] There were three sisters in all, the eldest of whom (Abigail) fell
+a victim to the cruelty of Nunn, who struck her across the head with
+the fire-tongs, from the effects of which she died in three days.  Nunn
+was tried and convicted of manslaughter.  He died shortly after.  Mrs.
+Nunn, Phineas's mother, was already dead.
+
+[20] It would seem, from a paper hereafter to be more particularly
+referred to, that the government encouraged the owners of ships and
+others to clear the seas of these pirates, agreeing to pay them for
+their labours.  In 1622, Pett fitted out an expedition against these
+pests of navigation, but experienced some difficulty in getting his
+expenses repaid.
+
+[21] See grant S.P.O., 29th May, 1605.
+
+[22] An engraving of this remarkable ship is given in Charnock's
+History of Marine Architecture, ii. p. 199.
+
+[23] The story of the Three, or rather Two Ravens, is as follows:--The
+body of St. Vincent was originally deposited at the Cape, which still
+bears his name, on the Portuguese coast; and his tomb, says the legend,
+was zealously guarded by a couple of ravens.  When it was determined,
+in the 12th century, to transport the relics of the Saint to the
+Cathedral of Lisbon, the two ravens accompanied the ship which
+contained them, one at its stem and the other at its stern.  The relics
+were deposited in the Chapel of St. Vincent, within the Cathedral, and
+there the two ravens have ever since remained.  The monks continued to
+support two such birds in the cloisters, and till very lately the
+officials gravely informed the visitor to the Cathedral that they were
+the identical ravens which accompanied the Saint's relics to their
+city.  The birds figure in the arms of Lisbon.
+
+[24] The evidence taken by the Commissioners is embodied in a
+voluminous report.  State Paper Office, Dom. James I., vol. xli. 1608.
+
+[25] The Earl of Northampton, Privy Seal, was Lord Warden of the Cinque
+Ports; hence his moving in the matter.  Pett says he was his "most
+implacable enemy."  It is probable that the earl was jealous of Pett,
+because he had received his commission to build the great ship directly
+from the sovereign, without the intervention of his lordship.
+
+[26] This Royal investigation took place at Woolwich on the 8th May,
+1609.  The State Paper Office contains a report of the same date, most
+probably the one presented to the King, signed by six ship-builders and
+Captain Waymouth, and counter signed by Northampton and four others.
+The Report is headed "The Prince Royal: imperfections found upon view
+of the new work begun at Woolwich."  It would occupy too much space to
+give the results here.
+
+[27] Alas! for the uncertainties of life!  This noble young prince--the
+hope of England and the joy of his parents, from whom such great things
+were anticipated--for he was graceful, frank, brave, active, and a
+lover of the sea,--was seized with a serious illness, and died in his
+eighteenth year, on the 16th November, 1612.
+
+[28] Pett says she was to be 500 tons, but when he turned her out her
+burthen was rated at 700 tons.
+
+[29] This conduct of Raleigh's was the more inexcusable, as there is in
+the State Paper Office a warrant dated 16th Nov., 1617, for the payment
+to Pett of 700 crowns "for building the new ship, the Destiny of
+London, of 700 tons burthen."  The least he could have done was to have
+handed over to the builder his royal and usual reward.  In the above
+warrant, by the way, the title "our well-beloved subject," the ordinary
+prefix to such grants, has either been left blank or erased (it is
+difficult to say which), but was very significant of the slippery
+footing of Raleigh at Court.
+
+[30] Sir Giles Overreach, in the play of "A new way to pay old debts,"
+by Philip Massinger.  It was difficult for the poet, or any other
+person, to libel such a personage as Mompesson.
+
+[31] Pett's method is described in a paper contained in the S.P.O.,
+dated 21st Oct., 1626.  The Trinity Corporation adopted his method.
+
+[32] Memoirs of the Life and Services of Rear-Admiral Sir William
+Symonds, Kt., p. 94.
+
+[33] Pett's dwelling-house at Rochester is thus described in an
+anonymous history of that town (p. 337, ed. 1817):--"Beyond the
+Victualling Office, on the same side of the High Street, at Rochester,
+is an old mansion, now occupied by a Mr. Morson, an attorney, which
+formerly belonged to the Petts, the celebrated ship-builders.  The
+chimney-piece in the principal room is of wood, curiously carved, the
+upper part being divided into compartments by caryatydes.  The central
+compartment contains the family arms, viz., Or, on a fesse, gu.,
+between three pellets, a lion passant gardant of the field.  On the
+back of the grate is a cast of Neptune, standing erect in his car, with
+Triton blowing conches, &c., and the date 1650."
+
+[34] Symonds, Memoirs of Life and Services, 94.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+FRANCIS PETTIT SMITH: PRACTICAL INTRODUCER OF THE SCREW PROPELLER.
+
+"The spirit of Paley's maxim that 'he alone discovers who proves,' is
+applicable to the history of inventions and discoveries; for certainly
+he alone invents to any good purpose, who satisfies the world that the
+means he may have devised have been found competent to the end
+proposed."--Dr. Samuel Brown.
+
+"Too often the real worker and discoverer remains unknown, and an
+invention, beautiful but useless in one age or country, can be applied
+only in a remote generation, or in a distant land. Mankind hangs
+together from generation to generation; easy labour is but inherited
+skill; great discoveries and inventions are worked up to by the efforts
+of myriads ere the goal is reached."--H. M. Hyndman.
+
+Though a long period elapsed between the times of Phineas Pett and
+"Screw" Smith, comparatively little improvement had been effected in
+the art of shipbuilding.  The Sovereign of the Seas had not been
+excelled by any ship of war built down to the end of last century.[1]
+At a comparatively recent date, ships continued to be built of timber
+and plank, and impelled by sails and oars, as they had been for
+thousands of years before.
+
+But this century has witnessed many marvellous changes.  A new material
+of construction has been introduced into shipbuilding, with entirely
+new methods of propulsion.  Old things have been displaced by new; and
+the magnitude of the results has been extraordinary.  The most
+important changes have been in the use of iron and steel instead of
+wood, and in the employment of the steam-engine in impelling ships by
+the paddle or the screw.
+
+So long as timber was used for the construction of ships, the number of
+vessels built annually, especially in so small an island as Britain,
+must necessarily have continued very limited. Indeed, so little had the
+cultivation of oak in Great Britain been attended to, that all the
+royal forests could not have supplied sufficient timber to build one
+line-of-battle ship annually; while for the mercantile marine, the
+world had to be ransacked for wood, often of a very inferior quality.
+
+Take, for instance, the seventy-eight gun ship, the Hindostan, launched
+a few years ago.  It would have required 4200 loads of timber to build
+a ship of that description, and the growth of the timber would have
+occupied seventy acres of ground during eighty years.[2]  It would have
+needed something like 800,000 acres of land on which to grow the timber
+for the ships annually built in this country for commercial purposes.
+And timber ships are by no means lasting.  The average durability of
+ships of war employed in active service, has been calculated to be
+about thirteen years, even when built of British oak.
+
+Indeed, years ago, the building of shipping in this country was much
+hindered by the want of materials.
+
+The trade was being rapidly transferred to Canada and the United
+States.  Some years since, an American captain said to an Englishman,
+Captain Hall, when in China, "You will soon have to come to our country
+for your ships: your little island cannot grow wood enough for a large
+marine."  "Oh!" said the Englishman, "we can build ships of iron!"
+"Iron?" replied the American in surprise, "why, iron sinks; only wood
+can float!"  "Well! you will find I am right."  The prophecy was
+correct.  The Englishman in question has now a fleet of splendid iron
+steamers at sea.
+
+The use of iron in shipbuilding had small beginnings, like everything
+else.  The established prejudice--that iron must necessarily sink in
+water--long continued to prevail against its employment.  The first
+iron vessel was built and launched about a hundred years since by John
+Wilkinson, of Bradley Forge, in Staffordshire.  In a letter of his,
+dated the 14th July, 1787, the original of which we have seen, he
+writes:  "Yesterday week my iron boat was launched.  It answers all my
+expectations, and has convinced the unbelievers, who were 999 in 1000.
+It will be only a nine days' wonder, and afterwards a Columbus's egg."
+It was, however, more than a nine days' wonder; for wood long continued
+to be thought the only material capable of floating.
+
+Although Wilkinson's iron vessels continued to ply upon the Severn,
+more than twenty years elapsed before another shipbuilder ventured to
+follow his example.  But in 1810, Onions and Son, of Brosely, built
+several iron vessels, also for use upon the Severn.  Then, in 1815, Mr.
+Jervons, of Liverpool, built a small iron boat for use on the Mersey.
+Six years later, in 1821, Mr. Aaron Manby designed an iron steam
+vessel, which was built at the Horsley Company's Works, in
+Staffordshire.  She sailed from London to Havre a few years later,
+under the command of Captain (afterwards Sir Charles) Napier, RN.  She
+was freighted with a cargo of linseed and iron castings, and went up
+the Seine to Paris.  It was some time, however, before iron came into
+general use.  Ten years later, in 1832, Maudslay and Field built four
+iron vessels for the East India Company.  In the course of about twenty
+years, the use of iron became general, not only for ships of war, but
+for merchant ships plying to all parts of the world.
+
+When ships began to be built of iron, it was found that they could be
+increased without limit, so long as coal, iron, machinery, and strong
+men full of skill and industry, were procurable.  The trade in
+shipbuilding returned to Britain, where iron ships are now made and
+exported in large numbers; the mercantile marine of this country
+exceeding in amount and tonnage that of all the other countries of the
+world put together.  The "wooden walls"[3] of England exist no more,
+for iron has superseded wood.  Instead of constructing vessels from the
+forest, we are now digging new navies out of the bowels of the earth,
+and our "walls," instead of wood, are now of iron and steel.
+
+The attempt to propel ships by other means than sails and oars went on
+from century to century, and did not succeed until almost within our
+own time.  It is said that the Roman army under Claudius Codex was
+transported into Sicily in boats propelled by wheels moved by oxen.
+Galleys, propelled by wheels in paddles, were afterwards attempted.
+The Harleian MS. contains an Italian book of sketches, attributed to
+the 15th century, in which there appears a drawing of a paddle-boat,
+evidently intended to be worked by men.  Paddle-boats, worked by
+horse-power, were also tried.  Blasco Garay made a supreme effort at
+Barcelona in 1543. His vessel was propelled by a paddle-wheel on each
+side, worked by forty men.  But nothing came of the experiment.
+
+Many other efforts of a similar kind were made,--by Savery among
+others,[4]--until we come down to Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, who,
+in 1787, invented a double-hulled boat, which he caused to be propelled
+on the Firth of Forth by men working a capstan which drove the paddles
+on each side.  The men soon became exhausted, and on Miller mentioning
+the subject to William Symington, who was then exhibiting his road
+locomotive in Edinburgh, Symington at once said, "Why don't you employ
+steam-power?"
+
+There were many speculations in early times as to the application of
+steam-power for propelling vessels through the water.  David Ramsay in
+1618, Dr. Grant in 1632, the Marquis of Worcester in 1661, were among
+the first in England to publish their views upon the subject.  But it
+is probable that Denis Papin, the banished Hugnenot physician, for some
+time Curator of the Royal Society, was the first who made a model
+steam-boat.  Daring his residence in England, he was elected Professor
+of Mathematics in the University of Marburg.  It was while at that city
+that he constructed, in 1707, a small steam-engine, which he fitted in
+a boat--une petite machine d'un, vaisseau a roues--and despatched it to
+England for the purpose of being tried upon the Thames. The little
+vessel never reached England.  At Munden, the boatmen on the River
+Weser, thinking that, if successful, it would destroy their occupation,
+seized the boat, with its machine, and barbarously destroyed it.  Papin
+did not repeat his experiment, and died a few years later.
+
+The next inventor was Jonathan Hulls, of Campden, in Gloucestershire.
+He patented a steamboat in 1736, and worked the paddle-wheel placed at
+the stern of the vessel by means of a Newcomen engine.  He tried his
+boat on the River Avon, at Evesham, but it did not succeed, and the
+engine was taken on shore again.  A local poet commemorated his failure
+in the following lines, which were remembered long after his steamboat
+experiment had been forgotten:--
+
+  "Jonathan Hull,
+  With his paper skull,
+  Tried hard to make a machine
+  That should go against wind and tide;
+  But he, like an ass,
+  Couldn't bring it to pass,
+  So at last was ashamed to be seen."
+
+Nothing of importance was done in the direction of a steam-engine able
+to drive paddles, until the invention by James Watt, in 1769, of his
+double-acting engine--the first step by which steam was rendered
+capable of being successfully used to impel a vessel.  But Watt was
+indifferent to taking up the subject of steam navigation, as well as of
+steam locomotion.  He refused many invitations to make steam-engines
+for the propulsion of ships, preferring to confine himself to his
+"regular established trade and manufacture," that of making condensing
+steam-engines, which had become of great importance towards the close
+of his life.
+
+Two records exist of paddle-wheel steamboats having been early tried in
+France--one by the Comte d'Auxiron and M. Perrier in 1774, the other by
+the Comte de Jouffroy in 1783--but the notices of their experiments are
+very vague, and rest on somewhat doubtful authority.
+
+The idea, however, had been born, and was not allowed to die. When Mr.
+Miller of Dalswinton had revived the notion of propelling vessels by
+means of paddle-wheels, worked, as Savery had before worked them, by
+means of a capstan placed in the centre of the vessel, and when he
+complained to Symington of the fatigue caused to the men by working the
+capstan, and Symington had suggested the use of steam, Mr. Miller was
+impressed by the idea, and proceeded to order a steam-engine for the
+purpose of trying the experiment.  The boat was built at Edinburgh, and
+removed to Dalswinton Lake.  It was there fitted with Symington's
+steam-engine, and first tried with success on the 14th of October,
+1788, as has been related at length in Mr. Nasmyth's 'Autobiography.'
+The experiment was repeated with even greater success in the charlotte
+Dundas in 1801, which was used to tow vessels along the Forth and Clyde
+Canal, and to bring ships up the Firth of Forth to the canal entrance
+at Grangemouth.
+
+The progress of steam navigation was nevertheless very slow.
+Symington's experiments were not renewed.  The Charlotte Dundas was
+withdrawn from use, because of the supposed injury to the banks of the
+Canal, caused by the swell from the wheel.  The steamboat was laid up
+in a creek at Bainsford, where it went to ruin, and the inventor
+himself died in poverty.  Among those who inspected the vessel while at
+work were Fulton, the American artist, and Henry Bell, the Glasgow
+engineer.  The former had already occupied himself with model
+steamboats, both at Paris and in London; and in 1805 he obtained from
+Boulton and Watt, of Birmingham, the steam-engine required for
+propelling his paddle steamboat on the Hudson.  The Clermont was first
+started in August, 1807, and attained a speed of nearly five miles an
+hour. Five years later, Henry Bell constructed and tried his first
+steamer on the Clyde.
+
+It was not until 1815 that the first steamboat was seen on the Thames.
+This was the Richmond packet, which plied between London and Richmond.
+The vessel was fitted with the first marine engine Henry Maudslay ever
+made.  During the same year, the Margery, formerly employed on the
+Firth of Forth, began plying between Gravesend and London; and the
+Thames, formerly the Argyll, came round from the Clyde, encountering
+rough seas, and making the voyage of 758 miles in five days and two
+hours.  This was thought extraordinarily rapid--though the voyage of
+about 3000 miles, from Liverpool to New York, can now be made in only
+about two days' more time.
+
+In nearly all seagoing vessels, the Paddle has now almost entirely
+given place to the Screw.  It was long before this invention was
+perfected and brought into general use.  It was not the production of
+one man, but of several generations of mechanical inventors.  A
+perfected invention does not burst forth from the brain like a poetic
+thought or a fine resolve.  It has to be initiated, laboured over, and
+pursued in the face of disappointments, difficulties, and
+discouragements.
+
+Sometimes the idea is born in one generation, followed out in the next,
+and perhaps perfected in the third.  In an age of progress, one
+invention merely paves the way for another.  What was the wonder of
+yesterday, becomes the common and unnoticed thing of to-day.
+
+The first idea of the screw was thrown out by James Watt more than a
+century ago.  Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, had proposed to move
+canal boats by means of the steam-engine; and Dr. Small, his friend,
+was in communication with James Watt, then residing at Glasgow, on the
+subject.  In a letter from Watt to Small, dated the 30th September,
+1770, the former, after speaking of the condenser, and saying that it
+cannot be dispensed with, proceeds: "Have you ever considered a spiral
+oar for that purpose [propulsion of canal boats], or are you for two
+wheels?"  Watt added a pen-and-ink drawing of his spiral oar, greatly
+resembling the form of screw afterwards patented.  Nothing, however,
+was actually done, and the idea slept.
+
+It was revived again in 1785, by Joseph Bramah, a wonderful projector
+and inventor.[5]  He took out a patent, which included a rotatory
+steam-engine, and a mode of propelling vessels by means either of a
+paddle-wheel or a "screw propeller."  This propeller was "similar to
+the fly of a smoke-jack"; but there is no account of Bramah having
+practically tried this method of propulsion.
+
+Austria, also, claims the honour of the invention of the screw steamer.
+At Trieste and Vienna are statues erected to Joseph Ressel, on whose
+behalf his countrymen lay claim to the invention; and patents for some
+sort of a screw date back as far as 1794.
+
+Patents were also taken out in England and America--by W. Lyttleton in
+1794; by E. Shorter in 1799; by J. C. Stevens, of New Jersey, in 1804;
+by Henry James in 1811--but nothing practical was accomplished.
+Richard Trevethick, the anticipator of many things, also took out a
+patent in 1815, and in it he describes the screw propeller with
+considerable minuteness. Millington, Whytock, Perkins, Marestier, and
+Brown followed, with no better results.
+
+The late Dr. Birkbeck, in a letter addressed to the 'Mechanics'
+Register,' in the year 1824, claimed that John Swan, of 82, Mansfield
+Street, Kingsland Road, London, was the practical inventor of the screw
+propeller.  John Swan was a native of Coldingham, Berwickshire.  He had
+removed to London, and entered the employment of Messrs. Gordon, of
+Deptford.  Swan fitted up a boat with his propeller, and tried it on a
+sheet of water in the grounds of Charles Gordon, Esq., of Dulwich Hill.
+"The velocity and steadiness of the motion," said Dr. Birkbeck in his
+letter, "so far exceeded that of the same model when impelled by
+paddle-wheels driven by the same spring, that I could not doubt its
+superiority; and the stillness of the water was such as to give the
+vessel the appearance of being moved by some magical power."
+
+Then comes another claimant--Mr. Robert Wilson, then of Dunbar (not far
+from Coldingham), but afterwards of the Bridgewater Foundry,
+Patricroft.  In his pamphlet, published a few years ago, he states that
+he had long considered the subject, and in 1827 he made a small model,
+fitted with "revolving skulls," which he tried on a sheet of water in
+the presence of the Hon. Capt. Anthony Maitland, son of the Earl of
+Lauderdale.  The experiment was successful--so successful, that when
+the "stern paddles" were in 1828 used at Leith in a boat twenty-five
+feet long, with two men to work the machinery, the boat was propelled
+at an average speed of about ten miles an hour; and the Society of Arts
+afterwards, in October, 1882, awarded Mr. Wilson their silver medal for
+the "description, drawing, and models of stern paddles for propelling
+steamboats, invented by him."  The subject was, in 1833, brought by Sir
+John Sinclair under the consideration of the Board of Admiralty; but
+the report of the officials (Oliver Lang, Abethell, Lloyd, and
+Kingston) was to the effect that "the plan proposed (independent of
+practical difficulties) is objectionable, as it involves a greater loss
+of power than the common mode of applying the wheels to the side."  And
+here ended the experiment, so far as Mr. Wilson's "stern paddles" were
+concerned.
+
+It will be observed, from what has been said, that the idea of a screw
+propeller is a very old one.  Watt, Bramah, Trevethick, and many more,
+had given descriptions of the screw.  Trevethick schemed a number of
+its forms and applications, which have been the subject of many
+subsequent patents.  It has been so with many inventions.  It is not
+the man who gives the first idea of a machine who is entitled to the
+merit of its introduction, or the man who repeats the idea, and
+re-repeats it, but the man who is so deeply impressed with the
+importance of the discovery, that he insists upon its adoption, will
+take no denial, and at the risk of fame and fortune, pushes through all
+opposition, and is determined that what he thinks he has discovered
+shall not perish for want of a fair trial.  And that this was the case
+with the practical introducer of the screw propeller will be obvious
+from the following statement.
+
+Francis Pettit Smith was born at Hythe, in the county of Kent, in 1808.
+His father was postmaster of the town, and a person of much zeal and
+integrity.  The boy was sent to school at Ashford, and there received a
+fair amount of education, under the Rev. Alexander Power.  Young Smith
+displayed no special characteristic except a passion for constructing
+models of boats.  When he reached manhood, he adopted the business of a
+grazing farmer on Romney Marsh.  He afterwards removed to Hendon, north
+of London, where he had plenty of water on which to try his model
+boats. The reservoir of the Old Welsh Harp was close at hand--a place
+famous for its water-birds and wild fowl.
+
+Smith made many models of boats, his experiments extending over many
+years.  In 1834, he constructed a boat propelled by a wooden screw
+driven by a spring, the performance of which was thought extraordinary.
+Where he had got his original idea is not known. It was floating about
+in many minds, and was no special secret. Smith, however, arrived at
+the conclusion that his method of propelling steam vessels by means of
+a screw was much superior to paddles--at that time exclusively
+employed.  In the following year, 1835, he constructed a superior
+model, with which he performed a number of experiments at Hendon.  In
+May 1836, he took out a patent for propelling vessels by means of a
+screw revolving beneath the water at the stern.  He then openly
+exhibited his invention at the Adelaide Gallery in London.  Sir John
+Barrow, Secretary to the Admiralty, inspected the model, and was much
+impressed by its action.  During the time it was publicly exhibited, an
+offer was made to purchase the invention for the Pacha of Egypt; but
+the offer was declined.
+
+At this stage of his operations, Smith was joined by Mr. Wright,
+banker, and Mr. C. A. Caldwell, who had the penetration to perceive
+that the invention was one of much promise, and were desirous of
+helping its introduction to general use.  They furnished Smith with the
+means of constructing a more complete model.  In the autumn of 1836, a
+small steam vessel of 10 tons burthen and six horse-power was built,
+further to test the advantages of the invention.  This boat was fitted
+with a wooden screw of two whole turns.  On the 1st of November the
+vessel was exhibited to the public on the Paddington Canal, as well as
+on the Thames, where she continued to ply until the month of September
+1837.
+
+During the trips upon the Thames, a happy accident occurred, which
+first suggested the advantage of reducing the length of the screw.  The
+propeller having struck upon some obstacle in the water, about one-half
+of the length of the screw was broken off, and it was found that; the
+vessel immediately shot ahead and attained a much greater speed than
+before.  In consequence of this discovery, a new screw of a single turn
+was fitted to her, after which she was found to work much better.
+
+Having satisfied himself as to the eligibility of the propeller in
+smooth water, Mr. Smith then resolved to take his little vessel to the
+open sea, and breast the winds and the waves. Accordingly, one Saturday
+in the month of September 1837, he proceeded in his miniature boat,
+down the river, from Blackwall to Gravesend.  There he took a pilot on
+board, and went on to Ramsgate.  He passed through the Downs, and
+reached Dover in safety.  A trial of the vessel's performance was made
+there in the presence of Mr. Wright, the banker, and Mr. Peake, the
+civil engineer.  From Dover the vessel went on to Folkestone and Hythe,
+encountering severe weather.  Nevertheless, the boat behaved admirably,
+and attained a speed of over seven miles an hour.
+
+Though the weather had become stormy and boisterous, the little vessel
+nevertheless set out on her return voyage to London. Crowds of people
+assembled to witness her departure, and many nautical men watched her
+progress with solicitude as she steamed through the waves under the
+steep cliffs of the South Foreland. The courage of the undertaking, and
+the unexpected good performance of the little vessel, rendered her an
+object of great interest and excitement as she "screwed" her way along
+the coast.
+
+The tiny vessel reached her destination in safety.  Surely the
+difficulty of a testing trial, although with a model screw, had at
+length been overcome.  But no!  The paddle still possessed the
+ascendency; and a thousand interests--invested capital, use and wont,
+and conservative instincts--all stood in the way.
+
+Some years before--indeed, about the time that Smith took out his
+patent--Captain Ericsson, the Swede, invented a screw propeller. Smith
+took out his patent in May, 1836; and Ericsson in the following July.
+Ericsson was a born inventor.  While a boy in Sweden, he made saw mills
+and pumping engines, with tools invented by himself.  He learnt to
+draw, and his mechanical career began.  When only twelve years old, he
+was appointed a cadet in the Swedish corps of mechanical engineers, and
+in the following year he was put in charge of a section of the Gotha
+Ship Canal, then under construction.  Arrived at manhood, Ericsson went
+over to England, the great centre of mechanical industry.  He was then
+twenty-three years old.  He entered into partnership with John
+Braithwaite, and with him constructed the Novelty, which took part in
+the locomotive competition at Rainhill on the 6th October, 1829.  The
+prize was awarded to Stephenson's Rocket on the 14th; but it was
+acknowledged by The Times of the day that the Novelty was Stephenson's
+sharpest competitor.
+
+Ericsson had a wonderfully inventive brain, a determined purpose, and a
+great capacity for work.  When a want was felt, he was immediately
+ready with an invention.  The records of the Patent Office show his
+incessant activity.  He invented pumping engines, steam engines, fire
+engines, and caloric engines.  His first patent for a "reciprocating
+propeller" was taken out in October 1834.  To exhibit its action, he
+had a small boat constructed of only about two feet long.  It was
+propelled by means of a screw; and was shown at work in a circular bath
+in London.  It performed its voyage round the basin at the rate of
+about three miles an hour.  His patent for a "spiral propeller," was
+taken out in July 1836.  This was the invention, to exhibit which he
+had a vessel constructed, of about 40 feet long, with two propellers,
+each of 5 feet 3 inches diameter.
+
+This boat, the Francis B. Ogden, proved extremely successful. She moved
+at a speed of about ten miles an hour.  She was able to tow vessels of
+140 tons burthen at the rate of seven miles an hour.  Perceiving the
+peculiar and admirable fitness of the screw-propeller for ships of war,
+Ericsson invited the Lords of the Admiralty to take an excursion in tow
+of his experimental boat.  "My Lords" consented; and the Admiralty
+barge contained on this occasion, Sir Charles Adam, senior Lord, Sir
+William Symonds, surveyor, Sir Edward Parry, of Polar fame, Captain
+Beaufort, hydrographer, and other men of celebrity.  This distinguished
+company embarked at Somerset House, and the little steamer, with her
+precious charge, proceeded down the river to Limehouse at the rate of
+about ten miles an hour.  After visiting the steam-engine manufactory
+of Messrs. Seawood, where their Lordships' favourite apparatus, the
+Morgan paddle-wheel, was in course of construction, they re-embarked,
+and returned in safety to Somerset House.
+
+The experiment was perfectly successful, and yet the result was
+disappointment.  A few days later, a letter from Captain Beaufort
+informed Mr. Ericsson that their Lordships had certainly been "very
+much disappointed with the result of the experiment."  The reason for
+the disappointment was altogether inexplicable to the inventor.  It
+afterwards appeared, however, that Sir William Symonds, then Surveyor
+to the Navy, had expressed the opinion that "even if the propeller had
+the power of propelling a vessel, it would be found altogether useless
+in practice, because the power being applied at the stern, it would be
+absolutely impossible to make the vessel steer!"  It will be remembered
+that Francis Pettit Smith's screw vessel went to sea in the course of
+the same year; and not only faced the waves, but was made to steer in a
+perfectly successful manner.
+
+Although the Lords of the Admiralty would not further encourage the
+screw propeller of Ericsson, an officer of the United States Navy,
+Capt. R. F. Stockton, was so satisfied of its success, that after
+making a single trip in the experimental steamboat from London Bridge
+to Greenwich, he ordered the inventor to build for him forthwith two
+iron boats for the United States, with steam machinery and a propeller
+on the same plan.  One of these vessels--the Robert F.
+Stockton--seventy feet in length, was constructed by Laird and Co., of
+Birkenhead, in 1838, and left England for America in April 1839.  Capt.
+Stockton so fully persuaded Ericsson of his probable success in
+America, that the inventor at once abandoned his professional
+engagements in England, and set out for the United States.  It is
+unnecessary to mention the further important works of this great
+engineer.
+
+We may, however, briefly mention that in 1844, Ericsson constructed for
+the United States Government the Princeton screw steamer--though he was
+never paid for his time, labour, and expenditure.[6]  Undeterred by
+their ingratitude, Ericsson nevertheless constructed for the same
+government, when in the throes of civil war, the famous Monitor, the
+iron-clad cupola vessel, and was similarly rewarded!  He afterwards
+invented the torpedo ship--the Destroyer--the use of which has
+fortunately not yet been required in sea warfare.  Ericsson still
+lives--constantly planning and scheming--in his house in Beach Street,
+New York.  He is now over eighty years old having been born in 1803.
+He is strong and healthy.  How has he preserved his vigorous
+constitution?  The editor of Scribner gives the answer: "The hall
+windows of his house are open, winter and summer, and none but open
+grate-fires are allowed.  Insomnia never troubles him, for he falls
+asleep as soon as his head touches the pillow.  His appetite and
+digestion are always good, and he has not lost a meal in ten years.
+What an example to the men who imagine it is hard work that is killing
+them in this career of unremitting industry!"
+
+To return to "Screw" Smith, after the successful trial of his little
+vessel at sea in the autumn of 1837.  He had many difficulties yet to
+contend with.  There was, first, the difficulty of a new invention, and
+the fact that the paddle-boat had established itself in public
+estimation.  The engineering and shipbuilding world were dead against
+him.  They regarded the project of propelling a vessel by means of a
+screw as visionary and preposterous.  There was also the official
+unwillingness to undertake anything novel, untried, and contrary to
+routine. There was the usual shaking of the head and the shrugging of
+the shoulders, as if the inventor were either a mere dreamer or a
+projector eager to lay his hands upon the public purse.  The surveyor
+of the navy was opposed to the plan, because of the impossibility of
+making a vessel steer which was impelled from the stern.  "Screw" Smith
+bided his time; he continued undaunted, and was determined to succeed.
+He laboured steadily onward, maintaining his own faith unshaken, and
+upholding the faith of the gentlemen who had become associated with him
+in the prosecution of the invention.
+
+At the beginning of 1838 the Lords of the Admiralty requested Mr. Smith
+to allow his vessel to be tried under their inspection. Two trials were
+accordingly made, and they gave so much satisfaction that the adoption
+of the propeller for naval purposes was considered as a not improbable
+contingency.  Before deciding finally upon its adoption, the Lords of
+the Admiralty were anxious to see an experiment made with a vessel of
+not less than 200 tons.  Mr. Smith had not the means of accomplishing
+this by himself, but with the improved prospects of the invention,
+capitalists now came to his aid.  One of the most effective and
+energetic of these was Mr. Henry Currie, banker; and, with the
+assistance of others, the "Ship Propeller Company" was formed, and
+proceeded to erect the test ship proposed by the Admiralty.
+
+The result was the Archimedes, a wooden vessel of 237 tons burthen.
+She was designed by Mr. Pasco, laid down by Mr. Wimshurst in the spring
+of 1838, was launched on the 18th of October following, and made her
+first trip in May 1839.  She was fitted with a screw of one turn placed
+in the dead wood, and propelled by a pair of engines of 80-horse power.
+The vessel was built under the persuasion that her performance would be
+considered satisfactory if a speed was attained of four or five knots
+an hour, where as her actual speed was nine and a half knots.  The
+Lords of the Admiralty were invited to inspect the ship.  At the second
+trial Sir Edward Parry, Sir William Symonds, Captain Basil Hall, and
+other distinguished persons were present.
+
+The results were again satisfactory.  The success of the Archimedes
+astonished the engineering world.  Even the Surveyor of the Royal Navy
+found that the vessel could steer!  The Lords of the Admiralty could no
+longer shut their eyes.  But the invention could not at once be
+adopted.  It must be tested by the best judges.  The vessel was sent to
+Dover to be tried with the best packets between Dover and Calais.  Mr.
+Lloyd, the chief engineer of the Navy, conducted the investigation, and
+reported most favourably as to the manner of her performance.  Yet
+several years elapsed before the screw was introduced into the service.
+
+In 1840 the Archimedes was placed at the disposal of Captain Chappell,
+of the Royal Navy, who, accompanied by Mr. Smith, visited every
+principal port in Great Britain.  She was thus seen by shipowners,
+marine engineers, and shipbuilders in every part of the kingdom.  They
+regarded her with wonder and admiration; yet the new mode of navigation
+was not speedily adopted.  The paddle-wheel still held its own.  The
+sentiment, if not the plant and capital, of the engineering world, were
+against the introduction of the screw.  After the vessel had returned
+from her circumnavigation of Great Britain, she was sent to Oporto, and
+performed the voyage in sixty-eight and a half hours, then held to be
+the quickest voyage on record.  She was then sent to the Texel at the
+request of the Dutch Government.  She went through the North Holland
+Canal, visited Amsterdam, Antwerp, and other ports; and everywhere left
+the impression that the screw was an efficient and reliable power in
+the propulsion of vessels at sea.
+
+Shipbuilders, however, continued to "fight shy" of the screw. The late
+Isambard Kingdon Brunel is entitled to the credit of having first
+directed the attention of shipbuilders to this important invention.  He
+was himself a man of original views, free from bias, and always ready
+to strike out a fresh path in engineering works.  He was building a
+large new iron steamer at Bristol, the Great Britain, for passenger
+traffic between England and America.  He had intended to construct her
+as a paddle steamer; but hearing of the success of the Archimedes, he
+inspected the vessel, and was so satisfied with the performance of the
+screw that he recommended his directors to adopt this method for
+propelling the Great Britain.  His advice was adopted, and the vessel
+was altered so as to adapt her for the reception of the screw.  The
+vessel was found perfectly successful, and on her first voyage to
+London she attained the speed of ten knots an hour, though the wind and
+balance of tides were against her.  A few other merchant ships were
+built and fitted with the screw; the Princess Royal at Newcastle in
+1840, the Margaret and Senator at Hull, and the Great Northern at
+Londonderry, in 1841.
+
+The Lords of the Admiralty made slow progress in adapting the screw for
+the Royal Navy.  Sir William Symonds, the surveyor and principal
+designer of Her Majesty's ships, was opposed to all new projects.  He
+hated steam power, and was utterly opposed to iron ships.  He speaks of
+them in his journal as "monstrous."[7]  So long as he remained in
+office everything was done in a perfunctory way.  A small vessel named
+the Bee was built at Chatham in 1841, and fitted with both paddles and
+the screw for the purposes of experiment.  In the same year the
+Rattier, the first screw vessel built for the navy, was laid down at
+Sheerness.  Although of only 888 tons burthen, she was not launched
+until the spring of 1843.  She was then fitted with the same kind of
+screw as the Archimedes, that is, a double-headed screw of half a
+convolution.  Experiments went on for about three years, so as to
+determine the best proportions of the screw, and the proportions then
+ascertained have since been the principal guides of engineering
+practice.
+
+The Rattler was at length tried in a water tournament with the
+paddle-steamer Alecto, and signally defeated her.  Francis Pettit
+Smith, like Gulliver, may be said to have dragged the whole British
+fleet after him.  Were the paddle our only means of propulsion, our
+whole naval force would be reduced to a nullity. Hostile gunners would
+wing a paddle-steamer as effectually as a sportsman wings a bird, and
+all the plating in the world would render such a ship a mere helpless
+log on the water.
+
+The Admiralty could no longer defer the use of this important
+invention.  Like all good things, it made its way slowly and by
+degrees.  The royal naval authorities, who in 1833 backed the side
+paddles, have since adopted the screw in most of the ships-of-war.  In
+all long sea-going voyages, also, the screw is now the favourite mode
+of propulsion.  Screw ships of prodigious size are now built and
+launched in all the ship-building ports of Britain, and are sent out to
+navigate in every part of the world.
+
+The introduction of iron as the material for shipbuilding has immensely
+advanced the interests of steam navigation, as it enables the builders
+to construct vessels of great size with the finest lines, so as to
+attain the highest rates of speed.
+
+One might have supposed that Francis Pettit Smith would derive some
+substantial benefit from his invention, or at least that the Ship
+Propeller Company would distribute large dividends among their
+proprietors.  Nothing of the kind.  Smith spent his money, his labour,
+and his ingenuity in conferring a great public benefit without
+receiving any adequate reward; and the company, instead of distributing
+dividends, lost about 50,000L. in introducing this great invention;
+after which, in 1856, the patent-right expired.  Three hundred and
+twenty-seven ships and vessels of all classes in the Royal Navy had
+then been fitted with the screw propeller, and a much larger number in
+the merchant service; but since that time the number of screw
+propellers constructed is to be counted by thousands.
+
+In his comparatively impoverished condition it was found necessary to
+do something for the inventor.  The Civil Engineers, with Robert
+Stephenson, M.P., in the chair, entertained him at a dinner and
+presented him with a handsome salver and claret jug. And that he might
+have something to put upon his salver and into his claret jug, a number
+of his friends and admirers subscribed over 2000L. as a testimonial.
+The Government appointed him Curator of the Patent Museum at South
+Kensington; the Queen granted him a pension on the Civil List for 200L.
+a year; he was raised to the honour of knighthood in 1871, and three
+years later he died.
+
+Francis Pettit Smith was not a great inventor.  He had, like many
+others, invented a screw propeller.  But, while those others had given
+up the idea of prosecuting it to its completion, Smith stuck to his
+invention with determined tenacity, and never let it go until he had
+secured for it a complete triumph.  As Mr. Stephenson observed at the
+engineer's meeting:  "Mr. Smith had worked from a platform which might
+have been raised by others, as Watt had done, and as other great men
+had done; but he had made a stride in advance which was almost
+tantamount to a new invention. It was impossible to overrate the
+advantages which this and other countries had derived from his untiring
+and devoted patience in prosecuting the invention to a successful
+issue."  Baron Charles Dupin compared the farmer Smith with the barber
+Arkwright: "He had the same perseverance and the same indomitable
+courage. These two moral qualities enabled him to triumph over every
+obstacle."  This was the merit of "Screw" Smith--that he was determined
+to realize what his predecessors had dreamt of achieving; and he
+eventually accomplished his great purpose.
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter II.
+
+[1] In the Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects for
+1860, it was pointed out that the general dimensions and form of bottom
+of this ship were very similar to the most famous line-of-battle ships
+built down to the end of last century, some of which were then in
+existence.
+
+[2] According to the calculation of Mr. Chatfield, of Her Majesty's
+dockyard at Plymouth, in a paper read before the British Association in
+1841 on shipbuilding.
+
+[3] The phrase "wooden walls" is derived from the Greek.  When the city
+of Athens was once in danger of being attacked and destroyed, the
+oracle of Delphi was consulted.  The inhabitants were told that there
+was no safety for them but in their "wooden walls,"--that is their
+shipping.  As they had then a powerful fleet, the oracle gave them
+rational advice, which had the effect of saving the Athenian people.
+
+[4] An account of these is given by Bennet Woodcraft in his Sketch of
+the Origin and Progress of Steam Navigation, London, 1848.
+
+[5] See Industrial Biography, pp. 183-197,
+
+[6] The story is told in Scribner's Monthly Illustrated Magazine, for
+April 1879.  Ericsson's modest bill was only $15,000 for two years'
+labour.  He was put off from year to year, and at length the Government
+refused to pay the amount.  "The American Government," says the editor
+of Scribner, "will not appropriate the money to pay it, and that is
+all.  It is said to be the nature of republics to be ungrateful; but
+must they also be dishonest?"
+
+[7] Memoirs of the Life and Services of Rear-Admiral Sir William
+Symonds, Kt., p. 332.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.[1]
+
+JOHN HARRISON: INVENTOR OF THE MARINE CHRONOMETER.
+
+"No man knows who invented the mariner's compass, or who first hollowed
+out a canoe from a log.  The power to observe accurately the sun, moon,
+and planets, so as to fix a vessel's actual position when far out of
+sight of land, enabling long voyages to be safely made; the marvellous
+improvements in ship-building, which shortened passages by sailing
+vessels, and vastly reduced freights even before steam gave an
+independent force to the carrier--each and all were done by small
+advances, which together contributed to the general movement of
+mankind....  Each owes all to the others.  The forgotten inventors live
+for ever in the usefulness of the work they have done and the progress
+they have striven for."--H. M. Hyndman.
+
+One of the most extraordinary things connected with Applied Science is
+the method by which the Navigator is enabled to find the exact spot of
+sea on which his ship rides.  There may be nothing but water and sky
+within his view; he may be in the midst of the ocean, or gradually
+nearing the land; the curvature of the globe baffles the search of his
+telescope; but if he have a correct chronometer, and can make an
+astronomical observation, he may readily ascertain his longitude, and
+know his approximate position--how far he is from home, as well as from
+his intended destination.  He is even enabled, at some special place,
+to send down his grappling-irons into the sea, and pick up an
+electrical cable for examination and repair.
+
+This is the result of a knowledge of Practical Astronomy.  "Place an
+astronomer," says Mr. Newcomb, "on board a ship; blindfold him; carry
+him by any route to any ocean on the globe, whether under the tropics
+or in one of the frigid zones; land him on the wildest rock that can be
+found; remove his bandage, and give him a chronometer regulated to
+Greenwich or Washington time, a transit instrument with the proper
+appliances, and the necessary books and tables, and in a single clear
+night he can tell his position within a hundred yards by observations
+of the stars. This, from a utilitarian point of view, is one of the
+most important operations of Practical Astronomy."[2]
+
+The Marine Chronometer was the outcome of the crying want of the
+sixteenth century for an instrument that should assist the navigator to
+find his longitude on the pathless ocean.  Spain was then the principal
+naval power; she was the most potent monarchy in Europe, and held half
+America under her sway.  Philip III. offered 100,000 crowns for any
+discovery by means of which the longitude might be determined by a
+better method than by the log, which was found very defective.  Holland
+next became a great naval power, and followed the example of Spain in
+offering 30,000 florins for a similar discovery.  But though some
+efforts were made, nothing practical was done, principally through the
+defective state of astronomical instruments.  England succeeded Spain
+and Holland as a naval power; and when Charles II. established the
+Greenwich Observatory, it was made a special point that Flamsteed, the
+Astronomer-Royal, should direct his best energies to the perfecting of
+a method for finding the longitude by astronomical observations.  But
+though Flamsteed, together with Halley and Newton, made some progress,
+they were prevented from obtaining ultimate success by the want of
+efficient chronometers and the defective nature of astronomical
+instruments.
+
+Nothing was done until the reign of Queen Anne, when a petition was
+presented to the Legislature on the 25th of May, 1714, by "several
+captains of Her Majesty's ships, merchants in London, and commanders of
+merchantmen, in behalf of themselves, and of all others concerned in
+the navigation of Great Britain," setting forth the importance of the
+accurate discovery of the longitude, and the inconvenience and danger
+to which ships were subjected from the want of some suitable method of
+discovering it.  The petition was referred to a committee, which took
+evidence on the subject.  It appears that Sir Isaac Newton, with his
+extraordinary sagacity, hit the mark in his report.  "One is," he said,
+"by a watch to keep time exactly; but, by reason of the motion of a
+ship, and the variation of heat and cold, wet and dry, and the
+difference of gravity in different latitudes, such a watch hath not yet
+been made."
+
+An Act was however passed in the Session of 1714, offering a very large
+public reward to inventors: 10,000L. to any one who should discover a
+method of determining the longitude to one degree of a great circle, or
+60 geographical miles; 15,000L. if it determined the same to two-thirds
+of that distance, or 40 geographical miles; and 20,000L. if it
+determined the same to one-half of the same distance, or 30
+geographical miles.  Commissioners were appointed by the same Act, who
+were instructed that "one moiety or half part of such reward shall be
+due and paid when the said commissioners, or the major part of them, do
+agree that any such method extends to the security of ships within 80
+geographical miles of the shore, which are places of the greatest
+danger; and the other moiety or half part when a ship, by the
+appointment of the said commissioners, or the major part of them, shall
+actually sail over the ocean, from Great Britain to any such port in
+the West Indies as those commissioners, or the major part of them,
+shall choose or nominate for the experiment, without losing the
+longitude beyond the limits before mentioned."
+
+The terms of this offer indicate how great must have been the risk and
+inconvenience which it was desired to remedy.  Indeed, it is almost
+inconceivable that a reward so great could be held out for a method
+which would merely afford security within eighty geographical miles!
+
+This splendid reward for a method of discovering the longitude was
+offered to the world--to inventors and scientific men of all
+countries--without restriction of race, or nation, or language. As
+might naturally be expected, the prospect of obtaining it stimulated
+many ingenious men to make suggestions and contrive experiments; but
+for many years the successful construction of a marine time-keeper
+seemed almost hopeless.  At length, to the surprise of every one, the
+prize was won by a village carpenter--a person of no school, or
+university, or college whatever.
+
+Even so distinguished an artist and philosopher as Sir Christopher Wren
+was engaged, as late in his life as the year 1720, in attempting to
+solve this important problem.  As has been observed, in the memoir of
+him contained in the 'Biographia Britannica,'[3] "This noble invention,
+like some others of the most useful ones to human life, seems to be
+reserved for the peculiar glory of an ordinary mechanic, who, by
+indefatigable industry, under the guidance of no ordinary sagacity,
+hath seemingly at last surmounted all difficulties, and brought it to a
+most unexpected degree of perfection."  Where learning and science
+failed, natural genius seems to have triumphed.
+
+The truth is, that the great mechanic, like the great poet, is born,
+not made; and John Harrison, the winner of the famous prize, was a born
+mechanic.  He did not, however, accomplish his object without the
+exercise of the greatest skill, patience, and perseverance.  His
+efforts were long, laborious, and sometimes apparently hopeless.
+Indeed, his life, so far as we can ascertain the facts, affords one of
+the finest examples of difficulties encountered and triumphantly
+overcome, and of undaunted perseverance eventually crowned by success,
+which is to be found in the whole range of biography.
+
+No complete narrative of Harrison's career was ever written. Only a
+short notice of him appears in the 'Biographia Britannica,' published
+in 1766, during his lifetime'--the facts of which were obtained from
+himself.  A few notices of him appear in the 'Annual Register,' also
+published during his lifetime. The final notice appeared in the volume
+published in 1777, the year after his death.  No Life of him has since
+appeared.  Had he been a destructive hero, and fought battles by land
+or sea, we should have had biographies of him without end.  But he
+pursued a more peaceful and industrious course.  His discovery
+conferred an incalculable advantage on navigation, and enabled
+innumerable lives to be saved at sea; it also added to the domains of
+science by its more exact measurement of time.  But his memory has been
+suffered to pass silently away, without any record being left for the
+benefit and advantage of those who have succeeded him.  The following
+memoir includes nearly all that is known of the life and labours of
+John Harrison.
+
+He was born at Foulby, in the parish of Wragby, near Pontefract,
+Yorkshire, in March, 1693.  His father, Henry Harrison, was carpenter
+and joiner to Sir Rowland Winn, owner of the Nostell Priory estate.
+The present house was built by the baronet on the site of the ancient
+priory.  Henry Harrison was a sort of retainer of the family, and long
+continued in their Service.
+
+Little is known of the boy's education.  It was certainly of a very
+inferior description.  Like George Stephenson, Harrison always had a
+great difficulty in making himself understood, either by speech or
+writing.  Indeed, every board-school boy now receives a better
+education than John Harrison did a hundred and eighty years ago.  But
+education does not altogether come by reading and writing.  The boy was
+possessed of vigorous natural abilities.  He was especially attracted
+by every machine that moved upon wheels.  The boy was 'father to the
+man.' When six years old, and lying sick of small-pox, a going watch
+was placed upon his pillow, which afforded him infinite delight.
+
+When seven years old he was taken by his father to Barrow, near
+Barton-on-Humber, where Sir Rowland Winn had another residence and
+estate.  Henry Harrison was still acting as the baronet's carpenter and
+joiner.  In course of time young Harrison joined his father in the
+workshop, and proved of great use to him.  His opportunities for
+acquiring knowledge were still very few, but he applied his powers of
+observation and his workmanship upon the things which were nearest him.
+He worked in wood, and to wood he first turned his attention.
+
+He was still fond of machines going upon wheels.  He had enjoyed the
+sight of the big watch going upon brass wheels when he was a boy; but,
+now that he was a workman in wood, he proposed to make an eight-day
+clock, with wheels of this material.  He made the clock in 1713, when
+he was twenty years old,[4] so that he must have made diligent use of
+his opportunities.  He had of course difficulties to encounter, and
+nothing can be accomplished without them; for it is difficulties that
+train the habits of application and perseverance.  But he succeeded in
+making an effective clock, which counted the time with regularity.
+This clock is still in existence.  It is to be seen at the Museum of
+Patents, South Kensington; and when we visited it a few months ago it
+was going, and still marking the moments as they passed. It is
+contained in a case about six feet high, with a glass front, showing a
+pendulum and two weights.  Over the clock is the following inscription:
+
+"This clock was made at Barrow, Lincolnshire, in the year 1715, by John
+Harrison, celebrated as the inventor of a nautical timepiece,  or
+chronometer, which gained the reward of 20,000L., offered by the Board
+of Longitude, A.D. 1767.
+
+"This clock strikes the hour, indicates the day of the month, and with
+one exception (the escapement) the wheels are entirely made of wood."
+
+This, however, was only a beginning.  Harrison proceeded to make better
+clocks; and then he found it necessary to introduce metal, which was
+more lasting.  He made pivots of brass, which moved more conveniently
+in sockets of wood with the use of oil.  He also caused the teeth of
+his wheels to run against cylindrical rollers of wood, fixed by brass
+pins, at a proper distance from the axis of the pinions; and thus to a
+considerable extent removed the inconveniences of friction.
+
+In the meantime Harrison eagerly improved every incident from which he
+might derive further information.  There was a clergyman who came every
+Sunday to the village to officiate in the neighbourhood; and having
+heard of the sedulous application of the young carpenter, he lent him a
+manuscript copy of Professor Saunderson's discourses.  That blind
+professor had prepared several lectures on natural philosophy for the
+use of his students, though they were not intended for publication.
+Young Harrison now proceeded to copy them out, together with the
+diagrams.  Sometimes, indeed, he spent the greater part of the night in
+writing or drawing.
+
+As part of his business, he undertook to survey land, and to repair
+clocks and watches, besides carrying on his trade of a carpenter.  He
+soon obtained a considerable knowledge of what had been done in clocks
+and watches, and was able to do not only what the best professional
+workers had done, but to strike out entirely new lights in the clock
+and watch-making business.  He found out a method of diminishing
+friction by adding a joint to the pallets of the pendulum, whereby they
+were made to work in the nature of rollers of a large radius, without
+any sliding, as usual, upon the teeth of the wheel.  He constructed a
+clock on the recoiling principle, which went perfectly, and never lost
+a minute within fourteen years.  Sir Edmund Denison Beckett says that
+he invented this method in order to save himself the trouble of going
+so frequently to oil the escapement of a turret clock, of which he had
+charge; though there were other influences at work besides this.
+
+But his most important invention, at this early period of his life, was
+his compensation pendulum.  Every one knows that metals expand with
+heat and contract by cold.  The pendulum of the clock therefore
+expanded in summer and contracted in winter, thereby interfering with
+the regular going of the clock.  Huygens had by his cylindrical checks
+removed the great irregularity arising from the unequal lengths of the
+oscillations; but the pendulum was affected by the tossing of a ship at
+sea, and was also subject to a variation in weight, depending on the
+parallel of latitude.  Graham, the well-known clock-maker, invented the
+mercurial compensation pendulum, consisting of a glass or iron jar
+filled with quicksilver and fixed to the end of the pendulum rod.  When
+the rod was lengthened by heat, the quicksilver and the jar which
+contained it were simultaneously expanded and elevated, and the centre
+of oscillation was thus continued at the same distance from the point
+of suspension.
+
+But the difficulty, to a certain extent, remained unconquered until
+Harrison took the matter in hand.  He observed that all rods of metal
+do not alter their lengths equally by heat, or, on the contrary, become
+shorter by cold, but some more sensibly than others.  After innumerable
+experiments Harrison at length composed a frame somewhat resembling a
+gridiron, in which the alternate bars were of steel and of brass, and
+so arranged that those which expanded the most were counteracted by
+those which expanded the least.  By this means the pendulum contained
+the power of equalising its own action, and the centre of oscillation
+continued at the same absolute distance from the point of suspension
+through all the variations of heat and cold during the year.[5]
+
+Thus by the year 1726, when he was only thirty-three years old,
+Harrison had furnished himself with two compensation clocks, in which
+all the irregularities to which these machines were subject, were
+either removed or so happily balanced, one metal against the other,
+that the two clocks kept time together in different parts of his house,
+without the variation of more than a single second in the month.  One
+of them, indeed, which he kept by him for his own use, and constantly
+compared with a fixed star, did not vary so much as one whole minute
+during the ten years that he continued in the country after finishing
+the machine.[6]
+
+Living, as he did, not far from the sea, Harrison next endeavoured to
+arrange his timekeeper for purposes of navigation.
+
+He tried his clock in a vessel belonging to Barton-on-Humber; but his
+compensating pendulum could there be of comparatively little use; for
+it was liable to be tossed hither or thither by the sudden motions of
+the ship.  He found it necessary, therefore, to mount a chronometer, or
+portable timekeeper, which might be taken from place to place, and
+subjected to the violent and irregular motion of a ship at sea, without
+affecting its rate of going.  It was evident to him that the first
+mover must be changed from a weight and pendulum to a spring wound up
+and a compensating balance.
+
+He now applied his genius in this direction.  After pondering over the
+subject, he proceeded to London in 1728, and exhibited his drawings to
+Dr. Halley, then Astronomer-Royal.  The Doctor referred him to Mr.
+George Graham, the distinguished horologer, inventor of the dead-beat
+escapement and the mercurial pendulum. After examining the drawings and
+holding some converse with Harrison, Graham perceived him to be a man
+of uncommon merit, and gave him every encouragement.  He recommended
+him, however, to make his machine before again applying to the Board of
+Longitude.
+
+Harrison returned home to Barrow to complete his task, and many years
+elapsed before he again appeared in London to present his first
+chronometer.
+
+The remarkable success which Harrison had achieved in his compensating
+pendulum could not but urge him on to further experiments.  He was no
+doubt to a certain extent influenced by the reward of 20,000L. which
+the English Government had offered for an instrument that should enable
+the longitude to be more accurately determined by navigators at sea
+than was then possible; and it was with the object of obtaining
+pecuniary assistance to assist him in completing his chronometer that
+Harrison had, in 1728, made his first visit to London to exhibit his
+drawings.
+
+The Act of Parliament offering this superb reward was passed in 1714,
+fourteen years before, but no attempt had been made to claim it.  It
+was right that England, then rapidly advancing to the first position as
+a commercial nation, should make every effort to render navigation less
+hazardous.  Before correct chronometers were invented, or good lunar
+tables were prepared,[7] the ship, when fairly at sea, out of sight of
+land, and battling with the winds and tides, was in a measure lost.  No
+method existed for accurately ascertaining the longitude.  The ship
+might be out of its course for one or two hundred miles, for anything
+that the navigator knew; and only the wreck of his ship on some unknown
+coast told of the mistake that he had made in his reckoning.
+
+It may here be mentioned that it was comparatively easy to determine
+the latitude of a ship at sea every day when the sun was visible.  The
+latitude--that is, the distance of any spot from the equator and the
+pole--might be found by a simple observation with the sextant.  The
+altitude of the sun at noon is found, and by a short calculation the
+position of the ship can be ascertained.
+
+The sextant, which is the instrument universally used at sea, was
+gradually evolved from similar instruments used from the earliest
+times.  The object of this instrument has always been to find the
+angular distance between two bodies--that is to say, the angle
+contained by two straight lines, drawn from those bodies to meet in the
+observer's eye.  The simplest instrument of this kind may be well
+represented by a pair of compasses.  If the hinge is held to the eye,
+one leg pointed to the distant horizon, and the other leg pointed to
+the sun, the position of the two legs will show the angular distance of
+the sun from the horizon at the moment of observation.
+
+Until the end of the seventeenth century, the instrument used was of
+this simple kind.  It was generally a large quadrant, with one or two
+bars moving on a hinge,--to all intents and purposes a huge pair of
+compasses.  The direction of the sight was fixed by the use of a slit
+and a pointer, much as in the ordinary rifle. This instrument was
+vastly improved by the use of a telescope, which not only allowed
+fainter objects to be seen, but especially enabled the sight to be
+accurately directed to the object observed.
+
+The instruments of the pre-telescopic age reached their glory in the
+hands of Tycho Brahe.  He used magnificent instruments of the simple
+"pair of compasses" kind--circles, quadrants, and sextants.  These were
+for the most part ponderous fixed instruments of little or no use for
+the purposes of navigation. But Tycho Brahe's sextant proved the
+forerunner of the modern instrument.  The general structure is the
+same; but the vast improvement of the modern sextant is due, firstly,
+to the use of the reflecting mirror, and, secondly, to the use of the
+telescope for accurate sighting.  These improvements were due to many
+scientific men--to William Gascoigne, who first used the telescope,
+about 1640; to Robert Hooke, who, in 1660, proposed to apply it to the
+quadrant; to Sir Isaac Newton, who designed a reflecting quadrant;[8]
+and to John Hadley, who introduced it. The modern sextant is merely a
+modification of Newton's or Badley's quadrant, and its present
+construction seems to be perfect.
+
+It therefore became possible accurately to determine the position of a
+ship at sea as regarded its latitude.  But it was quite different as
+regarded the longitude that is, the distance of any place from a given
+meridian, eastward or westward.  In the case of longitude there is no
+fixed spot to which reference can be made.  The rotation of the earth
+makes the existence of such a spot impossible.  The question of
+longitude is purely a question of TIME.  The circuit of the globe, east
+and west, is simply represented by twenty-four hours.  Each place has
+its own time. It is very easy to determine the local time at any spot
+by observations made at that spot.  But, as time is always changing,
+the knowledge of the local time gives no idea of the actual position;
+and still less of a moving object--say, of a ship at sea.  But if, in
+any locality, we know the local time, and also the local time of some
+other locality at that moment--say, of the Observatory at Greenwich we
+can, by comparing the two local times, determine the difference of
+local times, or, what is the same thing, the difference of longitude
+between the two places. It was necessary therefore for the navigator to
+be in possession of a first-rate watch or chronometer, to enable him to
+determine accurately the position of his ship at sea, as respected the
+longitude.
+
+Before the middle of the eighteenth century good watches were
+comparatively unknown.  The navigator mainly relied, for his
+approximate longitude, upon his Dead Reckoning, without any observation
+of the heavenly bodies.  He depended upon the accuracy of the course
+which he had steered by the compass, and the mensuration of the ship's
+velocity by an instrument called the Log, as well as by combining and
+rectifying all the allowances for drift, lee-way, and so on, according
+to the trim of the ship; but all of these were liable to much
+uncertainty, especially when the sea was in a boisterous condition.
+There was another and independent course which might have been
+adopted--that is, by observation of the moon, which is constantly
+moving amongst the stars from west to east.  But until the middle of
+the eighteenth century good lunar tables were as much unknown as good
+watches.
+
+Hence a method of ascertaining the longitude, with the same degree of
+accuracy which is attainable in respect of latitude, had for ages been
+the grand desideratum for men "who go down to the sea in ships."  Mr.
+Macpherson, in his important work entitled 'The Annals of Commerce,'
+observes, "Since the year 1714, when Parliament offered a reward of
+20,000L. for the best method of ascertaining the longitude at sea, many
+schemes have been devised, but all to little or no purpose, as going
+generally upon wrong principles, till that heaven-taught artist Mr.
+John Harrison arose;" and by him, as Mr. Macpherson goes on to say, the
+difficulty was conquered, having devoted to it "the assiduous studies
+of a long life."
+
+The preamble of the Act of Parliament in question runs as follows:
+"Whereas it is well known by all that are acquainted with the art of
+navigation that nothing is so much wanted and desired at sea as the
+discovery of the longitude, for the safety and quickness of voyages,
+the preservation of ships and the lives of men," and so on.  The Act
+proceeds to constitute certain persons commissioners for the discovery
+of the longitude, with power to receive and experiment upon proposals
+for that purpose, and to grant sums of money not exceeding 2000L. to
+aid in such experiments.  It will be remembered from what has been
+above stated, that a reward of 10,000L. was to be given to the person
+who should contrive a method of determining the longitude within one
+degree of a great circle, or 60 geographical miles; 15,000L. within 40
+geographical miles; and 20,000L. within 30 geographical miles.
+
+It will, in these days, be scarcely believed that little more than a
+hundred and fifty years ago a prize of not less than ten thousand
+pounds should have been offered for a method of determining the
+longitude within sixty miles, and that double the amount should have
+been offered for a method of determining it within thirty miles!  The
+amount of these rewards is sufficient proof of the fearful necessity
+for improvement which then existed in the methods of navigation.  And
+yet, from the date of the passing of the Act in 1714 until the year
+1736, when Harrison finished his first timepiece, nothing had been done
+towards ascertaining the longitude more accurately, even within the
+wide limits specified by the Act of Parliament.  Although several
+schemes had been projected, none of them had proved successful, and the
+offered rewards therefore still remained unclaimed.
+
+To return to Harrison.  After reaching his home at Barrow, after his
+visit to London in 1728, he began his experiments for the construction
+of a marine chronometer.  The task was one of no small difficulty.  It
+was necessary to provide against irregularities arising from the motion
+of a ship at sea, and to obviate the effect of alternations of
+temperature in the machine itself, as well as the oil with which it was
+lubricated.  A thousand obstacles presented themselves, but they were
+not enough to deter Harrison from grappling with the work he had set
+himself to perform.
+
+Every one knows the beautiful machinery of a timepiece, and the perfect
+tools required to produce such a machine.  Some of these tools Harrison
+procured in London, but the greater number he provided for himself; and
+many entirely new adaptations were required for his chronometer.  As
+wood could no longer be exclusively employed, as in his first clock, he
+had to teach himself to work accurately and minutely in brass and other
+metals.  Having been unable to obtain any assistance from the Board of
+Longitude, he was under the necessity, while carrying forward his
+experiments, of maintaining himself by still working at his trade of a
+carpenter and joiner.  This will account for the very long period that
+elapsed before he could bring his chronometer to such a state as that
+it might be tried with any approach to certainty in its operations.
+
+Harrison, besides his intentness and earnestness, was a cheerful and
+hopeful man.  He had a fine taste for music, and organised and led the
+choir of the village church, which attained a high degree of
+perfection.  He invented a curious monochord, which was not less
+accurate than his clocks in the mensuration of time. His ear was
+distressed by the ringing of bells out of tune, and he set himself to
+remedy them.  At the parish church of Hull, for instance, the bells
+were harsh and disagreeable, and by the authority of the vicar and
+churchwardens he was allowed to put them into a state of exact tune, so
+that they proved entirely melodious.
+
+But the great work of his life was his marine chronometer.  He found it
+necessary, in the first place, to alter the first mover of his clock to
+a spring wound up, so that the regularity of the motion might be
+derived from the vibrations of balances, instead of those of a pendulum
+as in a standing clock.  Mr. Folkes, President of the Royal Society,
+when presenting the gold medal to Harrison in 1749, thus describes the
+arrangement of his new machine.  The details were obtained from
+Harrison himself, who was present.  He had made use of two balances
+situated in the same plane, but vibrating in contrary directions, so
+that the one of these being either way assisted by the tossing of the
+ship, the other might constantly be just so much impeded by it at the
+same time.  As the equality of the times of the vibrations of the
+balance of a pocket-watch is in a great measure owing to the spiral
+spring that lies under it, so the same was here performed by the like
+elasticity of four cylindrical springs or worms, applied near the upper
+and lower extremities of the two balances above described.
+
+Then came in the question of compensation.  Harrison's experience with
+the compensation pendulum of his clock now proved of service to him.
+He had proceeded to introduce a similar expedient in his proposed
+chronometer.  As is well known to those who are acquainted with the
+nature of springs moved by balances, the stronger those springs are,
+the quicker the vibrations of the balances are performed, and vice
+versa; hence it follows that those springs, when braced by cold, or
+when relaxed by heat, must of necessity cause the timekeeper to go
+either faster or slower, unless some method could be found to remedy
+the inconvenience.
+
+The method adopted by Harrison was his compensation balance, doubtless
+the backbone of his invention.  His "thermometer kirb," he himself
+says, "is composed of two thin plates of brass and steel, riveted
+together in several places, which, by the greater expansion of brass
+than steel by heat and contraction by cold, becomes convex on the brass
+side in hot weather and convex on the steel side in cold weather;
+whence, one end being fixed, the other end obtains a motion
+corresponding with the changes of heat and cold, and the two pins at
+the end, between which the balance spring passes, and which it
+alternately touches as the spring bends and unbends itself, will
+shorten or lengthen the spring, as the change of heat or cold would
+otherwise require to be done by hand in the manner used for regulating
+a common watch."  Although the method has since been improved upon by
+Leroy, Arnold, and Earnshaw, it was the beginning of all that has since
+been done in the perfection of marine chronometers.  Indeed, it is
+amazing to think of the number of clever, skilful, and industrious men
+who have been engaged for many hundred years in the production of that
+exquisite fabric--so useful to everybody, whether scientific or
+otherwise, on land or sea the modern watch.
+
+It is unnecessary here to mention in detail the particulars of
+Harrison's invention.  These were published by himself in his
+'Principles of Mr. Harrison's Timekeeper.' It may, however, be
+mentioned that he invented a method by which the chronometer might be
+kept going without losing any portion of time.  This was during the
+process of winding up, which was done once in a day. While the
+mainspring was being wound up, a secondary one preserved the motion of
+the wheels and kept the machine going.
+
+After seven years' labour, during which Harrison encountered and
+overcame numerous difficulties, he at last completed his first marine
+chronometer.  He placed it in a sort of moveable frame, somewhat
+resembling what the sailors call a 'compass jumble,' but much more
+artificially and curiously made and arranged.  In this state the
+chronometer was tried from time to time in a large barge on the river
+Humber, in rough as well as in smooth weather, and it was found to go
+perfectly, without losing a moment of time.
+
+Such was the condition of Harrison's chronometer when he arrived with
+it in London in 1735, in order to apply to the commissioners appointed
+for providing a public reward for the discovery of the longitude at
+sea.  He first showed it to several members of the Royal Society, who
+cordially approved of it.  Five of the most prominent members--Dr.
+Bailey, Dr. Smith, Dr. Bradley, Mr. John Machin, and Mr. George
+Graham--furnished Harrison with a certificate, stating that the
+principles of his machine for measuring time promised a very great and
+sufficient degree of exactness.  In consequence of this certificate,
+the machine, at the request of the inventor, and at the recommendation
+of the Lords of the Admiralty, was placed on board a man-of-war.
+
+Sir Charles Wager, then first Lord of the Admiralty, wrote to the
+captain of the Centurion, stating that the instrument had been approved
+by mathematicians as the best that had been made for measuring time;
+and requesting his kind treatment of Mr. Harrison, who was to accompany
+it to Lisbon.  Captain Proctor answered the First Lord from Spithead,
+dated May 17th, 1736, promising his attention to Harrison's comfort,
+but intimating his fear that he had attempted impossibilities.  It is
+always so with a new thing.  The first steam-engine, the first
+gaslight, the first locomotive, the first steamboat to America, the
+first electric telegraph, were all impossibilities!
+
+This first chronometer behaved very well on the outward voyage in the
+Centurion.  It was not affected by the roughest weather, or by the
+working of the ship through the rolling waves of the Bay of Biscay.  It
+was brought back, with Harrison, in the Orford man-of-war, when its
+great utility was proved in a remarkable manner, although, from the
+voyage being nearly on a meridian, the risk of losing the longitude was
+comparatively small.  Yet the following was the certificate of the
+captain of the ship, dated the 24th June, 1737:  "When we made the
+land, the said land, according to my reckoning (and others), ought to
+have been the Start; but, before we knew what land it was, John
+Harrison declared to me and the rest of the ship's company that,
+according to his observations with his machine, it ought to be the
+Lizard--the which, indeed, it was found to be, his observation showing
+the ship to be more west than my reckoning, above one degree and
+twenty-six miles,"--that is, nearly ninety miles out of its course!
+
+Six days later--that is, on the 30th June--the Board of Longitude met,
+when Harrison was present, and produced the chronometer with which he
+had made the voyage to Lisbon and back.  The minute states:  "Mr. John
+Harrison produced a new invented machine, in the nature of clockwork,
+whereby he proposes to keep time at sea with more exactness than by any
+other instrument or method hitherto contrived, in order to the
+discovery of the longitude at sea; and proposes to make another machine
+of smaller dimensions within the space of two years, whereby he will
+endeavour to correct some defects which he hath found in that already
+prepared, so as to render the same more perfect; which machine, when
+completed, he is desirous of having tried in one of His Majesty's ships
+that shall be bound to the West Indies; but at the same time
+represented that he should not be able, by reason of his necessitous
+circumstances, to go on and finish his said machine without assistance,
+and requested that he may be furnished with the sum of 500L., to put
+him in a capacity to perform the same, and to make a perfect experiment
+thereof."
+
+The result of the meeting was that 500L. was ordered to be paid to
+Harrison, one moiety as soon as convenient, and the other when he has
+produced a certificate from the captain of one of His Majesty's ships
+that he has put the machine on board into the captain's possession.
+Mr. George Graham, who was consulted, urged that the Commissioners
+should grant Harrison at least 1000L., but they only awarded him half
+the sum, and at first only a moiety of the amount voted.  At the
+recommendation of Lord Monson, who was present, Harrison accepted the
+250L. as a help towards the heavy expenses which he had already
+incurred, and was again about to incur, in perfecting the invention.
+He was instructed to make his new chronometer of less dimensions, as
+the one exhibited was cumbersome and heavy, and occupied too much space
+on board.
+
+He accordingly proceeded to make his second chronometer.  It occupied a
+space of only about half the size of the first.  He introduced several
+improvements.  He lessened the number of the wheels, and thereby
+diminished friction.  But the general arrangement remained the same.
+This second machine was finished in 1739.  It was more simple in its
+arrangement, and less cumbrous in its dimensions.  It answered even
+better than the first, and though it was not tried at sea its motions
+were sufficiently exact for finding the longitude within the nearest
+limits proposed by Act of Parliament.
+
+Not satisfied with his two machines, Harrison proceeded to make a
+third.  This was of an improved construction, and occupied still less
+space, the whole of the machine and its apparatus standing upon an area
+of only four square feet.  It was in such forwardness in January, 1741,
+that it was exhibited before the Royal Society, and twelve of the most
+prominent members signed a certificate of "its great and excellent use,
+as well for determining the longitude at sea as for correcting the
+charts of the coasts."  The testimonial concluded:  "We do recommend
+Mr. Harrison to the favour of the Commissioners appointed by Act of
+Parliament as a person highly deserving of such further encouragement
+and assistance as they shall judge proper and sufficient to finish his
+third machine."  The Commissioners granted him a further sum of 500L.
+Harrison was already reduced to necessitous circumstances by his
+continuous application to the improvement of the timekeepers.  He had
+also got into debt, and required further assistance to enable him to
+proceed with their construction; but the Commissioners would only help
+him by driblets.
+
+Although Harrison had promised that the third machine would be ready
+for trial on August 1, 1743, it was not finished for some years later.
+In June, 1746, we find him again appearing before the Board, asking for
+further assistance.  While proceeding with his work he found it
+necessary to add a new spring, "having spent much time and thought in
+tempering them."  Another 500L. was voted to enable him to pay his
+debts, to maintain himself and family, and to complete his chronometer.
+
+Three years later he exhibited his third machine to the Royal Society,
+and on the 30th of November, 1749, he was awarded the Gold Medal for
+the year.  In presenting it, Mr. Folkes, the President, said to Mr.
+Harrison, "I do here, by the authority and in the name of the Royal
+Society of London for the improving of natural knowledge, present you
+with this small but faithful token of their regard and esteem.  I do,
+in their name congratulate you upon the successes you have already had,
+and I most sincerely wish that all your future trials may in every way
+prove answerable to these beginnings, and that the full accomplishment
+of your great undertaking may at last be crowned with all the
+reputation and advantage to yourself that your warmest wishes may
+suggest, and to which so many years so laudably and so diligently spent
+in the improvement of those talents which God Almighty has bestowed
+upon you, will so justly entitle your constant and unwearied
+perseverance."
+
+Mr. Folkes, in his speech, spoke of Mr. Harrison as "one of the most
+modest persons he had ever known.  In speaking," he continued, "of his
+own performances, he has assured me that, from the immense number of
+diligent and accurate experiments he has made, and from the severe
+tests to which he has in many ways put his instrument, he expects he
+shall be able with sufficient certainty, through all the greatest
+variety of seasons and the most irregular motions of the sea, to keep
+time constantly, without the variation of so much as three seconds in a
+week,--a degree of exactness that is astonishing and even stupendous,
+considering the immense number of difficulties, and those of very
+different sorts, which the author of these inventions must have had to
+encounter and struggle withal."
+
+Although it is common enough now to make first-rate
+chronometers--sufficient to determine the longitude with almost perfect
+accuracy in every clime of the world--it was very different at that
+time, when Harrison was occupied with his laborious experiments.
+Although he considered his third machine to be the ne plus ultra of
+scientific mechanism, he nevertheless proceeded to construct a fourth
+timepiece, in the form of a pocket watch about five inches in diameter.
+He found the principles which he had adopted in his larger machines
+applied equally well in the smaller, and the performances of the last
+surpassed his utmost expectations.  But in the meantime, as his third
+timekeeper was, in his opinion, sufficient to supply the requirements
+of the Board of Longitude as respected the highest reward offered, he
+applied to the Commissioners for leave to try that instrument on board
+a royal ship to some port in the West Indies, as directed by the
+statute of Queen Anne.
+
+Though Harrison's third timekeeper was finished about the year 1758, it
+was not until March 12, 1761, that he received orders for his son
+William to proceed to Portsmouth, and go on board the Dorsetshire
+man-of-war, to proceed to Jamaica.  But another tedious delay occurred.
+The ship was ordered elsewhere, and William Harrison, after remaining
+five months at Portsmouth, returned to London.  By this time, John
+Harrison had finished his fourth timepiece--the small one, in the form
+of a watch.  At length William Harrison set sail with this timekeeper
+from Portsmouth for Jamaica, on November 18th, 1761, in the Deptford
+man-of-war.  The Deptford had forty-three ships in convoy, and arrived
+at Jamaica on the 19th of January, 1762, three days before the Beaver,
+another of His Majesty's ships-of-war, which had sailed from Portsmouth
+ten days before the Deptford, but had lost her reckoning and been
+deceived in her longitude, having trusted entirely to the log.
+Harrison's timepiece had corrected the log of the Deptford to the
+extent of three degrees of longitude, whilst several of the ships in
+the fleet lost as much as five degrees!  This shows the haphazard way
+in which navigation was conducted previous to the invention of the
+marine chronometer.
+
+When the Deptford arrived at Port Royal, Jamaica, the timekeeper was
+found to be only five and one tenth seconds in error; and during the
+voyage of four months, on its return to Portsmouth on March 26th, 1762,
+it was found (after allowing for the rate of gain or loss) to have
+erred only one minute fifty-four and a half seconds.  In the latitude
+of Portsmouth this only amounted to eighteen geographical miles,
+whereas the Act had awarded that the prize should be given where the
+longitude was determined within the distance of thirty geographical
+miles.  One would have thought that Harrison was now clearly entitled
+to his reward of 20,000L.
+
+Not at all!  The delays interposed by Government are long and tedious,
+and sometimes insufferable.  Harrison had accomplished more than was
+needful to obtain the highest reward which the Board of Longitude had
+publicly offered.  But they would not certify that he had won the
+prize.  On the contrary, they started numerous objections, and
+continued for years to subject him to vexatious delays and
+disappointments.  They pleaded that the previous determination of the
+longitude of Jamaica by astronomical observation was unsatisfactory;
+that there was no proof of the chronometer having maintained a uniform
+rate during the voyage; and on the 17th of August, 1762, they passed a
+resolution, stating that they "were of opinion that the experiments
+made of the watch had not been sufficient to determine the longitude at
+sea."
+
+It was accordingly necessary for Harrison to petition Parliament on the
+subject.  Three reigns had come and gone since the Act of Parliament
+offering the reward had been passed.  Anne had died; George I. and
+George II. had reigned and died; and now, in the reign of George
+III.--thirty-five years after Harrison had begun his labours, and after
+he had constructed four several marine chronometers, each of which was
+entitled to win the full prize,--an Act of Parliament was passed
+enabling the inventor to obtain the sum of 5000L. as part of the
+reward.  But the Commissioners still hesitated.  They differed about
+the tempering of the springs.  They must have another trial of the
+timekeeper, or anything with which to put off a settlement of the
+claim. Harrison was ready for any further number of trials; and in the
+meantime the Commissioners merely paid him a further sum on account.
+
+Two more dreary years passed.  Nothing was done in 1763 except a
+quantity of interminable talk at the Board of Commissioners.  At
+length, on the 28th of March, 1764, Harrison's son again departed with
+the timekeeper on board the ship Tartar for Barbadoes.  He returned in
+about four months, during which time the instrument enabled the
+longitude to be ascertained within ten miles, or one-third of the
+required geographical distance.  Harrison memorialised the
+Commissioners again and again, in order that he might obtain the reward
+publicly offered by the Government.
+
+At length the Commissioners could no longer conceal the truth. In
+September,1764, they virtually recognised Harrison's claim by paying
+him 1000L. on account; and, on the 9th of February,1765, they passed a
+resolution setting forth that they were "unanimously of opinion that
+the said timekeeper has kept its time with sufficient correctness,
+without losing its longitude in the voyage from Portsmouth to Barbadoes
+beyond the nearest limit required by the Act 12th of Queen Anne, but
+even considerably within the same."  Yet they would not give Harrison
+the necessary certificate, though they were of opinion that he was
+entitled to be paid the full reward!
+
+It is pleasant to contrast the generous conduct of the King of Sardinia
+with the procrastinating and illiberal spirit which Harrison met with
+in his own country.  During the same year in which the above resolution
+was passed, the Sardinian minister ordered four of Harrison's
+timekeepers at the price of 1000L. each, at the special instance of the
+King of Sardinia "as an acknowledgement of Mr. Harrison's ingenuity,
+and as some recompense for the time spent by him for the general good
+of mankind."  This grateful attention was all the more praiseworthy, as
+Sardinia could not in any way be regarded as a great maritime power.
+
+Harrison was now becoming old and feeble.  He had attained the age of
+seventy-four.  He had spent forty long years in working out his
+invention.  He was losing his eyesight, and could not afford to wait
+much longer.  Still he had to wait.
+
+  "Full little knowest thou, who hast not tried,
+  What hell it is in suing long to bide;
+  To lose good days, that might be better spent;
+  To waste long nights in pensive discontent;
+  To spend to-day, to be put back to-morrow,
+  To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow."
+
+But Harrison had not lost his spirit.  On May 30th, 1765, he addressed
+another remonstrance to the Board, containing much stronger language
+than he had yet used.  "I cannot help thinking," he said, "that I am
+extremely ill-used by gentlemen from whom I might have expected a
+different treatment; for, if the Act of the 12th of Queen Anne be
+deficient, why have I so long been encouraged under it, in order to
+bring my invention to perfection?  And, after the completion, why was
+my son sent twice to the West Indies?  Had it been said to my son, when
+he received the last instruction, 'There will, in case you succeed, be
+a new Act on your return, in order to lay you under new restrictions,
+which were not thought of in the Act of the 12th of Queen Anne,'--I
+say, had this been the case, I might have expected some such treatment
+as that I now meet with.
+
+"It must be owned that my case is very hard; but I hope I am the first,
+and for my country's sake I hope I shall be the last, to suffer by
+pinning my faith upon an English Act of Parliament. Had I received my
+just reward--for certainly it may be so called after forty years' close
+application of the talent which it has pleased God to give me--then my
+invention would have taken the course which all improvements in this
+world do; that is, I must have instructed workmen in its principles and
+execution, which I should have been glad of an opportunity of doing.
+But how widely different this is from what is now proposed, viz., for
+me to instruct people that I know nothing of, and such as may know
+nothing of mechanics; and, if I do not make them understand to their
+satisfaction, I may then have nothing!
+
+"Hard fate indeed to me, but still harder to the world, which may be
+deprived of this my invention, which must be the case, except by my
+open and free manner in describing all the principles of it to
+gentlemen and noblemen who almost at all times have had free recourse
+to my instruments.  And if any of these workmen have been so ingenious
+as to have got my invention, how far you may please to reward them for
+their piracy must be left for you to determine; and I must set myself
+down in old age, and thank God I can be more easy in that I have the
+conquest, and though I have no reward, than if I had come short of the
+matter and by some delusion had the reward!"
+
+The Right Honourable the Earl of Egmont was in the chair of the Board
+of Longitude on the day when this letter was read--June 13, 1765.  The
+Commissioners were somewhat startled by the tone which the inventor had
+taken.  Indeed, they were rather angry.  Mr. Harrison, who was in
+waiting, was called in.  After some rather hot speaking, and after a
+proposal was made to Harrison which he said he would decline to accede
+to "so long as a drop of English blood remained in his body," he left
+the room.  Matters were at length arranged.  The Act of Parliament (5
+Geo. III. cap. 20) awarded him, upon a full discovery of the principles
+of his time-keeper, the payment of such a sum, as with the 2500L. he
+had already received, would make one half of the reward; and the
+remaining half was to be paid when other chronometers had been made
+after his design, and their capabilities fully proved.  He was also
+required to assign his four chronometers--one of which was styled a
+watch--to the use of the public.
+
+Harrison at once proceeded to give full explanations of the principles
+of his chronometer to Dr. Maskelyne, and six other gentlemen, who had
+been appointed to receive them.  He took his timekeeper to pieces in
+their presence, and deposited in their hands correct drawings of the
+same, with the parts, so that other skilful makers might construct
+similar chronometers on the same principles.  Indeed, there was no
+difficulty in making them; after his explanations and drawings had been
+published.  An exact copy of his last watch was made by the ingenious
+Mr. Kendal; and was used by Captain Cook in his three years'
+circumnavigation of the world, to his perfect satisfaction.
+
+England had already inaugurated that series of scientific expeditions
+which were to prove so fruitful of results, and to raise her naval
+reputation to so great a height.  In these expeditions, the officers,
+the sailors, and the scientific men, were constantly brought face to
+face with unforeseen difficulties and dangers, which brought forth
+their highest qualities as men. There was, however, some intermixture
+of narrowness in the minds of those who sent them forth.  For instance,
+while Dr. Priestley was at Leeds, he was asked by Sir Joseph Banks to
+join Captain Cook's second expedition to the Southern Seas, as an
+astronomer. Priestley gave his assent, and made arrangements to set
+out.  But some weeks later, Banks informed him that his appointment had
+been cancelled, as the Board of Longitude objected to his theology.
+Priestley's otherwise gentle nature was roused.  "What I am, and what
+they are, in respect of religion," he wrote to Banks, in December,
+1771, "might easily have been known before the thing was proposed to me
+at all.  Besides, I thought that this had been a business of
+philosophy, and not of divinity.  If, however, this be the case, I
+shall hold the Board of Longitude in extreme contempt."
+
+Captain Cook was appointed to the command of the Resolution, and
+Captain Wallis to the command of the Adventure, in November, 1771.
+They proceeded to equip the ships; and amongst the other instruments
+taken on board Captain Cook's ship, were two timekeepers, one made by
+Mr. Larcum Kendal, on Mr. Harrison's principles, and the other by Mr.
+John Arnold, on his own.  The expedition left Deptford in April, 1772;
+and shortly afterwards sailed for the South Seas.  "Mr. Kendal's watch"
+is the subject of frequent notices in Captain Cook's account.  At the
+Cape of Good Hope, it is said to have "answered beyond all
+expectation." Further south, in the neighbourhood of Cape Circumcision,
+he says, "the use of the telescope is found difficult at first, but a
+little practice will make it familiar.  By the assistance of the watch
+we shall be able to discover the greatest error this method of
+observing the longitude at sea is liable to."  It was found that
+Harrison's watch was more correct than Arnold's, and when near Cape
+Palliser in New Zealand, Cook says, "this day at noon, when we attended
+the winding-up of the watches, the fusee of Mr. Arnold's would not turn
+round, so that after several unsuccessful trials we were obliged to let
+it go down."  From this time, complete reliance was placed upon
+Harrison's chronometer.  Some time later, Cook says, "I must here take
+notice that our longitude can never be erroneous while we have so good
+a guide as Mr. Kendal's watch."  It may be observed, that at the
+beginning of the voyage, observations were made by the lunar tables;
+but these, being found unreliable, were eventually discontinued.
+
+To return to Harrison.  He continued to be worried by official
+opposition.  His claims were still unsatisfied.  His watch at home
+underwent many more trials.  Dr. Maskelyne, the Royal Astronomer, was
+charged with being unfavourable to the success of chronometers, being
+deeply interested in finding the longitude by lunar tables; although
+this method is now almost entirely superseded by the chronometer.
+Harrison accordingly could not get the certificate of what was due to
+him under the Act of Parliament.  Years passed before he could obtain
+the remaining amount of his reward.  It was not until the year 1773, or
+forty-five years after the commencement of his experiments, that he
+succeeded in obtaining it.  The following is an entry in the list of
+supplies granted by Parliament in that year: "June 14. To John
+Harrison, as a further reward and encouragement over and above the sums
+already received by him, for his invention of a timekeeper for
+ascertaining the longitude at sea, and his discovery of the principles
+upon which the same was constructed, 8570 pounds 0s. 0d."
+
+John Harrison did not long survive the settlement of his claims; for he
+died on the 24th of March, 1776, at the age of eighty-three.  He was
+buried at the south-west corner of Hampstead parish churchyard, where a
+tombstone was erected to his memory, and an inscription placed upon it
+commemorating his services.  His wife survived him only a year; she
+died at seventy-two, and was buried in the same tomb.  His son, William
+Harrison, F.R.S., a deputy-lientenant of the counties of Monmouth and
+Middlesex, died in 1815, at the ripe age of eighty-eight, and was also
+interred there.  The tomb having stood for more than a century, became
+somewhat dilapidated; when the Clock-makers' Company of the City of
+London took steps in 1879 to reconstruct it, and recut the
+inscriptions.  An appropriate ceremony took place at the final
+uncovering of the tomb.
+
+But perhaps the most interesting works connected with John Harrison and
+the great labour of his life, are the wooden clock at the South
+Kensington Museum, and the four chronometers made by him for the
+Government, which are still preserved at the Royal Observatory,
+Greenwich.  The three early ones are of great weight, and can scarcely
+be moved without some bodily labour. But the fourth, the marine
+chronometer or watch, is of small dimensions, and is easily handled.
+It still possesses the power of going accurately; as does "Mr. Kendal's
+watch," which was made exactly after it.  These will always prove the
+best memorials of this distinguished workman.
+
+Before concluding this brief notice of the life and labours of John
+Harrison, it becomes me to thank most cordially Mr. Christie,
+Astronomer-Royal, for his kindness in exhibiting the various
+chronometers deposited at the Greenwich Observatory, and for his
+permission to inspect the minutes of the Board of Longitude, where the
+various interviews between the inventor and the commissioners,
+extending over many years, are faithfully but too procrastinatingly
+recorded.  It may be finally said of John Harrison, that by his
+invention of the chronometer--the ever-sleepless and ever-trusty friend
+of the mariner--he conferred an incalculable benefit on science and
+navigation, and established his claim to be regarded as one of the
+greatest benefactors of mankind.
+
+POstscript.--In addition to the information contained in this chapter,
+I have been recently informed by the Rev. Mr. Sankey, vicar of Wragby,
+that the family is quite extinct in the parish, except the wife of a
+plumber, who claims relationship with Harrison.  The representative of
+the Winn family was created Lord St. Oswald in 1885.  Harrison is not
+quite forgotten at Foulby. The house in which he was born was a low
+thatched cottage, with two rooms, one used as a living room, and the
+other as a sleeping room.  The house was pulled down about forty years
+ago; but the entrance door, being of strong, hard wood, is still
+preserved. The vicar adds that young Harrison would lie out on the
+grass all night in summer time, studying the details of his wooden
+clock.
+
+
+Footnotes to Chapter III.
+
+[1] Originally published in Longmam's Magazine, but now rewritten and
+enlarged.
+
+[2] Popular Astronomy.  By Simon Newcomb, LL.D., Professor U.S. Naval
+Observatory.
+
+[3] Biographia Britannica, vol. vi. part 2, p. 4375.  This volume was
+published in 1766, before the final reward had been granted to Harrison.
+
+[4] This clock is in the possession of Abraham Riley, of Bromley, near
+Leeds.  He informs us that the clock is made of wood throughout,
+excepting the escapement and the dial, which are made of brass.  It
+bears the mark of "John Harrison, 1713."
+
+[5] Harrison's compensation pendulum was afterwards improved by Arnold,
+Earnshaw, and other English makers.  Dent's prismatic balance is now
+considered the best.
+
+[6] See Mr. Folkes's speech to the Royal Soc., 30th Nov., 1749.
+
+[7] No trustworthy lunar tables existed at that time.  It was not until
+the year 1753 that Tobias Mayer, a German, published the first lunar
+tables which could be relied upon.  For this, the British Government
+afterwards awarded to Mayer's widow the sum of 5000L.
+
+[8] Sir Isaac Newton gave his design to Edmund Halley, then
+Astronomer-Royal.  Halley laid it on one side, and it was found among
+his papers after his death in 1742, twenty-five years after the death
+of Newton.  A similar omission was made by Sir G. B. Airy, which led to
+the discovery of Neptune being attributed to Leverrier instead of to
+Adams.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+JOHN LOMBE: INTRODUCER OF THE SILK INDUSTRY INTO ENGLAND.
+
+"By Commerce are acquired the two things which wise men accompt of all
+others the most necessary to the well-being of a Commonwealth: That is
+to say, a general Industry of Mind and Hardiness of Body, which never
+fail to be accompanyed with Honour and Plenty.  So that, questionless,
+when Commerce does not flourish, as well as other Professions, and when
+Particular Persons out of a habit of Laziness neglect at once the
+noblest way of employing their time and the fairest occasion for
+advancing their fortunes, that Kingdom, though otherwise never so
+glorious, wants something of being compleatly happy."--A Treatise
+touching the East India Trade (1695).
+
+Industry puts an entirely new face upon the productions of nature.  By
+labour man has subjugated the world, reduced it to his dominion, and
+clothed the earth with a new garment.  The first rude plough that man
+thrust into the soil, the first rude axe of stone with which he felled
+the pine, the first rude canoe scooped by him from its trunk to cross
+the river and reach the greener fields beyond, were each the outcome of
+a human faculty which brought within his reach some physical comfort he
+had never enjoyed before.
+
+Material things became subject to the influence of labour.  From the
+clay of the ground, man manufactured the vessels which were to contain
+his food.  Out of the fleecy covering of sheep, he made clothes for
+himself of many kinds; from the flax plant he drew its fibres, and made
+linen and cambric; from the hemp plant he made ropes and fishing nets;
+from the cotton pod he fabricated fustians, dimities, and calicoes.
+From the rags of these, or from weed and the shavings of wood, he made
+paper on which books and newspapers were printed.  Lead was formed by
+him into printer's type, for the communication of knowledge without end.
+
+But the most extraordinary changes of all were made in a heavy stone
+containing metal, dug out of the ground.  With this, when smelted by
+wood or coal, and manipulated by experienced skill, iron was produced.
+From this extraordinary metal, the soul of every manufacture, and the
+mainspring perhaps of civilised society--arms, hammers, and axes were
+made; then knives, scissors, and needles; then machinery to hold and
+control the prodigious force of steam; and eventually railroads and
+locomotives, ironclads propelled by the screw, and iron and steel
+bridges miles in length.
+
+The silk manufacture, though originating in the secretion of a tiny
+caterpillar, is perhaps equally extraordinary.  Hundreds of thousands
+of pounds weight of this slender thread, no thicker than the filaments
+spun by a spider, give employment to millions of workers throughout the
+world.  Silk, and the many textures wrought from this beautiful
+material, had long been known in the East; but the period cannot be
+fixed when man first divested the chrysalis of its dwelling, and
+discovered that the little yellow ball which adhered to the leaf of the
+mulberry tree, could be evolved into a slender filament, from which
+tissues of endless variety and beauty could be made.  The Chinese were
+doubtless among the first who used the thread spun by the silkworm for
+the purposes of clothing.  The manufacture went westward from China to
+India and Persia, and from thence to Europe.  Alexander the Great
+brought home with him a store of rich silks from Persia Aristotle and
+Pliny give descriptions of the industrious little worm and its
+productions.  Virgil is the first of the Roman writers who alludes to
+the production of silk in China; and the terms he employs show how
+little was then known about the article.  It was introduced at Rome
+about the time of Julius Caesar, who displayed a profusion of silks in
+some of his magnificent theatrical spectacles.  Silk was so valuable
+that it was then sold for an equal weight of gold.  Indeed, a law was
+passed that no man should disgrace himself by wearing a silken garment.
+The Emperor Heliogabalus despised the law, and wore a dress composed
+wholly of silk.  The example thus set was followed by wealthy citizens.
+A demand for silk from the East soon became general.
+
+It was not until about the middle of the sixth century that two Persian
+monks, who had long resided in China, and made themselves acquainted
+with the mode of rearing the silkworm, succeeded in carrying the eggs
+of the insect to Constantinople.  Under their direction they were
+hatched and fed.  A sufficient number of butterflies were saved to
+propagate the race, and mulberry trees were planted to afford
+nourishment to the rising generations of caterpillars.  Thus the
+industry was propagated.  It spread into the Italian peninsula; and
+eventually manufactures of silk velvet, damask, and satin became
+established in Venice, Milan, Florence, Lucca, and other places.
+
+Indeed, for several centuries the manufacture of silk in Europe was for
+the most part confined to Italy.  The rearing of silkworms was of great
+importance in Modena, and yielded a considerable revenue to the State.
+The silk produced there was esteemed the best in Lombardy.  Until the
+beginning of the sixteenth century, Bologna was the only city which
+possessed proper "throwing" mills, or the machinery requisite for
+twisting and preparing silken fibres for the weaver.  Thousands of
+people were employed at Florence and Genoa about the same time in the
+silk manufacture.  And at Venice it was held in such high esteem, that
+the business of a silk factory was considered a noble employment.[1]
+
+It was long before the use of silk became general in England. "Silk,"
+said an old writer, "does not immediately come hither from the Worm
+that spins and makes it, but passes many a Climate, travels many a
+Desert, employs many a Hand, loads many a Camel, and freights many a
+Ship before it arrives here; and when at last it comes, it is in return
+for other manufactures, or in exchange for our money."[2]  It is said
+that the first pair of silk stockings was brought into England from
+Spain, and presented to Henry VIII.  He had before worn hose of cloth.
+In the third year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, her tiring woman, Mrs.
+Montagu, presented her with a pair of black silk stockings as a New
+Year's gift; whereupon her Majesty asked if she could have any more, in
+which case she would wear no more cloth stockings.  When James VI. of
+Scotland received the ambassadors sent to congratulate him upon his
+accession to the throne of Great Britain, he asked one of his lords to
+lend him his pair of silken hose, that he "might not appear a scrub
+before  strangers."  From these circumstances it will be observed how
+rare the wearing of silk was in England.
+
+Shortly after becoming king, James I. endeavoured to establish the silk
+manufacture in England, as had already been successfully done in
+France.  He gave every encouragement to the breeding of silkworms.  He
+sent circular letters to all the counties of England, strongly
+recommending the inhabitants to plant mulberry trees.  The trees were
+planted in many places, but the leaves did not ripen in sufficient time
+for the sustenance of the silkworms.
+
+The same attempt was made at Inneshannon, near Bandon, in Ireland, by
+the Hugnenot refugees, but proved abortive.  The climate proved too
+cold or damp for the rearing of silkworms with advantage.  All that
+remains is "The Mulberry Field," which still retains its name.
+Nevertheless the Huguenots successfully established the silk
+manufacture at London and Dublin, obtaining the spun silk from abroad.
+
+Down to the beginning of last century, the Italians were the principal
+producers of organzine or thrown silk; and for a long time they
+succeeded in keeping their art a secret.  Although the silk
+manufacture, as we have seen, was introduced into this country by the
+Huguenot artizans, the price of thrown silk was so great that it
+interfered very considerably with its progress. Organzine was
+principally made within the dominions of Savoy, by means of a large and
+curious engine, the like of which did not exist elsewhere.  The
+Italians, by the most severe laws, long preserved the mystery of the
+invention.  The punishment prescribed by one of their laws to be
+inflicted upon anyone who discovered the secret, or attempted to carry
+it out of the Sardinian dominions, was death, with the forfeiture of
+all the goods the delinquent possessed; and the culprit was "to be
+afterwards painted on the outside of the prison walls, hanging to the
+gallows by one foot, with an inscription denoting the name and crime of
+the person, there to be continued for a perpetual mark of infamy."[3]
+
+Nevertheless, a bold and ingenious man was found ready to brave all
+this danger in the endeavour to discover the secret.  It may be
+remembered with what courage and determination the founder of the Foley
+family introduced the manufacture of nails into England.  He went into
+the Danemora mine district, near Upsala in Sweden, fiddling his way
+among the miners; and after making two voyages, he at last wrested from
+them the secret of making nails, and introduced the new industry into
+the Staffordshire district.[4]  The courage of John Lombe, who
+introduced the thrown-silk industry into England, was equally notable.
+He was a native of Norwich.  Playfair, in his 'Family Antiquity' (vii.
+312), says his name "may have been taken from the French Lolme, or de
+Lolme," as there were many persons of French and Flemish origin settled
+at Norwich towards the close of the sixteenth century; but there is no
+further information as to his special origin.
+
+John Lombe's father, Henry Lombe, was a worsted weaver, and was twice
+married.  By his first wife he had two sons, Thomas and Henry; and by
+his second, he had also two sons, Benjamin and John.  At his death in
+1695, he left his two brothers his "supervisors," or trustees, and
+directed them to educate his children in due time to some useful trade.
+Thomas, the eldest son, went to London.  He was apprenticed to a trade,
+and succeeded in business, as we find him Sheriff of London and
+Middlesex in 1727, when in his forty-second year.  He was also knighted
+in the same year, most probably on the accession of George II. to the
+throne.
+
+John, the youngest son of the family, and half-brother of Thomas, was
+put an apprentice to a trade.  In 1702, we find him at Derby, working
+as a mechanic with one Mr. Crotchet.  This unfortunate gentleman
+started a small silk-mill at Derby, with the object of participating in
+the profits derived from the manufacture.
+
+"The wear of silks," says Hutton, in his 'History of Derby,' "was the
+taste of the ladies, and the British merchant was obliged to apply to
+the Italian with ready money for the article at an exorbitant price."
+Crotchet did not succeed in his undertaking. "Three engines were found
+necessary for the process:  he had but one.  An untoward trade is a
+dreadful sink for money; and an imprudent tradesman is still more
+dreadful.  We often see instances where a fortune would last a man much
+longer if he lived upon his capital, than if he sent it into trade.
+Crotchet soon became insolvent."
+
+John Lombe, who had been a mechanic in Crotchet's silk mill, lost his
+situation accordingly.  But he seems to have been possessed by an
+intense desire to ascertain the Italian method of silk-throwing.  He
+could not learn it in England.  There was no other method but going to
+Italy, getting into a silk mill, and learning the secret of the Italian
+art.  He was a good mechanic and a clever draughtsman, besides being
+intelligent and fearless.
+
+But he had not the necessary money wherewith to proceed to Italy.
+
+His half-brother Thomas, however, was doing well in London, and was
+willing to help him with the requisite means.  Accordingly, John set
+out for Italy, not long after the failure of Crotchet.
+
+John Lombe succeeded in getting employment in a silk mill in Piedmont,
+where the art of silk-throwing was kept a secret.  He was employed as a
+mechanic, and had thus an opportunity, in course of time, of becoming
+familiar with the operation of the engine.  Hutton says that he bribed
+the workmen; but this would have been a dangerous step, and would
+probably have led to his expulsion, if not to his execution.  Hutton
+had a great detestation of the first silk factory at Derby, where he
+was employed when a boy; and everything that he says about it must be
+taken cum grano salis.  When the subject of renewing the patent was
+before Parliament in 1731, Mr. Perry, who supported the petition of Sir
+Thomas Lombe, said that "the art had been kept so secret in Piedmont,
+that no other nation could ever yet come at the invention, and that Sir
+Thomas and his brother resolved to make an attempt for the bringing of
+this invention into their own country.  They knew that there would be
+great difficulty and danger in the undertaking, because the king of
+Sardinia had made it death for any man to discover this invention, or
+attempt to carry it out of his dominions.  The petitioner's brother,
+however, resolved to venture his person for the benefit and advantage
+of his native country, and Sir Thomas was resolved to venture his
+money, and to furnish his brother with whatever sums should be
+necessary for executing so bold and so generous a design.  His brother
+went accordingly over to Italy; and after a long stay and a great
+expense in that country, he found means to see this engine so often,
+and to pry into the nature of it so narrowly, that he made himself
+master of the whole invention and of all the different parts and
+motions belonging to it."
+
+John Lombe was absent from England for several years.  While occupied
+with his investigations and making his drawings, it is said that it
+began to be rumoured that the Englishman was prying into the secret of
+the silk mill, and that he had to fly for his life.  However this may
+be, he got on board an English ship, and returned to England in safety.
+He brought two Italian workmen with him, accustomed to the secrets of
+the silk trade.  He arrived in London in 1716, when, after conferring
+with his brother, a specification was prepared and a patent for the
+organzining of raw silk was taken out in 1718.  The patent was granted
+for fourteen years.
+
+In the meantime, John Lombe arranged with the Corporation of the town
+of Derby for taking a lease of the island or swamp on the river
+Derwent, at a ground rental of 8L. a year.  The island, which was well
+situated for water-power, was 500 feet long and 52 feet wide.
+Arrangements were at once made for erecting a silk mill thereon, the
+first large factory in England.  It was constructed entirely at the
+expense of his brother Thomas.  While the building was in progress,
+John Lombe hired various rooms in Derby, and particularly the Town
+Hall, where he erected temporary engines turned by hand, and gave
+employment to a large number of poor people.
+
+At length, after about three years' labour, the great silk mill was
+completed.  It was founded upon huge piles of oak, from 16 to 20 feet
+long, driven into the swamp close to each other by an engine made for
+the purpose.  The building was five stories high, contained eight large
+apartments, and had no fewer than 468 windows.  The Lombes must have
+had great confidence in their speculation, as the building and the
+great engine for making the organzine silk, together with the other
+fittings, cost them about 30,000L.
+
+One effect of the working of the mill was greatly to reduce the price
+of the thrown-silk, and to bring it below the cost of the Italian
+production.  The King of Sardinia, having heard of the success of the
+Lombe's undertaking, prohibited the exportation of Piedmontese raw
+silk, which interrupted the course of their prosperity, until means
+were taken to find a renewed supply elsewhere.
+
+And now comes the tragic part of the story, for which Mr. Hutton, the
+author of the 'History of Derby,' is responsible.  As he worked in the
+silk mill when a boy, from 1730 to 1737, he doubtless heard it from the
+mill-hands, and there may be some truth in it, though mixed with a
+little romance.  It is this:--
+
+Hutton says of John Lombe, that he "had not pursued this lucrative
+commerce more than three or four years when the Italians, who felt the
+effects from their want of trade, determined his destruction, and hoped
+that that of his works would follow.  An artful woman came over in the
+character of a friend, associated with the parties, and assisted in the
+business.  She attempted to gain both the Italian workmen, and
+succeeded with one.  By these two slow poison was supposed, and perhaps
+justly, to have been administered to John Lombe, who lingered two or
+three years in agony, and departed.  The Italian ran away to his own
+country; and Madam was interrogated, but nothing transpired, except
+what strengthened suspicion."  A strange story, if true.
+
+Of the funeral, Hutton says:--"John Lombe's was the most superb ever
+known in Derby.  A man of peaceable deportment, who had brought a
+beneficial manufactory into the place, employed the poor, and at
+advanced wages, could not fail meeting with respect, and his melancholy
+end with pity.  Exclusive of the gentlemen who attended, all the people
+concerned in the works were invited. The procession marched in pairs,
+and extended the length of Full Street, the market-place, and
+Iron-gate; so that when the corpse entered All Saints, at St. Mary's
+Gate, the last couple left the house of the deceased, at the corner of
+Silk-mill Lane."
+
+Thus John Lombe died and was buried at the early age of twenty-nine;
+and Thomas, the capitalist, continued the owner of the Derby silk mill.
+Hutton erroneously states that William succeeded, and that he shot
+himself.  The Lombes had no brother of the name of William, and this
+part of Hutton's story is a romance.
+
+The affairs of the Derby silk mill went on prosperously.  Enough thrown
+silk was manufactured to supply the trade, and the weaving of silk
+became a thriving business.  Indeed, English silk began to have a
+European reputation.  In olden times it was said that "the stranger
+buys of the Englishman the case of the fox for a groat, and sells him
+the tail again for a shilling."  But now the matter was reversed, and
+the saying was, "The Englishman buys silk of the stranger for twenty
+marks, and sells him the same again for one hundred pounds."
+
+But the patent was about to expire.  It had been granted for only
+fourteen years; and a long time had elapsed before the engine could be
+put in operation, and the organzine manufactured.  It was the only
+engine in the kingdom.  Joshua Gee, writing in 1731, says:  "As we have
+but one Water Engine in the kingdom for throwing silk, if that should
+be destroyed by fire or any other accident, it would make the
+continuance of throwing fine silk very precarious; and it is very much
+to be doubted whether all the men now living in the kingdom could make
+another."  Gee accordingly recommended that three or four more should
+be erected at the public expense, "according to the model of that at
+Derby."[5]
+
+The patent expired in 1732.  The year before, Sir Thomas Lombe, who had
+been by this time knighted, applied to Parliament for a prolongation of
+the patent.  The reasons for his appeal were principally these: that
+before he could provide for the full supply of other silk proper for
+his purpose (the Italians having prohibited the exportation of raw
+silk), and before he could alter his engine, train up a sufficient
+number of workpeople, and bring the manufacture to perfection, almost
+all the fourteen years of his patent right would have expired.
+"Therefore," the petition to Parliament concluded, "as he has not
+hitherto received the intended benefit of the aforesaid patent, and in
+consideration of the extraordinary nature of this undertaking, the very
+great expense, hazard, and difficulty he has undergone, as well as the
+advantage he has thereby procured to the nation at his own expense, the
+said Sir Thomas Lombe humbly hopes that Parliament will grant him a
+further term for the sole making and using his engines, or such other
+recompense as in their wisdom shall seem meet."[6]
+
+The petition was referred to a Committee.  After consideration, they
+recommended the House of Commons to grant a further term of years to
+Sir Thomas Lombe.  The advisers of the King, however, thought it better
+that the patent should not be renewed, but that the trade in silk
+should be thrown free to all.  Accordingly the Chancellor of the
+Exchequer acquainted the House (14th March, 1731) that "His Majesty
+having been informed of the case of Sir Thomas Lombe, with respect to
+his engine for making organzine silk, had commanded him to acquaint
+this House, that His Majesty recommended to their consideration the
+making such provision for a recompense to Sir Thomas Lombe as they
+shall think proper."
+
+The result was, that the sum of 14,000L. was voted and paid to Sir
+Thomas Lombe as "a reward for his eminent services done to the nation,
+in discovering with the greatest hazard and difficulty the capital
+Italian engines, and introducing and bringing the same to full
+perfection in this kingdom, at his own great expense."[7]  The trade
+was accordingly thrown open.  Silk mills were erected at Stockport and
+elsewhere; Hutton says that divers additional mills were erected in
+Derby; and a large and thriving trade was established.  In 1850, the
+number employed in the silk manufacture exceeded a million persons.
+The old mill has recently become disused.  Although supported by strong
+wooden supports, it showed signs of falling; and it was replaced by a
+larger mill, more suitable to modern requirements.
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter IV.
+
+[1] "This was equally the case with two other trades;--those of
+glass-maker and druggist, which brought no contamination upon nobility
+in Venice.  In a country where wealth was concentrated in the hands of
+the powerful, it was no doubt highly judicious thus to encourage its
+employment for objects of public advantage. A feeling, more or less
+powerful, has always existed in the minds of the high-born, against the
+employment of their time and wealth to purposes of commerce or
+manufactures.  All trades, save only that of war, seem to have been
+held by them as in some sort degrading, and but little comporting with
+the dignity of aristocratic blood." Cabinet Cyclopedia--Silk
+Manufacture, p. 20.
+
+[2] A Brief State of the Inland or Home Trade. (Pamphlet.) 1730.
+
+[3] A Brief State of the Case relating to the Machine erected at Derby
+for making Italian Organzine Silk, which was discovered and brought
+into England with the utmost difficulty and hazard, and at the Sole
+Expense of Sir Thomas Lombe.  House of Commons Paper, 28th January,
+1731.
+
+[4] Self-Help, p. 205.
+
+[5] The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain considered, p. 94.
+
+[6] The petition sets forth the merits of the machine at Derby for
+making Italian organzine silk--"a manufacture made out of fine raw
+silk, by reducing it to a hard twisted fine and even thread.  This silk
+makes the warp, and is absolutely necessary to mix with and cover the
+Turkey and other coarser silks thrown here, which are used for
+Shute,--so that, without a constant supply of this fine Italian
+organzine silk, very little of the said Turkey or other silks could be
+used, nor could the silk weaving trade be carried on in England.  This
+Italian organzine (or thrown) silk has in all times past been bought
+with our money, ready made (or worked) in Italy, for want of the art of
+making it here.  Whereas now, by making it ourselves out of fine
+Italian raw silk, the nation saves near one-third part; and by what we
+make out of fine China raw silk, above one-half of the price we pay for
+it ready worked in Italy.  The machine at Derby contains 97,746 wheels,
+movements, and individual parts (which work day and night), all which
+receive their motion from one large water-wheel, are governed by one
+regulator, and it employs about 300 persons to attend and supply it
+with work." In Bees Cyclopaedia (art. 'Silk Manufacture') there is a
+full description of the Piedmont throwing machine introduced to England
+by John Lombe, with a good plate of it.
+
+[7] Sir Thomas Lombe died in 1738.  He had two daughters.  The first,
+Hannah, was married to Sir Robert Clifton, of Clifton, co. Notts; the
+second, Mary Turner, was married to James, 7th Earl of Lauderdale.  In
+his will, he "recommends his wife, at the conclusion of the Darby
+concern," to distribute among his "principal servants or managers five
+or six hundred pounds."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+WILLIAM MURDOCK: HIS LIFE AND INVENTIONS.
+
+"Justice exacts, that those by whom we are most benefited Should be
+most admired."--Dr. Johnson.
+
+"The beginning of civilization is the discovery of some useful arts, by
+which men acquire property, comforts, or luxuries.  The necessity  or
+desire of preserving them leads to laws and social institutions... In
+reality, the origin as well as the progress and improvement of civil
+society is founded on mechanical and chemical inventions."--Sir Humphry
+Davy.
+
+At the middle of last century, Scotland was a very poor country. It
+consisted mostly of mountain and moorland; and the little arable land
+it contained was badly cultivated.  Agriculture was almost a lost art.
+"Except in a few instances," says a writer in the 'Farmers' Magazine'
+of 1803, "Scotland was little better than a barren waste."  Cattle
+could with difficulty be kept alive; and the people in some parts of
+the country were often on the brink of starvation.  The people were
+hopeless, miserable, and without spirit, like the Irish in their very
+worst times.  After the wreck of the Darien expedition, there seemed to
+be neither skill, enterprise, nor money left in the country.  What
+resources it contained were altogether undeveloped.  There was little
+communication between one place and another, and such roads as existed
+were for the greater part of the year simply impassable.
+
+There were various opinions as to the causes of this frightful state of
+things.  Some thought it was the Union between England and Scotland;
+and Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, "The Patriot," as he was called, urged
+its Repeal.  In one of his publications, he endeavoured to show that
+about one-sixth of the population of Scotland was in a state of
+beggary--two hundred thousand vagabonds begging from door to door, or
+robbing and plundering people as poor as themselves.[1] Fletcher was
+accordingly as great a repealer as Daniel O'Connell in after times.
+But he could not get the people to combine.  There were others who held
+a different opinion.  They thought that something might be done by the
+people themselves to extricate the country from its miserable condition.
+
+It still possessed some important elements of prosperity.  The
+inhabitants of Scotland, though poor, were strong and able to work.
+The land, though cold and sterile, was capable of cultivation.
+
+Accordingly, about the middle of last century, some important steps
+were taken to improve the general condition of things.  A few
+public-spirited landowners led the way, and formed themselves into a
+society for carrying out improvements in agriculture. They granted long
+leases of farms as a stimulus to the most skilled and industrious, and
+found it to their interest to give the farmer a more permanent interest
+in his improvements than he had before enjoyed.  Thus stimulated and
+encouraged, farming made rapid progress, especially in the Lothians;
+and the example spread into other districts.  Banks were established
+for the storage of capital.  Roads were improved, and communications
+increased between one part of the country and another.  Hence trade and
+commerce arose, by reason of the facilities afforded for the
+interchange of traffic.  The people, being fairly educated by the
+parish schools, were able to take advantage of these improvements.
+Sloth and idleness gradually disappeared, before the energy, activity,
+and industry which were called into life by the improved communications.
+
+At the same time, active and powerful minds were occupied in extending
+the domain of knowledge.  Black and Robison, of Glasgow, were the
+precursors of James Watt, whose invention of the condensing
+steam-engine was yet to produce a revolution in industrial operations,
+the like of which had never before been known.  Watt had hit upon his
+great idea while experimenting with an old Newcomen model which
+belonged to the University of Glasgow.  He was invited by Mr. Roebuck
+of Kinneil to make a working steam-engine for the purpose of pumping
+water from the coal-pits at Boroughstoness; but his progress was
+stopped by want of capital, as well as by want of experience.  It was
+not until the brave and generous Matthew Boulton of Birmingham took up
+the machine, and backed Watt with his capital and his spirit, that
+Watt's enterprise had the remotest chance of success.  Even after about
+twelve years' effort, the condensing steam-engine was only beginning,
+though half-heartedly, to be taken up and employed by colliery
+proprietors and cotton manufacturers.  In developing its powers, and
+extending its uses, the great merits of William Murdock can never be
+forgotten.  Watt stands first in its history, as the inventor; Boulton
+second, as its promoter and supporter; and Murdock third, as its
+developer and improver.
+
+William Murdock was born on the 21st of August, 1754, at Bellow Mill,
+in the parish of Auchinleck, Ayrshire.  His father, John, was a miller
+and millwright, as well as a farmer.  His mother's maiden name was
+Bruce, and she used to boast of being descended from Robert Bruce, the
+deliverer of Scotland.  The Murdocks, or Murdochs--for the name was
+spelt in either way--were numerous in the neighbourhood, and they were
+nearly all related to each other.  They are supposed to have originally
+come into the district from Flanders, between which country and
+Scotland a considerable intercourse existed in the middle ages.  Some
+of the Murdocks took a leading part in the construction of the abbeys
+and cathedrals of the North;[2] others were known as mechanics; but the
+greater number were farmers.
+
+One of the best known members of the family was John Murdock, the poet
+Burns' first teacher.  Burns went to his school at Alloway Mill, when
+he was six years old.  There he learnt to read and write.  When Murdock
+afterwards set up a school at Ayr, Burns, who was then fifteen, went to
+board with him.  In a letter to a correspondent, Murdock said:  "In
+1773, Robert Burns came to board and lodge with me, for the purpose of
+revising his English grammar, that he might be better qualified to
+instruct his brothers and sisters at home.  He was now with me day and
+night, in school, at all meals, and in all my walks."  The pupil even
+shared the teacher's bed at night.  Murdock lent the boy books, and
+helped the cultivation of his mind in many ways.  Burns soon revised
+his English grammar, and learnt French, as well as a little Latin.
+Some time after, Murdock removed to London, and had the honour of
+teaching Talleyrand English during his residence as an emigrant in this
+country.  He continued to have the greatest respect for his former
+pupil, whose poetry commemorated the beauties of his native district.
+
+It may be mentioned that Bellow Mill is situated on the Bellow Water,
+near where it joins the river Lugar.  One of Burns' finest songs
+begins:--
+
+   "Behind yon hills where Lugar flows."
+
+That was the scene of William Murdock's boyhood.  When a boy, he herded
+his father's cows along the banks of the Bellow; and as there were then
+no hedges, it was necessary to have some one to watch the cattle while
+grazing.  The spot  is still pointed out where the boy, in the
+intervals of his herding, hewed a square compartment out of the rock by
+the water side, and there burnt the splint coal found on the top of the
+Black Band ironstone. That was one of the undeveloped industries of
+Scotland; for the Scotch iron trade did not arrive at any considerable
+importance until about a century later.[3]  The little cavern in which
+Murdock burnt the splint coal was provided with a fireplace and vent,
+all complete.  It is possible that he may have there derived, from his
+experiments, the first idea of Gas as an illuminant.
+
+Murdock is also said to have made a wooden horse, worked by mechanical
+power, which was the wonder of the district.  On this mechanical horse
+he rode to the village of Cumnock, about two miles distant.  His
+father's name is, however, associated with his own in the production of
+this machine.  Old John Murdock had a reputation for intelligence and
+skill of no ordinary kind. When at Carron ironworks, in 1760, he had a
+pinton cast after a pattern which he had prepared.  This is said to
+have been the first piece of iron-toothed gearing ever used in mill
+work.  When I last saw it, the pinton was placed on the lawn in front
+of William Murdock's villa at Handsworth.
+
+The young man helped his father in many ways.  He worked in the mill,
+worked on the farm, and assisted in the preparation of mill machinery.
+In this way he obtained a considerable amount of general technical
+knowledge.  He even designed and constructed bridges.  He was employed
+to build a bridge over the river Nith, near Dumfries, and it stands
+there to this day, a solid and handsome structure.  But he had an
+ambition to be something more than a country mason.  He had heard a
+great deal about the inventions of James Watt; and he determined to try
+whether he could not get "a job" at the famous manufactory at Soho.  He
+accordingly left his native place in the year 1777, in the twenty-third
+year of his age; and migrated southward.  He left plenty of Murdocks
+behind him.  There was a famous staff in the family, originally owned
+by William Murdock's grandfather, which bore the following inscription:
+"This staff I leave in pedigree to the oldest Murdock after me, in the
+parish of Auchenleck, 1745."  This staff was lately held by Jean
+Murdock, daughter of the late William Murdock, joiner, cousin of the
+subject of this biography.
+
+When William arrived at Soho in 1777 he called at the works to ask for
+employment.  Watt was then in Cornwall, looking after his pumping
+engines; but he saw Boulton, who was usually accessible to callers of
+every rank.  In answer to Murdock's enquiry whether he could have a
+job, Boulton replied that work was very slack with them, and that every
+place was filled up.  During the brief conversation that took place,
+the blate young Scotchman, like most country lads in the presence of
+strangers, had some difficulty in knowing what to do with his hands,
+and unconsciously kept twirling his hat with them.  Boulton's attention
+was attracted to the twirling hat, which seemed to be of a peculiar
+make.  It was not a felt hat, nor a cloth hat, nor a glazed hat: but it
+seemed to be painted, and composed of some unusual material.  "That
+seems to be a curious sort of hat," said Boulton, looking at it more
+closely; "what is it made of?" "Timmer, sir," said Murdock, modestly.
+"Timmer?  Do you mean to say that it is made of wood?"  "'Deed it is,
+sir."  "And pray how was it made?"  "I made it mysel, sir, in a bit
+laithey of my own contrivin'."  "Indeed!"
+
+Boulton looked at the young man again.  He had risen a hundred degrees
+in his estimation.  William was a good-looking fellow--tall, strong,
+and handsome--with an open intelligent countenance.  Besides, he had
+been able to turn a hat for himself with a lathe of his own
+construction.  This, of itself, was a sufficient proof that he was a
+mechanic of no mean skill. "Well!" said Boulton, at last, "I will
+enquire at the works, and see if there is anything we can set you to.
+Call again, my man."
+
+"Thank you, sir," said Murdock, giving a final twirl to his hat.
+
+Such was the beginning of William Murdock's connection with the firm of
+Boulton and Watt.  When he called again he was put upon a trial job,
+and then, as he was found satisfactory, he was engaged for two years at
+15s. a week when at home, 17s. when in the country, and 18s. when in
+London.  Boulton's engagement of Murdock was amply justified by the
+result.  Beginning as an ordinary mechanic, he applied himself
+diligently and conscientiously to his work, and gradually became
+trusted.  More responsible duties were confided to him, and he strove
+to perform them to the best of his power.  His industry, skilfulness,
+and steady sobriety, soon marked him for promotion, and he rose from
+grade to grade until he became Boulton and Watt's most trusted
+co-worker and adviser in all their mechanical undertakings of
+importance.
+
+Watt himself had little confidence in Scotchmen as mechanics.  He told
+Sir Waiter Scott that though many of them sought employment at his
+works, he could never get any of them to become first-rate workmen.
+They might be valuable as clerks and book-keepers, but they had an
+insuperable aversion to toiling long at any point of mechanism, so as
+to earn the highest wages paid to the workmen.[4]  The reason no doubt
+was, that the working-people of Scotland were then only in course of
+education as practical mechanics; and now that they have had a
+century's discipline of work and technical training, the result is
+altogether different, as the engine-shops and shipbuilding-yards of the
+Clyde abundantly prove.  Mechanical power and technical ability are the
+result of training, like many other things.
+
+When Boulton engaged Murdock, as we have said, Watt was absent in
+Cornwall, looking after the pumping-engines which had been erected at
+several of the mines throughout that county.  The partnership had only
+been in existence for three years, and Watt was still struggling with
+the difficulties which he had to surmount in getting the steam engine
+into practical use.  His health was bad, and he was oppressed with
+frightful headaches. He was not the man to fight the selfishness of the
+Cornish adventurers.  "A little more of this hurrying and vexation," he
+said, "will knock me up altogether."  Boulton went to his help
+occasionally, and gave him hope and courage.  And at length William
+Murdock, after he had acquired sufficient knowledge of the business,
+was able to undertake the principal management of the engines in
+Cornwall.
+
+We find that in 1779, when he was only twenty-five years old, he was
+placed in this important position.  When he went into Cornwall, he gave
+himself no rest until he had conquered the defects of the engines, and
+put them into thorough working order.
+
+He devoted himself to his duties with a zeal and ability that
+completely won Watt's heart.  When he had an important job in hand, he
+could scarcely sleep.  One night at his lodgings at Redruth, the people
+were disturbed by a strange noise in his room.  Several heavy blows
+were heard upon the floor.  They started from their beds, rushed to
+Murdock's room, and found him standing in his shirt, heaving at the
+bedpost in his sleep, shouting "Now she goes, lads! now she goes!"
+
+Murdock became a most popular man with the mine owners.  He also became
+friendly with the Cornish workmen and engineers.  Indeed, he fought his
+way to their affections.  One day, some half-dozen of the mining
+captains came into his engine-room at Chacewater, and began to bully
+him.  This he could not stand.  He stript, selected the biggest, and
+put himself into a fighting attitude. They set to, and in a few minutes
+Murdock's powerful bones and muscles enabled him to achieve the
+victory.  The other men, who had looked on fairly, without interfering,
+seeing the temper and vigour of the man they had bullied, made
+overtures of reconciliation.  William was quite willing to be friendly.
+Accordingly they shook hands all round, and parted the best of friends.
+It is also said that Murdock afterwards fought a duel with Captain
+Trevethick, because of a quarrel between Watt and the mining engineer,
+in which Murdock conceived his master to have been unfairly and harshly
+treated.[5]
+
+The uses of Watt's steam-engine began to be recognised as available for
+manufacturing purposes.  It was then found necessary to invent some
+method by which continuous rotary motion should be secured, so as to
+turn round the moving machinery of mills.  With this object Watt had
+invented his original wheel-engine.  But no steps were taken to
+introduce it into practical use.  At length he prepared a model, in
+which he made use of a crank connected with the working beam of the
+engine, so as to produce the necessary rotary motion.
+
+There was no originality in this application.  The crank was one of the
+most common of mechanical appliances.  It was in daily use in every
+spinning wheel, and in every turner's and knife-grinder's foot-lathe.
+Watt did not take out a patent for the crank, not believing it to be
+patentable.  But another person did so, thereby anticipating Watt in
+the application of the crank for producing rotary motion.   He had
+therefore to employ some other method, and in the new contrivance he
+had the valuable help of William Murdock.  Watt devised five different
+methods of securing rotary motion without using the crank, but
+eventually he adopted the "Sun-and-planet motion," the invention of
+Murdock. This had the singular property of going twice round for every
+stroke of the engine, and might be made to go round much oftener
+without additional machinery.  The invention was patented in February,
+1782, five Years after Murdock had entered the service of Boulton and
+Watt.
+
+Murdock continued for many years busily occupied in superintending the
+Cornish steam-engines.  We find him described by his employers as
+"flying from mine to mine," putting the engines to rights.  If anything
+went wrong, he was immediately sent for.  He was active, quick-sighted,
+shrewd, sober, and thoroughly trustworthy.  Down to the year 1780, his
+wages were only a pound a week; but Boulton made him a present of ten
+guineas, to which the owners of the United Mines added another ten, in
+acknowledgment of the admirable manner in which he bad erected their
+new engine, the chairman of the company declaring that he was "the most
+obliging and industrious workman he had ever known."  That he secured
+the admiration of the Cornish engineers may be obvious from the fact of
+Mr. Boaze having invited him to join in an engineering partnership; but
+Murdock remained loyal to the Birmingham firm, and in due time he had
+his reward.
+
+He continued to be the "right hand man" of the concern in Cornwall.
+Boulton wrote to Watt, towards the end of 1782: "Murdock hath been
+indefatigable ever since he began.  He has scarcely been in bed or
+taken necessary food.  After slaving night and day on Thursday and
+Friday, a letter came from Wheal Virgin that he must go instantly to
+set their engine to work, or they would let out the fire.  He went and
+set the engine to work; it worked well for the five or six hours he
+remained.  He left it, and returned to the Consolidated Mines about
+eleven at night, and was employed about the engines till four this
+morning, and then went to bed.  I found him at ten this morning in
+Poldice Cistern, seeking for pins and castors that had jumped out, when
+I insisted on his going home to bed."
+
+On one occasion, when an engine superintended by Murdock stopped
+through some accident, the water rose in the mine, and the workmen were
+"drowned out."  Upon this occurring, the miners went "roaring at him"
+for throwing them out of work, and threatened to tear him to pieces.
+Nothing daunted, he went through the midst of the men, repaired the
+invalided engine, and started it afresh.
+
+When he came out of the engine-house, the miners cheered him
+vociferously and insisted upon carrying him home upon their shoulders
+in triumph!
+
+Steam was now asserting its power everywhere.  It was pumping water
+from the mines in Cornwall and driving the mills of the manufacturers
+in Lancashire.  Speculative mechanics began to consider whether it
+might not be employed as a means of land locomotion.  The comprehensive
+mind of Sir Isaac Newton had long before, in his 'Explanation of the
+Newtonian Philosophy,' thrown out the idea of employing steam for this
+purpose; but no practical experiment was made.  Benjamin Franklin,
+while agent in London for the United Provinces of America, had a
+correspondence with Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, and Dr. Darwin, of
+Lichfield, on the same subject.  Boulton sent a model of a fire-engine
+to London for Franklin's inspection; but Franklin was too much occupied
+at the time by grave political questions to pursue the subject further.
+Erasmus Darwin's speculative mind was inflamed by the idea of a "fiery
+chariot," and he urged his friend Boulton to prosecute the contrivance
+of the necessary steam machinery.[6]
+
+Other minds were at work.  Watt, when only twenty-three years old, at
+the instigation of his friend Robison, made a model locomotive,
+provided with two cylinders of tin plate; but the project was laid
+aside, and was never again taken up by the inventor.  Yet, in his
+patent of 1784, Watt included an arrangement by means of which
+steam-power might be employed for the purposes of locomotion.  But no
+further model of the contrivance was made.
+
+Meanwhile, Cugnot, of Paris, had already made a road engine worked by
+steam power.  It was first tried at the Arsenal in 1769; and, being set
+in motion, it ran against a stone wall in its way and threw it down.
+The engine was afterwards tried in the streets of Paris.  In one of the
+experiments it fell over with a crash, and was thenceforward locked up
+in the Arsenal to prevent its doing further mischief.  This first
+locomotive is now to be seen at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers
+at Paris.
+
+Murdock had doubtless heard of Watt's original speculations, and
+proceeded, while at Redruth, during his leisure hours, to construct a
+model locomotive after a design of his own.  This model was of small
+dimensions, standing little more than a foot and a half high, though it
+was sufficiently large to demonstrate the soundness of the principle on
+which it was constructed.  It was supported on three wheels, and
+carried a small copper boiler, heated by a spirit lamp, with a flue
+passing obliquely through it.  The cylinder, of 3/4 inch diameter and
+2-inch stroke, was fixed in the top of the boiler, the piston-rod being
+connected with the vibratory beam attached to the connecting-rod which
+worked the crank of the driving-wheel.  This little engine worked by
+the expansive force of steam only, which was discharged into the
+atmosphere after it had done its work of alternately raising and
+depressing the piston in the cylinder.
+
+Mr. Murdock's son, while living at Handsworth, informed the present
+writer that this model was invented and constructed in 1781; but, after
+perusing the correspondence of Boulton and Watt, we infer that it was
+not ready for trial until 1784.  The first experiment was made in
+Murdock's own house at Redruth, when the little engine successfully
+hauled a model waggon round the room,--the single wheel, placed in
+front of the engine and working in a swivel frame, enabling it to run
+round in a circle.
+
+Another experiment was made out of doors, on which occasion, small
+though the engine was, it fairly outran the speed of its inventor.  One
+night, after returning from his duties at the mine at Redruth, Murdock
+went with his model locomotive to the avenue leading to the church,
+about a mile from the town.  The walk was narrow, straight, and level.
+Having lit the lamp, the water soon boiled, and off started the engine
+with the inventor after it. Shortly after he heard distant shouts of
+terror.  It was too dark to perceive objects, but he found, on
+following up the machine, that the cries had proceeded from the worthy
+vicar, who, while going along the walk, had met the hissing and fiery
+little monster, which he declared he took to be the Evil One in propria
+persona!
+
+When Watt was informed of Murdock's experiments, he feared that they
+might interfere with his regular duties, and advised their
+discontinuance.  Should Murdock still resolve to continue them, Watt
+urged his partner Boulton, then in Cornwall, that, rather than lose
+Murdock's services, they should advance him 100L.; and, if he succeeded
+within a year in making an engine capable of drawing a post-chaise
+carrying two passengers and the driver, at the rate of four miles an
+hour, that a locomotive engine business should be established, with
+Murdock as a partner.  The arrangement, however, never proceeded any
+further.  Perhaps a different attraction withdrew Murdock from his
+locomotive experiments.   He was then paying attention to a young lady,
+the daughter of Captain Painter; and in 1785 he married her, and
+brought her home to his house in Cross Street, Redruth.
+
+In the following year,--September, 1786--Watt says, in a letter to
+Boulton, "I have still the same opinion concerning the steam carriage,
+but, to prevent more fruitless argument about it, I have one of some
+size under hand.  In the meantime, I wish William could be brought to
+do as we do, to mind the business in hand, and let such as Symington
+and Sadler throw away their time and money in hunting shadows."  In a
+subsequent letter Watt expressed his gratification at finding "that
+William applies to his business."  From that time forward, Murdock as
+well as Watt, dropped all further speculation on the subject, and left
+it to others to work out the problem of the locomotive engine.
+Murdock's model remained but a curious toy, which he took pleasure in
+exhibiting to his intimate friends; and, though he long continued to
+speculate about road locomotion, and was persuaded of its
+practicability, he abstained from embodying his ideas of the necessary
+engine in any complete working form.
+
+Murdock nevertheless continued inventing, for the man who is given to
+invent, and who possesses the gift of insight, cannot rest.  He lived
+in the midst of inventors.  Watt and Boulton were constantly suggesting
+new things, and Murdock became possessed by the same spirit.  In 1791
+he took out his first patent.  It was for a method of preserving ships'
+bottoms from foulness by the use of a certain kind of chemical paint.
+Mr. Murdock's grandson informs us that it was recently re-patented and
+was the cause of a lawsuit, and that Hislop's patent for revivifying
+gas-lime would have been an infringement, if it had not expired.
+
+Murdock is still better known by his invention of gas for lighting
+purposes.  Several independent inquirers into the constituents of
+Newcastle coal had arrived at the conclusion that nearly one-third of
+the substance was driven off in vapour by the application of heat, and
+that the vapour so driven off was inflammable.  But no suggestion had
+been made to apply this vapour for lighting purposes until Murdock took
+the matter in hand.  Mr. M. S. Pearse has sent us the following
+interesting reminiscence: "Some time since, when in the West of
+Cornwall, I was anxious to find out whether any one remembered Murdock.
+I discovered one of the most respectable and intelligent men in
+Camborne, Mr. William Symons, who not only distinctly remembered
+Murdock, but had actually been present on one of the first occasions
+when gas was used.  Murdock, he says, was very fond of children, and
+not unfrequently took them into his workshop to show them what he was
+doing.  Hence it happened that on one occasion this gentleman, then a
+boy of seven or eight, was standing outside Murdock's door with some
+other boys, trying to catch sight of some special mystery inside, for
+Dr. Boaze, the chief doctor of the place, and Murdock had been busy all
+the afternoon.  Murdock came out, and asked my informant to run down to
+a shop near by for a thimble.  On returning with the thimble, the boy
+pretended to have lost it, and, whilst searching in every pocket, he
+managed to slip inside the door of the workshop, and then produced the
+thimble.  He found Dr. Boaze and Murdock with a kettle filled with
+coal.  The gas issuing from it had been burnt in a large metal case,
+such as was used for blasting purposes. Now, however, they had applied
+a much smaller tube, and at the end of it fastened the thimble, through
+the small perforations made in which they burned a continuous jet for
+some time."[7]
+
+After numerous experiments, Murdock had his house in Cross Street
+fitted up in 1792 for being lit by gas.  The coal was subjected to heat
+in an iron retort, and the gas was conveyed in pipes to the offices and
+the different rooms of the house, where it was burned at proper
+apertures or burners.[8]  Portions of the gas were also confined in
+portable vessels of tinned iron, from which it was burned when
+required, thus forming a moveable gas-light. Murdock had a gas lantern
+in regular use, for the purpose of lighting himself home at night
+across the moors, from the mines where he was working, to his home at
+Redruth.  This lantern was formed by filling a bladder with gas and
+fixing a jet to the mouthpiece at the bottom of a glass lantern, with
+the bladder hanging underneath.
+
+Having satisfied himself as to the superior economy of coal gas, as
+compared with oils and tallow, for the purposes of artificial
+illumination, Murdock mentioned the subject to Mr. James Watt, jun.,
+during a brief visit to Soho in 1794, and urged the propriety of taking
+out a patent.  Watt was, however, indifferent to taking out any further
+patents, being still engaged in contesting with the Cornish mine-owners
+his father's rights to the user of the condensing steam-engine.
+Nothing definite was done at the time.  Murdock returned to Cornwall
+and continued his experiments.  At the end of the same year he
+exhibited to Mr. Phillips and others, at the Polgooth mine, his
+apparatus for extracting gases from coal and other substances, showed
+it in use, lit the gas which issued from the burner, and showed its
+"strong and beautiful light."  He afterwards exhibited the same
+apparatus to Tregelles and others at the Neath Abbey Company's
+ironworks in Glamorganshire.
+
+Murdock returned to Soho in 1798, to take up his permanent residence in
+the neighbourhood.  When the mine owners heard of his intention to
+leave Cornwall, they combined in offering him a handsome salary
+provided he would remain in the county; but his attachment to his
+friends at Soho would not allow him to comply with their request.  He
+again urged the firm of Boulton and Watt to take out a patent for the
+use of gas for lighting purposes. But being still embroiled in their
+tedious and costly lawsuit, they were naturally averse to risk
+connection with any other patent.  Watt the younger, with whom Murdock
+communicated on the subject, was aware that the current of gas obtained
+from the distillation of coal in Lord Dundonald's tar-ovens had been
+occasionally set fire to, and also that Bishop Watson and others had
+burned gas from coal, after conducting it through tubes, or after it
+had issued from the retort.  Mr. Watt was, however, quite satisfied
+that Murdock was the first person who had suggested its economical
+application for public and private uses.
+
+But he was not clear, after the legal difficulties which had been
+raised as to his father's patent rights, that it would be safe to risk
+a further patent for gas.
+
+Mr. Murdock's suggestion, accordingly, was not acted upon.  But he went
+on inventing in other directions.  He thenceforward devoted himself
+entirely to mechanical pursuits.  Mr. Buckle has said of him:--"The
+rising sun often found him, after a night spent in incessant labour,
+still at the anvil or turning-lathe; for with his own hands he would
+make such articles as he would not intrust to unskilful ones."  In 1799
+he took out a patent (No. 2340), embodying some very important
+inventions.  First, it included the endless screw working into a
+toothed-wheel, for boring steam-cylinders, which is still in use.
+Second, the casting of a steam-jacket in one cylinder, instead of being
+made in separate segments bolted together with caulked joints, as was
+previously done.  Third, the new double-D slide-valve, by which the
+construction and working of the steam-engine was simplified, and the
+loss of steam saved, as well as the cylindrical valve for the same
+purpose.  And fourth, improved rotary engines.  One of the latter was
+set to drive the machines in his private workshop, and continued in
+nearly constant work and in perfect use for about thirty years.
+
+In 1801, Murdock sent his two sons William and John to the Ayr Academy,
+for the benefit of Scotch education.  In the summer-time they spent
+their vacation at Bellow Mill, which their grandfather still continued
+to occupy.  They fished in the river, and "caught a good many trout."
+The boys corresponded regularly with their father at Birmingham.  In
+1804, they seem to have been in a state of great excitement about the
+expected landing of the French in Scotland.  The volunteers of Ayr
+amounted to 300 men, the cavalry to 150, and the riflemen to 50.  "The
+riflemen," says John, "go to the seashore every Saturday to shoot at a
+target.  They stand at 70 paces distant, and out of 100 shots they
+often put in 60 bullets!"  William says, "Great preparations are still
+making for the  reception of the French.  Several thousand of pikes are
+carried through the town every week; and all the volunteers and
+riflemen have received orders to march at a moment's warning." The
+alarm, however, passed away.  At the end of 1804, the two boys received
+prizes; William got one in arithmetic and another in the Rector's
+composition class; and John also obtained two, one in the mathematical
+class, and the other in French.
+
+To return to the application of gas for lighting purposes.  In 1801, a
+plan was proposed by a M. Le Blond for lighting a part of the streets
+of Paris with gas.  Murdock actively resumed his experiments; and on
+the occasion of the Peace of Amiens in March, 1802, he made the first
+public exhibition of his invention.  The whole of the works at Soho
+were brilliantly illuminated with gas.
+
+The sight was received with immense enthusiasm.  There could now be no
+doubt as to the enormous advantages of this method of producing
+artificial light, compared with that from oil or tallow.  In the
+following year the manufacture of gas-making apparatus was added to the
+other branches of Boulton and Watts' business, with which Murdock was
+now associated,--and as much as from 4000L. to 5000L. of capital were
+invested in the new works. The new method of lighting speedily became
+popular amongst manufacturers, from its superior safety, cheapness, and
+illuminating power.  The mills of Phillips and Lee of Manchester were
+fitted up in 1805; and those of Burley and Kennedy, also of Manchester,
+and of Messrs. Gott, of Leeds, in subsequent years.
+
+Though Murdock had made the uses of gas-lighting perfectly clear, it
+was some time before it was proposed to light the streets by the new
+method.  The idea was ridiculed by Sir Humphry Davy, who asked one of
+the projectors if he intended to take the dome of St. Paul's for a
+gasometer!  Sir Waiter Scott made many clever jokes about those who
+proposed to "send light through the streets in pipes;" and even
+Wollaston, a well known man of science, declared that they "might as
+well attempt to light London with a slice from the moon."  It has been
+so with all new projects--with the steamboat, the locomotive, and the
+electric telegraph. As John Wilkinson said of the first vessel of iron
+which he introduced, "it will be only a nine days' wonder, and
+afterwards a Columbus's egg."
+
+On the 25th of February, 1808, Murdock read a paper before the Royal
+Society "On the Application of Gas from Coal to economical purposes."
+He gave a history of the origin and progress of his experiments, down
+to the time when he had satisfactorily lit up the premises of Phillips
+and Lee at Manchester.  The paper was modest and unassuming, like
+everything he did.
+
+It concluded:--"I believe I may, without presuming too much, claim both
+the first idea of applying, and the first application of this gas to
+economical purposes."[9]  The Royal Society awarded Murdock their large
+Rumford Gold Medal for his communication.
+
+In the following year a German named Wintzer, or Winsor, appeared as
+the promotor of a scheme for obtaining a royal charter with extensive
+privileges, and applied for powers to form a joint-stock company to
+light part of London and Westminster with gas.  Winsor claimed for his
+method of gas manufacture that it was more efficacious and profitable
+than any then known or practised.  The profits, indeed, were to be
+prodigious.  Winsor made an elaborate calculation in his pamphlet
+entitled 'The New Patriotic Imperial and National Light and Heat
+Company,' from which it appeared that the net annual profits "agreeable
+to the official experiments" would amount to over two hundred and
+twenty-nine millions of pounds!--and that, giving over nine-tenths of
+that sum towards the redemption of the National Debt, there would still
+remain a total profit of 570L. to be paid to the subscribers for every
+5L. of deposit!  Winsor took out a patent for the invention, and the
+company, of which he was a member, proceeded to Parliament for an Act.
+Boulton and Watt petitioned against the Bill, and James Watt, junior,
+gave evidence on the subject.  Henry Brougham, who was the counsel for
+the petitioners, made great fun of Winsor's absurd speculations,[10]
+and the Bill was thrown out.
+
+In the following year the London and Westminster Chartered Gas Light
+and Coke Company succeeded in obtaining their Act.  They were not very
+successful at first.  Many prejudices existed against the employment of
+the new light.  It was popularly supposed that the gas was carried
+along the pipes on fire, and that the pipes must necessarily be
+intensely hot.  When it was proposed to light the House of Commons with
+gas, the architect insisted on the pipes being placed several inches
+from the walls, for fear of fire; and, after the pipes had been fixed,
+the members might be seen applying their gloved hands to them to
+ascertain their temperature, and afterwards expressing the greatest
+surprise on finding that they were as cool as the adjoining walls.
+
+The Gas Company was on the point of dissolution when Mr. Samuel Clegg
+came to their aid.  Clegg had been a pupil of Murdock's, at Soho.  He
+knew all the arrangements which Murdock had invented. He had assisted
+in fitting up the gas machinery at the mills of Phillips & Lee,
+Manchester, as well as at Lodge's Mill, Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax.
+He was afterwards employed to fix the apparatus at the Catholic College
+of Stoneyhurst, in Lancashire, at the manufactory of Mr. Harris at
+Coventry, and at other places.  In 1813 the London and Westminster Gas
+Company secured the services of Mr. Clegg, and from that time forwards
+their career was one of prosperity.  In 1814 Westminster Bridge was
+first lighted with gas, and shortly after the streets of St.
+Margaret's, Westminster.  Crowds of people followed the lamplighter on
+his rounds to watch the sudden effect of his flame applied to the
+invisible stream of gas which issued from the burner.  The lamplighters
+became so disgusted with the new light that they struck work, and Clegg
+himself had for a time to act as lamplighter.
+
+The advantages of the new light, however, soon became generally
+recognised, and gas companies were established in most of the large
+towns.  Glasgow was lit up by gas in 1817, and Liverpool and Dublin in
+the following year.  Had Murdock in the first instance taken out a
+patent for his invention, it could not fail to have proved exceedingly
+remunerative to him; but he derived no advantage from the extended use
+of the new system of lighting except the honour of having invented
+it.[11] He left the benefits of his invention to the public, and
+returned to his labours at Soho, which more than ever completely
+engrossed him.
+
+Murdock now became completely identified with the firm of Boulton &
+Watt.  He assigned to them his patent for the slide-valve, the rotary
+engine, and other inventions "for a good and valuable consideration."
+Indeed his able management was almost indispensable to the continued
+success of the Soho foundry.  Mr. Nasmyth, when visiting the works
+about thirty years after Murdock had taken their complete management in
+hand, recalled to mind the valuable services of that truly admirable
+yet modest mechanic. He observed the admirable system, which he had
+invented, of transmitting power from one central engine to other small
+vacuum engines attached to the several machines which they were
+employed to work.  "This vacuum method," he says, "of transmitting
+power dates from the time of Papin; but it remained a dead contrivance
+for about a century until it received the masterly touch of Murdock."
+
+"The sight which I obtained" (Mr. Nasmyth proceeds) "of the vast series
+of workshops of that celebrated establishment, fitted with evidences of
+the presence and results of such master minds in design and execution,
+and the special machine tools which I believe were chiefly to be
+ascribed to the admirable inventive power and common-sense genius of
+William Murdock, made me feel that I was indeed on classic ground in
+regard to everything connected with the construction of steam-engine
+machinery.  The interest was in no small degree enhanced by coming
+every now and then upon some machine that had every historical claim to
+be regarded as the prototype of many of our modern machine tools. All
+these had William Murdock's genius stamped upon them, by reason of
+their common-sense arrangements, which showed that he was one of those
+original thinkers who had the courage to break away from the trammels
+of traditional methods, and take short cuts to accomplish his objects
+by direct and simple means."
+
+We have another recollection of William Murdock, from one who knew him
+when a boy.  This is the venerable Charles Manby, F.R.S., still
+honorary secretary of the Institute of Civil Engineers.  He says
+(writing to us in September 1883), "I see from the public prints that
+you have been presiding at a meeting intended to do honour to the
+memory of William Murdock--a most worthy man and an old friend of mine.
+When he found me working the first slide valve ever introduced into an
+engine-building establishment at Horsley, he patted me on the head, and
+said to my father, 'Neighbour Manby, this is not the way to bring up a
+good workman--merely turning a handle, without any shoulder work.'  He
+evidently did not anticipate any great results from my engineering
+education.  But we all know what machine tools are doing now,--and
+where should we be without them?"
+
+Watt withdrew from the firm in 1800, on the expiry of his patent for
+the condensing steam-engine; but Boulton continued until the year 1809,
+when he died full of years and honours.  Watt lived on until 1819.  The
+last part of his life was the happiest.  During the time that he was in
+the throes of his invention, he was very miserable, weighed down with
+dyspepsia and sick headaches.  But after his patent had expired, he was
+able to retire with a moderate fortune, and began to enjoy life.
+Before, he had "cursed his inventions," now he could bless them.  He
+was able to survey them, and find out what was right and what was
+wrong.  He used his head and his hands in his private workshop, and
+found many means of employing both pleasantly.  Murdock continued to be
+his fast friend, and they spent many agreeable hours together. They
+made experiments and devised improvements in machines.  Watt wished to
+make things more simple.   He said to Murdock, "it is a great thing to
+know what to do without.  We must have a book of blots--things to be
+scratched out."  One of the most interesting schemes of Watt towards
+the end of his life was the contrivance of a sculpture-making machine;
+and he proceeded so far with it as to to able to present copies of
+busts to his friends as "the productions of a young artist just
+entering his eighty-third year."  The machine, however, remained
+unfinished at his death, and the remarkable fact is that it was Watt's
+only unfinished work.
+
+The principle of the machine was to carry a guide-point at one side
+over the bust or alto-relievo to be copied, and at the other side to
+carry a corresponding cutting-tool or drill over the alabaster, ivory,
+jet, or plaster of Paris to be executed.  The machine worked, as it
+were, with two hands, the one feeling the pattern, the other cutting
+the material into the required form. Many new alterations were
+necessary for carrying out this ingenious apparatus, and Murdock was
+always at hand to give his old friend and master his best assistance.
+We have seen many original letters from Watt to Murdock, asking for
+counsel and help.  In one of these, written in 1808, Watt says: "I have
+revived an idea which, if it answers, will supersede the frame and
+upright spindle of the reducing machine, but more of this when we meet.
+Meanwhile it will be proper to adhere to the frame, etc., at present,
+until we see how the other alterations answer."  In another he says: "I
+have done a Cicero without any plaits--the different segments meeting
+exactly.  The fitting the drills into the spindle by a taper of 1 in 6
+will do.  They are perfectly stiff and will not unscrew easily.  Four
+guide-pullies answer, but there must be a pair for the other end, and
+to work with a single hand, for the returning part is always cut upon
+some part or other of the frame."
+
+These letters are written sometimes in the morning, sometimes at noon,
+sometimes at night.  There was a great deal of correspondence about
+"pullies," which did not seem to answer at first.  "I have made the
+tablets," said Watt on one occasion, "slide more easily, and can
+counterbalance any part of their weight which may be necessary; but the
+first thing to try is the solidity of the machine, which cannot be done
+till the pullies are mounted."  Then again: "The bust-making must be
+given up until we get a more solid frame.  I have worked two days at
+one and spoiled it, principally from the want of steadiness."  For
+Watt, it must be remembered, was now a very old man.
+
+He then proceeded to send Murdock the drawing of a "parallel motion for
+the machine," to be executed by the workmen at Soho. The truss braces
+and the crosses were to be executed of steel, according to the details
+he enclosed.  "I have warmed up," he concludes, "an old idea, and can
+make a machine in which the pentagraph and the leading screw will all
+be contained in the beam, and the pattern and piece to be cut will
+remain at rest fixed upon a lath of cast iron or stout steel."  Watt is
+very particular in all his details: "I am sorry," he says in one note,
+"to trouble you with so many things; but the alterations on this
+spindle and socket [he annexes a drawing] may wait your convenience."
+In a further note, Watt says.  "The drawing for the parallel lathe is
+ready; but I have been sadly puzzled about the application of the
+leading screws to the cranes in the other. I think, however, I have now
+got the better of the difficulties, and made it more certain, as well
+as more simple, than it was.  I have done an excellent head of John
+Hunter in hard white in shorter time than usual.  I want to show it you
+before I repair it."
+
+At last Watt seems to have become satisfied: "The lathe," he says, "is
+very much improved, and you seem to have given the finishing blow to
+the roofed frame, which appears perfectly stiff.  I had some hours'
+intense thinking upon the machine last night, and have made up my mind
+on it at last.  The great difficulty was about the application of the
+band, but I have settled it to be much as at present."
+
+Watt's letters to Murdock are most particular in details, especially as
+to screws, nuts, and tubes, with strengths and dimensions, always
+illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings.  And yet all this was done
+merely for mechanical amusement, and not for any personal pecuniary
+advantage.  While Watt was making experiments as to the proper
+substances to be carved and drilled, he also desired Murdock to make
+similar experiments.  "The nitre," he said in one note, "seems to do
+harm; the fluor composition seems the best and hardest.  Query, what
+would some calcined pipe-clay do?  If you will calcine some fire-clay
+by a red heat and pound it,--about a pound,--and send it to me, I shall
+try to make you a mould or two in Henning's manner to cast this and the
+sulphur acid iron in.  I have made a screwing tool for wood that seems
+to answer; also one of a one-tenth diameter for marble, which does very
+well."  In another note, Watt says: "I find my drill readily makes 2400
+turns per minute, even with the large drill you sent last; if I bear
+lightly, a three-quarter ferril would run about 3000, and by an engine
+that might be doubled."
+
+The materials to be drilled into medallions also required much
+consideration.  "I am much obliged to you," said Watt, "for the balls,
+etc., which answer as well as can be expected.  They make great
+progress in cutting the crust (Ridgways) or alabaster, and also cut
+marble, but the harder sorts soon blunt them.  At any rate, marble does
+not do for the medallions, as its grain prevents its being cut smooth,
+and its semi-transparence hurts the effect.  I think Bristol lime, or
+shell lime, pressed in your manner, would have a good effect.  When you
+are at leisure, I shall thank you for a few pieces, and if some of them
+are made pink or flesh colour, they will look well.  I used the ball
+quite perpendicular, and it cut well, as most of the cutting is
+sideways.  I tried a fine whirling point, but it made little progress;
+another with a chisel edge did almost as well as the balls, but did not
+work so pleasantly.  I find a triangular scraping point the best, and I
+think from some trials it should be quite a sharp point.  The wheel
+runs easier than it did, but has still too much friction.  I wished to
+have had an hour's consultation with you, but have been prevented by
+sundry matters among others by that plaguey stove, which is now in your
+hands."
+
+Watt was most grateful to Murdock for his unvarying assistance. In
+January, 1813, when Watt was in his seventy-seventh year, he wrote to
+Murdock, asking him to accept a present of a lathe "I have not heard
+from you," he says, "in reply to my letter about the lathe; and,
+presuming you are not otherwise provided, I have bought it, and request
+your acceptance of it.  At present, an alteration for the better is
+making in the oval chuck, and a few additional chucks, rest, etc., are
+making to the lathe.  When these are finished, I shall have it at
+Billinger's until you return, or as you otherwise direct.  I am going
+on with my drawings for a complete machine, and shall be glad to see
+you here to judge of them."
+
+The drawings were made, but the machine was never finished.
+"Invention," said Watt, "goes on very slowly with me now."  Four years
+later, he was still at work; but death put a stop to his
+"diminishing-machine." It is a remarkable testimony to the skill and
+perseverance of a man who had already accomplished so much, that it is
+almost his only unfinished work.  Watt died in 1819, in the
+eighty-third year of his age, to the great grief of Murdock, his oldest
+and most attached friend and correspondent.
+
+Meanwhile, the firm of Boulton and Watt continued.  The sons of the two
+partners carried it on, with Murdock as their Mentor.  He was still
+full of work and inventive power.  In 1802, he applied the compressed
+air of the Blast Engine employed to blow the cupolas of the Soho
+Foundry, for the purpose of driving the lathe in the pattern shop.  It
+worked a small engine, with a 12-inch cylinder and 18-inch stroke,
+connected with the lathe, the speed being regulated as required by
+varying the admission of the blast.  This engine continued in use for
+about thirty-five years.
+
+In 1803 Murdock experimented on the power of high-pressure steam in
+propelling shot, and contrived a steam-engine with which he made many
+trials at Soho, thereby anticipating the apparatus contrived by Mr.
+Perkins many years later.
+
+In 1810 Murdock took out a patent for boring steam-pipes for water, and
+cutting columns out of solid blocks of stone, by means of a cylindrical
+crown saw.  The first machine was used at Soho, and afterwards at Mr.
+Rennie's Works in London, and proved quite successful.  Among his other
+inventions were a lift worked by compressed air, which raised and
+lowered the castings from the boring-mill to the level of the foundry
+and the canal bank.  He used the same kind of power to ring the bells
+in his house at Sycamore Hill, and the contrivance was afterwards
+adopted by Sir Walter Scott in his house at Abbotsford.
+
+Murdock was also the inventor of the well-known cast-iron cement, so
+extensively used in engine and machine work.  The manner in which he
+was led to this invention affords a striking illustration of his
+quickness of observation.  Finding that some iron-borings and
+sal-ammoniac had got accidently mixed together in his tool-chest, and
+rusted his saw-blade nearly through, he took note of the circumstance,
+mixed the articles in various proportions, and at length arrived at the
+famous cement, which eventually became an article of extensive
+manufacture at the Soho Works.
+
+Murdock's ingenuity was constantly at work, even upon matters which lay
+entirely outside his special vocation.  The late Sir William Fairbairn
+informed us that he contrived a variety of curious machines for
+consolidating peat moss, finely ground and pulverised, under immense
+pressure, and which, when consolidated, could be moulded into beautiful
+medals, armlets, and necklaces. The material took the most brilliant
+polish and had the appearance of the finest jet.
+
+Observing that fish-skins might be used as an economical substitute for
+isinglass, he went up to London on one occasion in order to explain to
+brewers the best method of preparing and using them.  He occupied
+handsome apartments, and, little regarding the splendour of the
+drawing-room, he hung the fish-skins up against the walls.  His
+landlady caught him one day when he was about to bang up a wet cod's
+skin!  He was turned out at once, with all his fish.  While in town on
+this errand, it occurred to him that a great deal of power was wasted
+in treading the streets of London!  He conceived the idea of using the
+streets and roadways as a grand tread-mill, under which the waste power
+might be stored up by mechanical methods and turned to account.  He had
+also an idea of storing up the power of the tides, and of running
+water, in the same way.  The late Charles Babbage, F.R.S., entertained
+a similar idea about using springs of Ischia or of the geysers of
+Iceland as a power necessary for condensing gases, or perhaps for the
+storage of electricity.[12] The latter, when perfected, will probably
+be the greatest invention of the next half century.
+
+Another of Murdock's' ingenious schemes, was his proposed method of
+transmitting letters and packages through a tube exhausted by an
+air-pump.  This project led to the Atmospheric Railway, the success of
+which, so far as it went, was due to the practical ability of Murdock's
+pupil, Samuel Clegg.  Although the atmospheric railway was eventually
+abandoned, it is remarkable that the original idea was afterwards
+revived and practised with success by the London Pneumatic Dispatch
+Company.
+
+In 1815, while Murdock was engaged in erecting an apparatus of his own
+invention for heating the water for the baths at Leamington, a
+ponderous cast-iron plate fell upon his leg above his ankle, and
+severely injured him.  He remained a long while at Leamington, and when
+it was thought safe to remove him, the Birmingham Canal Company kindly
+placed their excursion boat at his disposal, and he was conveyed safely
+homeward.  So soon as he was able, he was at work again at the Soho
+factory.
+
+Although the elder Watt had to a certain extent ignored the uses of
+steam as applied to navigation, being too much occupied with developing
+the powers of the pumping and rotary engine, the young partners, with
+the stout aid of Murdock, took up the question. They supplied Fulton in
+1807 with his first engine, by means of which the Clermont made her
+first voyage along the Hudson river. They also supplied Fulton and
+Livingston with the next two engines for the Car of Neptune and the
+Paragon.  From that time forward, Boulton and Watt devoted themselves
+to the manufacture of engines for steamboats.  Up to the year 1814,
+marine engines had been all applied singly in the vessel; but in this
+year Boulton and Watt first applied two condensing engines, connected
+by cranks set at right angles on the shaft, to propel a steamer on the
+Clyde.  Since then, nearly all steamers are fitted with two engines.
+In making this important improvement, the firm were materially aided by
+the mechanical genius of William Murdock, and also of Mr. Brown, then
+an assistant, but afterwards a member of the firm.
+
+In order to carry on a set of experiments with respect to the most
+improved form of marine engine, Boulton and Watt purchased the
+Caledonia, a Scotch boat built on the Clyde by James Wood and Co., of
+Port Glasgow.  The engines and boilers were taken out. The vessel was
+fitted with two side lever engines, and many successive experiments
+were made with her down to August, 1817, at an expense of about
+10,000L.  This led to a settled plan of construction, by which marine
+engines were greatly improved. James Watt, junior, accompanied the
+Caledonia to Holland and up the Rhine.  The vessel was eventually sold
+to the Danish Government, and used for carrying the mails between Kiel
+and Copenhagen.  It is, however, unnecessary here to venture upon the
+further history of steam navigation.
+
+In the midst of these repeated inventions and experiments, Murdock was
+becoming an old man.  Yet he never ceased to take an interest in the
+works at Soho.  At length his faculties experienced a gradual decay,
+and he died peacefully at his house at Sycamore Hill, on the 15th of
+November,1839, in his eighty-fifth year.  He was buried near the
+remains of the great Boulton and Watt; and a bust by Chantrey served to
+perpetuate the remembrance of his manly and intelligent countenance.
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter V.
+
+[1] Fletcher's Political Works, London, 1737, p. 149,
+
+[2] One of the Murdocks built the cathedral at Glasgow, as well as
+others in Scotland.  The famous school of masonry at Antwerp sent out a
+number of excellent architects during the 11th, 12th, and 13th
+centuries.  One of these, on coming into Scotland, assumed the name of
+Murdo.  He was a Frenchman, born in Paris, as we learn from the
+inscription left on Melrose Abbey, and he died while building that
+noble work: it is as follows:--
+
+"John Murdo sumtyme cait was I And born in Peryse certainly, An' had in
+kepyng all mason wark Sanct Andrays, the Hye Kirk o' Glasgo, Melrose
+and Paisley, Jedybro and Galowy.  Pray to God and Mary baith, and sweet
+Saint John, keep this Holy Kirk frae scaith."
+
+[3] The discovery of the Black Band Ironstone by David Mushet in 1801,
+and the invention of the Hot Blast by James Beaumont Neilson in 1828,
+will be found related in Industrial Biography, pp. 141-161.
+
+[4] Note to Lockhart's Life of Scott.
+
+[5] This was stated to the present writer some years ago by William
+Murdock's son; although there is no other record of the event.
+
+[6] See Lives of Engineers (Boulton and Watt), iv. pp. 182-4. Small
+edition, pp. 130-2.
+
+[7] Mr. Pearse's letter is dated 23rd April, 1867, but has not before
+been published.  He adds that "others remembered Murdock, one who was
+an apprentice with him, and lived with him for some time--a Mr. Vivian,
+of the foundry at Luckingmill."
+
+[8] Murdock's house still stands in Cross Street, Redruth; those still
+live who saw the gas-pipes conveying gas from the retort in the little
+yard to near the ceiling of the room, just over the table; a hole for
+the pipe was made in the window frame.  The old window is now replaced
+by a new frame."--Life of Richard Trevithick, i. 64.
+
+[9] Philosophical Transactions, 1808, pp. 124-132.
+
+[10] Winsor's family evidently believed in his great powers; for I am
+informed by Francis Galton, Esq., F.R.S., that there is a fantastical
+monument on the right-hand side of the central avenue of the Kensal
+Green Cemetery, about half way between the lodge and the church, which
+bears the following inscription:--"Tomb of Frederick Albert Winsor, son
+of the late Frederick Albert Winsor, originator of public Gas-lighting,
+buried in the Cemetery of Pere la Chaise, Paris.  At evening time it
+shall be light."--Zachariah xiv. 7.  "I am come a light into the world,
+that whoever believeth in Me shall not abide in darkness."--John xii.
+46.
+
+[11] Mr. Parkes, in his well known Chemical Essays (ed. 1841, p. 157),
+after referring to the successful lighting up by Murdock of the
+manufactory of Messrs. Phillips and Lee at Manchester in 1805, "with
+coal gas issuing from nearly a thousand burners," proceeds, "This grand
+application of the new principle satisfied the public mind, not only of
+the practicability, but also of the economy of the application; and as
+a mark of the high opinion they entertained of his genius and
+perseverance, and in order to put the question of priority of the
+discovery beyond all doubt, the Council of the Royal Society in 1808
+awarded to Mr. Murdock the Gold Medal founded by the late Count
+Rumford."
+
+[12] "Thus," says Mr. Charles Babbage, "in a future age, power may
+become the staple commodity of the Icelanders, and of the inhabitants
+of other volcanic districts; and possibly the very process by which
+they will procure this article of exchange for the luxuries of happier
+climates may, in some measure, tame the tremendous element which
+occasionally devastates their provinces."--Economy of Manufactures.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+FREDERICK KOENIG: INVENTOR OF THE STEAM-PRINTING MACHINE.
+
+"The honest projector is he who, having by fair and plain principles of
+sense, honesty, and ingenuity, brought any contrivance to a suitable
+perfection, makes out what he pretends to, picks nobody's pocket, puts
+his project in execution, and contents himself with the real produce as
+the profit of his invention."--De Foe.
+
+I published an article in 'Macmillan's Magazine' for December, 1869,
+under the above title.  The materials were principally obtained from
+William and Frederick Koenig, sons of the inventor.
+
+Since then an elaborate life has been published at Stuttgart, under the
+title of "Friederich Koenig und die Erfindung Der Schnellpresse, Ein
+Biographisches Denkmal.  Von Theodor Goebel." The author, in sending me
+a copy of the volume, refers to the article published in 'Macmillan,'
+and says, "I hope you will please to accept it as a small
+acknowledgment of the thanks, which every German, and especially the
+sons of Koenig, in whose name I send the book as well as in mine, owe
+to you for having bravely taken up the cause of the much wronged
+inventor, their father--an action all the more praiseworthy, as you had
+to write against the prejudices and the interests of your own
+countrymen."
+
+I believe it is now generally admitted that Koenig was entitled to the
+merit of being the first person practically to apply the power of steam
+to indefinitely multiplying the productions of the printing-press; and
+that no one now attempts to deny him this honour.  It is true others,
+who followed him, greatly improved upon his first idea; but this was
+the case with Watt, Symington, Crompton, Maudslay, and many more.  The
+true inventor is not merely the man who registers an idea and takes a
+patent for it, or who compiles an invention by borrowing the idea of
+another, improving upon or adding to his arrangements, but the man who
+constructs a machine such as has never before been made, which executes
+satisfactorily all the functions it was intended to perform.  And this
+is what Koenig's invention did, as will be observed from the following
+brief summary of his life and labours.
+
+Frederick Koenig was born on the 17th of April, 1774, at Eisleben, in
+Saxony, the birthplace also of a still more famous person, Martin
+Luther.  His father was a respectable peasant proprietor, described by
+Herr Goebel as Anspanner.  But this word has now gone out of use.  In
+feudal times it described the farmer who was obliged to keep draught
+cattle to perform service due to the landlord.  The boy received a
+solid education at the Gymnasium, or public school of the town.  At a
+proper age he was bound apprentice for five years to Breitkopf and
+Hartel, of Leipzig, as compositor and printer; but after serving for
+four and a quarter years, he was released from his engagement because
+of his exceptional skill, which was an unusual occurrence.
+
+During the later years of his apprenticeship, Koenig was permitted to
+attend the classes in the University, more especially those of Ernst
+Platner, a physician, philosopher, and anthropologist.  After that he
+proceeded to the printing-office of his uncle, Anton F. Rose, at
+Greifswald, an old seaport town on the Baltic, where he remained a few
+years.  He next went to Halle as a journeyman printer,--German workmen
+going about from place to place, during their wanderschaft, for the
+purpose of learning their business.  After that, he returned to
+Breitkopf and Hartel, at Leipzig, where he had first learnt his trade.
+During this time, having saved a little money, he enrolled himself for
+a year as a regular student at the University of Leipzig.
+
+According to Koenig's own account, he first began to devise ways and
+means for improving the art of printing in the year 1802, when he was
+twenty-eight years old.  Printing large sheets of paper by hand was a
+very slow as well as a very laborious process.  One of the things that
+most occupied the young printer's mind was how to get rid of this
+"horse-work," for such it was, in the business of printing.  He was
+not, however, over-burdened with means, though he devised a machine
+with this object.  But to make a little money, he made translations for
+the publishers.  In 1803 Koenig returned to his native town of
+Eisleben, where he entered into an arrangement with Frederick Riedel,
+who furnished the necessary capital for carrying on the business of a
+printer and bookseller.  Koenig alleges that his reason for adopting
+this step was to raise sufficient money to enable him to carry out his
+plans for the improvement of printing.
+
+The business, however, did not succeed, as we find him in the following
+year carrying on a printing trade at Mayence.  Having sold this
+business, he removed to Suhl in Thuringia.  Here he was occupied with a
+stereotyping process, suggested by what he had read about the art as
+perfected in England by Earl Stanhope.  He also contrived an improved
+press, provided with a moveable carriage, on which the types were
+placed, with inking rollers, and a new mechanical method of taking off
+the impression by flat pressure.
+
+Koenig brought his new machine under the notice of the leading printers
+in Germany, but they would not undertake to use it.  The plan seemed to
+them too complicated and costly.  He tried to enlist men of capital in
+his scheme, but they all turned a deaf ear to him.  He went from town
+to town, but could obtain no encouragement whatever.  Besides,
+industrial enterprise in Germany was then in a measure paralysed by the
+impending war with France, and men of capital were naturally averse to
+risk their money on what seemed a merely speculative undertaking.
+
+Finding no sympathisers or helpers at home, Koenig next turned his
+attention abroad.  England was then, as now, the refuge of inventors
+who could not find the means of bringing out their schemes elsewhere;
+and to England he wistfully turned his eyes. In the meantime, however,
+his inventive ability having become known, an offer was made to him by
+the Russian Government to proceed to St. Petersburg and organise the
+State printing-office there.  The invitation was accepted, and Koenig
+proceeded to St. Petersburg in the spring of 1806.  But the official
+difficulties thrown in his way were very great, and so disgusted him,
+that he decided to throw up his appointment, and try his fortune in
+England.  He accordingly took ship for London, and arrived there in the
+following November, poor in means, but rich in his great idea, then his
+only property.
+
+As Koenig himself said, when giving an account of his
+invention:--"There is on the Continent no sort of encouragement for an
+enterprise of this description. The system of patents, as it exists in
+England, being either unknown, or not adopted in the Continental
+States, there is no inducement for industrial enterprise; and
+projectors are commonly obliged to offer their discoveries to some
+Government, and to so licit their encouragement.  I need hardly add
+that scarcely ever is an invention brought to maturity under such
+circumstances. The well-known fact, that almost every invention seeks,
+as it were, refuge in England, and is there brought to perfection,
+though the Government does not afford any other protection to inventors
+beyond what is derived from the wisdom of the laws, seems to indicate
+that the Continent has yet to learn from her the best manner of
+encouraging the mechanical arts.  I had my full share in the ordinary
+disappointments of Continental projectors; and after having lost in
+Germany and Russia upwards of two years in fruitless applications, I at
+last resorted to England."[1]
+
+After arriving in London, Koenig maintained himself with difficulty by
+working at his trade, for his comparative ignorance of the English
+language stood in his way.  But to work manually at the printer's
+"case," was not Koenig's object in coming to England.  His idea of a
+printing machine was always uppermost in his mind, and he lost no
+opportunity of bringing the subject under the notice of master printers
+likely to take it up.  He worked for a time in the printing office of
+Richard Taylor, Shoe Lane, Fleet Street, and mentioned the matter to
+him.  Taylor would not undertake the invention himself, but he
+furnished Koenig with an introduction to Thomas Bensley, the well-known
+printer of Bolt Court, Fleet Street.  On the 11th of March, 1807,
+Bensley invited Koenig to meet him on the subject of their recent
+conversation about "the discovery;" and on the 31st of the same month,
+the following agreement was entered into between Koenig and Bensley:--
+
+"Mr. Koenig, having discovered an entire new Method of Printing by
+Machinery, agrees to communicate the same to Mr. Bensley under the
+following conditions:--that, if Mr. Bensley shall be satisfied the
+Invention will answer all the purposes Mr. Koenig has stated in the
+Particulars he has delivered to Mr. Bensley, signed with his name, he
+shall enter into a legal Engagement to purchase the Secret from Mr.
+Koenig, or enter into such other agreement as may be deemed mutually
+beneficial to both parties; or, should Mr. Bensley wish to decline
+having any concern with the said Invention, then he engages not to make
+any use of the Machinery, or to communicate the Secret to any person
+whatsoever, until it is proved that the Invention is made use of by any
+one without restriction of Patent, or other particular agreement on the
+part of Mr. Koenig, under the penalty of Six Thousand Pounds.
+
+  "(Signed) T. Bensley,
+  "Friederich Konig.
+  "Witness--J. Hunneman."
+
+Koenig now proceeded to put his idea in execution.  He prepared his
+plans of the new printing machine.  It seems, however, that the
+progress made by him was very slow.  Indeed, three years passed before
+a working model could be got ready, to show his idea in actual
+practice.  In the meantime, Mr. Walter of The Times had been seen by
+Bensley, and consulted on the subject of the invention.  On the 9th of
+August, 1809, more than two years after the date of the above
+agreement, Bensley writes to Koenig: "I made a point of calling upon
+Mr. Walter yesterday, who, I am sorry to say, declines our proposition
+altogether, having (as he says) so many engagements as to prevent him
+entering into more."
+
+It may be mentioned that Koenig's original plan was confined to an
+improved press, in which the operation of laying the ink on the types
+was to be performed by an apparatus connected with the motions of the
+coffin, in such a manner as that one hand could be saved.  As little
+could be gained in expedition by this plan, the idea soon suggested
+itself of moving the press by machinery, or to reduce the several
+operations to one rotary motion, to which the first mover might be
+applied.  Whilst Koenig was in the throes of his invention, he was
+joined by his friend Andrew F. Bauer, a native of Stuttgart, who
+possessed considerable mechanical power, in which the inventor himself
+was probably somewhat deficient.  At all events, these two together
+proceeded to work out the idea, and to construct the first actual
+working printing machine.
+
+A patent was taken out, dated the 29th of March, 1810, which describes
+the details of the invention.  The arrangement was somewhat similar to
+that known as the platen machine; the printing being produced by two
+flat plates, as in the common hand-press.  It also embodied an
+ingenious arrangement for inking the type.  Instead of the
+old-fashioned inking balls, which were beaten on the type by hand
+labour, several cylinders covered with felt and leather were used, and
+formed part of the machine itself.  Two of the cylinders revolved in
+opposite directions, so as to spread the ink, which was then
+transferred by two other inking cylinders alternately applied to the
+"forme" by the action of spiral springs.  The movement of all the parts
+of the machine were to be derived from a steam-engine, or other first
+mover.
+
+"After many obstructions and delays," says Koenig himself, in
+describing the history of his invention, "the first printing machine
+was completed exactly upon the plan which I have described in the
+specification of my first patent.  It was set to Work in April, 1811.
+The sheet (H) of the new Annual Register for 1810, 'Principal
+Occurrences,' 3000 copies, was printed with it; and is, I have no
+doubt, the first part of a book ever printed with a machine.  The
+actual use of it, however, soon suggested new ideas, and led to the
+rendering it less complicated and more powerful"[2]
+
+Of course!  No great invention was ever completed at one effort. It
+would have been strange if Koenig had been satisfied with his first
+attempt.  It was only a beginning, and he naturally proceeded with the
+improvement of his machine.  It took Watt more than twenty years to
+elaborate his condensing steam-engine; and since his day, owing to the
+perfection of self-acting tools, it has been greatly improved.  The
+power of the Steamboat and the Locomotive also, as well as of all other
+inventions, have been developed by the constantly succeeding
+improvements of a nation of mechanical engineers.
+
+Koenig's experiment was only a beginning, and he naturally proceeded
+with the improvement of his machine.  Although the platen machine of
+Koenig's has since been taken up a new, and perfected, it was not
+considered by him sufficiently simple in its arrangements as to be
+adapted for common use; and he had scarcely completed it, when he was
+already revolving in his mind a plan of a second machine on a new
+principle, with the object of ensuring greater speed, economy, and
+simplicity.
+
+By this time, other well-known London printers, Messrs. Taylor and
+Woodfall, had joined Koenig and Bensley in their partnership for the
+manufacture and sale of printing machines.  The idea which now occurred
+to Koenig was, to employ a cylinder instead of a flat Platen machine,
+for taking the impressions off the type, and to place the sheet round
+the cylinder, thereby making it, as it were, part of the periphery.  As
+early as the year 1790, one William Nicholson had taken out a patent
+for a machine for printing "on paper, linen, cotton, woollen, and other
+articles," by means of "blocks, forms, types, plates, and originals,"
+which were to be "firmly imposed upon a cylindrical surface in the same
+manner as common letter is imposed upon a flat stone."[3]  From the
+mention of "colouring cylinder," and "paper-hangings, floor-cloths,
+cottons, linens, woollens, leather, skin, and every other flexible
+material," mentioned in the specification, it would appear as if
+Nicholson's invention were adapted for calico-printing and
+paper-hangings, as well as for the printing of books.  But it was never
+used for any of these purposes.  It contained merely the register of an
+idea, and that was all.  It was left for Adam Parkinson, of Manchester,
+to invent and make practical use of the cylinder printing machine for
+calico in the year 1805, and this was still further advanced by the
+invention of James Thompson, of Clitheroe, in 1813; while it was left
+for Frederick Koenig to invent and carry into practical operation the
+cylinder printing press for newspapers.
+
+After some promising experiments, the plans for a new machine on the
+cylindrical principle were proceeded with.  Koenig admitted throughout
+the great benefit he derived from the assistance of his friend Bauer.
+"By the judgment and precision," he said, "with which he executed my
+plans, he greatly contributed to my success."  A patent was taken out
+on October 30th, 1811; and the new machine was completed in December,
+1812.  The first sheets ever printed with an entirely cylindrical
+press, were sheets G and X of Clarkson's 'Life of Penn.' The papers of
+the Protestant Union were also printed with it in February and March,
+1813.  Mr. Koenig, in his account of the invention, says that "sheet M
+of Acton's 'Hortus Kewensis,' vol. v., will show the progress of
+improvement in the use of the invention.  Altogether, there are about
+160,000 sheets now in the hands of the public, printed with this
+machine, which, with the aid of two hands, takes off 800 impressions in
+the hour"[4]
+
+Koenig took out a further patent on July 23rd, 1813, and a fourth (the
+last) on the 14th of March, 1814.  The contrivance of these various
+arrangements cost the inventor many anxious days and nights of study
+and labour.  But he saw before him only the end he wished to compass,
+and thought but little of himself and his toils.  It may be mentioned
+that the principal feature of the invention was the printing cylinder
+in the centre of the machine, by which the impression was taken from
+the types, instead of by flat plates as in the first arrangement.  The
+forme was fixed in a cast-iron plate which was carried to and fro on a
+table, being received at either end by strong spiral springs.  A double
+machine, on the same principle,--the forme alternately passing under
+and giving an impression at one of two cylinders at either end of the
+press,--was also included in the patent of 1811.
+
+How diligently Koenig continued to elaborate the details of his
+invention will be obvious from the two last patents which he took out,
+in 1813 and 1814.  In the first he introduced an important improvement
+in the inking arrangement, and a contrivance for holding and carrying
+on the sheet, keeping it close to the printing cylinder by means of
+endless tapes; while in the second, he added the following new
+expedients: a feeder, consisting of an endless web,--an improved
+arrangement of the endless tapes by inner as well as outer
+friskets,--an improvement of the register (that is, one page falling
+exactly on the back of another), by which greater accuracy of
+impression was also secured; and finally, an arrangement by which the
+sheet was thrown out of the machine, printed by the revolving cylinder
+on both sides.
+
+The partners in Koenig's Patents had established a manufactory in
+Whitecross Street for the production of the new machines.  The workmen
+employed were sworn to secrecy.  They entered into an agreement by
+which they were liable to forfeit 100L. if they communicated to others
+the secret of the machines, either by drawings or description, or if
+they told by whom or for whom they were constructed.  This was to avoid
+the hostility of the pressmen, who, having heard of the new invention,
+were up in arms against it, as likely to deprive them of their
+employment.  And yet, as stated by Johnson in his 'Typographia,' the
+manual labour of the men who worked at the hand press, was so severe
+and exhausting, "that the stoutest constitutions fell a sacrifice to it
+in a few years." The number of sheets that could be thrown off was also
+extremely limited.
+
+With the improved press, perfected by Earl Stanhope, about 250
+impressions could be taken, or 125 sheets printed on both sides in an
+hour.  Although a greater number was produced in newspaper printing
+offices by excessive labour, yet it was necessary to have duplicate
+presses, and to set up duplicate forms of type, to carry on such extra
+work; and still the production of copies was quite inadequate to
+satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for newspapers.  The time was
+therefore evidently ripe for the adoption of such a machine as that of
+Koenig.  Attempts had been made by many inventors, but every one of
+them had failed. Printers generally regarded the steam-press as
+altogether chimerical.
+
+Such was the condition of affairs when Koenig finished his improved
+printing machine in the manufactory in Whitecross Street.  The partners
+in the invention were now in great hopes. When the machine had been got
+ready for work, the proprietors of several of the leading London
+newspapers were invited to witness its performances.  Amongst them were
+Mr. Perry of the Morning chronicle, and Mr. Walter of The Times.  Mr.
+Perry would have nothing to do with the machine; he would not even go
+to see it, for he regarded it as a gimcrack.[5]  On the contrary, Mr.
+Walter, though he had five years before declined to enter into any
+arrangement with Bensley, now that he heard the machine was finished,
+and at work, decided to go and inspect it.  It was thoroughly
+characteristic of the business spirit of the man.  He had been very
+anxious to apply increased mechanical power to the printing of his
+newspaper.  He had consulted Isambard Brunel--one of the cleverest
+inventors of the day--on the subject; but Brunel, after studying the
+subject, and labouring over a variety of plans, finally gave it up.  He
+had next tried Thomas Martyn, an ingenious young compositor, who had a
+scheme for a self-acting machine for working the printing press.  But,
+although Mr. Walter supplied him with the necessary funds, his scheme
+never came to anything.  Now, therefore, was the chance for Koenig!
+
+After carefully examining the machine at work, Mr. Walter was at once
+satisfied as to the great value of the invention.  He saw it turning
+out the impressions with unusual speed and great regularity.  This was
+the very machine of which he had been in search.  But it turned out the
+impressions printed on one side only.  Koenig, however, having briefly
+explained the more rapid action of a double machine on the same
+principle for the printing of newspapers, Mr. Walter, after a few
+minutes' consideration, and before leaving the premises, ordered two
+double machines for the printing of The Times newspaper.  Here, at
+last, was the opportunity for a triumphant issue out of Koenig's
+difficulties.
+
+The construction of the first newspaper machine was still, however, a
+work of great difficulty and labour.  It must be remembered that
+nothing of the kind had yet been made by any other inventor.  The
+single-cylinder machine, which Mr. Walter had seen at work, was
+intended for bookwork only.  Now Koenig had to construct a
+double-cylinder machine for printing newspapers, in which many of the
+arrangements must necessarily be entirely new.  With the assistance of
+his leading mechanic, Bauer, aided by the valuable suggestions of Mr.
+Walter himself, Koenig at length completed his plans, and proceeded
+with the erection of the working machine.  The several parts were
+prepared at the workshop in Whitecross Street, and taken from thence,
+in as secret a way as possible, to the premises in Printing House
+Square, adjoining The Times office, where they were fitted together and
+erected into a working machine.  Nearly two years elapsed before the
+press was ready for work.  Great as was the secrecy with which the
+operations were conducted, the pressmen of The Times office obtained
+some inkling of what was going on, and they vowed vengeance to the
+foreign inventor who threatened their craft with destruction.  There
+was, however, always this consolation: every attempt that had
+heretofore been made to print newspapers in any other way than by
+manual labour had proved an utter failure!
+
+At length the day arrived when the first newspaper steam-press was
+ready for use.  The pressmen were in a state of great excitement, for
+they knew by rumour that the machine of which they had so long been
+apprehensive was fast approaching completion.  One night they were told
+to wait in the press-room, as important news was expected from abroad.
+At six o'clock in the morning of the 29th November, 1814, Mr. Walter,
+who had been watching the working of the machine all through the night,
+suddenly appeared among the pressmen, and announced that "The Times is
+already printed by steam!"  Knowing that the pressmen had vowed
+vengeance against the inventor and his invention, and that they had
+threatened "destruction to him and his traps," he informed them that if
+they attempted violence, there was a force ready to suppress it; but
+that if they were peaceable, their wages should be continued to every
+one of them until they could obtain similar employment.  This proved
+satisfactory so far, and he proceeded to distribute several copies of
+the newspaper amongst them--the first newspaper printed by steam! That
+paper contained the following memorable announcement:--
+
+"Our Journal of this day presents to the Public the practical result of
+the greatest improvement connected with printing since the discovery of
+the art itself.  The reader of this paragraph now holds in his hand one
+of the many thousand impressions of The Times newspaper which were
+taken off last night by a mechanical apparatus.  A system of machinery
+almost organic has been devised and arranged, which, while it relieves
+the human frame of its most laborious' efforts in printing, far exceeds
+all human powers in rapidity and dispatch.  That the magnitude of the
+invention may be justly appreciated by its effects, we shall inform the
+public, that after the letters are placed by the compositors, and
+enclosed in what is called the forme, little more remains for man to do
+than to attend upon and to watch this unconscious agent in its
+operations.  The machine is then merely supplied with paper: itself
+places the forme, inks it, adjusts the paper to the forme newly inked,
+stamps the sheet, and gives it forth to the hands of the attendant, at
+the same time withdrawing the forme for a fresh coat of ink, which
+itself again distributes, to meet the ensuing sheet now advancing for
+impression; and the whole of these complicated acts is performed with
+such a velocity and simultaneousness of movement, that no less than
+1100 sheets are impressed in one hour.
+
+"That the completion of an invention of this kind, not the effect of
+chance, but the result of mechanical combinations methodically arranged
+in the mind of the artist, should be attended with many obstructions
+and much delay, may be readily imagined.  Our share in this event has,
+indeed, only been the application of the discovery, under an agreement
+with the patentees, to our own particular business; yet few can
+conceive--even with this limited interest--the various disappointments
+and deep anxiety to which we have for a long course of time been
+subjected.
+
+"Of the person who made this discovery we have but little to add. Sir
+Christopher Wren's noblest monument is to be found in the building
+which he erected; so is the best tribute of praise which we are capable
+of offering to the inventor of the printing machine, comprised in the
+preceding description, which we have feebly sketched, of the powers and
+utility of his invention.  It must suffice to say further, that he is a
+Saxon by birth; that his name is Koenig; and that the invention has
+been executed under the direction of his friend and countryman, Bauer."
+
+The machine continued to work steadily and satisfactorily,
+notwithstanding the doubters, the unbelievers, and the threateners of
+vengeance.  The leading article of The Times for December 3rd, 1814,
+contains the following statement:--
+
+"The machine of which we announced the discovery and our adoption a few
+days ago, has been whirling on its course ever since, with improving
+order, regularity, and even speed.  The length of the debates on
+Thursday, the day when Parliament was adjourned, will have been
+observed; on such an occasion the operation of composing and printing
+the last page must commence among all the journals at the same moment;
+and starting from that moment, we, with our infinitely superior
+circulation, were enabled to throw off our whole impression many hours
+before the other respectable rival prints.  The accuracy and clearness
+of the impression will likewise excite attention.
+
+"We shall make no reflections upon those by whom this wonderful
+discovery has been opposed,--the doubters and unbelievers,--however
+uncharitable they may have been to us; were it not that the efforts of
+genius are always impeded by drivellers of this description, and that
+we owe it to such men as Mr. Koenig and his Friend, and all future
+promulgators of beneficial inventions, to warn them that they will have
+to contend with everything that selfishness and conceited ignorance can
+devise or say; and if we cannot clear their way before them, we would
+at least give them notice to prepare a panoply against its dirt and
+filth.
+
+"There is another class of men from whom we receive dark and anonymous
+threats of vengeance if we persevere in the use of this machine.  These
+are the Pressmen.  They well know, at least should well know, that such
+menace is thrown away upon us.  There is nothing that we will not do to
+assist and serve those whom we have discharged.  They themselves can
+seethe greater rapidity and precision with which the paper is printed.
+What right have they to make us print it slower and worse for their
+supposed benefit? A little reflection, indeed, would show them that it
+is neither in their power nor in ours to stop a discovery now made, if
+it is beneficial to mankind; or to force it down if it is useless. They
+had better, therefore, acquiesce in a result which they cannot alter;
+more especially as there will still be employment enough for the old
+race of pressmen, before the new method obtains general use, and no new
+ones need be brought up to the business; but we caution them seriously
+against involving themselves and their families in ruin, by becoming
+amenable to the laws of their country.  It has always been matter of
+great satisfaction to us to reflect, that we encountered and crushed
+one conspiracy; and we should be sorry to find our work half done.
+
+"It is proper to undeceive the world in one particular; that is, as to
+the number of men discharged.  We in fact employ only eight fewer
+workmen than formerly; whereas more than three times that number have
+been employed for a year and a half in building the machine."
+
+On the 8th of December following, Mr. Koenig addressed an advertisement
+"To the Public" in the columns of The Times, giving an account of the
+origin and progress of his invention.  We have already cited several
+passages from the statement.  After referring to his two last patents,
+he says: "The machines now printing The Times and Mail are upon the
+same principle; but they have been contrived for the particular purpose
+of a newspaper of extensive circulation, where expedition is the great
+object.
+
+"The public are undoubtedly aware, that never, perhaps, was a new
+invention put to so severe a trial as the present one, by being used on
+its first public introduction for the printing of newspapers, and will,
+I trust, be indulgent with respect to the many defects in the
+performance, though none of them are inherent in the principle of the
+machine; and we hope, that in less than two months, the whole will be
+corrected by greater adroitness in the management of it, so far at
+least as the hurry of newspaper printing will at all admit.
+
+"It will appear from the foregoing narrative, that it was incorrectly
+stated in several newspapers, that I had sold my interest to two other
+foreigners; my partners in this enterprise being at present two
+Englishmen, Mr. Bensley and Mr. Taylor; and it is gratifying to my
+feelings to avail myself of this opportunity to thank those gentlemen
+publicly for the confidence which they have reposed in me, for the aid
+of their practical skill, and for the persevering support which they
+have afforded me in long and very expensive experiments; thus risking
+their fortunes in the prosecution of my invention.
+
+"The first introduction of the invention was considered by some as a
+difficult and even hazardous step.  The Proprietor of The Times having
+made that his task, the public are aware that it is in good hands."
+
+One would think that Koenig would now feel himself in smooth water, and
+receive a share of the good fortune which he had so laboriously
+prepared for others.  Nothing of the kind!  His merits were disputed;
+his rights were denied; his patents were infringed; and he never
+received any solid advantages for his invention, until he left the
+country and took refuge in Germany. It is true, he remained for a few
+years longer, in charge of the manufactory in Whitecross Street, but
+they were years to him of trouble and sorrow.
+
+In 1816, Koenig designed and superintended the construction of a single
+cylinder registering machine for book-printing.  This was supplied to
+Bensley and Son, and turned out 1000 sheets, printed on both sides, in
+the hour.  Blumenbach's 'Physiology' was the first entire book printed
+by steam, by this new machine.  It was afterwards employed, in 1818, in
+working off the Literary Gazette.  A machine of the same kind was
+supplied to Mr. Richard Taylor for the purpose of printing the
+'Philosophical Magazine,' and books generally.  This was afterwards
+altered to a double machine, and employed for printing the Weekly
+Dispatch.
+
+But what about Koenig's patents?  They proved of little use to him.
+They only proclaimed his methods, and enabled other ingenious mechanics
+to borrow his adaptations.  Now that he had succeeded in making
+machines that would work, the way was clear for everybody else to
+follow his footsteps.  It had taken him more than six years to invent
+and construct a successful steam printing press; but any clever
+mechanic, by merely studying his specification, and examining his
+machine at work, might arrive at the same results in less than a week.
+
+The patents did not protect him.  New specifications, embodying some
+modification or alteration in detail, were lodged by other inventors
+and new patents taken out.  New printing machines were constructed in
+defiance of his supposed legal rights; and he found himself stripped of
+the reward that he had been labouring for during so many long and
+toilsome years.  He could not go to law, and increase his own vexation
+and loss.  He might get into Chancery easy enough; but when would he
+get out of it, and in what condition?
+
+It must also be added, that Koenig was unfortunate in his partner
+Bensley.  While the inventor was taking steps to push the sale of his
+book-printing machines among the London printers, Bensley, who was
+himself a book-printer, was hindering him in every way in his
+negotiations.  Koenig was of opinion that Bensley wished to retain the
+exclusive advantage which the possession of his registering book
+machine gave him over the other printers, by enabling him to print more
+quickly and correctly than they could, and thus give him an advantage
+over them in his printing contracts.
+
+When Koenig, in despair at his position, consulted counsel as to the
+infringement of his patent, he was told that he might institute
+proceedings with the best prospect of success; but to this end a
+perfect agreement by the partners was essential. When, however, Koenig
+asked Bensley to concur with him in taking proceedings in defence of
+the patent right, the latter positively refused to do so.  Indeed,
+Koenig was under the impression that his partner had even entered into
+an arrangement with the infringers of the patent to share with them the
+proceeds of their piracy.
+
+Under these circumstances, it appeared to Koenig that only two
+alternatives remained for him to adopt.  One was to commence an
+expensive, and it might be a protracted, suit in Chancery, in defence
+of his patent rights, with possibly his partner, Bensley, against him;
+and the other, to abandon his invention in England without further
+struggle, and settle abroad.  He chose the latter alternative, and left
+England finally in August, 1817.
+
+Mr. Richard Taylor, the other partner in the patent, was an honourable
+man; but he could not control the proceedings of Bensley.  In a memoir
+published by him in the 'Philosophical Magazine,' "On the Invention and
+First Introduction of Mr. Koenig's Printing Machine," in which he
+honestly attributes to him the sole merit of the invention, he says,
+"Mr. Koenig left England, suddenly, in disgust at the treacherous
+conduct of Bensley, always shabby and overreaching, and whom he found
+to be laying a scheme for defrauding his partners in the patents of all
+the advantages to arise from them.  Bensley, however, while he
+destroyed the prospects of his partners, outwitted himself, and
+grasping at all, lost all, becoming bankrupt in fortune as well as in
+character."[6]
+
+Koenig was badly used throughout.  His merits as an inventor were
+denied.  On the 3rd of January, 1818, after he had left England,
+Bensley published a letter in the Literary Gazette, in which he speaks
+of the printing machine as his own, without mentioning a word of
+Koenig.  The 'British Encyclopaedia,' in describing the inventors of
+the printing machine, omitted the name of Koenig altogether.  The
+'Mechanics Magazine,' for September, 1847, attributed the invention to
+the Proprietors of The Times, though Mr. Walter himself had said that
+his share in the event had been "only the application of the
+discovery;" and the late Mr. Bennet Woodcroft, usually a fair man, in
+his introductory chapter to 'Patents for Inventions in Printing,'
+attributes the merit to William Nicholson's patent (No. 1748), which,
+he said, "produced an entire revolution in the mechanism of the art."
+In other publications, the claims of Bacon and Donkin were put forward,
+while those of the real inventor were ignored.  The memoir of Koenig by
+Mr. Richard Taylor, in the 'Philosophical Magazine,' was honest and
+satisfactory; and should have set the question at rest.
+
+It may further be mentioned that William Nicholson,--who was a patent
+agent, and a great taker out of patents, both in his own name and in
+the names of others,--was the person employed by Koenig as his agent to
+take the requisite steps for registering his invention.  When Koenig
+consulted him on the subject, Nicholson observed that "seventeen years
+before he had taken out a patent for machine printing, but he had
+abandoned it, thinking that it wouldn't do; and had never taken it up
+again."  Indeed, the two machines were on different principles.  Nor
+did Nicholson himself ever make any claim to priority of invention,
+when the success of Koenig's machine was publicly proclaimed by Mr.
+Walter of The Times some seven years later.
+
+When Koenig, now settled abroad, heard of the attempts made in England
+to deny his merits as an inventor, he merely observed to his friend
+Bauer, "It is really too bad that these people, who have already robbed
+me of my invention, should now try to rob me of my reputation."  Had he
+made any reply to the charges against him, it might have been comprised
+in a very few words:  "When I arrived in England, no steam printing
+machine had ever before been seen; when I left it, the only printing
+machines in actual work were those which I had constructed."  But
+Koenig never took the trouble to defend the originality of his
+invention in England, now that he had finally abandoned the field to
+others.
+
+There can be no question as to the great improvements introduced in the
+printing machine by Mr. Applegath and Mr. Cowper; by Messrs. Hoe and
+Sons, of New York; and still later by the present Mr. Walter of The
+Times, which have brought the art of machine printing to an
+extraordinary degree of perfection and speed.  But the original merits
+of an invention are not to be determined by a comparison of the first
+machine of the kind ever made with the last, after some sixty years'
+experience and skill have been applied in bringing it to perfection.
+Were the first condensing engine made at Soho--now to be seen at the
+Museum in South Kensington--in like manner to be compared with the last
+improved pumping-engine made yesterday, even the great James Watt might
+be made out to have been a very poor contriver.  It would be much
+fairer to compare Koenig's steam-printing machine with the hand-press
+newspaper printing machine which it superseded. Though there were steam
+engines before Watt, and steamboats before Fulton, and steam
+locomotives before Stephenson, there were no steam printing presses
+before Koenig with which to compare them, Koenig's was undoubtedly the
+first, and stood unequalled and alone.
+
+The rest of Koenig's life, after he retired to Germany, was spent in
+industry, if not in peace and quietness.  He could not fail to be cast
+down by the utter failure of his English partnership, and the loss of
+the fruits of his ingenious labours.  But instead of brooding over his
+troubles, he determined to break away from them, and begin the world
+anew.  He was only forty-three when he left England, and he might yet
+be able to establish himself prosperously in life.  He had his own head
+and hands to help him.
+
+Though England was virtually closed against him, the whole continent of
+Europe was open to him, and presented a wide field for the sale of his
+printing machines.
+
+While residing in England, Koenig had received many communications from
+influential printers in Germany.  Johann Spencer and George Decker
+wrote to him in 1815, asking for particulars about his invention; but
+finding his machine too expensive,[7] the latter commissioned Koenig to
+send him a Stanhope printing press--the first ever introduced into
+Germany--the price of which was 95L.  Koenig did this service for his
+friend, for although he stood by the superior merits of his own
+invention, he was sufficiently liberal to recognise the merits of the
+inventions of others.  Now that he was about to settle in Germany, he
+was able to supply his friends and patrons on the spot.
+
+The question arose, where was he to settle?  He made enquiries about
+sites along the Rhine, the Neckar, and the Main.  At last he was
+attracted by a specially interesting spot at Oberzell on the Main, near
+Wurzburg.  It was an old disused convent of the Praemonstratensian
+monks.  The place was conveniently situated for business, being nearly
+in the centre of Germany.  The Bavarian Government, desirous of giving
+encouragement to so useful a genius, granted Koenig the use of the
+secularised monastery on easy terms; and there accordingly he began his
+operations in the course of the following year.  Bauer soon joined him,
+with an order from Mr. Walter for an improved Times machine; and the
+two men entered into a partnership which lasted for life.
+
+The partners had at first great difficulties to encounter in getting
+their establishment to work.  Oberzell was a rural village, containing
+only common labourers, from whom they had to select their workmen.
+Every person taken into the concern had to be trained and educated to
+mechanical work by the partners themselves.  With indescribable
+patience they taught these labourers the use of the hammer, the file,
+the turning-lathe, and other tools, which the greater number of them
+had never before seen, and of whose uses they were entirely ignorant.
+The machinery of the workshop was got together with equal difficulty
+piece by piece, some of the parts from a great distance,--the
+mechanical arts being then at a very low ebb in Germany, which was
+still suffering from the effects of the long continental war.
+
+At length the workshop was fitted up, the old barn of the monastery
+being converted into an iron foundry.
+
+Orders for printing machines were gradually obtained.  The first came
+from Brockhaus, of Leipzig.  By the end of the fourth year two other
+single-cylinder machines were completed and sent to Berlin, for use in
+the State printing office.  By the end of the eighth year seven
+double-cylinder steam presses had been manufactured for the largest
+newspaper printers in Germany.  The recognised excellence of Koenig and
+Bauer's book-printing machines--their perfect register, and the quality
+of the work they turned out--secured for them an increasing demand, and
+by the year 1829 the firm had manufactured fifty-one machines for the
+leading book printers throughout Germany.  The Oberzell manufactory was
+now in full work, and gave regular employment to about 120 men.
+
+A period of considerable depression followed.  As was the case in
+England, the introduction of the printing machine in Germany excited
+considerable hostility among the pressmen.  In some of the principal
+towns they entered into combinations to destroy them, and several
+printing machines were broken by violence and irretrievably injured.
+But progress could not be stopped; the printing machine had been fairly
+born, and must eventually do its work for mankind.  These combinations,
+however, had an effect for a time.  They deterred other printers from
+giving orders for the machines; and Koenig and Bauer were under the
+necessity of suspending their manufacture to a considerable extent.  To
+keep their men employed, the partners proceeded to fit up a paper
+manufactory, Mr. Cotta, of Stuttgart, joining them in the adventure;
+and a mill was fitted up, embodying all the latest improvements in
+paper-making.
+
+Koenig, however, did not live to enjoy the fruits or all his study,
+labour, toil, and anxiety; for, while this enterprise was still in
+progress, and before the machine trade had revived, he was taken ill,
+and confined to bed.  He became sleepless; his nerves were unstrung;
+and no wonder.  Brain disease carried him off on the 17th of January,
+1833; and this good, ingenious, and admirable inventor was removed from
+all further care and trouble.
+
+He died at the early age of fifty-eight, respected and beloved by all
+who knew him.
+
+His partner Bauer survived to continue the business for twenty years
+longer.  It was during this later period that the Oberzell manufactory
+enjoyed its greatest prosperity.  The prejudices of the workmen
+gradually subsided when they found that machine printing, instead of
+abridging employment, as they feared it would do, enormously increased
+it; and orders accordingly flowed in from Berlin, Vienna, and all the
+leading towns and cities of Germany, Austria, Denmark, Russia, and
+Sweden.  The six hundredth machine, turned out in 1847, was capable of
+printing 6000 impressions in the hour.  In March, 1865, the thousandth
+machine was completed at Oberzell, on the occasion of the celebration
+of the fifty years' jubilee of the invention of the steam press by
+Koenig.
+
+The sons of Koenig carried on the business; and in the biography by
+Goebel, it is stated that the manufactory of Oberzell has now turned
+out no fewer than 3000 printing machines.  The greater number have been
+supplied to Germany; but 660 were sent to Russia, 61 to Asia, 12 to
+England, and 11 to America.  The rest were despatched to Italy,
+Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Holland, and other countries.
+
+It remains to be said that Koenig and Bauer, united in life, were not
+divided by death.  Bauer died on February 27, 1860, and the remains of
+the partners now lie side by side in the little cemetery at Oberzell,
+close to the scene of their labours and the valuable establishment
+which they founded.
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter VI.
+
+[1] Koenig's letter in The Times, 8th December, 1814
+
+[2] Koenig's letter in The Times, 8th December, 1814.
+
+[3] Date of Patent, 29th April, 1790, No. 1748,
+
+[4] Koenig's letter in The Times, 8th December, 1814.
+
+[5] Mr. Richard Taylor, one of the partners in the patent, says, "Mr.
+Perry declined, alleging that he did not consider a newspaper worth so
+many years' purchase as would equal the cost of the machine."
+
+[6] Mr. Richard Taylor, F.S.A., memoir in 'Philosophical Magazine' for
+October 1847, p. 300.
+
+[7] The price of a single cylinder non-registering machine was
+advertised at 900L.; of a double ditto, 1400L.; and of a cylinder
+registering machine, 2000L.; added to which was 250L., 350L., and 500L.
+per annum for each of these machines so long as the patent lasted, or
+an agreed sum to be paid down at once.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE WALTERS OF THE TIMES: INVENTION OF THE WALTER PRESS.
+
+"Intellect and industry are never incompatible.  There is  more wisdom,
+and will be more benefit, in combining them than scholars like to
+believe, or than the common world imagine.  Life has time enough for
+both, and its happiness will be increased by the union."--SHARON TURNER.
+
+"I have beheld with most respect the man Who knew himself, and knew the
+ways before him, And from among them chose considerately, With a clear
+foresight, not a blindfold courage; And, having chosen, with a
+steadfast mind Pursued his purpose." HENRY TAYLOR--Philip van Artevelde.
+
+The late John Walter, who adopted Koenig's steam printing press in
+printing The Times, was virtually the inventor of the modern newspaper.
+The first John Walter, his father, learnt the art of printing in the
+office of Dodsley, the proprietor of the 'Annual Register.' He
+afterwards pursued the profession of an underwriter, but his fortunes
+were literally shipwrecked by the capture of a fleet of merchantmen by
+a French squadron. Compelled by this loss to return to his trade, he
+succeeded in obtaining the publication of 'Lloyd's List,' as well as
+the printing of the Board of Customs.  He also established himself as a
+publisher and bookseller at No. 8, Charing Cross.  But his principal
+achievement was in founding The Times newspaper.
+
+The Daily Universal Register was started on the 1st of January, 1785,
+and was described in the heading as "printed logographically."  The
+type had still to be composed, letter by letter, each placed alongside
+of its predecessor by human fingers.  Mr. Walter's invention consisted
+in using stereotyped words and parts of words instead of separate metal
+letters, by which a certain saving of time and labour was effected.
+The name of the 'Register' did not suit, there being many other
+publications bearing a similar title.  Accordingly, it was re-named The
+Times, and the first number was issued from Printing House Square on
+the 1st of January, 1788.
+
+The Times was at first a very meagre publication.  It was not much
+bigger than a number of the old 'Penny Magazine,' containing a single
+short leader on some current topic, without any pretensions to
+excellence; some driblets of news spread out in large type; half a
+column of foreign intelligence, with a column of facetious paragraphs
+under the heading of "The Cuckoo;" while the rest of each number
+consisted of advertisements. Notwithstanding the comparative innocence
+of the contents of the early numbers of the paper, certain passages
+which appeared in it on two occasions subjected the publisher to
+imprisonment in Newgate.  The extent of the offence, on one occasion,
+consisted in the publication of a short paragraph intimating that their
+Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York had "so
+demeaned themselves as to incur the just disapprobation of his
+Majesty!"  For such slight offences were printers sent to gaol in those
+days.
+
+Although the first Mr. Walter was a man of considerable business
+ability, his exertions were probably too much divided amongst a variety
+of pursuits to enable him to devote that exclusive attention to The
+Times which was necessary to ensure its success.
+
+He possibly regarded it, as other publishers of newspapers then did,
+mainly as a means of obtaining a profitable business in job-printing.
+Hence, in the elder Walter's hands, the paper was not only unprofitable
+in itself, but its maintenance became a source of gradually increasing
+expenditure; and the proprietor seriously contemplated its
+discontinuance.
+
+At this juncture, John Walter, junior, who had been taken into the
+business as a partner, entreated his father to entrust him with the
+sole conduct of the paper, and to give it "one more trial."  This was
+at the beginning of 1803.  The new editor and conductor was then only
+twenty-seven years of age.  He had been trained to the manual work of a
+printer "at case," and passed through nearly every department in the
+office, literary and mechanical.  But in the first place, he had
+received a very liberal education, first at Merchant Taylors' School,
+and afterwards at Trinity College, Oxford, where he pursued his
+classical studies with much success.  He was thus a man of
+well-cultured mind; he had been thoroughly disciplined to work; he was,
+moreover, a man of tact and energy, full of expedients, and possessed
+by a passion for business.  His father, urged by the young man's
+entreaties, at length consented, although not without misgivings, to
+resign into his hands the entire future control of The Times.
+
+Young Walter proceeded forthwith to remodel the establishment, and to
+introduce improvements into every department, as far as the scanty
+capital at his command would admit.  Before he assumed the direction,
+The Times did not seek to guide opinion or to exercise political
+influence.  It was a scanty newspaper--nothing more, Any political
+matters referred to were usually introduced in "Letters to the Editor,"
+in the form in which Junius's Letters first appeared in the Public
+Advertiser.  The comments on political affairs by the Editor were
+meagre and brief, and confined to a mere statement of supposed facts.
+
+Mr. Walter, very much to the dismay of his father, struck out an
+entirely new course.  He boldly stated his views on public affairs,
+bringing his strong and original judgment to bear upon the political
+and social topics of the day.  He carefully watched and closely studied
+public opinion, and discussed general questions in all their bearings.
+He thus invented the modern Leading Article.  The adoption of an
+independent line of politics necessarily led him to canvass freely, and
+occasionally to condemn, the measures of the Government.  Thus, he had
+only been about a year in office as editor, when the Sidmouth
+Administration was succeeded by that of Mr. Pitt, under whom Lord
+Melville undertook the unfortunate Catamaran expedition.  His
+Lordship's malpractices in the Navy Department had also been brought to
+light by the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry.  On both these topics Mr.
+Walter spoke out freely in terms of reprobation; and the result was,
+that the printing for the Customs and the Government advertisements
+were at once removed from The Times office.
+
+Two years later Mr. Pitt died, and an Administration succeeded which
+contained a portion of the political chiefs whom the editor had
+formerly supported on his undertaking the management of the paper.  He
+was invited by one of them to state the injustice which had been done
+to him by the loss of the Customs printing, and a memorial to the
+Treasury was submitted for his signature, with a view to its recovery.
+But believing that the reparation of the injury in this manner was
+likely to be considered as a favour, entitling those who granted it to
+a certain degree of influence over the politics of the journal, Walter
+refused to sign it, or to have any concern in presenting the memorial.
+He did more; he wrote to those from whom the restoration of the
+employment was expected to come, disavowing all connection with the
+proceeding.  The matter then dropped, and the Customs printing was
+never restored to the office.
+
+This course was so unprecedented, and, as his father thought, was so
+very wrong-headed, that young Walter had for some time considerable
+difficulty in holding his ground and maintaining the independent
+position he had assumed.  But with great tenacity of purpose he held on
+his course undismayed.  He was a man who looked far ahead,--not so much
+taking into account the results at the end of each day or of each year,
+but how the plan he had laid down for conducting the paper would work
+out in the long run. And events proved that the high-minded course he
+had pursued with so much firmness of purpose was the wisest course
+after all.
+
+Another feature in the management which showed clear-sightedness and
+business acuteness, was the pains which the Editor took to ensure
+greater celerity of information and dispatch in printing. The expense
+which he incurred in carrying out these objects excited the serious
+displeasure of his father, who regarded them as acts of juvenile folly
+and extravagance.  Another circumstance strongly roused the old man's
+wrath.  It appears that in those days the insertion of theatrical puffs
+formed a considerable source of newspaper income; and yet young Walter
+determined at once to abolish them.  It is not a little remarkable that
+these earliest acts of Mr. Walter--which so clearly marked his
+enterprise and high-mindedness--should have been made the subject of
+painful comments in his father's will.
+
+Notwithstanding this serious opposition from within, the power and
+influence of the paper visibly and rapidly grew.  The new Editor
+concentrated in the columns of his paper a range of information such as
+had never before been attempted, or indeed thought possible.  His
+vigilant eye was directed to every detail of his business.  He greatly
+improved the reporting of public meetings, the money market, and other
+intelligence,--aiming at greater fulness and accuracy.  In the
+department of criticism his labours were unwearied.  He sought to
+elevate the character of the paper, and rendered it more dignified by
+insisting that it should be impartial.  He thus conferred the greatest
+public service upon literature, the drama, and the fine arts, by
+protecting them against the evil influences of venal panegyric on the
+one hand, and of prejudiced hostility on the other.
+
+But the most remarkable feature of The Times that which emphatically
+commended it to public support and ensured its commercial success--was
+its department of foreign intelligence. At the time that Walter
+undertook the management of the journal, Europe was a vast theatre of
+war; and in the conduct of commercial affairs--not to speak of
+political movements--it was of the most vital importance that early
+information should be obtained of affairs on the Continent.  The Editor
+resolved to become himself the purveyor of foreign intelligence, and at
+great expense he despatched his agents in all directions, even in the
+track of armies; while others were employed, under various disguises
+and by means of sundry pretexts, in many parts of the Continent.  These
+agents collected information, and despatched it to London, often at
+considerable risks, for publication in The Times, where it usually
+appeared long in advance of the government despatches.
+
+The late Mr. Pryme, in his 'Autobiographic Recollections,' mentions a
+visit which he paid to Mr. Walter at his seat at Bearwood.  "He
+described to me," says Mr. Pryme, "the cause of the large extension in
+the circulation of The Times.  He was the first to establish a foreign
+correspondent.  This was Henry Crabb Robinson, at a salary of 300L. a
+year....  Mr. Walter also established local reporters, instead of
+copying from the country papers.  His father doubted the wisdom of such
+a large expenditure, but the son prophesied a gradual and certain
+success, which has actually been realised."
+
+Mr. Robinson has described in his Diary the manner in which he became
+connected with the foreign correspondence.  "In January, 1807," he
+says, "I received, through my friend J.D. Collier, a proposal from Mr.
+Walter that I should take up my residence at Altona, and become The
+Times correspondent.  I was to receive from the editor of the
+'Hamburger Correspondenten' all the public documents at his disposal,
+and was to have the benefit also of a mass of information, of which the
+restraints of the German Press did not permit him to avail himself.
+The honorarium I was to receive was ample with my habits of life.  I
+gladly accepted the offer, and never repented having done so.  My
+acquaintance with Mr. Walter ripened into friendship, and lasted as
+long as he lived."[1]
+
+Mr. Robinson was forced to leave Germany by the Battle of Friedland and
+the Treaty of Tilsit, which resulted in the naval coalition against
+England.  Returning to London, he became foreign editor of The Times
+until the following year, when he proceeded to Spain as foreign
+correspondent.  Mr. Walter had also an agent in the track of the army
+in the unfortunate Walcheren expedition; and The Times announced the
+capitulation of Flushing forty-eight hours before the news had arrived
+by any other channel.  By this prompt method of communicating public
+intelligence, the practice, which had previously existed, of
+systematically retarding the publication of foreign news by officials
+at the General Post Office, who made gain by selling them to the
+Lombard Street brokers, was effectually extinguished.
+
+This circumstance, as well as the independent course which Mr. Walter
+adopted in the discussion of foreign politics, explains in some measure
+the opposition which he had to encounter in the transmission of his
+despatches.  As early as the year 1805, when he had come into collision
+with the Government and lost the Customs printing, The Times despatches
+were regularly stopped at the outports, whilst those for the
+Ministerial journals were allowed to proceed.  This might have crushed
+a weaker man, but it did not crush Walter.  Of course he expostulated.
+He was informed at the Home Secretary's office that he might be
+permitted to receive his foreign papers as a favour.  But as this
+implied the expectation of a favour from him in return, the proposal
+was rejected; and, determined not to be baffled, he employed special
+couriers, at great cost, for the purpose of obtaining the earliest
+transmission of foreign intelligence.
+
+These important qualities--enterprise, energy, business tact, and
+public spirit--sufficiently account for his remarkable success. To
+these, however, must be added another of no small
+importance--discernment and knowledge of character.  Though himself the
+head and front of his enterprise, it was necessary that he should
+secure the services and co-operation of men of first-rate ability; and
+in the selection of such men his judgment was almost unerring.  By his
+discernment and munificence, he collected round him some of the ablest
+writers of the age.  These were frequently revealed to him in the
+communications of correspondents--the author of the letters signed
+"Vetus" being thus selected to write in the leading columns of the
+Paper.  But Walter himself was the soul of The Times.  It was he who
+gave the tone to its articles, directed its influence, and
+superintended its entire conduct with unremitting vigilance.
+
+Even in conducting the mechanical arrangements of the paper--a business
+of no small difficulty--he had often occasion to exercise promptness
+and boldness of decision in cases of emergency.  Printers in those days
+were a rather refractory class of work men, and not unfrequently took
+advantage of their position to impose hard terms on their employers,
+especially in the daily press, where everything must be promptly done
+within a very limited time.  Thus on one occasion, in 1810, the
+pressmen made a sudden demand upon the proprietor for an increase of
+wages, and insisted upon a uniform rate being paid to all hands,
+whether good or bad.  Walter was at first disposed to make concessions
+to the men; but having been privately informed that a combination was
+already entered into by the compositors, as well as by the pressmen, to
+leave his employment suddenly, under circumstances that would have
+stopped the publication of the paper, and inflicted on him the most
+serious injury, he determined to run all risks, rather than submit to
+what now appeared to him in the light of an extortion.
+
+The strike took place on a Saturday morning, when suddenly, and without
+notice, all the hands turned out.  Mr. Walter had only a few hours'
+notice of it, but he had already resolved upon his course.  He
+collected apprentices from half a dozen different quarters, and a few
+inferior workmen, who were glad to obtain employment on any terms.  He
+himself stript to his shirt-sleeves, and went to work with the rest;
+and for the next six-and-thirty hours he was incessantly employed at
+case and at press.  On the Monday morning, the conspirators, who had
+assembled to triumph over his ruin, to their inexpressible amazement
+saw The Times issue from the publishing office at the usual hour,
+affording a memorable example of what one man's resolute energy may
+accomplish in a moment of difficulty.
+
+The journal continued to appear with regularity, though the printers
+employed at the office lived in a state of daily peril. The
+conspirators, finding themselves baffled, resolved upon trying another
+game.  They contrived to have two of the men employed by Walter as
+compositors apprehended as deserters from the Royal Navy.  The men were
+taken before the magistrate; but the charge was only sustained by the
+testimony of clumsy, perjured witnesses, and fell to the ground.  The
+turn-outs next proceeded to assault the new hands, when Mr. Walter
+resolved to throw around them the protection of the law.  By the advice
+of counsel, he had twenty-one of the conspirators apprehended and
+tried, and nineteen of them were found guilty and condemned to various
+periods of imprisonment.  From that moment combination was at an end in
+Printing House Square.
+
+Mr. Walter's greatest achievement was his successful application of
+steam power to newspaper printing.  Although he had greatly improved
+the mechanical arrangements after he took command of the paper, the
+rate at which the copies could be printed off remained almost
+stationary.  It took a very long time indeed to throw off, by the
+hand-labour of pressmen, the three or four thousand copies which then
+constituted the ordinary circulation of The Times.  On the occasion of
+any event of great public interest being reported in the paper, it was
+found almost impossible to meet the demand for copies.  Only about 300
+copies could be printed in the hour, with one man to ink the types and
+another to work the press, while the labour was very severe.  Thus it
+took a long time to get out the daily impression, and very often the
+evening papers were out before The Times had half supplied the demand.
+
+Mr. Walter could not brook the tedium of this irksome and laborious
+process.  To increase the number of impressions, he resorted to various
+expedients.  The type was set up in duplicate, and even in triplicate;
+several Stanhope presses were kept constantly at work; and still the
+insatiable demands of the newsmen on certain occasions could not be
+met.  Thus the question was early forced upon his consideration,
+whether he could not devise machinery for the purpose of expediting the
+production of newspapers.  Instead of 300 impressions an hour, he
+wanted from 1500 to 2000.  Although such a speed as this seemed quite
+as chimerical as propelling a ship through the water against wind and
+tide at fifteen miles an hour, or running a locomotive on a railway at
+fifty, yet Mr. Walter was impressed with the conviction that a much
+more rapid printing of newspapers was feasible than by the slow
+hand-labour process; and he endeavoured to induce several ingenious
+mechanical contrivers to take up and work out his idea.
+
+The principle of producing impressions by means of a cylinder, and of
+inking the types by means of a roller, was not new.  We have seen, in
+the preceding memoir, that as early as 1790 William Nicholson had
+patented such a method, but his scheme had never been brought into
+practical operation.  Mr. Walter endeavoured to enlist Marc Isambard
+Brunel--one of the cleverest inventors of the day--in his proposed
+method of rapid printing by machinery; but after labouring over a
+variety of plans for a considerable time, Brunel finally gave up the
+printing machine, unable to make anything of it.  Mr. Walter next tried
+Thomas Martyn, an ingenious young compositor, who had a scheme for a
+self-acting machine for working the printing press.  He was supplied
+with the necessary funds to enable him to prosecute his idea; but Mr.
+Walter's father was opposed to the scheme, and when the funds became
+exhausted, this scheme also fell to the ground.
+
+As years passed on, and the circulation of the paper increased, the
+necessity for some more expeditious method of printing became still
+more urgent.  Although Mr. Walter had declined to enter into an
+arrangement with Bensley in 1809, before Koenig had completed his
+invention of printing by cylinders, it was different five years later,
+when Koenig's printing machine was actually at work.  In the preceding
+memoir, the circumstances connected with the adoption of the invention
+by Mr. Walter are fully related; as well as the announcement made in
+The Times on the 29th of November, 1814--the day on which the first
+newspaper printed by steam was given to the world.
+
+But Koenig's printing machine was but the beginning of a great new
+branch of industry.  After he had left this country in disgust, it
+remained for others to perfect the invention; although the ingenious
+German was entitled to the greatest credit for having made the first
+satisfactory beginning.  Great inventions are not brought forth at a
+heat.  They are begun by one man, improved by another, and perfected by
+a whole host of mechanical inventors.  Numerous patents were taken out
+for the mechanical improvement of printing.  Donkin and Bacon contrived
+a machine in 1813, in which the types were placed on a revolving prism.
+One of them was made for the University of Cambridge, but it was found
+too complicated; the inking was defective; and the project was
+abandoned.
+
+In 1816, Mr. Cowper obtained a patent (No.3974) entitled, "A Method of
+Printing Paper for Paper Hangings, and Other Purposes."
+
+The principal feature of this invention consisted in the curving or
+bending of stereotype plates for the purpose of being printed in that
+form.  A number of machines for printing in two colours, in exact
+register, was made for the Bank of England, and four millions of One
+Pound notes were printed before the Bank Directors determined to
+abolish their further issue.  The regular mode of producing stereotype
+plates, from plaster of Paris moulds, took so much time, that they
+could not then be used for newspaper printing.
+
+Two years later, in 1818, Mr. Cowper invented and patented (No. 4194)
+his great improvements in printing.  It may be mentioned that he was
+then himself a printer, in partnership with Mr. Applegath, his
+brother-in-law.  His invention consisted in the perfect distribution of
+the ink, by giving end motion to the rollers, so as to get a
+distribution crossways, as well as lengthways.  This principle is at
+the very foundation of good printing, and has been adopted in every
+machine since made.  The very first experiment proved that the
+principle was right.  Mr. Cowper was asked by Mr. Walter to alter
+Koenig's machine at The Times office, so as to obtain good
+distribution.  He adopted two of Nicholson's single cylinders and flat
+formes of type.  Two "drums" were placed betwixt the cylinders to
+ensure accuracy in the register,--over and under which the sheet was
+conveyed in it s progress from one cylinder to the other,--the sheet
+being at all times firmly held between two tapes, which bound it to the
+cylinders and drums.  This is commonly called, in the trade, a
+"perfecting machine;" that is, it printed the paper on both sides
+simultaneously, and is still much used for "book-work," whilst single
+cylinder machines are often used for provincial newspapers.
+
+After this, Mr. Cowper designed the four cylinder machine for The
+Times,--by means of which from 4000 to 5000 sheets could be printed
+from one forme in the hour.  In 1823, Mr. Applegath invented an
+improvement in the inking apparatus, by placing the distributing
+rollers at an angle across the distributing table, instead of forcing
+them endways by other means.
+
+Mr. Walter continued to devote the same unremitting attention to his
+business as before.  He looked into all the details, was familiar with
+every department, and, on an emergency, was willing to lend a hand in
+any work requiring more than ordinary despatch.
+
+Thus, it is related of him that, in the spring of 1833, shortly after
+his return to Parliament as Member for Berkshire, he was at The Times
+office one day, when an express arrived from Paris, bringing the speech
+of the King of the French on the opening of the Chambers.  The express
+arrived at 10 A.M., after the day's impression of the paper had been
+published, and the editors and compositors had left the office.  It was
+important that the speech should be published at once; and Mr. Walter
+immediately set to work upon it.  He first translated the document;
+then, assisted by one compositor, he took his place at the type-case,
+and set it up.  To the amazement of one of the staff, who dropped in
+about noon, he "found Mr. Walter, M.P. for Berks, working in his
+shirt-sleeves!"  The speech was set and printed, and the second edition
+was in the City by one o'clock.  Had he not "turned to" as he did, the
+whole expense of the express service would have been lost.  And it is
+probable that there was not another man in the whole establishment who
+could have performed the double work--intellectual and physical--which
+he that day executed with his own head and hands.
+
+Such an incident curiously illustrates his eminent success in life.  It
+was simply the result of persevering diligence, which shrank from no
+effort and neglected no detail; as well as of prudence allied to
+boldness, but certainly not "of chance;" and, above all, of highminded
+integrity and unimpeachable honesty.  It is perhaps unnecessary to add
+more as to the merits of Mr. Walter as a man of enterprise in business,
+or as a public man and a Member of Parliament.  The great work of his
+life was the development of his journal, the history of which forms the
+best monument to his merits and his powers.
+
+The progressive improvement of steam printing machinery was not
+affected by Mr. Walter's death, which occurred in 1847.  He had given
+it an impulse which it never lost.  In 1846 Mr. Applegath patented
+certain important improvements in the steam press.  The general
+disposition of his new machine was that of a vertical cylinder 200
+inches in circumference, holding on it the type and distributing
+surfaces, and surrounded alternately by inking rollers and pressing
+cylinders.  Mr. Applegath estimated in his specification that in his
+new vertical system the machine, with eight cylinders, would print
+about 10,000 sheets per hour.  The new printing press came into use in
+1848, and completely justified the anticipations of its projector.
+
+Applegath's machine, though successfully employed at The Times office,
+did not come into general use.  It was, to a large extent, superseded
+by the invention of Richard M. Hoe, of New York.  Hoe's process
+consisted in placing the types upon a horizontal cylinder, against
+which the sheets were pressed by exterior and smaller cylinders.  The
+types were arranged in segments of a circle, each segment forming a
+frame that could be fixed on the cylinder.  These printing machines
+were made with from two to ten subsidiary cylinders.  The first presses
+sent by Messrs. Hoe & Co. to this country were for Lloyd's Weekly
+Newspaper, and were of the six-cylinder size.  These were followed by
+two ten-cylinder machines, ordered by the present Mr. Walter, for The
+Times.  Other English newspaper proprietors--both in London and the
+provinces--were supplied with the machines, as many as thirty-five
+having been imported from America between 1856 and 1862.  It may be
+mentioned that the two ten-cylinder Hoes made for The Times were driven
+at the rate of thirty-two revolutions per minute, which gives a
+printing rate of 19,200 per hour, or about 16,000 including stoppages.
+
+Much of the ingenuity exercised both in the Applegath and Hoe Machines
+was directed to the "chase," which had to hold securely upon its curved
+face the mass of movable type required to form a page.  And now the
+enterprise of the proprietor of The Times again came to the front.  The
+change effected in the art of newspaper-printing, by the process of
+stereotypes, is scarcely inferior to that by which the late Mr. Walter
+applied steam-power to the printing press, and certainly equal to that
+by which the rotary press superseded the reciprocatory action of the
+flat machine.
+
+Stereotyping has a curious history.  Many attempts were made to obtain
+solid printing-surfaces by transfer from similar surfaces, composed, in
+the first place, of movable types.  The first who really succeeded was
+one Ged, an Edinburgh goldsmith, who, after a series of difficult
+experiments, arrived at a knowledge of the art of stereotyping.  The
+first method employed was to pour liquid stucco, of the consistency of
+cream, over the types; and this, when solid, gave a perfect mould.
+Into this the molten metal was poured, and a plate was produced,
+accurately resembling the page of type.  As long ago as 1730, Ged
+obtained a privilege from the University of Cambridge for printing
+Bibles and Prayer-books after this method.  But the workmen were dead
+against it, as they thought it would destroy their trade.  The
+compositors and the pressmen purposely battered the letters in the
+absence of their employers.  In consequence of this interference Ged
+was ruined, and died in poverty.
+
+The art had, however, been born, and could not be kept down.  It was
+revived in France, in Germany, and in America.  Fifty years after the
+discovery of Ged, Tilloch and Foulis, of Glasgow, patented a similar
+invention, without knowing anything of what Ged had done; and after
+great labour and many experiments, they produced plates, the
+impressions from which could  not be distinguished from those taken
+from the types from which they were cast.  Some years afterwards, Lord
+Stanhope, to whom the art of printing is much indebted, greatly
+improved the art of stereotyping, though it was still quite
+inapplicable to newspaper printing.  The merit of this latter invention
+is due to the enterprise of the present proprietor of The Times.
+
+Mr. Walter began his experiments, aided by an ingenious Italian founder
+named Dellagana, early in 1856.  It was ascertained that when
+papier-mache matrices were rapidly dried and placed in a mould,
+separate columns might be cast in them with stereotype metal, type
+high, planed flat, and finished with sufficient speed to get up the
+duplicate of a forme of four pages fitted for printing.  Steps were
+taken to adapt these type-high columns to the Applegath Presses, then
+worked with polygonal chases.  When the Hoe machines were introduced,
+instead of dealing with the separate columns, the papier-mache matrix
+was taken from the whole page at one operation, by roller-presses
+constructed for the purpose.  The impression taken off in this manner
+is as perfect as if it had been made in the finest wax.  The matrix is
+rapidly dried on heating surfaces, and then accurately adjusted in a
+casting machine curved to the exact circumference of the main drum of
+the printing press, and fitted with a terra-cotta top to secure a
+casting of uniform thickness.  On pouring stereotype metal into this
+mould, a curved plate was obtained, which, after undergoing a certain
+amount of trimming at two machines, could be taken to press and set to
+work within twenty-five minutes from the time at which the process
+began.
+
+Besides the great advantages obtained from uniform sets of the plates,
+which might be printed on different machines at the rate of 50,000
+impressions an hour, or such additional number as might be required,
+there is this other great advantage, that there is no wear and tear of
+type in the curved chases by obstructive friction; and that the fount,
+instead of wearing out in two years, might last for twenty; for the
+plates, after doing their work for one day, are melted down into a new
+impression for the next day's printing.  At the same time, the original
+type-page, safe from injury, can be made to yield any number of copies
+that may be required by the exigencies of the circulation.  It will be
+sufficiently obvious that by the multiplication of stereotype plates
+and printing machines, there is practically no limit to the number of
+copies of a newspaper that may be printed within the time which the
+process now usually occupies.
+
+This new method of newspaper stereotyping was originally employed on
+the cylinders of the Applegath and Hoe Presses.  But it is equally
+applicable to those of the Walter Press, a brief description of which
+we now subjoin.  As the construction of the first steam newspaper
+machine was due to the enterprise of the late Mr. Walter, so the
+construction of this last and most improved machine is due in like
+manner to the enterprise of his son.  The new Walter Press is not, like
+Applegath and Cowper's, and Hoe's, the improvement of an existing
+arrangement, but an almost entirely original invention.
+
+In the Reports of the Jurors on the "Plate, Letterpress, and other
+modes of Printing," at the International Exhibition of 1862, the
+following passage occurs:--"It is incumbent on the reporters to point
+out that, excellent and surprising as are the results achieved by the
+Hoe and Applegath Machines, they cannot be considered satisfactory
+while those machines themselves are so liable to stoppages in working.
+No true mechanic can contrast the immense American ten-cylinder presses
+of The Times with the simple calico-printing machine, without feeling
+that the latter furnishes the true type to which the mechanism for
+newspaper printing should as much as possible approximate."
+
+On this principle, so clearly put forward, the Inventors of the Walter
+Press proceeded in the contrivance of the new machine.  It is true that
+William Nicholson, in his patent of 1790, prefigured the possibility of
+printing on "paper, linen, cotton, woollen, and other articles," by
+means of type fixed on the outer surface of a revolving cylinder; but
+no steps were taken to carry  his views into effect.  Sir Rowland Hill
+also, before he became connected with Post Office reform, revived the
+contrivance of Nicholson, and referred to it in his patent of 1835 (No.
+6762); and he also proposed to use continuous rolls of paper, which
+Fourdrinier and Donkin had made practicable by their invention of the
+paper-making machine about the year 1804; but both Nicholson's and
+Hill's patents remained a dead letter.[2]
+
+It may be easy to conceive a printing machine, or even to make a model
+of one; but to construct an actual working printing press, that must be
+sure and unfailing in its operations, is a matter surrounded with
+difficulties.  At every step fresh contrivances have to be introduced;
+they have to be tried again and again; perhaps they are eventually
+thrown aside to give place to new arrangements.  Thus the head of the
+inventor is kept in a state of constant turmoil.  Sometimes the whole
+machine has to be remodelled from beginning to end.  One step is gained
+by degrees, then another; and at last, after years of labour, the new
+invention comes before the world in the form of a practical working
+machine.
+
+In 1862 Mr. Walter began in The Times office, with tools and machinery
+of his own, experiments for constructing a perfecting press which
+should print the paper from rolls of paper instead of from sheets.
+Like his father, Mr. Walter possessed an excellent discrimination of
+character, and selected the best men to aid him in his important
+undertaking.  Numerous difficulties had, of course, to be surmounted.
+Plans were varied from time to time; new methods were tried, altered,
+and improved, simplification being aimed at throughout.  Six long years
+passed in this pursuit of the possible.  At length the clear light
+dawned.  In 1868 Mr. Walter ventured to order the construction of three
+machines on the pattern of the first complete one which had been made.
+By the end of 1869 these were finished and placed in a room by
+themselves; and a  fourth was afterwards added.  There the printing of
+The Times is now done, in less than half the time it previously
+occupied, and with one-fifth the number of hands.
+
+The most remarkable feature in the Walter Press is its wonderful
+simplicity of construction.  Simplicity of arrangement is always the
+beau ideal of the mechanical engineer.  This printing press is not only
+simple, but accurate, compact, rapid, and economical.
+
+While each of the ten-feeder Hoe Machines occupies a large and lofty
+room, and requires eighteen men to feed and work it, the new Walter
+Machine occupies a space of only about 14 feet by 5, or less than any
+newspaper machine yet introduced; and it requires only three lads to
+take away, with half the attention of an overseer, who easily
+superintends two of the machines while at work.  The Hoe Machine turns
+out 7000 impressions printed on both sides in the hour, whereas the
+Walter Machine turns out 12,000 impressions completed in the same time.
+
+The new Walter Press does not in the least resemble any existing
+printing machine, unless it be the calendering machine which furnished
+its type.  At the printing end it looks like a collection of small
+cylinders or rollers.  The first thing to be observed is the continuous
+roll of paper four miles long, tightly mounted on a reel, which, when
+the machine is going, flies round with immense rapidity.  The web of
+paper taken up by the first roller is led into a series of small hollow
+cylinders filled with water and steam, perforated with thousands of
+minute holes.  By this means the paper is properly damped before the
+process of printing is begun.  The roll of paper, drawn by nipping
+rollers, next flies through to the cylinder on which the stereotype
+plates are fixed, so as to form the four pages of the ordinary sheet of
+The Times; there it is lightly pressed against the type and printed;
+then it passes downwards round another cylinder covered with cloth, and
+reversed; next to the second type-covered roller, where it takes the
+impression exactly on the other side of the remaining four pages.  It
+next reaches one of the most ingenious contrivances of the
+invention--the cutting machinery, by means of which the paper is
+divided by a quick knife into the 5500 sheets of which the entire web
+consists.  The tapes hurry the now completely printed newspaper up an
+inclined plane, from which the divided sheets are showered down in a
+continuous stream by an oscillating frame, where they are met by two
+boys, who adjust the sheets as they fall.  The reel of four miles long
+is printed and divided into newspapers complete in about twenty-five
+minutes.
+
+The machine is almost entirely self-acting, from the pumping-up of the
+ink into the ink-box out of the cistern below stairs, to the
+registering of the numbers as they are printed in the manager's room
+above.  It is always difficult to describe a machine in words.  Nothing
+but a series of sections and diagrams could give the reader an idea of
+the construction of this unrivalled instrument.  The time to see it and
+wonder at it is when the press is in full work.  And even then you can
+see but little of its construction, for the cylinders are wheeling
+round with immense velocity.  The rapidity with which the machine works
+may be inferred from the fact that the printing cylinders (round which
+the stereotyped plates are fixed), while making their impressions on
+the paper, travel at the surprising speed of 200 revolutions a minute,
+or at the rate of about nine miles an hour!
+
+Contrast this speed with the former slowness.  Go back to the beginning
+of the century.  Before the year 1814 the turn-out of newspapers was
+only about 300 single impressions in an hour--that is, impressions
+printed on only one side of the paper.  Koenig by his invention
+increased the issue to 1100 impressions.  Applegath and Cowper by their
+four-cylinder machine increased the issue to 4000, and by the
+eight-cylinder machine to 10,000 an hour.  But these were only
+impressions printed on one side of the paper. The first perfecting
+press--that is, printing simultaneously the paper on both sides--was
+the Walter, the speed of which has been raised to 12,000, though, if
+necessary, it can produce excellent work at the rate of 17,000 complete
+copies of an eight-page paper per hour.  Then, with the new method of
+stereotyping--by means of which the plates can be infinitely multiplied
+and by the aid of additional machines, the supply of additional
+impressions is absolutely unlimited.
+
+The Walter Press is not a monopoly.  It is manufactured at The Times
+office, and is supplied to all comers.  Among the other daily papers
+printed by its means in this country are the Daily News, the Scotsmam,
+and the Birmingham Daily Post.  The first Walter Press was sent to
+America in 1872, where it was employed to print the Missouri Republican
+at St.  Louis, the leading newspaper of the Mississippi Valley.  An
+engineer and a skilled workman from The Times office accompanied the
+machinery.  On arriving at St.  Louis--the materials were unpacked,
+lowered into the machine-room, where they were erected and ready for
+work in the short space of five days.
+
+The Walter Press was an object of great interest at the Centennial
+Exhibition held at Philadelphia in 1876, where it was shown printing
+the New Fork Times one of the most influential journals in America.
+The press was surrounded with crowds of visitors intently watching its
+perfect and regular action, "like a thing of life."  The New York Times
+said of it: "The Walter Press is the most perfect printing press yet
+known to man; invented by the most powerful journal of the Old World,
+and adopted as the very best press to be had for its purposes by the
+most influential journal of the New World....  It is an honour to Great
+Britain to have such an exhibit in her display, and a lasting benefit
+to the printing business, especially to newspapers....  The first
+printing press run by steam was erected in the year 1814 in the office
+of The Times by the father of him who is the present proprietor of that
+world-famous journal.  The machine of 1814 was described in The Times
+of the 29th November in that year, and the account given of it closed
+in these words: 'The whole of these complicated acts is performed with
+such a velocity and simultaneosness of movement that no less than 1100
+sheets are impressed in one hour.' Mirabile dictu!  And the Walter
+Press of to-day can run off 17,000 copies an hour printed on both
+sides.  This is not bad work for one man's lifetime."
+
+It is unnecessary to say more about this marvellous machine.  Its
+completion forms the crown of the industry which it represents, and of
+the enterprise of the journal which it prints.
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter VII.
+
+[1] Diary, Reminiscences, and Correspondence of Henry Crabb Robinson,
+Barrister-at-Law, F.S.A., i. 231.
+
+[2] After the appearance of my article on the Koenig and Walter Presses
+in Macmillan's Magazine for December, 1869, I received the following
+letter from Sir Rowland Hill:--
+
+"Hampstead"  January 5th, 1870.
+
+"My dear sir,
+
+"In your very interesting article in Macmillan's Magazine on the
+subject of the printing machine, you have unconsciously done me some
+injustice.  To convince yourself of this, you have only to read the
+enclosed paper.  The case, however, will be strengthened when I tell
+you that as far back as the year 1856, that is, seven years after the
+expiry of my patent, I pointed out to Mr. Mowbray Morris, the manager
+of The Times, the fitness of my machine for the printing of that
+journal, and the fact that serious difficulties to its adoption had
+been removed.  I also, at his request, furnished him with a copy of the
+document with which I now trouble you.  Feeling sure that you would
+like to know the truth on any subject of which you may treat, I should
+be glad to explain the matter more fully, and for this purpose will,
+with your permission, call upon you at any time you may do me the
+favour to appoint. "Faithfully yours,
+
+"Rowland Hill."
+
+On further enquiry I obtained the Patent No. 6762; but found that
+nothing practical had ever come of it.  The pamphlet enclosed by Sir
+Rowland Hill in the above letter is entitled 'The Rotary Printing
+Machine.' It is very clever and ingenious, like everything he did.  But
+it was still left for some one else to work out the invention into a
+practical working printing-press. The subject is fully referred to in
+the 'Life of Sir Rowland Hill' (i. 224,525).  In his final word on the
+subject, Sir Rowland "gladly admits the enormous difficulty of bringing
+a complex machine into practical use," a difficulty, he says, which
+"has been most successfully overcome by the patentees of the Walter
+Press."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+WILLIAM CLOWES: INTRODUCER OF BOOK-PRINTING BY STEAM.
+
+"The Images of men's wits and knowledges remain in Books, exempted from
+the wrong of time, and capable of perpetual renovation.  Neither are
+they fitly to be called Images, because they generate still, and cast
+their seeds in the minds of others, provoking and causing infinite
+actions and opinions in succeeding ages; so that, if the invention of
+the Ship was thought so noble, which carrieth riches and commodities
+from place to place, and consociateth the most remote Regions in
+participation of their Fruits, how much more are letters to be
+magnified, which, as Ships, pass through the vast Seas of time, and
+make ages so distant to participate of the wisdom, illuminations, and
+inventions, the one of the other?"--Bacon, On the Proficience and
+Advancement of Learning.
+
+Steam has proved as useful and potent in the printing of books as in
+the printing of newspapers.  Down to the end of last century, "the
+divine art," as printing was called, had made comparatively little
+progress.  That is to say, although books could be beautifully printed
+by hand labour, they could not be turned out in any large numbers.
+
+The early printing press was rude.  It consisted of a table, along
+which the forme of type, furnished with a tympan and frisket, was
+pushed by hand.  The platen worked vertically between standards, and
+was brought down for the impression, and raised after it, by a common
+screw, worked by a bar handle.  The inking was performed by balls
+covered with skin pelts; they were blacked with ink, and beaten down on
+the type by the pressman. The inking was consequently irregular.
+
+In 1798, Earl Stanhope perfected the press that bears his name. He did
+not patent it, but made his invention over to the public. In 1818, Mr.
+Cowper greatly improved the inking of formes used in the Stanhope and
+other presses, by the use of a hand roller covered with a composition
+of glue and treacle, in combination with a distributing table.  The ink
+was thus applied in a more even manner, and with a considerable
+decrease of labour.  With the Stanhope Press, printing was as far
+advanced as it could possibly be by means of hand labour.  About 250
+impressions could be taken off, on one side, in an hour.
+
+But this, after all, was a very small result.  When books could be
+produced so slowly, there could be no popular literature. Books were
+still articles for the few, instead of for the many. Steam power,
+however, completely altered the state of affairs. When Koenig invented
+his steam press, he showed by the printing of Clarkson's 'Life of
+Penn'--the first sheets ever printed with a cylindrical press--that
+books might be printed neatly, as well as cheaply, by the new machine.
+Mr. Bensley continued the process, after Koenig left England; and in
+1824, according to Johnson in his 'Typographia,' his son was "driving
+an extensive business."
+
+In the following year, 1825, Archibald Constable, of Edinburgh,
+propounded his plan for revolutionising the art of bookselling. Instead
+of books being articles of luxury, he proposed to bring them into
+general consumption.  He would sell them, not by thousands, but by
+hundreds of thousands, "ay, by millions;" and he would accomplish this
+by the new methods of multiplication--by machine printing and by steam
+power.  Mr. Constable accordingly issued a library of excellent books;
+and, although he was ruined--not by this enterprise, but the other
+speculations into which he entered--he set the example which other
+enterprising minds were ready to follow.  Amongst these was Charles
+Knight, who set the steam presses of William Clowes to work, for the
+purposes of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
+
+William Clowes was the founder of the vast printing establishment from
+which these sheets are issued; and his career furnishes another
+striking illustration of the force of industry and character.  He was
+born on the 1st of January, 1779.  His father was educated at Oxford,
+and kept a large school at Chichester; but dying when William was but
+an infant, he left his widow, with straitened means, to bring up her
+family.  At a proper age William was bound apprentice to a printer at
+Chichester; and, after serving him for seven years, he came up to
+London, at the beginning of 1802, to seek employment as a journeyman.
+He succeeded in finding work at a small office on Tower Hill, at a
+small wage.  The first lodgings he took cost him 5s. a week; but
+finding this beyond his means he hired a room in a garret at 2s. 6d.,
+which was as much as he could afford out of his scanty earnings.
+
+The first job he was put to, was the setting-up of a large
+poster-bill--a kind of work which he had been accustomed to execute in
+the country; and he knocked it together so expertly that his master,
+Mr. Teape, on seeing what he could do, said to him, "Ah! I find you are
+just the fellow for me."  The young man, however, felt so strange in
+London, where he was without a friend or acquaintance, that at the end
+of the first month he thought of leaving it; and yearned to go back to
+his native city.  But he had not funds enough to enable him to follow
+his inclinations, and he accordingly remained in the great City, to
+work, to persevere, and finally to prosper.  He continued at Teape's
+for about two years, living frugally, and even contriving to save a
+little money.
+
+He then thought of beginning business on his own account.  The small
+scale on which printing was carried on in those days enabled him to
+make a start with comparatively little capital. By means of his own
+savings and the help of his friends, he was enabled to take a little
+printing-office in Villiers Street, Strand, about the end of 1803; and
+there he began with one printing press, and one assistant.  His stock
+of type was so small, that he was under the necessity of working it
+from day to day like a banker's gold.  When his first job came in, he
+continued to work for the greater part of three nights, setting the
+type during the day, and working it off at night, in order that the
+type might be distributed for resetting on the following morning.  He
+succeeded, however, in executing his first job to the entire
+satisfaction of his first customer.
+
+His business gradually increased, and then, with his constantly saved
+means, he was enabled to increase his stock of type, and to undertake
+larger jobs.  Industry always tells, and in the long-run leads to
+prosperity.  He married early, but he married well.  He was only
+twenty-four when he found his best fortune in a good, affectionate
+wife.  Through this lady's cousin, Mr. Winchester, the young printer
+was shortly introduced to important official business.  His punctual
+execution of orders, the accuracy of his work, and the despatch with
+which he turned it out soon brought him friends, and his obliging and
+kindly disposition firmly secured them.  Thus, in a few years, the
+humble beginner with one press became a printer on a large scale.
+
+The small concern expanded into a considerable printing-office in
+Northumberland Court, which was furnished with many presses and a large
+stock of type.  The office was, unfortunately, burnt down; but a larger
+office rose in its place.
+
+What Mr. Clowes principally aimed at, in carrying on his business, was
+accuracy, speed, and quantity.  He did not seek to produce editions de
+luxe in limited numbers, but large impressions of works in popular
+demand--travels, biographies, histories, blue-books, and official
+reports, in any quantity. For this purpose, he found the process of
+hand-printing too tedious, as well as too costly; and hence he early
+turned his attention to book printing by machine presses, driven by
+steam power,--in this matter following the example of Mr. Walter of the
+Times, who had for some years employed the same method for newspaper
+printing.
+
+Applegath & Cowper's machines had greatly advanced the art of printing.
+They secured perfect inking and register; and the sheets were printed
+off more neatly, regularly, and expeditiously; and larger sheets could
+be printed on both sides, than by any other method.  In 1823,
+accordingly, Mr. Clowes erected his first steam presses, and he soon
+found abundance of work for them.  But to produce steam requires
+boilers and engines, the working of which occasions smoke and noise.
+Now, as the printing-office, with its steam presses, was situated in
+Northumberland Court, close to the palace of the Duke of
+Northumberland, at Charing Cross, Mr. Clowes was required to abate the
+nuisance, and to stop the noise and dirt occasioned by the use of his
+engines.  This he failed to do, and the Duke commenced an action
+against him.
+
+The case was tried in June, 1824, in the Court of Common Pleas. It was
+ludicrous to hear the extravagant terms in which the counsel for the
+plaintiff and his witnesses described the nuisance--the noise made by
+the engine in the underground cellar, some times like thunder, at other
+times like a thrashing-machine, and then again like the rumbling of
+carts and waggons.  The printer had retained the Attorney-general, Mr.
+Copley, afterwards Lord Lyndhurst, who conducted his case with
+surpassing ability. The cross-examination of a foreign artist, employed
+by the Duke to repaint some portraits of the Cornaro family by Titian,
+is said to have been one of the finest things on record.  The sly and
+pungent humour, and the banter with which the counsel derided and
+laughed down this witness, were inimitable.  The printer won his case;
+but he eventually consented to remove his steam presses from the
+neighbourhood, on the Duke paying him a certain sum to be determined by
+the award of arbitrators.
+
+It happened, about this period, that a sort of murrain fell upon the
+London publishers.  After the failure of Constable at Edinburgh, they
+came down one after another, like a pack of cards.  Authors are not the
+only people who lose labour and money by publishers; there are also
+cases where publishers are ruined by authors.  Printers also now lost
+heavily.  In one week, Mr. Clowes sustained losses through the failure
+of London publishers to the extent of about 25,000L.  Happily, the
+large sum which the arbitrators awarded him for the removal of his
+printing presses enabled him to tide over the difficulty; he stood his
+ground unshaken, and his character in the trade stood higher than ever.
+
+In the following year Mr. Clowes removed to Duke Street, Blackfriars,
+to premises until then occupied by Mr. Applegath, as a printer; and
+much more extensive buildings and offices were now erected.  There his
+business transactions assumed a form of unprecedented magnitude, and
+kept pace with the great demand for popular information which set in
+with such force about fifty years ago.  In the course of ten years--as
+we find from the 'Encyclopaedia Metropolitana'--there were twenty of
+Applegath & Cowper's machines, worked by two five-horse engines.  From
+these presses were issued the numerous admirable volumes and
+publications of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; the
+treatises on 'Physiology,' by Roget, and 'Animal Mechanics,' by Charles
+Bell; the 'Elements of Physics,' by Neill Arnott; 'The Pursuit of
+Knowledge under Difficulties,' by G. L. Craik, a most fascinating book;
+the Library of Useful Knowledge; the 'Penny Magazine,' the first
+illustrated publication; and the 'Penny Cyclopaedia,' that admirable
+compendium of knowledge and science.
+
+These publications were of great value.  Some of them were printed in
+unusual numbers.  The 'Penny Magazine,' of which Charles Knight was
+editor, was perhaps too good, because it was too scientific.
+Nevertheless, it reached a circulation of 200,000 copies.  The 'Penny
+Cyclopaedia' was still better.  It was original, and yet cheap.  The
+articles were written by the best men that could be found in their
+special departments of knowledge.  The sale was originally 75,000
+weekly; but, as the plan enlarged, the price was increased from 1d. to
+2d., and then to 4d.  At the end of the second year, the circulation
+had fallen to 44,000; and at the end of the third year, to 20,000.
+
+It was unfortunate for Mr. Knight to be so much under the influence of
+his Society.  Had the Cyclopaedia been under his own superintendence,
+it would have founded his fortune.  As it was, he lost over 30,000L. by
+the venture.  The 'Penny Magazine' also went down in circulation, until
+it became a non-paying publication, and then it was discontinued.  It
+is curious to contrast the fortunes of William Chambers of Edinburgh
+with those of Charles Knight of London.  'Chambers's Edinburgh Journal'
+was begun in February, 1832, and the 'Penny Magazine' in March, 1832.
+
+Chambers was perhaps shrewder than Knight.  His journal was as good,
+though without illustrations; but he contrived to mix up amusement with
+useful knowledge.  It may be a weakness, but the public like to be
+entertained, even while they are feeding upon better food.  Hence
+Chambers succeeded, while Knight failed.  The 'Penny Magazine' was
+discontinued in 1845, whereas 'Chambers's Edinburgh Journal' has
+maintained its popularity to the present day.  Chambers, also, like
+Knight, published an 'Encyclopaedia,' which secured a large
+circulation.  But he was not trammelled by a Society, and the
+'Encyclopaedia' has become a valuable property.
+
+The publication of these various works would not have been possible
+without the aid of the steam printing press.  When Mr. Edward Cowper
+was examined before a Committee of the House of Commons, he said, "The
+ease with which the principles and illustrations of Art might be
+diffused is, I think, so obvious that it is hardly necessary to say a
+word about it.  Here you may see it exemplified in the 'Penny
+Magazine.'  Such works as this could not have existed without the
+printing machine."  He was asked, "In fact, the mechanic and the
+peasant, in the most remote parts of the country, have now an
+opportunity of seeing tolerably correct outlines of form which they
+never could behold before?" To which he answered, "Exactly; and
+literally at the price they used to give for a song."  "Is there not,
+therefore, a greater chance of calling genius into activity?"  "Yes,"
+he said, "not merely by books creating an artist here and there, but by
+the general elevation of the taste of the public."
+
+Mr. Clowes was always willing to promote deserving persons in his
+office.  One of these rose from step to step, and eventually became one
+of the most prosperous publishers in London.  He entered the service as
+an errand-boy, and got his meals in the kitchen.  Being fond of
+reading, he petitioned Mrs. Clowes to let him sit somewhere, apart from
+the other servants, where he might read his book in quiet.  Mrs. Clowes
+at length entreated her husband to take him into the office, for
+"Johnnie Parker was such a good boy."  He consented, and the boy took
+his place at a clerk's desk.  He was well-behaved, diligent, and
+attentive.  As he advanced in years, his steady and steadfast conduct
+showed that he could be trusted.  Young fellows like this always make
+their way in life; for character invariably tells, not only in securing
+respect, but in commanding confidence.  Parker was promoted from one
+post to another, until he was at length appointed overseer over the
+entire establishment.
+
+A circumstance shortly after occurred which enabled Mr. Clowes to
+advance him, though greatly to his own inconvenience, to another
+important post.  The Syndics of Cambridge were desirous that Mr. Clowes
+should go down there to set their printing-office in order; they
+offered him 400L. a year if he would only appear occasionally, and see
+that the organisation was kept complete. He declined, because the
+magnitude of his own operations had now become so great that they
+required his unremitting attention. He, however strongly recommended
+Parker to the office, though he could ill spare him.  But he would not
+stand in the young man's way, and he was appointed accordingly.  He did
+his work most effectually at Cambridge, and put the University Press
+into thorough working order.
+
+As the 'Penny Magazine' and other publications of the Society of Useful
+Knowledge were now making their appearance, the clergy became desirous
+of bringing out a religious publication of a popular character, and
+they were in search for a publisher. Parker, who was well known at
+Cambridge, was mentioned to the Bishop of London as the most likely
+person.  An introduction took place, and after an hour's conversation
+with Parker, the Bishop went to his friends and said, "This is the very
+man we want."  An offer was accordingly made to him to undertake the
+publication of the 'Saturday Magazine' and the other publications of
+the Christian Knowledge Society, which he accepted.  It is unnecessary
+to follow his fortunes.  His progress was steady; he eventually became
+the publisher of 'Fraser's Magazine' and of the works of John Stuart
+Mill and other well-known writers.  Mill never forgot his appreciation
+and generosity; for when his 'System of Logic' had been refused by the
+leading London publishers, Parker prized the book at its rightful value
+and introduced it to the public.
+
+To return to Mr. Clowes.  In the course of a few years, the original
+humble establishment of the Sussex compositor, beginning with one press
+and one assistant, grew up to be one of the largest printing-offices in
+the world.  It had twenty-five steam presses, twenty-eight
+hand-presses, six hydraulic presses, and gave direct employment to over
+five hundred persons, and indirect employment to probably more than ten
+times that number.  Besides the works connected with his
+printing-office, Mr. Clowes found it necessary to cast his own types,
+to enable him to command on emergency any quantity; and to this he
+afterwards added stereotyping on an immense scale.  He possessed the
+power of supplying his compositors with a stream of new type at the
+rate of about 50,000 pieces a day.  In this way, the weight of type in
+ordinary use became very great; it amounted to not less than 500 tons,
+and the stereotyped plates to about 2500 tons the value of the latter
+being not less than half a million sterling.
+
+Mr. Clowes would not hesitate, in the height of his career, to have
+tons of type locked up for months in some ponderous blue-book.  To
+print a report of a hundred folio pages in the course of a day or
+during a night, or of a thousand pages in a week, was no uncommon
+occurrence.  From his gigantic establishment were turned out not fewer
+than 725,000 printed sheets, or equal to 30,000 volumes a week.  Nearly
+45,000 pounds of paper were printed weekly.  The quantity printed on
+both sides per week, if laid down in a path of 22 1/4 inches broad,
+would extend 263 miles in length.
+
+About the year 1840, a Polish inventor brought out a composing machine,
+and submitted it to Mr. Clowes for approval.  But Mr. Clowes was
+getting too old to take up and push any new invention.
+
+He was also averse to doing anything to injure the compositors, having
+once been a member of the craft.  At the same time he said to his son
+George, "If you find this to be a likely machine, let me know.  Of
+course we must go with the age.  If I had not started the steam press
+when I did, where should I have been now?"  On the whole, the composing
+machine, though ingenious, was incomplete, and did not come into use at
+that time, nor indeed for a long time after.  Still, the idea had been
+born, and, like other inventions, became eventually developed into a
+useful working machine.  Composing machines are now in use in many
+printing-offices, and the present Clowes' firm possesses several of
+them.  Those in The Times newspaper office are perhaps the most perfect
+of all.
+
+Mr. Clowes was necessarily a man of great ability, industry, and
+energy.  Whatever could be done in printing, that he would do. He would
+never admit the force of any difficulty that might be suggested to his
+plans.  When he found a person ready to offer objections, he would say,
+"Ah! I see you are a difficulty-maker: you will never do for me."
+
+Mr. Clowes died in 1847, at the age of sixty-eight.  There still remain
+a few who can recall to mind the giant figure, the kindly countenance,
+and the gentle bearing of this "Prince of Printers," as he was styled
+by the members of his craft.  His life was full of hard and useful
+work; and it will probably be admitted that, as the greatest multiplier
+of books in his day, and as one of the most effective practical
+labourers for the diffusion of useful knowledge, his name is entitled
+to be permanently associated, not only with the industrial, but also
+with the intellectual development of our time.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+CHARLES BIANCONI: A LESSON OF SELF-HELP IN IRELAND.
+
+"I beg you to occupy yourself in collecting biographical notices
+respecting the Italians who have honestly enriched themselves in other
+regions, particularly referring to the obstacles of their previous
+life, and to the efforts and the means which they employed for
+vanquishing them, as well as to the advantages which they secured for
+themselves, for the countries in which they settled, and for the
+country to which they owed their birth."--GENERAL MENABREA, Circular to
+Italian Consuls.
+
+When Count Menabrea was Prime Minister of Italy, he caused a despatch
+to be prepared and issued to Italian Consuls in all parts of the world,
+inviting them to collect and forward to him "biographical notices
+respecting the Italians who have honourably advanced themselves in
+foreign countries."
+
+His object, in issuing the despatch, was to collect information as to
+the lives of his compatriots living abroad, in order to bring out a
+book similar to 'Self-help,' the examples cited in which were to be
+drawn exclusively from the lives of Italian citizens.  Such a work, he
+intimated, "if it were once circulated among the masses, could not fail
+to excite their emulation and encourage them to follow the examples
+therein set forth," while "in the course of time it might exercise a
+powerful influence on the increased greatness of our country."
+
+We are informed by Count Menabrea that, although no special work has
+been published from the biographical notices collected in answer to his
+despatch, yet that the Volere e Potere ('Will is Power') of Professor
+Lessona, issued a few years ago, sufficiently answers the purpose which
+he contemplated, and furnishes many examples of the patient industry
+and untiring perseverance of Italians in all parts of the world.  Many
+important illustrations of life and character are necessarily omitted
+from Professor Lessona's interesting work.  Among these may be
+mentioned the subject of the following pages,--a distinguished Italian
+who entirely corresponds to Count Menabrea's description--one who, in
+the face of the greatest difficulties, raised himself to an eminent
+public position, at the same time that he conferred the greatest
+benefits upon the country in which he settled and carried on his
+industrial operations.  We mean Charles Bianconi, and his establishment
+of the great system of car communication through out Ireland.[1]
+
+Charles Bianconi was born in 1786, at the village of Tregolo, situated
+in the Lombard Highlands of La Brianza, about ten miles from Como.  The
+last elevations of the Alps disappear in the district; and the great
+plain of Lombardy extends towards the south.  The region is known for
+its richness and beauty; the inhabitants being celebrated for the
+cultivation of the mulberry and the rearing of the silkworm, the finest
+silk in Lombardy being produced in the neighbourhood.  Indeed,
+Bianconi's family, like most of the villagers, maintained themselves by
+the silk culture.
+
+Charles had three brothers and one sister.  When of a sufficient age,
+he was sent to school.  The Abbe Radicali had turned out some good
+scholars; but with Charles Bianconi his failure was complete.  The new
+pupil proved a tremendous dunce.  He was very wild, very bold, and very
+plucky; but he learned next to nothing.
+
+Learning took as little effect upon him as pouring water upon a duck's
+back.  Accordingly, when he left school at the age of sixteen, he was
+almost as ignorant as when he had entered it; and a great deal more
+wilful.
+
+Young Bianconi had now arrived at the age at which he was expected to
+do something for his own maintenance.  His father wished to throw him
+upon his own resources; and as he would soon be subject to the
+conscription, he thought of sending him to some foreign country in
+order to avoid the forced service.  Young fellows, who had any love of
+labour or promptings of independence in them, were then accustomed to
+leave home and carry on their occupations abroad.  It was a common
+practice for workmen in the neighbourhood of Como to emigrate to
+England and carry on various trades; more particularly the manufacture
+and sale of barometers, looking-glasses, images, prints, pictures, and
+other articles.
+
+Accordingly, Bianconi's father arranged with one Andrea Faroni to take
+the young man to England and instruct him in the trade of
+print-selling.  Bianconi was to be Faroni's apprentice for eighteen
+months; and in the event of his not liking the occupation, he was to be
+placed under the care of Colnaghi, a friend of his father's, who was
+then making considerable progress as a print-seller in London; and who
+afterwards succeeded in achieving a considerable fortune and reputation.
+
+Bianconi made his preparations for leaving home.  A little festive
+entertainment was given at a little inn in Como, at which the whole
+family were present.  It was a sad thing for Bianconi's mother to take
+leave of her boy, wild though he was.  On the occasion of this parting
+ceremony, she fainted outright, at which the young fellow thought that
+things were assuming a rather serious aspect.  As he finally left the
+family home at Tregolo, the last words his mother said to him were
+these--words which he never forgot: "When you remember me, think of me
+as waiting at this window, watching for your return."
+
+Besides Charles Bianconi, Faroni took three other boys under his
+charge.  One was the son of a small village innkeeper, another the son
+of a tailor, and the third the son of a flax-dealer. This party, under
+charge of the Padre, ascended the Alps by the Val San Giacomo road.
+From the summit of the pass they saw the plains of Lombardy stretching
+away in the blue distance.  They soon crossed the Swiss frontier, and
+then Bianconi found himself finally separated from home.  He now felt,
+that without further help from friends or relatives, he had his own way
+to make in the world.
+
+The party of travellers duly reached England; but Faroni, without
+stopping in London, took them over to Ireland at once.  They reached
+Dublin in the summer of 1802, and lodged in Temple Bar, near Essex
+Bridge.  It was some little time before Faroni could send out the boys
+to sell pictures.  First he had the leaden frames to cast; then they
+had to be trimmed and coloured; and then the pictures--mostly of sacred
+subjects, or of public characters--had to be mounted.  The flowers;
+which were of wax, had also to be prepared and finished, ready for sale
+to the passers-by.
+
+When Bianconi went into the streets of Dublin to sell his mounted
+prints, he could not speak a word of English.  He could only say, "Buy,
+buy!"  Everybody spoke to him an unknown tongue.  When asked the price,
+he could only indicate by his fingers the number of pence he wanted for
+his goods.  At length he learned a little English,--at least sufficient
+"for the road;" and then he was sent into the country to sell his
+merchandize.  He was despatched every Monday morning with about forty
+shillings' worth of stock, and ordered to return home on Saturdays, or
+as much sooner as he liked, if he had sold all the pictures.  The only
+money his master allowed him at starting was fourpence.  When Bianconi
+remonstrated at the smallness of the amount, Faroni answered, "While
+you have goods you have money; make haste to sell your goods!"
+
+During his apprenticeship, Bianconi learnt much of the country through
+which he travelled.  He was constantly making acquaintances with new
+people, and visiting new places.  At Waterford he did a good trade in
+small prints.  Besides the Scripture pieces, he sold portraits of the
+Royal Family, as well as of Bonaparte and his most distinguished
+generals.  "Bony" was the dread of all magistrates, especially in
+Ireland.  At Passage, near Waterford, Bianconi was arrested for having
+sold a leaden framed picture of the famous French Emperor.  He was
+thrown into a cold guard-room, and spent the night there without bed,
+or fire, or food.  Next morning he was discharged by the magistrate,
+but cautioned that he must not sell any more of such pictures.
+
+Many things struck Bianconi in making his first journeys through
+Ireland.  He was astonished at the dram-drinking of the men, and the
+pipe-smoking of the women.  The violent faction-fights which took place
+at the fairs which he frequented, were of a kind which he had never
+before observed among the pacific people of North Italy.  These
+faction-fights were the result, partly of dram-drinking, and partly of
+the fighting mania which then prevailed in Ireland.  There were also
+numbers of crippled and deformed beggars in every town,--quarrelling
+and fighting in the streets,--rows and drinkings at wakes,--gambling,
+duelling, and riotous living amongst all classes of the people,--things
+which could not but strike any ordinary observer at the time, but which
+have now, for the most part, happily passed away.
+
+At the end of eighteen months, Bianconi's apprenticeship was out; and
+Faroni then offered to take him back to his father, in compliance with
+the original understanding.  But Bianconi had no wish to return to
+Italy.  Faroni then made over to him the money he had retained on his
+account, and Bianconi set up business for himself.  He was now about
+eighteen years old; he was strong and healthy, and able to walk with a
+heavy load on his back from twenty to thirty miles a day.  He bought a
+large case, filled it with coloured prints and other articles, and
+started from Dublin on a tour through the south of Ireland.  He
+succeeded, like most persons who labour diligently.  The curly-haired
+Italian lad became a general favourite.  He took his native politeness
+with him  everywhere; and made many friends among his various customers
+throughout the country.
+
+Bianconi used to say that it was about this time when he was carrying
+his heavy case upon his back, weighing at least a hundred pounds--that
+the idea began to strike him, of some cheap method of conveyance being
+established for the accommodation of the poorer classes in Ireland.  As
+he dismantled himself of his case of pictures, and sat wearied and
+resting on the milestones along the road, he puzzled his mind with the
+thought, "Why should poor people walk and toil, and rich people ride
+and take their ease?  Could not some method be devised by which poor
+people also might have the opportunity of travelling comfortably?"
+
+It will thus be seen that Bianconi was already beginning to think about
+the matter.  When asked, not long before his death, how it was that he
+had first thought of starting his extensive Car establishment, he
+answered, "It grew out of my back!"  It was the hundred weight of
+pictures on his dorsal muscles that stimulated his thinking faculties.
+But the time for starting his great experiment had not yet arrived.
+
+Bianconi wandered about from town to town for nearly two years. The
+picture-case became heavier than ever.  For a time he replaced it with
+a portfolio of unframed prints.  Then he became tired of the wandering
+life, and in 1806 settled down at Carrick-on-Suir as a print-seller and
+carver and gilder.  He supplied himself with gold-leaf from Waterford,
+to which town he used to proceed by Tom Morrissey's boat.  Although the
+distance by road between the towns was only twelve miles, it was about
+twenty-four by water, in consequence of the windings of the river Suir.
+Besides, the boat could only go when the state of the tide permitted.
+Time was of little consequence; and it often took half a day to make
+the journey.  In the course of one of his voyages, Bianconi got himself
+so thoroughly soaked by rain and mud that he caught a severe cold,
+which ran into pleurisy, and laid him up for about two months.  He was
+carefully attended to by a good, kind physician, Dr. White, who would
+not take a penny for his medicine and nursing.
+
+Business did not prove very prosperous at Carrick-on-suir; the town was
+small, and the trade was not very brisk.  Accordingly, Bianconi
+resolved, after a year's ineffectual trial, to remove to Waterford, a
+more thriving centre of operations.  He was now twenty-one years old.
+He began again as a carver and gilder; and as business flowed in upon
+him, he worked very hard, sometimes from six in the morning until two
+hours after midnight.  As usual, he made many friends.  Among the best
+of them was Edward Rice, the founder of the "Christian Brothers" in
+Ireland.  Edward Rice was a true benefactor to his country.  He devoted
+himself to the work of education, long before the National Schools were
+established; investing the whole of his means in the foundation and
+management of this noble institution.
+
+Mr. Rice's advice and instruction set and kept Bianconi in the right
+road.  He helped the young foreigner to learn English. Bianconi was no
+longer a dunce, as he had been at school; but a keen, active,
+enterprising fellow, eager to make his way in the world.  Mr. Rice
+encouraged him to be sedulous and industrious, urged him to carefulness
+and sobriety, and strengthened his religions impressions.  The help and
+friendship of this good man, operating upon the mind and soul of a
+young man, whose habits of conduct and whose moral and religious
+character were only in course of formation, could not fail to exercise,
+as Bianconi always acknowledged they did, a most powerful influence
+upon the whole of his after life.
+
+Although "three removes" are said to be "as bad as a fire," Bianconi,
+after remaining about two years at Waterford, made a third removal in
+1809, to Clonmel, in the county of Tipperary. Clonmel is the centre of
+a large corn trade, and is in water communication, by the Suir, with
+Carrick and Waterford. Bianconi, therefore, merely extended his
+connection; and still continued his dealings with his customers in the
+other towns.  He made himself more proficient in the mechanical part of
+his business; and aimed at being the first carver and gilder in the
+trade.  Besides, he had always an eye open for new business.  At that
+time, when the war was raging with France, gold was at a premium.  The
+guinea was worth about twenty-six or twenty-seven shillings.  Bianconi
+therefore began to buy up the hoarded-up guineas of the peasantry.  The
+loyalists became alarmed at his proceedings, and began to circulate the
+report that Bianconi, the foreigner, was buying up bullion to send
+secretly to Bonaparte! The country people, however, parted with their
+guineas readily; for they had no particular hatred of "Bony," but
+rather admired him.
+
+Bianconi's conduct was of course quite loyal in the matter; he merely
+bought the guineas as a matter of business, and sold them at a profit
+to the bankers.
+
+The country people had a difficulty in pronouncing his name.  His shop
+was at the corner of Johnson Street, and instead of Bianconi, he came
+to be called "Bian of the Corner."  He was afterwards known as "Bian."
+
+Bianconi soon became well known after his business was established.  He
+became a proficient in the carving and gilding line, and was looked
+upon as a thriving man.  He began to employ assistants in his trade,
+and had three German gilders at work. While they were working in the
+shop he would travel about the country, taking orders and delivering
+goods--sometimes walking and sometimes driving.
+
+He still retained a little of his old friskiness and spirit of
+mischief.  He was once driving a car from Clonmel to Thurles; he had
+with him a large looking-glass with a gilt frame, on which about a
+fortnight's labour had been bestowed.  In a fit of exuberant humour he
+began to tickle the horse under his tail with a straw!  In an instant
+the animal reared and plunged, and then set off at a gallop down hill.
+The result was, that the car was dashed to bits and the looking-glass
+broken into a thousand atoms!
+
+On another occasion, a man was carrying to Cashel on his back one of
+Bianconi's large looking-glasses.  An old woman by the wayside, seeing
+the odd-looking, unwieldy package, asked what it was; on which
+Bianconi, who was close behind the man carrying the glass, answered
+that it was "the Repeal of the Union!"  The old woman's delight was
+unbounded!  She knelt down on her knees in the middle of the road, as
+if it had been a picture of the Madonna, and thanked God for having
+preserved her in her old age to see the Repeal of the Union!
+
+But this little waywardness did not last long.  Bianconi's wild oats
+were soon all sown.  He was careful and frugal.  As he afterwards used
+to say, "When I was earning a shilling a day at Clonmel, I lived upon
+eightpence."  He even took lodgers, to relieve him of the charge of his
+household expenses.  But as his means grew, he was soon able to have a
+conveyance of his own.  He first started a yellow gig, in which he
+drove about from place to place, and was everywhere treated with
+kindness and hospitality. He was now regarded as "respectable," and as
+a person worthy to hold some local office.  He was elected to a Society
+for visiting the Sick Poor, and became a Member of the House of
+Industry.  He might have gone on in the same business, winning his way
+to the Mayoralty of Clonmel, which he afterwards held; but that the old
+idea, which had first sprung up in his mind while resting wearily on
+the milestones along the road, with his heavy case of pictures by his
+side, again laid hold of him, and he determined now to try whether his
+plan could not be carried into effect.
+
+He had often lamented the fatigue that poor people had to undergo in
+travelling with burdens from place to place upon foot, and wondered
+whether some means might not be devised for alleviating their
+sufferings.  Other people would have suggested "the Government!"  Why
+should not the Government give us this, that, and the other,--give us
+roads, harbours, carriages, boats, nets, and so on.  This, of course,
+would have been a mistaken idea; for where people are too much helped,
+they invariably lose the beneficent practice of helping themselves.
+Charles Bianconi had never been helped, except by advice and
+friendship.  He had helped himself throughout; and now he would try to
+help others.
+
+The facts were patent to everybody.  There was not an Irishman who did
+not know the difficulty of getting from one town to another.  There
+were roads between them, but no conveyances. There was an abundance of
+horses in the country, for at the close of the war an unusual number of
+horses, bred for the army, were thrown upon the market.  Then a tax had
+been levied upon carriages, which sent a large number of jaunting-cars
+out of employment.
+
+The roads of Ireland were on the whole good, being at that time quite
+equal, if not superior, to most of those in England.  The facts of the
+abundant horses, the good roads, the number of unemployed outside cars,
+were generally known; but until Bianconi took the enterprise in hand,
+there was no person of thought, or spirit, or capital in the country,
+who put these three things together horses, roads, and cars and dreamt
+of remedying the great public inconvenience.
+
+It was left for our young Italian carver and gilder, a struggling man
+of small capital, to take up the enterprise, and show what could be
+done by prudent action and persevering energy.  Though the car system
+originally "grew out of his back," Bianconi had long been turning the
+subject over in his mind.  His idea was, that we should never despise
+small interests, nor neglect the wants of poor people.  He saw the
+mail-coaches supplying the requirements of the rich, and enabling them
+to travel rapidly from place to place.  "Then," said he to himself,
+"would it not be possible for me to make an ordinary two-wheeled car
+pay, by running as regularly for the accommodation of poor districts
+and poor people?"
+
+When Mr. Wallace, chairman of the Select Committee on Postage, in 1838,
+asked Mr. Bianconi, "What induced you to commence the car
+establishment?" his answer was, "I did so from what I saw, after coming
+to this country, of the necessity for such cars, inasmuch as there was
+no middle mode of conveyance, nothing to fill up the vacuum that
+existed between those who were obliged to walk and those who posted or
+rode.  My want of knowledge of the language gave me plenty of time for
+deliberation, and in proportion as I grew up with the knowledge of the
+language and the localities, this vacuum pressed very heavily upon my
+mind, till at last I hit upon the idea of running jaunting-cars, and
+for that purpose I commenced running one between Clonmel and Cahir."[2]
+
+What a happy thing it was for Bianconi and Ireland that he could not
+speak with facility,--that he did not know the language or the manners
+of the country!  In his case silence was "golden." Had he been able to
+talk like the people about him, he might have said much and done
+little,--attempted nothing and consequently achieved nothing.  He might
+have got up a meeting and petitioned Parliament to provide the cars,
+and subvention the car system; or he might have gone amongst his
+personal friends, asked them to help him, and failing their help, given
+up his idea in despair, and sat down grumbling at the people and the
+Government.
+
+But instead of talking, he proceeded to doing, thereby illustrating
+Lessona's maxim of Volere e potere.  After thinking the subject fully
+over, he trusted to self-help.  He found that with his own means,
+carefully saved, he could make a beginning; and the beginning once
+made, included the successful ending.
+
+The beginning, it is true, was very small.  It was only an ordinary
+jaunting-car, drawn by a single horse, capable of accommodating six
+persons.  The first car ran between Clonmel and Cahir, a distance of
+about twelve miles, on the 5th of July, 1815--a memorable day for
+Bianconi and Ireland.  Up to that time the public accommodation for
+passengers was confined to a few mail and day coaches on the great
+lines of road, the fares by which were very high, and quite beyond the
+reach of the poorer or middle-class people.
+
+People did not know what to make of Bianconi's car when it first
+started.  There were, of course, the usual prophets of disaster, who
+decided that it "would never do."  Many thought that no one would pay
+eighteen-pence for going to Cahir by car when they could walk there for
+nothing?  There were others who thought that Bianconi should have stuck
+to his shop, as there was no connection whatever between
+picture-gilding and car-driving!
+
+The truth is, the enterprise at first threatened to be a failure!
+Scarcely anybody would go by the car.  People preferred trudging on
+foot, and saved their money, which was more valuable to them than their
+time.  The car sometimes ran for weeks without a passenger.  Another
+man would have given up the enterprise in despair.  But this was not
+the way with Bianconi.  He was a man of tenacity and perseverance.
+What should he do but start an opposition car?   Nobody knew of it but
+himself; not even the driver of the opposition car.  However, the rival
+car was started.  The races between the car-drivers, the free lifts
+occasionally given to passengers, the cheapness of the fare, and the
+excitement of the contest, attracted the attention of the public.  The
+people took sides, and before long both cars came in full.  Fortunately
+the "great big yallah horse" of the opposition car broke down, and
+Bianconi had all the trade to himself.
+
+The people became accustomed to travelling.  They might still walk to
+Cahir; but going by car saved their legs, saved their brains, and saved
+their time.  They might go to Cahir market, do their business there,
+and be comfortably back within the day. Bianconi then thought of
+extending the car to Tipperary and Limerick.  In the course of the same
+year, 1815, he started another car between Clonmel, Cashel, and
+Thurles.  Thus all the principal towns of Tipperary were, in the first
+year of the undertaking, connected together by car, besides being also
+connected with Limerick.
+
+It was easy to understand the convenience of the car system to business
+men, farmers, and even peasants.  Before their establishment, it took a
+man a whole day to walk from Thurles to Clonmel, the second day to do
+his business, and the third to walk back again; whereas he could, in
+one day, travel backwards and forwards between the two towns, and have
+five or six intermediate hours for the purpose of doing his business.
+Thus two clear days could be saved.
+
+Still carrying out his scheme, Bianconi, in the following year (1816),
+put on a car from Clonmel to Waterford.  Before that time there was no
+car accommodation between Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir, about half-way
+to Waterford; but there was an accommodation by boat between Carrick
+and Waterford.  The distance between the two latter places was, by
+road, twelve miles, and by the river Suir twenty-four miles.  Tom
+Morrissey's boat plied two days a week; it carried from eight to ten
+passengers at 6 1/2d. of the then currency; it did the voyage in from
+four to five hours, and besides had to wait for the tide to float it up
+and down the river.  When Bianconi's car was put on, it did the
+distance daily and regularly in two hours, at a fare of two shillings.
+
+The people soon got accustomed to the convenience of the cars. They
+also learned from them the uses of punctuality and the value of time.
+They liked the open-air travelling and the sidelong motion.  The new
+cars were also safe and well-appointed.  They were drawn by good horses
+and driven by good coachmen. Jaunting-car travelling had before been
+rather unsafe.  The country cars were of a ramshackle order, and the
+drivers were often reckless.  "Will I pay the pike, or drive at it,
+plaise your honour?" said a driver to his passenger on approaching a
+turnpike-gate.  Sam Lover used to tell a story of a car-driver, who,
+after driving his passenger up-hill and down-hill, along a very bad
+road, asked him for something extra at the end of his journey.
+
+"Faith," said the driver, "its not putting me off with this ye'd be, if
+ye knew but all."  The gentleman gave him another shilling.  "And now
+what do you mean by saying, 'if ye knew but all?'"  "That I druv yer
+honor the last three miles widout a linch-pin!"
+
+Bianconi, to make sure of the soundness and safety of his cars, set up
+a workshop to build them for himself.  He could thus depend upon their
+soundness, down even to the linch-pin itself. He kept on his carving
+and gilding shop until his car business had increased so much that it
+required the whole of his time and attention; and then he gave it up.
+In fact, when he was able to run a car from Clonmel to Waterford--a
+distance of thirty-two miles--at a fare of three-and-sixpence, his
+eventual triumph was secure.
+
+He made Waterford one of the centres of his operations, as he had
+already made Clonmel.  In 1818 he established a car between Waterford
+and Ross, in the following year a car between Waterford and Wexford,
+and another between Waterford and Enniscorthy.  A few years later he
+established other cars between Waterford and Kilkenny, and Waterford
+and Dungarvan.  From these furthest points, again, other cars were
+established in communication with them, carrying the line further
+north, east, and west.  So much had the travelling between Clonmel and
+Waterford increased, that in a few years (instead of the eight or ten
+passengers conveyed by Tom Morrissey's boat on the Suir) there was
+horse and car power capable of conveying a hundred passengers daily
+between the two places.
+
+Bianconi did a great stroke of business at the Waterford election of
+1826.  Indeed it was the turning point of his fortunes.  He was at
+first greatly cramped for capital.  The expense of maintaining and
+increasing his stock of cars, and of foddering his horses was very
+great; and he was always on the look-out for more capital.  When the
+Waterford election took place, the Beresford party, then all-powerful,
+engaged all his cars to drive the electors to the poll.  The popular
+party, however, started a candidate, and applied to Bianconi for help.
+But he could not comply, for his cars were all engaged.  The morning
+after his refusal of the application, Bianconi was pelted with mud.
+One or two of his cars and horses were heaved over the bridge.
+
+Bianconi then wrote to Beresford's agent, stating that he could no
+longer risk the lives of his drivers and his horses, and desiring to be
+released from his engagement.  The Beresford party had no desire to
+endanger the lives of the car-drivers or their horses, and they set
+Bianconi free.  He then engaged with the popular party, and enabled
+them to win the election.  For this he was paid the sum of a thousand
+pounds.  This access of capital was greatly helpful to him under the
+circumstances.  He was able to command the market, both for horses and
+fodder.  He was also placed in a position to extend the area of his car
+routes.
+
+He now found time, amidst his numerous avocations, to get married!  He
+was forty years of age before this event occurred. He married Eliza
+Hayes, some twenty years younger than himself, the daughter of Patrick
+Hayes, of Dublin, and of Henrietta Burton, an English-woman.  The
+marriage was celebrated on the 14th of February, 1827; and the ceremony
+was performed by the late Archbishop Murray.  Mr. Bianconi must now
+have been in good circumstances, as he settled two thousand pounds upon
+his wife on their marriage-day.  His early married life was divided
+between his cars, electioneering, and Repeal agitation--for he was
+always a great ally of O'Connell.  Though he joined in the Repeal
+movement, his sympathies were not with it; for he preferred Imperial to
+Home Rule.  But he could never deny himself the pleasure of following
+O'Connell, "right or wrong."
+
+Let us give a picture of Bianconi now.  The curly-haired Italian boy
+had grown a handsome man.  His black locks curled all over his head
+like those of an ancient Roman bust.  His face was full of power, his
+chin was firm, his nose was finely cut and well-formed; his eyes were
+keen and sparkling, as if throwing out a challenge to fortune.  He was
+active, energetic, healthy, and strong, spending his time mostly in the
+open air.  He had a wonderful recollection of faces, and rarely forgot
+to recognise the countenance that he had once seen.  He even knew all
+his horses by name.  He spent little of his time at home, but was
+constantly rushing about the country after business, extending his
+connections, organizing his staff, and arranging the centres of his
+traffic.
+
+To return to the car arrangements.  A line was early opened from
+Clonmel--which was at first the centre of the entire connection--to
+Cork; and that line was extended northward, through Mallow and
+Limerick.  Then, the Limerick car went on to Tralee, and from thence to
+Cahirciveen, on the south-west coast of Ireland.  The cars were also
+extended northward from Thurles to Roscrea, Ballinasloe, Athlone,
+Roscommon, and Sligo, and to all the principal towns in the north-west
+counties of Ireland.
+
+The cars interlaced with each other, and plied, not so much in
+continuous main lines, as across country, so as to bring all important
+towns, but especially the market towns, into regular daily
+communication with each other.  Thus, in the course of about thirty
+years, Bianconi succeeded in establishing a system of internal
+communication in Ireland, which traversed the main highways and
+cross-roads from town to town, and gave the public a regular and safe
+car accommodation at the average rate of a penny-farthing per mile.
+
+The traffic in all directions steadily increased.  The first car used
+was capable of accommodating only six persons.  This was between
+Clonmel and Cahir.  But when it went on to Limerick, a larger car was
+required.  The traffic between Clonmel and Waterford was also begun
+with a small-sized car.  But in the course of a few years, there were
+four large-sized cars, travelling daily each way, between the two
+places.  And so it was in other directions, between Cork in the south;
+and Sligo and Strabane in the north and north-west; between Wexford in
+the east, and Galway and Skibbereen in the west and south-west.
+
+Bianconi first increased the accommodation of these cars so as to carry
+four persons on each side instead of three, drawn by two horses.  But
+as the two horses could quite as easily carry two additional
+passengers, another piece was added to the car so as to carry five
+passengers.  Then another four-wheeled car was built, drawn by three
+horses, so as to carry six passengers on each side.  And lastly, a
+fourth horse was used, and the car was further enlarged, so as to
+accommodate seven, and eventually eight passengers on each side, with
+one on the box, which made a total accommodation for seventeen
+passengers.  The largest and heaviest of the long cars, on four wheels,
+was called "Finn MacCoul's," after Ossian's Giant; the fast cars, of a
+light build, on two wheels, were called "Faugh-a-ballagh," or "clear
+the way"; while the  intermediate cars were named "Massey Dawsons,"
+after a popular Tory squire.
+
+When Bianconi's system was complete, he had about a hundred vehicles at
+work; a hundred and forty stations for changing horses, where from one
+to eight grooms were employed; about a hundred drivers, thirteen
+hundred horses, performing an average distance of three thousand eight
+hundred miles daily; passing through twenty-three counties, and
+visiting no fewer than a hundred and twenty of the principal towns and
+cities in the south and west and midland counties of Ireland.
+Bianconi's horses consumed on an average from three to four thousand
+tons of hay yearly, and from thirty to forty thousand barrels of oats,
+all of which were purchased in the respective localities in which they
+were grown.
+
+Bianconi's cars--or "The Bians"--soon became very popular. Everybody
+was under obligations to them.  They greatly promoted the improvement
+of the country.  People could go to market and buy or sell their goods
+more advantageously.  It was cheaper for them to ride than to walk.
+They brought the whole people of the country so much nearer to each
+other.  They virtually opened up about seven-tenths of Ireland to
+civilisation and commerce, and among their other advantages, they
+opened markets for the fresh fish caught by the fishermen of Galway,
+Clifden, Westport, and other places, enabling them to be sold
+throughout the country on the day after they were caught.  They also
+opened the magnificent scenery of Ireland to tourists, and enabled them
+to visit Bantry Bay, Killarney, South Donegal, and the wilds of
+Connemara in safety, all the year round.
+
+Bianconi's service to the public was so great, and it was done with so
+much tact, that nobody had a word to say against him. Everybody was his
+friend.  Not even the Whiteboys would injure him or the mails he
+carried.  He could say with pride, that in the most disturbed times his
+cars had never been molested.  Even during the Whiteboy insurrection,
+though hundreds of people were on the roads at night, the traffic went
+on without interference. At the meeting of the British Association in
+1857, Bianconi said: "My conveyances, many of them carrying very
+important mails, have been travelling during all hours of the day and
+night, often in lonely and unfrequented places; and during the long
+period of forty-two years that my establishment has been in existence,
+the slightest injury has never been done by the people to my property,
+or that entrusted to my care; and this fact gives me greater pleasure
+than any pride I might feel in reflecting upon the other rewards of my
+life's labour."
+
+Of course Bianconi's cars were found of great use for carrying the
+mails.  The post was, at the beginning of his enterprise, very badly
+served in Ireland, chiefly by foot and horse posts. When the first car
+was run from Clonmel to Cahir, Bianconi offered to carry the mail for
+half the price then paid for "sending it alternately by a mule and a
+bad horse."  The post was afterwards found to come regularly instead of
+irregularly to Cahir; and the practice of sending the mails by
+Bianconi's cars increased from year to year.  Dispatch won its way to
+popularity in Ireland as elsewhere, and Bianconi lived to see all the
+cross-posts in Ireland arranged on his system.
+
+The postage authorities frequently used the cars of Bianconi as a means
+of competing with the few existing mail-coaches.  For instance, they
+asked him to compete for carrying the post between Limerick and Tralee,
+then carried by a mail-coach.  Before tendering, Bianconi called on the
+contractor, to induce him to give in to the requirements of the Post
+Office, because he knew that the postal authorities only desired to
+make use of him to fight the coach proprietors.  But having been
+informed that it was the intention of the Post Office to discontinue
+the mail-coach whether Bianconi took the contract or not, he at length
+sent in his tender, and obtained the contract.
+
+He succeeded in performing the service, and delivered the mail much
+earlier than it had been done before.  But the former contractor,
+finding that he had made a mistake, got up a movement in favour of
+re-establishing the mail-coach upon that line of road; and he
+eventually induced the postage authorities to take the mail contract
+out of the hands of Bianconi, and give it back to himself, as formerly.
+Bianconi, however, continued to keep his cars upon the road.  He had
+before stated to the contractor, that if he once started his cars, he
+would not leave it, even though the contract were taken from him.  Both
+coach and car therefore ran for years upon the road, each losing
+thousands of pounds.  "But," said Bianconi, when asked about the matter
+by the Committee on Postage in 1838, "I kept my word:  I must either
+lose character by breaking my word, or lose money.  I prefer losing
+money to giving up the line of road."
+
+Bianconi had also other competitors to contend with, especially from
+coach and car proprietors.  No sooner had he shown to others the way to
+fortune, than he had plenty of imitators.  But they did not possess his
+rare genius for organisation, nor perhaps his still rarer principles.
+They had not his tact, his foresight, his knowledge, nor his
+perseverance.  When Bianconi was asked by the Select Committee on
+Postage, "Do the opposition cars started against you induce you to
+reduce your fares?" his answer was, "No; I seldom do.  Our fares are so
+close to the first cost, that if any man runs cheaper than I do, he
+must starve off, as few can serve the public lower and better than I
+do."[3]
+
+Bianconi was once present at a meeting of car proprietors, called for
+the purpose of uniting to put down a new opposition coach. Bianconi
+would not concur, but protested against it, saying, "If car proprietors
+had united against me when I started, I should have been crushed.  But
+is not the country big enough for us all?"  The coach proprietors,
+after many angry words, threatened to unite in running down Bianconi
+himself.  "Very well," he said, "you may run me off the road--that is
+possible; but while there is this" (pulling a flower out of his coat)
+"you will not put me down."  The threat merely ended in smoke, the
+courage and perseverance of Bianconi having long since become generally
+recognised.
+
+We have spoken of the principles of Mr. Bianconi.  They were most
+honourable.  His establishment might be spoken of as a school of
+morality.  In the first place, he practically taught and enforced the
+virtues of punctuality, truthfulness, sobriety, and honesty. He also
+taught the public generally the value of time, to which, in fact, his
+own success was in a great measure due.  While passing through Clonmel
+in 1840, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall called upon Bianconi and went over his
+establishment, as well as over his house and farm, a short distance
+from the town.  The travellers had a very pressing engagement, and
+could not stay to hear the story of how their entertainer had contrived
+to "make so much out of so little."  "How much time have you?" he
+asked. "Just  five minutes."  "The car," says Mr. Hall, "had conveyed
+us to the back entrance.  Bianconi instantly rang the bell, and said to
+the servant, 'Tell the driver to bring the car round to the front,'
+adding, 'that will save one minute, and enable me to tell you all
+within the time.' This was, in truth the secret of his success, making
+the most of time."[4]
+
+But the success of Bianconi was also due to the admirable principles on
+which his establishment was conducted.  His drivers were noted as being
+among the most civil and obliging men in Ireland, besides being
+pleasant companions to boot.  They were careful, punctual, truthful,
+and honest; but all this was the result of strict discipline on the
+part of their master.
+
+The drivers were taken from the lowest grades of the establishment, and
+promoted to higher positions according to their respective merits as
+opportunity offered.  "Much surprise," says Bianconi, "has often been
+expressed at the high order of men connected with my car establishment
+and at its popularity; but parties thus expressing themselves forget to
+look at Irish society with sufficient grasp.  For my part, I cannot
+better compare it than to a man merging to convalescence from a serious
+attack of malignant fever, and requiring generous nutrition in place of
+medical treatment"[5]
+
+To attach the men to the system, as well as to confer upon them the due
+reward for their labour, he provided for all the workmen who had been
+injured, worn out, or become superannuated in his service.  The drivers
+could then retire upon a full pension, which they enjoyed during the
+rest of their lives.  They were also paid their full wages during
+sickness, and at their death Bianconi educated their children, who grew
+up to manhood, and afterwards filled the situations held by their
+deceased parents.
+
+Every workman had thus a special interest in his own good conduct.
+They knew that nothing but misbehaviour could deprive them of the
+benefits they enjoyed; and hence their endeavours to maintain their
+positions by observing the strict discipline enjoined by their employer.
+
+Sobriety was, of course, indispensable--a drunken car-driver being
+amongst the most dangerous of servants.  The drivers must also be
+truthful, and the man found telling a lie, however venial, was
+instantly dismissed.  Honesty was also strongly enforced, not only for
+the sake of the public, but for the sake of the men themselves.  Hence
+he never allowed his men to carry letters.  If they did so, he fined
+them in the first instance very severely, and in the second instance
+dismissed them.  "I do so," he said, "because if I do not respect other
+institutions (the Post Office), my men will soon learn not to respect
+my own. Then, for carrying letters during the extent of their trip, the
+men most probably would not get money, but drink, and hence become
+dissipated and unworthy of confidence."
+
+Thus truth, accuracy, punctuality, sobriety, and honesty being strictly
+enforced, formed the fundamental principle of the entire management.
+At the same time, Bianconi treated his drivers with every confidence
+and respect.  He made them feel that, in doing their work well, they
+conferred a greater benefit on him and on the public than he did on
+them by paying them their wages.
+
+When attending the British Association at Cork, Bianconi said that, "in
+proportion as he advanced his drivers, he lowered their wages."
+"Then," said Dr. Taylor, the Secretary, "I wouldn't like to serve you."
+"Yes, you would," replied Bianconi, "because in promoting my drivers I
+place them on a more lucrative line, where their certainty of receiving
+fees from passengers is greater."
+
+Bianconi was as merciful to his horses as to his men.  He had much
+greater difficulty at first in finding good men than good horses,
+because the latter were not exposed to the temptations to which the
+former were subject.  Although the price of horses continued to rise,
+he nevertheless bought the best horses at increased prices, and he took
+care not to work them overmuch.  He gave his horses as well as his men
+their seventh day's rest.  "I find by experience," he said, "that I can
+work a horse eight miles a day for six days in the week, easier than I
+can work six miles for seven days; and that is one of my reasons for
+having no cars, unless carrying a mail, plying upon Sundays."
+
+Bianconi had confidence in men generally.  The result was that men had
+confidence in him.  Even the Whiteboys respected him.  At the close of
+a long and useful life he could say with truth, "I never yet attempted
+to do an act of generosity or common justice, publicly or privately,
+that I was not met by manifold reciprocity."
+
+By bringing the various classes of society into connection with each
+other, Bianconi believed, and doubtless with truth, that he was the
+means of making them respect each other, and that he thereby promoted
+the civilisation of Ireland.  At the meeting of the social Science
+Congress, held at Dublin in 1861, he said: "The state of the roads was
+such as to limit the rate of travelling to about seven miles an hour,
+and the passengers were often obliged to walk up hills.  Thus all
+classes were brought together, and I have felt much pleasure in
+believing that the intercourse thus created tended to inspire the
+higher classes with respect and regard for the natural good qualities
+of the humbler people, which the latter reciprocated by a becoming
+deference and an anxiety to please and oblige.  Such a moral benefit
+appears to me to be worthy of special notice and congratulation."
+
+Even when railways were introduced, Bianconi did not resist them, but
+welcomed them as "the great civilisers of the age."  There was, in his
+opinion, room enough for all methods of conveyance in Ireland.  When
+Captain Thomas Drummond was appointed Under-Secretary for Ireland in
+1835, and afterwards chairman of the Irish Railway Commission, he had
+often occasion to confer with Mr. Bianconi, who gave him every
+assistance.  Mr. Drummond conceived the greatest respect for Bianconi,
+and often asked him how it was that he, a foreigner, should have
+acquired so extensive an influence and so distinguished a position in
+Ireland?
+
+"The question came upon me," said Bianconi, "by surprise, and I did not
+at the time answer it.  But another day he repeated his question, and I
+replied, 'Well, it was because, while the big and the little were
+fighting, I crept up between them, carried out my enterprise, and
+obliged everybody.'"  This, however, did not satisfy Mr. Drummond, who
+asked Bianconi to write down for him an autobiography, containing the
+incidents of his early life down to the period of his great Irish
+enterprise.  Bianconi proceeded to do this, writing down his past
+history in the occasional intervals which he could snatch from the
+immense business which he still continued personally to superintend.
+But before the "Drummond memoir" could be finished Mr. Drummond himself
+had ceased to live, having died in 1840, principally of overwork. What
+he thought of Bianconi, however, has been preserved in his Report of
+the Irish Railway Commission of 1838, written by Mr. Drummond himself,
+in which he thus speaks of his enterprising friend in starting and
+conducting the great Irish car establishment:--
+
+"With a capital little exceeding the expense of outfit he commenced.
+Fortune, or rather the due reward of industry and integrity, favoured
+his first efforts.  He soon began to increase the number of his cars
+and multiply routes, until his establishment spread over the whole of
+Ireland.  These results are the more striking and instructive as having
+been accomplished in a district which has long been represented as the
+focus of unreclaimed violence and barbarism, where neither life nor
+property can be deemed secure.  Whilst many possessing a personal
+interest in everything tending to improve or enrich the country have
+been so misled or inconsiderate as to repel by exaggerated statements
+British capital from their doors, this foreigner chose Tipperary as the
+centre of his operations, wherein to embark all the fruits of his
+industry in a traffic peculiarly exposed to the power and even to the
+caprice of the peasantry.  The event has shown that his confidence in
+their good sense was not ill-grounded.
+
+"By a system of steady and just treatment he has obtained a complete
+mastery, exempt from lawless intimidation or control, over the various
+servants and agents employed by him, and his establishment is popular
+with all classes on account of its general usefulness and the fair
+liberal spirit of its management. The success achieved by this spirited
+gentleman is the result, not of a single speculation, which might have
+been favoured by local circumstances, but of a series of distinct
+experiments, all of which have been successful."
+
+When the railways were actually made and opened, they ran right through
+the centre of Bianconi's long-established systems of communication.
+They broke up his lines, and sent them to the right and left.  But,
+though they greatly disturbed him, they did not destroy him.  In his
+enterprising hands the railways merely changed the direction of the
+cars.  He had at first to take about a thousand horses off the road,
+with thirty-seven vehicles, travelling 2446 miles daily.  But he
+remodelled his system so as to run his cars between the
+railway-stations and the towns to the right and left of the main lines.
+
+He also directed his attention to those parts of Ireland which had not
+before had the benefit of his conveyances.  And in thus still
+continuing to accommodate the public, the number of his horses and
+carriages again increased, until, in 1861, he was employing 900 horses,
+travelling over 4000 miles daily; and in 1866, when he resigned his
+business, he was running only 684 miles daily below the maximum run in
+1845, before the railways had begun to interfere with his traffic.
+
+His cars were then running to Dungarvan, Waterford, and Wexford in the
+south-west of Ireland; to Bandon, Rosscarbery, Skibbereen, and
+Cahirciveen, in the south; to Tralee, Galway, Clifden, Westport, and
+Belmullet in the west; to Sligo, Enniskillen, Strabane, and Letterkenny
+in the north; while, in the centre of Ireland, the towns of Thurles,
+Kilkenny, Birr, and Ballinasloe were also daily served by the cars of
+Bianconi.
+
+At the meeting of the British Association, held in Dublin in 1857, Mr.
+Bianconi mentioned a fact which, he thought, illustrated the increasing
+prosperity of the country and the progress of the people.  It was, that
+although the population had so considerably decreased by emigration and
+other causes, the proportion of travellers by his conveyances continued
+to increase, demonstrating not only that the people had more money, but
+that they appreciated the money value of time, and also the advantages
+of the car system established for their accommodation.
+
+Although railways must necessarily have done much to promote the
+prosperity of Ireland, it is very doubtful whether the general
+passenger public were not better served by the cars of Bianconi than by
+the railways which superseded them.  Bianconi's cars were on the whole
+cheaper, and were always run en correspondence, so as to meet each
+other; whereas many of the railway trains in the south of Ireland,
+under the competitive system existing between the several companies,
+are often run so as to miss each other. The present working of the
+Irish railway traffic provokes perpetual irritation amongst the Irish
+people, and sufficiently accounts for the frequent petitions presented
+to Parliament that they should be taken in hand and worked by the State.
+
+Bianconi continued to superintend his great car establishment until
+within the last few years.  He had a constitution of iron, which he
+expended in active daily work.  He liked to have a dozen irons in the
+fire, all red-hot at once.  At the age of seventy he was still a man in
+his prime; and he might be seen at Clonmel helping, at busy times, to
+load the cars, unpacking and unstrapping the luggage where it seemed to
+be inconveniently placed; for he was a man who could never stand by and
+see others working without having a hand in it himself.  Even when well
+on to eighty, he still continued to grapple with the immense business
+involved in working a traffic extending over two thousand five hundred
+miles of road.
+
+Nor was Bianconi without honour in his adopted country.  He began his
+great enterprise in 1815, though it was not until 1831 that he obtained
+letters of naturalisation.  His application for these privileges was
+supported by the magistrates of Tipperary and by the Grand Jury, and
+they were at once granted.  In 1844 he was elected Mayor of Clonmel,
+and took his seat as Chairman at the Borough Petty Sessions to dispense
+justice.
+
+The first person brought before him was James Ryan, who had been drunk
+and torn a constable's belt.  "Well, Ryan," said the magistrate, "what
+have you to say?"  "Nothing, your worship; only I wasn't drunk."  "Who
+tore the constable's belt?"  "He was bloated after his Christmas
+dinner, your worship, and the belt burst!"  "You are so very pleasant,"
+said the magistrate, "that you will have to spend forty-eight hours in
+gaol."
+
+He was re-elected Mayor in the following year, very much against his
+wish.  He now began to buy land, for "land hunger" was strong upon him.
+In 1846 he bought the estate of Longfield, in the parish of Boherlahan,
+county of Tipperary.  It consisted of about a thousand acres of good
+land, with a large cheerful house overlooking the river Suir.  He went
+on buying more land, until he became possessor of about eight thousand
+English acres.
+
+One of his favourite sayings was: "Money melts, but land holds while
+grass grows and water runs."  He was an excellent landlord, built
+comfortable houses for his tenantry, and did what he could for their
+improvement.  Without solicitation, the Government appointed him a
+justice of the peace and a Deputy-lientenant for the county of
+Tipperary.  Everything that he did seemed to thrive.  He was honest,
+straightforward, loyal, and law-abiding.
+
+On first taking possession of his estate at Longfield, he was met by a
+procession of the tenantry, who received him with great enthusiasm.  In
+his address to them, he said, amongst other things:  "Allow me to
+impress upon you the great importance of respecting the laws.  The laws
+are made for the good and the benefit of society, and for the
+punishment of the wicked.  No one but an enemy would counsel you to
+outrage the laws.  Above all things, avoid secret and unlawful
+societies.  Much of the improvement now going on amongst us is owing to
+the temperate habits of the people, to the mission of my much respected
+friend, Father Mathew, and to the advice of the Liberator.  Follow the
+advice of O'Connell; be temperate, moral, peaceable; and you will
+advance your country, ameliorate your condition, and the blessing of
+God will attend all your efforts."
+
+Bianconi was always a great friend of O'Connell.  From an early period
+he joined him in the Catholic Emancipation movement.  He took part with
+him in founding the National Bank in Ireland.  In course of time the
+two became more intimately related. Bianconi's son married O'Connell's
+granddaughter; and O'Connell's nephew, Morgan John, married Bianconi's
+daughter.  Bianconi's son died in 1864, leaving three daughters, but no
+male heir to carry on the family name.  The old man bore the blow of
+his son's premature death with fortitude, and laid his remains in the
+mortuary chapel, which he built on his estate at Longfield.
+
+In the following year, when he was seventy-eight, he met with a severe
+accident.  He was overturned, and his thigh was severely fractured.  He
+was laid up for six months, quite incapable of stirring.  He was
+afterwards able to get about in a marvellous way, though quite
+crippled.  As his life's work was over, he determined to retire finally
+from business; and he handed over the whole of his cars, coaches,
+horses, and plant, with all the lines of road he was then working, to
+his employes, on the most liberal terms.
+
+My youngest son met Mr. Bianconi, by appointment, at the Roman Catholic
+church at Boherlahan, in the summer of 1872.  Although the old
+gentleman had to be lifted into and out of his carriage by his two
+men-servants, he was still as active-minded as ever. Close to the
+church at Boherlahan is Bianconi's mortuary chapel, which he built as a
+sort of hobby, for the last resting-place of himself and his family.
+The first person interred in it was his eldest daughter, who died in
+Italy; the second was his only son. A beautiful monument with a
+bas-relief has been erected in the chapel by Benzoni, an Italian
+sculptor, to the memory of his daughter.
+
+"As we were leaving the chapel," my son informs me, "we passed a long
+Irish car containing about sixteen people, the tenants of Mr. Bianconi,
+who are brought at his expense from all parts of the estate.  He is
+very popular with his tenantry, regarding their interests as his own;
+and he often quotes the words of his friend Mr. Drummond, that
+'property has its duties as well as its rights.' He has rebuilt nearly
+every house on his extensive estates in Tipperary.
+
+"On our way home, the carriage stopped to let me down and see the
+strange remains of an ancient fort, close by the roadside.  It consists
+of a high grass-grown mound, surrounded by a moat.  It is one of the
+so-called Danish forts, which are found in all parts of Ireland.  If it
+be true that these forts were erected by the Danes, they must at one
+time have had a strong hold of the greater part of Ireland.
+
+"The carriage entered a noble avenue of trees, with views of prettily
+enclosed gardens on either side.  Mr. Bianconi exclaimed, 'Welcome to
+the Carman's Stage!' Longfield House, which we approached, is a fine
+old-fashioned house, situated on the river Suir, a few miles south of
+Cashel, one of the most ancient cities in Ireland.  Mr. Bianconi and
+his family were most hospitable; and I found him most lively and
+communicative.  He talked cleverly and with excellent choice of
+language for about three hours, during which I learnt much from him.
+
+"Like most men who have accomplished great things, and overcome many
+difficulties, Mr. Bianconi is fond of referring to the past events in
+his interesting life.  The acuteness of his conversation is wonderful.
+He hits off a keen thought in a few words, sometimes full of wit and
+humour.  I thought this very good:  'Keep before the wheels, young man,
+or they will run over you:  always keep before the wheels!' He read
+over to me the memoir he had prepared at the suggestion of Mr.
+Drummond, relating to the events of his early life; and this opened the
+way for a great many other recollections not set down in the book.
+
+"He vividly remembered the parting from his mother, nearly seventy
+years ago, and spoke of her last words to him: 'When you remember me,
+think of me as waiting at this window, watching for your return.' This
+led him to speak of the great forgetfulness and want of respect which
+children have for their parents nowadays.  'We seem,' he said, 'to have
+fallen upon a disrespectful age.'
+
+"'It is strange,' said he, 'how little things influence one's mind and
+character.  When I was a boy at Waterford, I bought an old second-hand
+book from a man on the quay, and the maxim on its title-page fixed
+itself deeply on my memory.  It was, "Truth, like water, will find its
+own level."' And this led him to speak of the great influence which the
+example and instruction of Mr. Rice, of the Christian Brothers, had had
+upon his mind and character.  'That religions institution,' said he,
+'of which Mr. Rice was one of the founders, has now spread itself over
+the country, and, by means of the instruction which the members have
+imparted to the poorer ignorant classes, they have effected quite a
+revolution in the south of Ireland.'
+
+"'I am not much of a reader,' said Mr. Bianconi; 'the best part of my
+reading has consisted in reading way-bills.  But I was once
+complimented by Justice Lefroy upon my books.  He remarked to me what a
+wonderful education I must have had to invent my own system of
+book-keeping.  Yes,' said he, pointing to his ledgers, 'there they
+are.'  The books are still preserved, recording the progress of the
+great car enterprise.  They show at first the small beginnings, and
+then the rapid growth--the tens growing to hundreds, and the hundreds
+to thousands--the ledgers and day-books containing, as it were, the
+whole history of the undertaking--of each car, of each man, of each
+horse, and of each line of road, recorded most minutely.
+
+"'The secret of my success,' said he, 'has been promptitude, fair
+dealing, and good humour.  And this I will add, what I have often said
+before, that I never did a kind action but it was returned to me
+tenfold.  My cars have never received the slightest injury from the
+people.  Though travelling through the country for about sixty years,
+the people have throughout respected the property intrusted to me.  My
+cars have passed through lonely and unfrequented places, and they have
+never, even in the most disturbed times, been attacked.  That, I think,
+is an extraordinary testimony to the high moral character of the Irish
+people.'
+
+"'It is not money, but the genius of money that I esteem,' said
+Bianconi; 'not money itself, but money used as a creative power.'
+
+And he himself has furnished in his own life the best possible
+illustration of his maxim He created a new industry, gave employment to
+an immense number of persons, promoted commerce, extended civilisation;
+and, though a foreigner, proved one of the greatest of Ireland's
+benefactors."
+
+About two years after the date of my son's visit, Charles Bianconi
+passed away, full of years and honours; and his remains were laid
+beside those of his son and daughter, in the mortuary chapel at
+Boherlahan.  He died in 1875, in his ninetieth year. Well might Signor
+Henrico Mayer say, at the British Association at Cork in 1846, that "he
+felt proud as an Italian to hear a compatriot so deservedly eulogised;
+and although Ireland might claim Bianconi as a citizen, yet the
+Italians should ever with pride hail him as a countryman, whose
+industry and virtue reflected honour on the country of his birth."
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter IX.
+
+[1] This article originally appeared in 'Good Words.'  A biography of
+Charles Bianconi, by his daughter, Mrs. Morgan John O'Connell, has
+since been published; but the above article is thought worthy of
+republication, as its contents were for the most part taken principally
+from Mr. Bianconi's own lips.
+
+[2] Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on Postage
+(Second Report), 1838, p. 284.
+
+[3] Evidence before the Select Committee on Postage, 1838.
+
+[4] Hall's 'Ireland,' ii. 76.
+
+[5] Paper read before the British Association at Cork, 1843.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+INDUSTRY IN IRELAND: THROUGH CONNAUGHT AND ULSTER, TO BELFAST.
+
+"The Irish people have a past to boast of, and a future to create."--J.
+F. O'Carrol.
+
+"One of the great questions is how to find an outlet for Irish
+manufactures.  We ought to be an exporting nation, or we never will be
+able to compete successfully with our trade rivals."--E. D. Gray.
+
+"Ireland may become a Nation again, if we all sacrifice our parricidal
+passions, prejudices, and resentments on the altar of our country.
+Then shall your manufactures flourish, and Ireland be free."--Daniel
+O'Connell.
+
+Further communications passed between my young friend, the Italian
+count, and his father; and the result was that he accompanied me to
+Ireland, on the express understanding that he was to send home a letter
+daily by post assuring his friends of his safety.  We went together
+accordingly to Galway, up Lough Corrib to Cong and Lough Mask; by the
+romantic lakes and mountains of Connemara to Clifden and Letterfrack,
+and through the lovely pass of Kylemoor to Leenane; along the fiord of
+Killury; then on, by Westport and Ballina to Sligo.  Letters were
+posted daily by my young friend; and every day we went forwards in
+safety.
+
+But how lonely was the country!  We did not meet a single American
+tourist during the whole course of our visit, and the Americans are the
+most travelling people in the world.  Although the railway companies
+have given every facility for visiting Connemara and the scenery of the
+West of Ireland, we only met one single English tourist, accompanied by
+his daughter.  The Bianconi long car between Clifden and Westport had
+been taken off for want of support.  The only persons who seemed to
+have no fear of Irish agrarianism were the English anglers, who are
+ready to brave all dangers, imaginary or supposed, provided they can
+only kill a big salmon!  And all the rivers flowing westward into the
+Atlantic are full of fine fish.  While at Galway, we looked down into
+the river Corrib from the Upper Bridge, and beheld it literally black
+with the backs of salmon!  They were waiting for a flood to enable them
+to ascend the ladder into Lough Corrib. While there, 1900 salmon were
+taken in one day by nets in the bay.
+
+Galway is a declining town.  It has docks, but no shipping; bonded
+warehouses, but no commerce.  It has a community of fishermen at
+Claddagh, but the fisheries of the bay are neglected.  As one of the
+poor men of the place exclaimed, "Poverty is the curse of Ireland."  On
+looking at Galway from the Claddagh side, it seems as if to have
+suffered from a bombardment.  Where a roof has fallen in, nothing has
+been done to repair it.  It was of no use.  The ruin has been left to
+go on.  The mills, which used to grind home-grown corn, are now
+unemployed.  The corn comes ready ground from America.   Nothing is
+thought of but emigration, and the best people are going, leaving the
+old, the weak, and the inefficient at home.  "The labourer," said the
+late President Garfield, "has but one commodity to sell--his day's
+work, it is his sole reliance.  He must sell it to-day, or it is lost
+for-ever."  And as the poor Irishman cannot sell his day's labour, he
+must needs emigrate to some other country, where his only commodity may
+be in demand.
+
+While at Galway, I read with interest an eloquent speech delivered by
+Mr. Parnell at the banquet held in the Great Hall of the Exhibition at
+Cork.  Mr. Parnell asked, with much reason, why manufactures should not
+be established and encouraged in the South of Ireland, as in other
+parts of the country.  Why should not capital be invested, and
+factories and workshops developed, through the length and breadth of
+the kingdom?  "I confess," he said, "I should like to give Ireland a
+fair opportunity of working her home manufactures.  We can each one of
+us do much to revive the ancient name of our nation in those industrial
+pursuits which have done so much to increase and render glorious those
+greater nations by the side of which we live.  I trust that before many
+years are over we shall have the honour and pleasure of meeting in even
+a more splendid palace than this, and of seeing in the interval that
+the quick-witted genius of the Irish race has profited by the lessons
+which this beautiful Exhibition must undoubtedly teach, and that much
+will have been done to make our nation happy, prosperous, and free."
+
+Mr. Parnell, in the course of his speech, referred to the manufactures
+which had at one time flourished in Ireland--to the flannels of
+Rathdrum, the linens of Bandon, the cottons of Cork, and the gloves of
+Limerick.  Why should not these things exist again?  "We have a people
+who are by nature quick and facile to learn, who have shown in many
+other countries that they are industrious and laborious, and who have
+not been excelled--whether in the pursuits of agriculture under a
+midday sun in the field, or amongst the vast looms in the factory
+districts--by the people of any country on the face of the globe."[1]
+Most just and eloquent!
+
+The only weak point in Mr. Parnell's speech was where he urged his
+audience "not to use any article of the manufacture of any other
+country except Ireland, where you can get up an Irish manufacture."
+The true remedy is to make Irish articles of the best and cheapest, and
+they will be bought, not only by the Irish, but by the English and
+people of all nations. Manufactures cannot be "boycotted."  They will
+find their way into all lands, in spite even of the most restrictive
+tariffs. Take, for instance, the case of Belfast hereafter to be
+referred to.  If the manufacturing population of that town were to rely
+for their maintenance on the demand for their productions at home, they
+would simply starve.  But they make the best and the cheapest goods of
+their kind, and hence the demand for them is world-wide.
+
+There is an abundant scope for the employment of capital and skilled
+labour in Ireland.  During the last few years land has been falling
+rapidly out of cultivation.  The area under cereal crops has
+accordingly considerably decreased.[2]  Since 1868, not less than
+400,000 acres have been disused for this purpose.[3] Wheat can be
+bought better and cheaper in America, and imported into Ireland ground
+into flour.  The consequence is, that the men who worked the soil, as
+well as the men who ground the corn, are thrown out of employment, and
+there is nothing left for them but subsistence upon the poor-rates,
+emigration to other countries, or employment in some new domestic
+industry.
+
+Ireland is by no means the "poor Ireland" that she is commonly supposed
+to be.  The last returns of the Postmaster-General show that she is
+growing in wealth.  Irish thrift has been steadily at work during the
+last twenty years.  Since the establishment of the Post Office Savings
+Banks, in 1861, the deposits have annually increased in value.  At the
+end of 1882, more than two millions sterling had been deposited in
+these banks, and every county participated in the increase.[4]  The
+largest accumulations were in the counties of Dublin, Antrim, Cork,
+Down, Tipperary, and Tyrone, in the order named.  Besides this amount,
+the sum of 2,082,413L. was due to depositors in the ordinary Savings
+Banks on the 20th of November, 1882; or, in all, more than four
+millions sterling, the deposits of small capitalists. At Cork, at the
+end of last year, it was found that the total deposits made in the
+savings bank had been 76,000L, or an increase of 6,675L.  over the
+preceding twelve months.  But this is not all.  The Irish middle
+classes are accustomed to deposit most of their savings in the Joint
+Stock banks; and from the returns presented to the Lord Lieutenant,
+dated the 31st of January, 1883, we find that these had been more than
+doubled in twenty years, the deposits and cash balances having
+increased from 14,389,000L. at the end of 1862, to 32,746,000L. at the
+end of 1882.  During the last year they had increased by the sum of
+2,585,000L.  "So large an increase in bank deposits and cash balances,"
+says the Report, "is highly satisfactory."  It may be added that the
+investments in Government and India Stock, on which dividends were paid
+at the Bank of Ireland, at the end of 1882, amounted to not less than
+31,804,000L.
+
+It is proper that Ireland should be bountiful with her increasing
+means.  It has been stated that during the last eighteen years her
+people have contributed not less than six millions sterling for the
+purpose of building places of worship, convents, schools, and colleges,
+in connection with the Roman Catholic Church, not to speak of their
+contributions for other patriotic objects.
+
+It would be equally proper if some of the saved surplus capital of
+Ireland, as suggested by Mr. Parnell, were invested in the
+establishment of Irish manufactures.  This would not only give
+profitable occupation to the unemployed, but enable Ireland to become
+an increasingly exporting nation.  We are informed by an Irish banker,
+that there is abundance of money to be got in Ireland for any industry
+which has a reasonable chance of success.  One thing, however, is
+certain:  there must be perfect safety.  An old writer has said that
+"Government is a badge of lost innocence:  the palaces of kings are
+built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise."  The main use of
+government is protection against the weaknesses and selfishness of
+human nature.  If there be no protection for life, liberty, property,
+and the fruits of accumulated industry, government becomes
+comparatively useless, and society is driven back upon its first
+principles.
+
+Capital is the most sensitive of all things.  It flies turbulence and
+strife, and thrives only in security and freedom.  It must have
+complete safety.  If tampered with by restrictive laws, or hampered by
+combinations, it suddenly disappears.  "The age of glory of a nation,"
+said Sir Humphry Davy, "is the age of its security.  The same dignified
+feeling which urges men to gain a dominion over nature will preserve
+them from the dominion of slavery.  Natural, and moral, and religions
+knowledge, are of one family; and happy is the country and great its
+strength where they dwell together in union."
+
+Dublin was once celebrated for its shipbuilding, its timber-trade, its
+iron manufactures, and its steam-printing; Limerick was celebrated for
+its gloves; Kilkenny for its blankets; Bandon for its woollen and linen
+manufactures.  But most of these trades were banished by strikes.[5]
+Dr. Doyle stated before the Irish Committee of 1830, that the almost
+total extinction of the Kilkenny blanket-trade was attributable to the
+combinations of the weavers; and O'Connell admitted that Trades Unions
+had wrought more evil to Ireland than absenteeism and Saxon
+maladministration.  But working men have recently become more prudent
+and thrifty; and it is believed that under the improved system of
+moderate counsel, and arbitration between employers and employed, a
+more hopeful issue is likely to attend the future of such enterprises.
+
+Another thing is clear.  A country may be levelled down by idleness and
+ignorance; it can only be levelled up by industry and intelligence.  It
+is easy to pull down; it is very difficult to build up.  The hands that
+cannot erect a hovel may demolish a palace.  We have but to look to
+Switzerland to see what a country may become which mixes its industry
+with its brains.  That little land has no coal, no seaboard by which
+she can introduce it, and is shut off from other countries by lofty
+mountains, as well as by hostile tariffs; and yet Switzerland is one of
+the most prosperous nations in Europe, because governed and regulated
+by intelligent industry.  Let Ireland look to Switzerland, and she need
+not despair.
+
+Ireland is a much richer country by nature than is generally supposed.
+In fact, she has not yet been properly explored. There is copper-ore in
+Wicklow, Waterford, and Cork.  The Leitrim iron-ores are famous for
+their riches; and there is good ironstone in Kilkenny, as well as in
+Ulster.  The Connaught ores are mixed with coal-beds.  Kaolin,
+porcelain clay, and coarser clay, abound; but it is only at Belleek
+that it has been employed in the pottery manufacture.  But the sea
+about Ireland is still less explored than the land.  All round the
+Atlantic seaboard of the Irish coast are shoals of herring and
+mackerel, which might be food for men, but are at present only consumed
+by the multitudes of sea-birds which follow them.
+
+In the daily papers giving an account of the Cork Exhibition, appeared
+the following paragraph:  "An interesting exhibit will be a quantity of
+preserved herrings from Lowestoft, caught off the old head of Kinsale,
+and returned to Cork after undergoing a preserving process in
+England."[6] Fish caught off the coast of Ireland by English fishermen,
+taken to England and cured, and then "returned to Cork" for exhibition!
+Here is an opening for patriotic Irishmen.  Why not catch and preserve
+the fish at home, and get the entire benefit of the fish traffic?  Will
+it be believed that there is probably more money value in the seas
+round Ireland than there is in the land itself?  This is actually the
+case with the sea round the county of Aberdeen.[7]
+
+A vast source of wealth lies at the very doors of the Irish people.
+But the harvest of an ocean teeming with life is allowed to pass into
+other hands.  The majority of the boats which take part in the fishery
+at Kinsale are from the little island of Man, from Cornwall, from
+France, and from Scotland.  The fishermen catch the fish, salt them,
+and carry them or send them away. While the Irish boats are diminishing
+in number, those of the strangers are increasing.  In an East Lothian
+paper, published in May 1881, I find the following paragraph, under the
+head of Cockenzie:-.
+
+"Departure of Boats.--In the early part of this week, a number of the
+boats here have left for the herring-fishery at Kinsale, in Ireland.
+The success attending their labours last year at that place and at
+Howth has induced more of them than usual to proceed thither this year."
+
+It may not be generally known that Cockenzie is a little fishing
+village on the Firth of Forth, in Scotland, where the fishermen have
+provided themselves, at their own expense, with about fifty decked
+fishing-boats, each costing, with nets and gear, about 500L.  With
+these boats they carry on their pursuits on the coast of Scotland,
+England, and Ireland.  In 1882, they sent about thirty boats to
+Kinsale[8] and Howth.  The profits of their fishing has been such as to
+enable them, with the assistance of Lord Wemyss, to build for
+themselves a convenient harbour at Port Seaton, without any help from
+the Government.  They find that self-help is the best help, and that it
+is absurd to look to the Government and the public purse for what they
+can best do for themselves.
+
+The wealth of the ocean round Ireland has long been known.  As long ago
+as the ninth and tenth centuries, the Danes established a fishery off
+the western coasts, and carried on a lucrative trade with the south of
+Europe.  In Queen Mary's reign, Philip II. of Spain paid 1000L.
+annually in consideration of his subjects being allowed to fish on the
+north-west coast of Ireland; and it appears that the money was brought
+into the Irish Exchequer.  In 1650, Sweden was permitted, as a favour,
+to employ a hundred vessels in the Irish fishery; and the Dutch in the
+reign of Charles I. were admitted to the fisheries on the payment of
+30,000L.  In 1673, Sir W. Temple, in a letter to Lord Essex, says that
+"the fishing of Ireland might prove a mine under water as rich as any
+under ground."[9]
+
+The coasts of Ireland abound in all the kinds of fish in common
+use--cod, ling, haddock, hake, mackerel, herring, whiting, conger,
+turbot, brill, bream, soles, plaice, dories, and salmon. The banks off
+the coast of Galway are frequented by myriads of excellent fish; yet,
+of the small quantity caught, the bulk is taken in the immediate
+neighbourhood of the shores.  Galway bay is said to be the finest
+fishing ground in the world; but the fish cannot be expected to come on
+shore unsought: they must be found, followed, and netted.   The
+fishing-boats from the west of Scotland are very successful; and they
+often return the fish to Ireland, cured, which had been taken out of
+the Irish bays.  "I tested this fact in Galway," says Mr. S. C. Hall.
+"I had ordered fish for dinner; two salt haddocks were brought to me.
+On inquiry, I ascertained where they were bought, and learned from the
+seller that he was the agent of a Scotch firm, whose boats were at that
+time loading in the bay."[10] But although Scotland imports some 80,000
+barrels of cured herrings annually into Ireland, that is not enough;
+for we find that there is a regular importation of cured herrings, cod,
+ling, and hake, from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, towards the food of
+the Irish people.[11]
+
+The fishing village of Claddagh, at Galway, is more decaying than ever.
+It seems to have suffered from a bombardment, like the rest of the
+town.  The houses of the fishermen, when they fall in, are left in
+ruins.  While the French, and English, and Scotch boats leave the coast
+laden with fish, the Claddagh men remain empty-handed.  They will only
+fish on "lucky days," so that the Galway market is often destitute of
+fish, while the Claddagh people are starving.  On one occasion an
+English company was formed for the purpose of fishing and curing fish
+at Galway, as is now done at Yarmouth, Grimsby, Fraserburgh, Wick, and
+other places.  Operations were commenced, but so soon as the English
+fishermen put to sea in their boats, the Claddagh men fell upon them,
+and they were glad to escape with their lives.[12] Unfortunately, the
+Claddagh men have no organization, no fixed rules, no settled
+determination to work, unless when pressed by necessity.  The
+appearance of the men and of their cabins show that they are greatly in
+want of capital; and fishing cannot be successfully performed without a
+sufficiency of this industrial element.
+
+Illustrations of this neglected industry might be given to any extent.
+Herring fishing, cod fishing, and pilchard fishing, are alike
+untouched.  The Irish have a strong prejudice against the pilchard;
+they believe it to be an unlucky fish, and that it will rot the net
+that takes it.  The Cornishmen do not think so, for they find the
+pilchard fishing to be a source of great wealth. The pilchards strike
+upon the Irish coast first before they reach Cornwall.  When Mr. Brady,
+Inspector of Irish Fisheries, visited St. Ives a few years ago, he saw
+captured, in one seine alone, nearly ten thousand pounds of this fish.
+
+Not long since; according to a northern local paper,[13] a large fleet
+of vessels in full sail was seen from the west coast of Donegal,
+evidently making for the shore.  Many surmises were made about the
+unusual sight.  Some thought it was the Fenians, others the Home
+Rulers, others the Irish-American Dynamiters.  Nothing of the kind!  It
+was only a fleet of Scotch smacks, sixty-four in number, fishing for
+herring between Torry Island and Horn Head. The Irish might say to the
+Scotch fishermen, in the words of the Morayshire legend, "Rejoice, O my
+brethren, in the gifts of the sea, for they enrich you without making
+any one else the poorer!"
+
+But while the Irish are overlooking their treasure of herring, the
+Scotch are carefully cultivating it.  The Irish fleet of fishing-boats
+fell off from 27,142 in 1823 to 7181 in 1878; and in 1882 they were
+still further reduced to 6089.[14]  Yet Ireland has a coast-line of
+fishing ground of nearly three thousand miles in extent.
+
+The bights and bays on the west coast of Ireland--off Erris, Mayo,
+Connemara, and Donegal--swarm with fish.  Near Achill Bay, 2000
+mackerel were lately taken at a single haul; and Clew Bay is often
+alive with fish.  In Scull Bay and Crookhaven, near Cape Clear, they
+are so plentiful that the peasants often knock them on the head with
+oars, but will not take the trouble to net them.
+
+These swarms of fish might be a source of permanent wealth.  A
+gentleman of Cork one day borrowed a common rod and line from a Cornish
+miner in his employment, and caught fifty-seven mackerel from the jetty
+in Scull Bay before breakfast.  Each of these mackerel was worth
+twopence in Cork market, thirty miles off. Yet the people round about,
+many of whom were short of food, were doing nothing to catch them, but
+expecting Providence to supply their wants.  Providence, however,
+always likes to be helped. Some people forget that the Giver of all
+good gifts requires us to seek for them by industry, prudence, and
+perseverance.[15]
+
+Some cry for more loans; some cry for more harbours.  It would be well
+to help with suitable harbours, but the system of dependence upon
+Government loans is pernicious.  The Irish ought to feel that the very
+best help must come from themselves.  This is the best method for
+teaching independence.  Look at the little Isle of Man.  The fishermen
+there never ask for loans.  They look to their nets and their boats;
+they sail for Ireland, catch the fish, and sell them to the Irish
+people.  With them, industry brings capital, and forms the fertile
+seed-ground of further increase of boats and nets.   Surely what is
+done by the Manxmen, the Cornishmen, and the Cockenziemen, might be
+done by the Irishmen.  The difficulty is not to be got over by
+lamenting about it, or by staring at it, but by grappling with it, and
+overcoming it.  It is deeds, not words, that are wanted. Employment for
+the mass of the people must spring from the people themselves.
+Provided there is security for life and property, and an absence of
+intimidation, we believe that capital will become invested in the
+fishing industry of Ireland; and that the result will be peace, food,
+and prosperity.
+
+We must remember that it is only of comparatively late years that
+England and Scotland have devoted so much attention to the fishery of
+the seas surrounding our island.  In this fact there is consolation and
+hope for Ireland.  At the beginning of the seventeenth century Sir
+Waiter Raleigh laid before the King his observations concerning the
+trade and commerce of England, in which he showed that the Dutch were
+almost monopolising the fishing trade, and consequently adding to their
+shipping, commerce, and wealth.  "Surely," he says, "the stream is
+necessary to be turned to the good of this kingdom, to whose sea-coasts
+alone God has sent us these great blessings and immense riches for us
+to take; and that every nation should carry away out of this kingdom
+yearly great masses of money for fish taken in our seas, and sold again
+by them to us, must needs be a great dishonour to our nation, and
+hindrance to this realm."
+
+The Hollanders then had about 50,000 people employed in fishing along
+the English coast; and their industry and enterprise gave employment to
+about 150,000 more, "by sea and land, to make provision, to dress and
+transport the fish they take, and return commodities; whereby they are
+enabled yearly to build 1000 ships and vessels."  The prosperity of
+Amsterdam was then so great that it was said that Amsterdam was
+"founded on herring-bones." Tobias Gentleman published in 1614 his
+treatise on 'England's Way to win Wealth, and to employ Ships and
+Marines,'[16] in which he urged the English people to vie with the
+Dutch in fishing the seas, and thereby to give abundant employment, as
+well as abundant food, to the poorer people of the country.
+
+"Look," he said, "on these fellows, that we call the plump Hollanders;
+behold their diligence in fishing, and our own careless negligence!"
+The Dutch not only fished along the coasts near Yarmouth, but their
+fishing vessels went north as far as the coasts of Shetland.  What most
+roused Mr. Gentleman's indignation was, that the Dutchmen caught the
+fish and sold them to the Yarmouth herring-mongers "for ready gold, so
+that it amounteth to a great sum of money, which money doth never come
+again into England."  "We are daily scorned," he says, "by these
+Hollanders, for being so negligent of our Profit, and careless of our
+Fishing; and they do daily flout us that be the poor Fishermen of
+England, to our Faces at Sea, calling to us, and saying, 'Ya English,
+ya sall or oud scoue dragien;' which, in English, is this, 'You
+English, we will make you glad to wear our old Shoes!'"
+
+Another pamphlet, to a similar effect, 'The Royal Fishing revived,'[17]
+was published fifty years later, in which it was set forward that the
+Dutch "have not only gained to themselves almost the sole fishing in
+his Majesty's Seas; but principally upon this Account have very near
+beat us out of all our other most profitable Trades in all Parts of the
+World." It was even proposed to compel "all Sorts of begging Persons
+and all other poor People, all People condemned for less Crimes than
+Blood," as well as "all Persons in Prison for Debt," to take part in
+this fishing trade!  But this was not the true way to force the
+traffic.  The herring fishery at Yarmouth and along the coast began to
+make gradual progress with the growth of wealth and enterprise
+throughout the country; though it was not until 1787--less than a
+hundred years ago--that the Yarmouth men began the deep-sea herring
+fishery.
+
+Before then, the fishing was all carried on along shore in little
+cobles, almost within sight of land.  The native fishery also extended
+northward, along the east coast of Scotland and the Orkney and Shetland
+Isles, until now the herring fishery of Scotland forms one of the
+greatest industries in the United Kingdom, and gives employment,
+directly or indirectly, to close upon half a million of people, or to
+one-seventh of the whole population of Scotland.
+
+Taking these facts into consideration, therefore, there is no reason to
+despair of seeing, before many years have elapsed, a large development
+of the fishing industry of Ireland.  We may yet see Galway the
+Yarmouth, Achill the Grimsby, and Killybegs the Wick of the West.
+Modern society in Ireland, as everywhere else, can only be transformed
+through the agency of labour, industry, and commerce--inspired by the
+spirit of work, and maintained by the accumulations of capital.  The
+first end of all labour is security,--security to person, possession,
+and property, so that all may enjoy in peace the fruits of their
+industry.  For no liberty, no freedom, can really exist which does not
+include the first liberty of all--the right of public and private
+safety.
+
+To show what energy and industry can do in Ireland, it is only
+necessary to point to Belfast, one of the most prosperous and
+enterprising towns in the British Islands.  The land is the same, the
+climate is the same, and the laws are the same, as those which prevail
+in other parts of Ireland.  Belfast is the great centre of Irish
+manufactures and commerce, and what she has been able to do might be
+done elsewhere, with the same amount of energy and enterprise.  But it
+is not land, or climate, or altered laws that are wanted.  It is men to
+lead and direct, and men to follow with anxious and persevering
+industry.  It is always the Man society wants.
+
+The influence of Belfast extends far out into the country.  As you
+approach it from Sligo, you begin to see that you are nearing a place
+where industry has accumulated capital, and where it has been invested
+in cultivating and beautifying the land.  After you pass Enniskillen,
+the fields become more highly cultivated.  The drill-rows are more
+regular; the hedges are clipped; the weeds no longer hide the crops, as
+they sometimes do in the far west.  The country is also adorned with
+copses, woods, and avenues.  A new crop begins to appear in the
+fields--a crop almost peculiar to the neighbourhood of Belfast.  It is
+a plant with a very slender erect green stem, which, when full grown,
+branches at the top into a loose corymb of blue flowers.  This is the
+flax plant, the cultivation and preparation of which gives employment
+to a great number of persons, and is to a large extent the foundation
+of the prosperity of Belfast.
+
+The first appearance of the linen industry of Ireland, as we approach
+Belfast from the west, is observed at Portadown.  Its position on the
+Bann, with its water power, has enabled this town, as well as the other
+places on the river, to secure and maintain their due share in the
+linen manufacture.  Factories with their long chimneys begin to appear.
+The fields are richly cultivated, and a general air of well-being
+pervades the district.  Lurgan is reached, so celebrated for its
+diapers; and the fields there about are used as bleaching-greens.
+Then comes Lisburn, a populous and thriving town, the inhabitants of
+which are mostly engaged in their staple trade, the manufacture of
+damasks.  This was really the first centre of the linen trade. Though
+Lord Strafford, during his government of Ireland, encouraged the flax
+industry, by sending to Holland for flax-seed, and  inviting Flemish
+and French artisans to settle in Ireland, it was not until the
+Huguenots, who had been banished from France by the persecutions of
+Louis XIV., settled in Ireland in such large numbers, that the
+manufacture became firmly established.  The Crommelins, the Goyers, and
+the Dupres, were the real founders of this great branch of industry.[18]
+
+As the traveller approaches Belfast, groups of houses, factories, and
+works of various kinds, appear closer and closer; long chimneys over
+boilers and steam-engines, and brick buildings three or four stories
+high; large yards full of workmen, carts, and lorries; and at length we
+are landed in the midst of a large manufacturing town.  As we enter the
+streets, everybody seems to be alive.   What struck William Hutton when
+he first saw Birmingham, might be said of Belfast:  "I was surprised at
+the place, but more at the people.  They possessed a vivacity I had
+never before beheld.  I had been among dreamers, but now I saw men
+awake.  Their very step along the street showed alacrity. Every man
+seemed to know what he was about.  The town was large, and full of
+inhabitants, and these inhabitants full of industry. The faces of other
+men seemed tinctured with an idle gloom; but here with a pleasing
+alertness.  Their appearance was strongly marked with the modes of
+civil life."
+
+Some people do not like manufacturing towns:  they prefer old castles
+and ruins.  They will find plenty of these in other parts of Ireland.
+But to found industries that give employment to large numbers of
+persons, and enable them to maintain themselves and families upon the
+fruits of their labour--instead of living upon poor-rates levied from
+the labours of others, or who are forced, by want of employment, to
+banish themselves from their own country, to emigrate and settle among
+strangers, where they know not what may become of them--is a most
+honourable and important source of influence, and worthy of every
+encouragement.
+
+Look at the wonderfully rapid rise of Belfast, originating in the
+enterprise of individuals, and developed by the earnest and anxious
+industry of the inhabitants of Ulster!
+
+"God save Ireland!"  By all means.  But Ireland cannot be saved without
+the help of the people who live in it.  God endowed men, there as
+elsewhere, with reason, will, and physical power; and it is by patient
+industry only that they can open up a pathway to the enduring
+prosperity of the country.  There is no Eden in nature.  The earth
+might have continued a rude uncultivated wilderness, but for human
+energy, power, and industry.  These enable man to subdue the
+wilderness, and develop the potency of labour.  "Possunt quia credunt
+posse."  They must conquer who will.
+
+Belfast is a comparatively modern town.  It has no ancient history.
+About the beginning of the sixteenth century it was little better than
+a fishing village.  There was a castle, and a ford to it across the
+Lagan.  A chapel was built at the ford, at which hurried prayers were
+offered up for those who were about to cross the currents of Lagan
+Water.  In 1575, Sir Henry Sydney writes to the Lords of the Council:
+"I was offered skirmish by MacNeill Bryan Ertaugh at my passage over
+the water at Belfast, which I caused to be answered, and passed over
+without losse of man or horse; yet by reason of the extraordinaire
+Retorne our horses swamme and the Footmen in the passage waded very
+deep." The country round about was forest land.  It was so thickly
+wooded that it was a common saying that one might walk to Lurgan "on
+the tops of the trees."
+
+In 1612, Belfast consisted of about 120 houses, built of mud and
+covered with thatch.  The whole value of the land on which the town is
+built, is said to have been worth only 5L. in fee simple.[19] "Ulster,"
+said Sir John Davies, "is a very desert or wilderness; the inhabitants
+thereof having for the most part no certain habitation in any towns or
+villages."  In 1659, Belfast contained only 600 inhabitants:
+Carrickfergus was more important, and had 1312 inhabitants.  But about
+1660, the Long Bridge over the Lagan was built, and prosperity began to
+dawn upon the little town.  It was situated at the head of a navigable
+lough, and formed an outlet for the manufacturing products of the
+inland country.  Ships of any burden, however, could not come near the
+town.  The cargoes, down even to a recent date, had to be discharged
+into lighters at Garmoyle.  Streams of water made their way to the
+Lough through the mud banks; and a rivulet ran through what is now
+known as the High Street.
+
+The population gradually increased.  In 1788 Belfast had 12,000
+inhabitants.  But it was not until after the Union with Great Britain
+that the town made so great a stride.  At the beginning of the present
+century it had about 20,000 inhabitants.  At every successive census,
+the progress made was extraordinary, until now the population of
+Belfast amounts to over 225,000.  There is scarcely an instance of so
+large a rate of increase in the British Islands, save in the
+exceptional case of Middlesborough, which was the result of the opening
+out of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and the discovery of
+ironstone in the hills of Cleveland in Yorkshire.  Dundee and Barrow
+are supposed to present the next most rapid increases of population.
+
+The increase of shipping has also been equally great.  Ships from other
+ports frequented the Lough for purposes of trade; but in course of time
+the Belfast merchants supplied themselves with ships of their own.  In
+1791 one William Ritchie, a sturdy North Briton, brought with him from
+Glasgow ten men and a quantity of shipbuilding materials.  He gradually
+increased the number of his workmen, and proceeded to build a few
+sloops.  He reclaimed some land from the sea, and made a shipyard and
+graving dock on what was known as Corporation Ground.  In November 1800
+the new graving dock, near the bridge, was opened for the reception of
+vessels.  It was capable of receiving three vessels of 200 tons each!
+In 1807 a vessel of 400 tons burthen was launched from Mr. Ritchie's
+shipyard, when a great crowd of people assembled to witness the
+launching of "so large a ship"--far more than now assemble to see a
+3000-tonner of the White Star Line leave the slips and enter the water!
+
+The shipbuilding trade has been one of the most rapidly developed,
+especially of late years.  In 1805 the number of vessels frequenting
+the port was 840; whereas in 1883 the number had been increased to
+7508, with about a million and a-half of tonnage; while the gross value
+of the exports from Belfast exceeded twenty millions sterling annually.
+In 1819 the first steamboat of 100 tons was used to tug the vessels up
+the windings of the Lough, which it did at the rate of three miles an
+hour, to the astonishment of everybody.  Seven years later, the
+steamboat Rob Roy was put on between Glasgow and Belfast.  But these
+vessels had been built in Scotland.  It was not until 1826 that the
+first steamboat, the chieftain, was built in Belfast, by the same
+William Ritchie.  Then, in 1838, the first iron boat was built in the
+Lagan foundry, by Messrs. Coates and Young, though it was but a mere
+cockle-shell compared with the mighty ocean steamers which are now
+regularly launched from Queen's Island. In the year 1883 the largest
+shipbuilding firm in the town launched thirteen vessels, of over 30,000
+tons gross, while two other firms launched twelve ships, of about
+10,000 tons gross.
+
+I do not propose to enter into details respecting the progress of the
+trades of Belfast.  The most important is the spinning of fine linen
+yarn, which is for the most part concentrated in that town, over
+25,000,000 of pounds weight being exported annually. Towards the end of
+the seventeenth century the linen manufacture had made but little
+progress.  In 1680 all Ireland did not export more than 6000L. worth
+annually.  Drogheda was then of greater importance than Belfast.  But
+with the settlement of the persecuted Hugnenots in Ulster, and
+especially through the energetic labours of Crommelin, Goyer, and
+others, the growth of flax was sedulously cultivated, and its
+manufacture into linen of all sorts became an important branch of Irish
+industry.  In the course of about fifty years the exports of linen
+fabrics increased to the value of over 600,000L. per annum.
+
+It was still, however, a handicraft manufacture, and done for the most
+part at home.  Flax was spun and yarn was woven by hand. Eventually
+machinery was employed, and the turn-out became proportionately large
+and valuable.  It would not be possible for hand labour to supply the
+amount of linen now turned out by the aid of machinery.  It would
+require three times the entire population of Ireland to spin and weave,
+by the old spinning-wheel and hand-loom methods, the amount of linen
+cloth now annually manufactured by the operatives of Belfast alone.
+There are now forty large spinning-mills in Belfast and the
+neighbourhood, which furnish employment to a very large number of
+working people.[20]
+
+In the course of my visit to Belfast, I inspected the works of the York
+Street flax-spinning mills, founded in 1830 by the Messrs. Mulholland,
+which now give employment, directly or indirectly, to many thousand
+persons.  I visited also, with my young Italian friend, the admirable
+printing establishment of Marcus Ward and Co., the works of the Belfast
+Rope-work Company, and the shipbuilding works of Harland and Wolff.
+There we passed through the roar of the iron forge, the clang of the
+Nasmyth hammer, and the intermittent glare of the furnaces--all telling
+of the novel appliances of modern shipbuilding, and the power of the
+modern steam-engine.  I prefer to give a brief account of this latter
+undertaking, as it exhibits one of the newest and most important
+industries of Belfast.  It also shows, on the part of its proprietors,
+a brave encounter with difficulties, and sets before the friends of
+Ireland the truest and surest method of not only giving employment to
+its people, but of building up on the surest foundations the prosperity
+of the country.
+
+The first occasion on which I visited Belfast--the reader will excuse
+the introduction of myself--was in 1840; about forty-four years ago.  I
+went thither on the invitation of the late Wm. Sharman Crawford, Esq.,
+M.P., the first prominent advocate of tenant-right, to attend a public
+meeting of the Ulster Association, and to spend a few days with him at
+his residence at Crawfordsburn, near Bangor.  Belfast was then a town
+of comparatively little importance, though it had already made a fair
+start in commerce and industry.  As our steamer approached the head of
+the Lough, a large number of labourers were observed--with barrows,
+picks, and spades--scooping out and wheeling up the slob and mud of the
+estuary, for the purpose of forming what is now known as Queen's
+Island, on the eastern side of the river Lagan.  The work was conducted
+by William Dargan, the famous Irish contractor; and its object was to
+make a straight artificial outlet--the Victoria Channel--by means of
+which vessels drawing twenty-three feet of water might reach the port
+of Belfast.  Before then, the course of the Lagan was tortuous and
+difficult of navigation; but by the straight cut, which was completed
+in 1846, and afterwards extended further seawards, ships of large
+burden were enabled to reach the quays, which extend for about a mile
+below Queen's Bridge, on both sides of the river.
+
+It was a saying of honest William Dargan, that "when a thing is put
+anyway right at all, it takes a vast deal of mismanagement to make it
+go wrong."  He had another curious saying about "the calf eating the
+cow's belly," which, he said, was not right, "at all, at all."  Belfast
+illustrated his proverbial remarks.  That the cutting of the Victoria
+Channel was doing the "right thing" for Belfast, was clear, from the
+constantly increasing traffic of the port.  In course of time, several
+extensive docks and tidal basins were added; while provision was made,
+in laying out the reclaimed land at the entrance of the estuary, for
+their future extension and enlargement.  The town of Belfast was by
+these means gradually placed in immediate connection by sea with the
+principal western ports of England and Scotland,--steamships of large
+burden now leaving it daily for Liverpool, Glasgow, Fleetwood, Barrow,
+and Ardrossan.  The ships entering the port of Belfast in 1883 were
+7508, of 1,526,535 tonnage; they had been more than doubled in fifteen
+years.  The town has risen from nothing, to exhibit a Customs revenue,
+in 1883, of 608,781L., infinitely greater than that of Leith, the port
+of Edinburgh, or of Hull, the chief port of Yorkshire.  The population
+has also largely increased.  When I visited Belfast in 1840, the town
+contained 75,000 inhabitants.  They are now over 225,006, or more than
+trebled,--Belfast being the tenth town, in point of population, in the
+United Kingdom.
+
+The spirit and enterprise of the people are illustrated by the variety
+of their occupations.  They do not confine themselves to one branch of
+business; but their energies overflow into nearly every department of
+industry.  Their linen manufacture is of world-wide fame; but much less
+known are their more recent enterprises.  The production of aerated
+waters, for instance, is something extraordinary.  In 1882 the
+manufacturers shipped off 53,163 packages, and 24,263 cwts. of aerated
+waters to England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, and other
+countries.   While Ireland produces no wrought iron, though it contains
+plenty of iron-stone,--and Belfast has to import all the iron which it
+consumes,--yet one engineering firm alone, that of Combe, Barbour, and
+Combe, employs 1500 highly-paid mechanics, and ships off its iron
+machinery to all parts of the world.  The printing establishment of
+Marcus Ward and Co. employs over 1000 highly skilled and ingenious
+persons, and extends the influence of learning and literature into all
+civilised countries.  We might add the various manufactures of roofing
+felt (of which there are five), of ropes, of stoves, of stable
+fittings, of nails, of starch, of machinery; all of which have earned a
+world-wide reputation.
+
+We prefer, however, to give an account of the last new industry of
+Belfast--that of shipping and shipbuilding.  Although, as we have said,
+Belfast imports from Scotland and England all its iron and all its
+coal,[21] it nevertheless, by the skill and strength of its men, sends
+out some of the finest and largest steamships which navigate the
+Atlantic and Pacific.  It all comes from the power of individuality,
+and furnishes a splendid example for Dublin, Cork, Waterford, and
+Limerick, each of which is provided by nature with magnificent
+harbours, with fewer of those difficulties of access which Belfast has
+triumphed over; and each of which might be the centre of some great
+industrial enterprise, provided only there were patriotic men willing
+to embark their capital, perfect protection for the property invested,
+and men willing to work rather than to strike.
+
+It was not until the year 1853 that the Queen's Island--raked out of
+the mud of the slob-land--was first used for shipbuilding purposes.
+Robert Hickson and Co. then commenced operations by laying down the
+Mary Stenhouse, a wooden sailing-ship of 1289 tons register; and the
+vessel was launched in the following year.
+
+The operations of the firm were continued until the year 1859, when the
+shipbuilding establishments on Queen's Island were acquired by Mr. E.
+J. Harland (afterwards Harland and Wolff), since which time the
+development of this great branch of industry in Belfast has been rapid
+and complete.
+
+From the history of this firm, it will be found that energy is the most
+profitable of all merchandise; and that the fruit of active work is the
+sweetest of all fruits.  Harland and Wolff are the true Watt and
+Boulton of Belfast.  At the beginning of their great enterprise, their
+works occupied about four acres of land; they now occupy over
+thirty-six acres.  The firm has imported not less than two hundred
+thousand tons of iron; which have been converted by skill and labour
+into 168 ships of 253,000 total tonnage.  These ships, if laid close
+together, would measure nearly eight miles in length.
+
+The advantage to the wage-earning class can only be shortly stated.
+Not less than 34 per cent. is paid in labour on the cost of the ships
+turned out.  The number of persons employed in the works is 3920; and
+the weekly wages paid to them is 4000L., or over 200,000L. annually.
+Since the commencement of the undertaking, about two millions sterling
+have been paid in wages.
+
+All this goes towards the support of the various industries of the
+place.  That the working classes of Belfast are thrifty and frugal may
+be inferred from the fact that at the end of 1882 they held deposits in
+the Savings Bank to the amount of 230,289L., besides 158,064L. in the
+Post Office Savings Banks.[22]  Nearly all the better class working
+people of the town live in separate dwellings, either rented or their
+own property.  There are ten Building Societies in Belfast, in which
+industrious people may store their earnings, and in course of time
+either buy or build their own houses.
+
+The example of energetic, active men always spreads.  Belfast contains
+two other shipbuilding yards, both the outcome of Harland and Wolff's
+enterprise; those of Messrs. Macilwaine and Lewis, employing about four
+hundred men, and of Messrs. Workman and Clarke, employing about a
+thousand.  The heads of both these firms were trained in the parent
+shipbuilding works of Belfast. There is do feeling of rivalry between
+the firms, but all work together for the good of the town.
+
+In Plutarch's Lives, we are told that Themistocles said on one
+occasion, "'Tis true that I have never learned how to tune a harp, or
+play upon a lute, but I know how to raise a small and inconsiderable
+city to glory and greatness."  So might it be said of Harland and
+Wolff.  They have given Belfast not only a potency for good, but a
+world-wide reputation.  Their energies overflow. Mr. Harland is the
+active and ever-prudent Chairman of the most important of the local
+boards, the Harbour Trust of Belfast, and exerts himself to promote the
+extension of the harbour facilities of the port as if the benefits were
+to be exclusively his own; while Mr. Wolff is the Chairman of one of
+the latest born industries of the place, the Belfast Rope-work Company,
+which already gives employment to over 600 persons.
+
+This last-mentioned industry is only about six years old.  The works
+occupy over seven acres of ground, more than six acres of which are
+under roofing.  Although the whole of the raw material is imported from
+abroad from Russia, the Philippine Islands, New Zealand, and Central
+America--it is exported again in a manufactured state to all parts of
+the world.
+
+Such is the contagion of example, and such the ever-branching
+industries with which men of enterprise and industry can enrich and
+bless their country.  The following brief memoir of the career of Mr.
+Harland has been furnished at my solicitation; and I think that it will
+be found full of interest as well as instruction.
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter X.
+
+[1] Report in the Cork Examiner, 5th July, 1883.
+
+[2] In 1883, as compared with 1882, there was a decrease of 58,022
+acres in the land devoted to the growth of wheat; there was a total
+decrease of 114,871 acres in the land under tillage.--Agricultural
+Statistics, Ireland, 1883. Parliamentary Return, c. 3768.
+
+[3] Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom, 1883.
+
+[4] The particulars are these: deposits in Irish Post Office Savings
+Banks, 31st December, 1882, 1,925,440; to the credit of depositors and
+Government stock, 125,000L.; together, 2,050,440L.
+
+The increase of deposits over those made in the preceding year, were:
+in Dublin, 31,321L.; in Antrim, 23,328L.; in Tyrone, 21,315L.; in Cork,
+17,034L.; and in Down, 10,382L.
+
+[5] The only thriving manufacture now in Dublin is that of intoxicating
+drinks--beer, porter, stout, and whisky.  Brewing and distilling do not
+require skilled labour, so that strikes do not affect them.
+
+[6] Times, 11th June, 1883.
+
+[7] The valuation of the county of Aberdeen (exclusive of the city) was
+recently 866,816L., whereas the value of the herrings (748,726 barrels)
+caught round the coast (at 25s. the barrel) was 935,907L., thereby
+exceeding the estimated annual rental of the county by 69,091L.  The
+Scotch fishermen catch over a million barrels of herrings annually,
+representing a value of about a million and a-half sterling.
+
+[8] A recent number of Land and Water supplies the following
+information as to the fishing at Kinsale:--"The takes of fish have been
+so enormous and unprecedented that buyers can scarcely be found, even
+when, as now, mackerel are selling at one shilling per six score.
+Piles of magnificent fish lie rotting in the sun. The sides of Kinsale
+Harbour are strewn with them, and frequently, when they have become a
+little 'touched,' whole boat-loads are thrown overboard into the water.
+This great waste is to be attributed to scarcity of hands to salt the
+fish and want of packing-boxes.  Some of the boats are said to have
+made as much as 500L. this season.  The local fishing company are
+making active preparations for the approaching herring fishery, and it
+is anticipated that Kinsale may become one of the centres of this
+description of fishing."
+
+[9] Statistical Journal for March 1848.  Paper by Richard Valpy on "The
+Resources of the Irish Sea Fisheries," pp. 55-72.
+
+[10] HALL, Retrospect of a Long Life, ii. 324.
+
+[11] The Commissioners of Irish Fisheries, in one of their reports,
+observe:--"Notwithstanding the diminished population, the fish captured
+round the coast is so inadequate to the wants of the population that
+fully 150,000L. worth of ling, cod, and herring are annually imported
+from Norway, Newfoundland, and Scotland, the vessels bearing these
+cargoes, as they approach the shores of Ireland, frequently sailing
+through large shoals of fish of the same description as they are
+freighted with!"
+
+[12] The following examination of Mr. J. Ennis, chairman of the Midland
+and Great Western Railway, took place before the "Royal Commission on
+Railways," as long ago as the year 1846:--
+
+Chairman--"Is the fish traffic of any importance to your railway?"
+
+Mr. Ennis--"of course it is, and we give it all the facilities that we
+can....  But the Galway fisheries, where one would expect to find
+plenty of fish, are totally neglected."
+
+Sir Rowland Hill--"What is the reason of that?"
+
+Mr. Ennis--"I will endeavour to explain.  I had occasion a few nights
+ago to speak to a gentleman in the House of Commons with regard to an
+application to the Fishery Board for 2000L. to restore the pier at
+Buffin, in Clew Bay, and I said, 'Will you join me in the application?
+I am told it is a place that swarms with fish, and if we had a pier
+there the fishermen will have some security, and they will go out.' The
+only answer I received was, 'They will not go out; they pay no
+attention whatever to the fisheries; they allow the fish to come and go
+without making any effort to catch them....'"
+
+Mr. Ayrton--"Do you think that if English fishermen went to the west
+coast of Ireland they would be able to get on in harmony with the
+native fishermen?"
+
+Mr. Ennis--"We know the fact to be, that some years ago, a company was
+established for the purpose of trawling in Galway Bay, and what was the
+consequence?  The Irish fishermen, who inhabit a region in the
+neighbourhood of Galway, called Claddagh, turned out against them, and
+would not allow them to trawl, and the Englishmen very properly went
+away with their lives."
+
+Sir Rowland Hill--"Then they will neither fish themselves nor allow any
+one else to fish!"
+
+Mr. Ennis--"It seems to be so."--Minutes of Evidence, 175-6.
+
+[13] The Derry Journal.
+
+[14] Report of Inspectors of Irish Fisheries for 1882.
+
+[15] The Report of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries on the Sea and
+Inland Fisheries of Ireland for 1882, gives a large amount of
+information as to the fish which swarm round the Irish coast. Mr. Brady
+reports on the abundance of herring and other fish all round the coast.
+Shoals of herrings "remained off nearly the entire coast of Ireland
+from August till December."  "Large shoals of pilchards" were observed
+on the south and south-west coasts.  Off Dingle, it is remarked, "the
+supply of all kinds of fish is practically inexhaustible."
+
+"Immense shoals of herrings off Liscannor and Loop Head;"  "the
+mackerel is always on this coast, and can be captured at any time of
+the year, weather permitting."  At Belmullet, "the shoals of fish off
+the coast, particularly herring and mackerel, are sometimes enormous."
+The fishermen, though poor, are all very orderly and well conducted.
+They only want energy and industry.
+
+[16] The Harleian Miscellany, iii. 378-91.
+
+[17] The Harleian Miscellany, iii. 392.
+
+[18] See The Huguenots in England and Ireland.  A Board of Traders, for
+the encouragement and promotion of the hemp and flax manufacture in
+Ireland, was appointed by an Act of Parliament at the beginning of last
+century (6th October, 1711), and the year after the appointment of the
+Board the following notice was placed on the records of the
+institution:--"Louis Crommelin and the Huguenot colony have been
+greatly instrumental in improving and propagating the flaxen
+manufacture in the north of this Kingdom, and the perfection to which
+the same is brought in that part of the country has been greatly owing
+to the skill and industry of the said Crommelin."  In a history of the
+linen trade, published at Belfast, it is said that "the dignity which
+that enterprising man imparted to labour, and the halo which his
+example cast around physical exertion, had the best effect in raising
+the tone of popular feeling, as well among the patricians as among the
+peasants of the north of Ireland.  This love of industry did much to
+break down the national prejudice in favour of idleness, and cast
+doubts on the social orthodoxy of the idea then so popular with the
+squirearchy, that those alone who were able to live without employment
+had any rightful claim to the distinctive title of gentleman....  A
+patrician by birth and a merchant by profession, Crommelin proved, by
+his own life, his example, and his enterprise, that an energetic
+manufacturer may, at the same time, take a high place in the
+conventional world."
+
+[19] Benn's History of Belfast, p. 78.
+
+[20] From the Irish Manufacturers' Almanack for 1883 I learn that
+nearly one-third of the spindles used in Europe in the linen trade, and
+more than one-fourth of the power-looms, belong to Ireland, that "the
+Irish linen and associated trades at present give employment to 176,303
+persons; and it is estimated that the capital sunk in spinning and
+weaving factories, and the business incidental thereto, is about
+100,000,000L., and of that sum 37,000,000L. is credited to Belfast
+alone."
+
+[21] The importation of coal in 1883 amounted to over 700,000 tons.
+
+[22] We are indebted to the obliging kindness of the Right Hon. Mr.
+Fawcett, Postmaster-General for this return.  The total number of
+depositors in the Post Office Savings banks in the Parliamentary
+borough of Belfast is 10,827 and the amount of their deposits,
+including the interest standing to their credit, on the 31st December,
+1882, was 158,064L. 0s. 1d.
+
+An important item in the savings of Belfast, not included in the above
+returns, consists in the amounts of deposits made with the various
+Limited Companies, as well as with the thriving Building Societies in
+the town and neighbourhood.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+SHIPBUILDING IN BELFAST--ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS.
+
+BY SIR E. J. HARLAND, ENGINEER AND SHIPBUILDER.
+
+"The useful arts are but reproductions or new combinations by the art
+of man, of the same natural benefactors.  He no longer waits for
+favouring gales, but by means of steam he realises the fable of
+AEolus's bag, and carries the two-and-thirty winds in the boiler of his
+boat."--Emerson.
+
+"The most exquisite and the most expensive machinery is brought into
+play where operations on the most common materials are to be performed,
+because these are executed on the widest scale.  This is the meaning of
+the vast and astonishing prevalence of machine work in this country:
+that the machine, with its million fingers, works for millions of
+purchasers, while in remote countries, where magnificence and savagery
+stand side by side, tens of thousands work for one.  There Art labours
+for the rich alone; here she works for the poor no less.  There the
+multitude produce only to give splendour and grace to the despot or the
+warrior, whose slaves they are, and whom they enrich; here the man who
+is powerful in the weapons of peace, capital, and machinery, uses them
+to give comfort and enjoyment to the public, whose servant he is, and
+thus becomes rich while he enriches others with his goods."--William
+Whewell, D.D.
+
+I was born at Scarborough in May, 1831, the sixth of a family of eight.
+My father was a native of Rosedale, half-way between Whitby and
+Pickering:  his nurse was the sister of Captain Scoresby, celebrated as
+an Arctic explorer.  Arrived at manhood, he studied medicine, graduated
+at Edinburgh, and practised in Scarborough until nearly his death in
+1866.  He was thrice Mayor and a Justice of the Peace for the borough.
+Dr. Harland was a man of much force of character, and displayed great
+originality in the treatment of disease.  Besides exercising skill in
+his profession, he had a great love for mechanical pursuits.  He spent
+his leisure time in inventions of many sorts; and, in conjunction with
+the late Sir George Cayley of Brompton, he kept an excellent mechanic
+constantly at work.
+
+In 1827 he invented and patented a steam-carriage for running on common
+roads.  Before the adoption of railways, the old stage coaches were
+found slow and insufficient for the traffic.  A working model of the
+steam-coach was perfected, embracing a multitubular boiler for quickly
+raising high-pressure steam, with a revolving surface condenser for
+reducing the steam to water again, by means of its exposure to the cold
+draught of the atmosphere through the interstices of extremely thin
+laminations of copper plates.  The entire machinery, placed under the
+bottom of the carriage, was borne on springs; the whole being of an
+elegant form.  This model steam-carriage ascended with perfect ease the
+steepest roads.  Its success was so complete that Dr. Harland designed
+a full-sized carriage; but the demands upon his professional skill were
+so great that he was prevented going further than constructing the pair
+of engines, the wheels, and a part of the boiler,--all of which
+remnants I still preserve, as valuable links in the progress of steam
+locomotion.
+
+Other branches of practical science--such as electricity, magnetism,
+and chemical cultivation of the soil--received a share of his
+attention.  He predicted that three or four powerful electric lamps
+would yet light a whole city.  He was also convinced of the feasibility
+of an electric cable to New York, and calculated the probable cost.  As
+an  example to the neighbourhood, he successfully cultivated a tract of
+moorland, and overcame difficulties which before then were thought
+insurmountable.
+
+When passing through Newcastle, while still a young man, on one of his
+journeys to the University at Edinburgh, and being desirous of
+witnessing the operations in a coal-mine, a friend recommended him to
+visit Killingworth pit, where he would find one George Stephenson, a
+most intelligent workman, in charge.  My father was introduced to Mr.
+Stephenson accordingly; and after rambling over the underground
+workings, and observing the pumping and winding engines in full
+operation, a friendship was made, which afterwards proved of the
+greatest service to myself, by facilitating my being placed as a pupil
+at the great engineering works of Messrs. Robert Stephenson and Co., at
+Newcastle.
+
+My mother was the daughter of Gawan Pierson, a landed proprietor of
+Goathland, near Rosedale.  She, too, was surprisingly mechanical in her
+tastes; and assisted my father in preparing many of his plans, besides
+attaining considerable proficiency in drawing, painting, and modelling
+in wax.  Toys in those days were poor, as well as very expensive to
+purchase.  But the nursery soon became a little workshop under her
+directions; and the boys were usually engaged, one in making a cart,
+another in carving out a horse, and a third in cutting out a boat;
+while the girls were making harness, or sewing sails, or cutting out
+and making perfect dresses for their dolls--whose houses were
+completely furnished with everything, from the kitchen to the attic,
+all made at home.
+
+It was in a house of such industry and mechanism that I was brought up.
+As a youth, I was slow at my lessons; preferring to watch and assist
+workmen when I had an opportunity of doing so, even with the certainty
+of having a thrashing from the schoolmaster for my neglect.  Thus I got
+to know every workshop and every workman in the town.  At any rate I
+picked up a smattering of a variety of trades, which afterwards proved
+of the greatest use to me.  The chief of these was wooden shipbuilding,
+a branch of industry then extensively carried on by Messrs. William and
+Robert Tindall, the former of whom resided in London; he was one of the
+half-dozen great shipbuilders and owners who founded "Lloyd's."
+Splendid East Indiamen, of some 1000 tons burden, were then built at
+Scarborough; and scarcely a timber was moulded, a plank bent, a spar
+lined off, or launching ship-ways laid, without my being present to
+witness them.  And thus, in course of time, I was able to make for
+myself the neatest and fastest of model yachts.
+
+At that time, I attended the Grammar School.  Of the rudiments taught,
+I was fondest of drawing, geometry, and Euclid.  Indeed, I went twice
+through the first two books of the latter before I was twelve years
+old.  At this age I was sent to the Edinburgh Academy, my eldest
+brother William being then a medical student at the University.  I
+remained at Edinburgh two years.  My early progress in mathematics
+would have been lost in the classical training which was then insisted
+upon at the academy, but for my brother who was not only a good
+mathematician but an excellent mechanic.  He took care to carry on my
+instruction in that branch of knowledge, as well as to teach me to make
+models of machines and buildings, in which he was himself proficient.
+I remember, in one of my journeys to Edinburgh, by coach from
+Darlington, that a gentleman expressed his wonder what a screw
+propeller could be like; for the screw, as a method of propulsion, was
+then being introduced.  I pointed out to him the patent tail of a
+windmill by the roadside, and said, "It is just like that!"
+
+In 1844 my mother died; and shortly after, my brother having become
+M.D., and obtained a prize gold medal, we returned to Scarborough.  It
+was intended that he should assist my father; but he preferred going
+abroad for a few years.  I may mention further, with relation to him,
+that after many years of scientific research and professional practice,
+he died at Hong Kong in 1858, when a public monument was erected to his
+memory, in what is known as the "Happy Valley."
+
+I remained for a short time under the tuition of my old master. But as
+the time was rapidly approaching when I too must determine what I was
+"to be" in life.  I had no hesitation in deciding to be an engineer,
+though my father wished me to be a barrister. But I kept constant to my
+resolution; and eventually he succeeded, through his early acquaintance
+with George Stephenson, in gaining for me an entrance to the
+engineering works of Robert Stephenson and Co., at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
+I started there as a pupil on my fifteenth birthday, for an
+apprenticeship of five years.  I was to spend the first four years in
+the various workshops, and the last year in the drawing-office.
+
+I was now in my element.  The working hours, it is true, were very
+long,--being from six in the morning until 8.15 at night; excepting on
+Saturday, when we knocked off at four.  However, all this gave me so
+much the more experience; and, taking advantage of it, I found that,
+when I had reached the age of eighteen, I was intrusted with the full
+charge of erecting one side of a locomotive.  I had to accomplish the
+same amount of work as my mate on the other side, one Murray Playfair,
+a powerful, hard-working Scotchman.  My strength and endurance were
+sometimes taxed to the utmost, and required the intervals of my labour
+to be spent in merely eating and sleeping.
+
+I afterwards went through the machine-shops.  I was fortunate enough to
+get charge of the best screw-cutting and brass-turning lathe in the
+shop; the former occupant, Jack Singleton, having just been promoted to
+a foreman's berth at the Messrs. Armstrong's factory.  He afterwards
+became superintendent of all the hydraulic machinery of the Mersey Dock
+Trust at Liverpool. After my four years had been completed, I went into
+the drawing-office, to which I had looked forward with pleasure; and,
+having before practised lineal as well as free-hand drawing, I soon
+succeeded in getting good and difficult designs to work out, and
+eventually finished drawings of the engines.  Indeed, on visiting the
+works many years after, one of these drawings was shown to me as a
+"specimen;" the person exhibiting it not knowing that it was my own
+work.
+
+In the course of my occasional visits to Scarborough, my attention was
+drawn to the imperfect design of the lifeboats of the period; the
+frequent shipwrecks along the coast indicating the necessity for their
+improvement.  After considerable deliberation, I matured a plan for a
+metal lifeboat, of a cylindrico-conical or chrysalis form, to be
+propelled by a screw at each end, turned by sixteen men inside, seated
+on water-ballast tanks; sufficient room being left at the ends inside
+for the accommodation of ten or twelve shipwrecked persons; while a
+mate near the bow, and the captain near the stern in charge of the
+rudder, were stationed in recesses in the deck about three feet deep.
+The whole apparatus was almost cylindrical, and watertight, save in the
+self-acting ventilators, which could only give access to the smallest
+portion of water.  I considered that, if the lifeboat fully manned were
+launched into the roughest seas, or off the deck of a vessel, it would,
+even if turned on its back, immediately right itself, without any of
+the crew being disturbed from their positions, to which they were to
+have been strapped.
+
+It happened that at this time (the summer of 1850) his Grace the late
+Duke of Northumberland, who had always taken a deep interest in the
+Lifeboat Institution, offered a prize of one hundred guineas for the
+best model and design of such a craft; so I determined to complete my
+plans and make a working model of my lifeboat.  I came to the
+conclusion that the cylindrico-conical form, with the frames to be
+carried completely round and forming beams as well, and the two screws,
+one at each end, worked off the same power, by which one or other of
+them would always be immersed, were worth registering in the Patent
+Office.  I therefore entered a caveat there; and continued working at
+my model in the evenings.  I first made a wooden block model, on the
+scale of an inch to the foot.  I had some difficulty in procuring
+sheets of copper thin enough, so that the model should draw only the
+correct amount of water; but at last I succeeded, through finding the
+man at Newcastle who had supplied my father with copper plates for his
+early road locomotive.
+
+The model was only 32 inches in length, and 8 inches in beam; and in
+order to fix all the internal fittings, of tanks, seats, crank handles,
+and pulleys, I had first to fit the shell plating, and then, by finally
+securing one strake of plates on, and then another, after all inside
+was complete, I at last finished for good the last outside plate.  In
+executing the job, my early experience of all sorts of handiwork came
+serviceably to my aid. After many a whole night's work--for the
+evenings alone were not sufficient for the purpose--I at length
+completed my model; and triumphantly and confidently took it to sea in
+an open boat; and then cast it into the waves.  The model either rode
+over them or passed through them; if it was sometimes rolled over, it
+righted itself at once, and resumed its proper attitude in the waters.
+After a considerable trial I found scarcely a trace of water inside.
+Such as had got there was merely through the joints in the sliding
+hatches; though the ventilators were free to work during the
+experiments.
+
+I completed the prescribed drawings and specifications, and sent them,
+together with the model, to Somerset House.  Some 280 schemes of
+lifeboats were submitted for competition; but mine was not successful.
+I suspect that the extreme novelty of the arrangement deterred the
+adjudicators from awarding in its favour.  Indeed, the scheme was so
+unprecedented, and so entirely out of the ordinary course of things,
+that there was no special mention made of it in the report afterwards
+published, and even the description there given was incorrect.  The
+prize was awarded to Mr. James Beeching, of Great Yarmouth, whose plans
+were afterwards generally adopted by the Lifeboat Society.  I have
+preserved my model just as it was; and some of its features have since
+been introduced with advantage into shipbuilding.[1]
+
+The firm of Robert Stephenson and Co. having contracted to build for
+the Government three large iron caissons for the Keyham Docks, and as
+these were very similar in construction to that of an ordinary iron
+ship, draughtsmen conversant with that class of work were specially
+engaged to superintend it.  The manager, knowing my fondness for ships,
+placed me as his assistant at this new work.  After I had mastered it,
+I endeavoured to introduce improvements, having observed certain
+defects in laying down the lines--I mean by the use of graduated curves
+cut out of thin wood.  In lieu of this method, I contrived thin tapered
+laths of lancewood, and weights of a particular form, with steel claws
+and knife edges attached, so as to hold the lath tightly down to the
+paper, yet capable of being readily adjusted, so as to produce any form
+of curve, along which the pen could freely and continuously travel.
+This method proved very efficient, and it has since come into general
+use.
+
+The Messrs. Stephenson were then also making marine engines, as well as
+large condensing pumping engines, and a large tubular bridge to be
+erected over the river Don.  The splendid high-level bridge over the
+Tyne, of which Robert Stephenson was the engineer, was also in course
+of construction.  With the opportunity of seeing these great works in
+progress, and of visiting, during my holidays and long evenings, most
+of the manufactories and mines in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, I
+could not fail to pick up considerable knowledge, and an acquaintance
+with a vast variety of trades.  There were about thirty other pupils in
+the works at the same time with myself; some were there either through
+favour or idle fancy; but comparatively few gave their full attention
+to the work, and I have since heard nothing of them.  Indeed, unless a
+young fellow takes a real interest in his work, and has a genuine love
+for it, the greatest advantages will prove of no avail whatever.
+
+It was a good plan adopted at the works, to require the pupils to keep
+the same hours as the rest of the men, and, though they paid a premium
+on entering, to give them the same rate of wages as the rest of the
+lads.  Mr. William Hutchinson, a contemporary of George Stephenson, was
+the managing partner.  He was a person of great experience, and had the
+most thorough knowledge of men and materials, knowing well how to
+handle both to the best advantage.
+
+His son-in-law, Mr. William Weallans, was the head draughtsman, and
+very proficient, not only in quickness but in accuracy and finish.  I
+found it of great advantage to have the benefit of the example and the
+training of these very clever men.
+
+My five years apprenticeship was completed in May 1851, on my twentieth
+birthday.  Having had but very little "black time," as it was called,
+beyond the half-yearly holiday for visiting my friends, and having only
+"slept in" twice during the five years, I was at once entered on the
+books as a journeyman, on the "big" wage of twenty shillings a week.
+Orders were, however, at that time very difficult to be had.
+
+Railway trucks, and even navvies' barrows, were contracted for in order
+to keep the men employed.  It was better not to discharge them, and to
+find something for them to do.  At the same time it was not very
+encouraging for me, under such circumstances, to remain with the firm.
+I therefore soon arranged to leave; and first of all I went to see
+London.  It was the Great Exhibition year of 1851.  I need scarcely say
+what a rich feast I found there, and how thoroughly I enjoyed it all.
+I spent about two months in inspecting the works of art and mechanics
+in the Exhibition, to my own great advantage.  I then returned home;
+and, after remaining in Scarborough for a short time, I proceeded to
+Glasgow with a letter of introduction to Messrs. J. and G. Thomson,
+marine engine builders, who started me on the same wages which I had
+received at Stephenson's, namely twenty shillings a week.
+
+I found the banks of the Clyde splendid ground for gaining further
+mechanical knowledge.  There were the ship and engine works on both
+sides of the river, down to Govan; and below there, at Renfrew,
+Dumbarton, Port Glasgow, and Greenock--no end of magnificent yards--so
+that I had plenty of occupation for my leisure time on Saturday
+afternoons.  The works of Messrs. Robert Napier and Sons were then at
+the top of the tree.  The largest Cunard steamers were built and
+engined there.  Tod and Macgregor were the foremost in screw
+steamships--those for the Peninsular and Oriental Company being
+splendid models of symmetry and works of art.  Some of the fine wooden
+paddle-steamers built in Bristol for the Royal Mail Company were sent
+round to the Clyde for their machinery.  I contrived to board all these
+ships from time to time, so as to become well acquainted with their
+respective merits and peculiarities.
+
+As an illustration of how contrivances, excellent in principle, but
+defective in construction, may be discarded, but again taken up under
+more favourable circumstances, I may mention that I saw a Hall's patent
+surface-condensor thrown to one side from one of these steamers, the
+principal difficulty being in keeping it tight.  And yet, in the course
+of a very few years, by the simplest possible contrivance--inserting an
+indiarubber ring round each end of the tube (Spencer's patent)--surface
+condensation in marine engines came into vogue; and there is probably
+no ocean-going steamer afloat without it, furnished with every variety
+of suitable packings.
+
+After some time, the Messrs. Thomson determined to build their own
+vessels, and an experienced naval draughtsman was engaged, to whom I
+was "told off" whenever he needed assistance.  In the course of time,
+more and more of the ship work came in my way. Indeed, I seemed to
+obtain the preference.  Fortunately for us both, my superior obtained
+an appointment of a similar kind on the Tyne, at superior pay, and I
+was promoted to his place.  The Thomsons had now a very fine
+shipbuilding-yard, in full working order, with several large steamers
+on the stocks.  I was placed in the drawing-office as head draughtsman.
+At the same time I had no rise of wages; but still went on enjoying my
+twenty shillings a week.  I was, however, gaining information and
+experience, and knew that better pay would follow in due course of
+time.  And without solicitation I was eventually offered an engagement
+for a term of years, at an increased and increasing salary, with three
+months' notice on either side.
+
+I had only enjoyed the advance for a short time, when Mr. Thomas
+Toward, a shipbuilder on the Tyne, being in want of a manager, made
+application to the Messrs. Stephenson for such a person. They mentioned
+my name, and Mr. Toward came over to the Clyde to see me.  The result
+was, that I became engaged, and it was arranged that I should enter on
+my enlarged duties on the Tyne in the autumn of 1853.  It was with no
+small reluctance that I left the Messrs. Thomson.  They were
+first-class practical men, and had throughout shown me every kindness
+and consideration.  But a managership was not to be had every day; and
+being the next step to the position of a master, I could not neglect
+the opportunity for advancement which now offered itself.
+
+Before leaving Glasgow, however, I found that it would be necessary to
+have a new angle and plate furnace provided for the works on the Tyne.
+Now, the best man in Glasgow for building these important requisites
+for shipbuilding work was scarcely ever sober; but by watching and
+coaxing him, and by a liberal supply of Glenlivat afterwards, I
+contrived to lay down on paper, from his directions, what he considered
+to be the best class of furnace; and by the aid of this I was
+afterwards enabled to construct what proved to be the best furnace on
+the Tyne.
+
+To return to my education in shipbuilding.  My early efforts in
+ship-draughting at Stephensons' were further developed and matured at
+Thomsons' on the Clyde.  Models and drawings were more carefully worked
+out on the 1/4-in. scale than heretofore.  The stern frames were laid
+off and put up at once correctly, which before had been first shaped by
+full-sized wooden moulds.  I also contrived a mode of quickly and
+correctly laying off the frame-lines on a model, by laying it on a
+plane surface, and then, with a rectangular block traversing it--a
+pencil in a suitable holder being readily applied over the curved
+surface. This method is now in general use.
+
+Even at that time, competition as regards speed in the Clyde steamers
+was very keen.  Foremost among the competitors was the late Mr. David
+Hutchinson, who, though delighted with the Mountaineer, built by the
+Thomsons in 1853, did not hesitate to have her lengthened forward to
+make her sharper, so as to secure her ascendency in speed during the
+ensuing season.  The results were satisfactory; and his steamers grew
+and grew, until they developed into the celebrated Iona and Cambria,
+which were in later years built for him by the same firm.  I may
+mention that the Cunard screw steamer Jura was the last heavy job with
+which I was connected while at Thomsons'.
+
+I then proceeded to the Tyne, to superintend the building of ships and
+marine boilers.  The shipbuilding yard was at St. Peter's, about two
+and a-half miles below Newcastle.  I found the work, as practised
+there, rough and ready; but by steady attention to all the details, and
+by careful inspection when passing the "piece-work" (a practice much in
+vogue there, but which I discouraged), I contrived to raise the
+standard of excellence, without a corresponding increase of price.  My
+object was to raise the quality of the work turned out; and, as we had
+orders from the Russian Government, from China, and the Continent, as
+well as from shipowners at home, I observed that quality was a very
+important element in all commercial success. My master, Mr. Thomas
+Toward, was in declining health; and, being desirous of spending his
+winters abroad, I was consequently left in full charge of the works.
+But as there did not appear to be a satisfactory prospect, under the
+circumstances, for any material development of the business, a trifling
+circumstance arose, which again changed the course of my career.
+
+An advertisement appeared in the papers for a manager to conduct a
+shipbuilding yard in Belfast.  I made inquiries as to the situation,
+and  eventually applied for it.  I was appointed, and entered upon my
+duties there at Christmas, 1854.  The yard was a much larger one than
+that on the Tyne, and was capable of great expansion.  It was situated
+on what was then well known as the Queen's Island; but now, like the
+Isle of Dogs, it has been attached by reclamation.  The yard, about
+four acres in extent, was held by lease from the Belfast Harbour
+Commissioners.  It was well placed, alongside a fine patent slip, with
+clear frontage, allowing of the largest ships being freely launched.
+Indeed, the first ship built there, the Mary Stenhouse, had only just
+been completed and launched by Messrs. Robert Hickson and Co., then the
+proprietors of the undertaking.  They were also the owners of the Eliza
+Street Iron Works, Belfast, which were started to work up old iron
+materials.  But as the works were found to be unremunerative, they were
+shortly afterwards closed.
+
+On my entering the shipbuilding yard I found that the firm had an order
+for two large sailing ships.  One of these was partly in frame; and I
+at once tackled with it and the men.  Mr. Hickson, the acting partner,
+not being practically acquainted with the business, the whole
+proceeding connected with the building of the ships devolved upon me.
+I had been engaged to supersede a manager summarily dismissed.
+Although he had not given satisfaction to his employers, he was a great
+favourite with the men.  Accordingly, my appearance as manager in his
+stead was not very agreeable to the employed.  On inquiry I found that
+the rate of wages paid was above the usual value, whilst the quantity
+as well as quality of the work done were below the standard.  I
+proceeded to rectify these defects, by paying the ordinary rate of
+wages, and then by raising the quality of the work done.  I was met by
+the usual method--a strike.  The men turned out.  They were abetted by
+the former manager; and the leading hands hung about the town
+unemployed, in the hope of my throwing up the post in disgust.
+
+But, nothing daunted, I went repeatedly over to the Clyde for the
+purpose of enlisting fresh hands.  When I brought them over, however,
+in batches, there was the greatest difficulty in inducing them to work.
+They were intimidated, or enticed, or feasted, and sent home again.
+The late manager had also taken a yard on the other side of the river,
+and actually commenced to build a ship, employing some of his old
+comrades; but beyond laying the keel, little more was ever done.  A few
+months after my arrival, my firm had to arrange with its creditors,
+whilst I, pending the settlement, had myself to guarantee the wages to
+a few of the leading hands, whom I had only just succeeded in gathering
+together.  In this dilemma, an old friend, a foreman on the Clyde, came
+over to Belfast to see me.  After hearing my story, and considering the
+difficulties I had to encounter, he advised me at once to "throw up the
+job!"  My reply was, that "having mounted a restive horse, I would ride
+him into the stable."
+
+Notwithstanding the advice of my friend, I held on.  The comparatively
+few men in the works, as well as those out, no doubt observed my
+determination.  The obstacles were no doubt great; the financial
+difficulties were extreme; and yet there was a prospect of profit from
+the work in hand, provided only the men could be induced to settle
+steadily down to their ordinary employment.  I gradually gathered
+together a number of steady workmen, and appointed suitable foremen.  I
+obtained a considerable accession of strength from Newcastle.  On the
+death of Mr. Toward, his head foreman, Mr. William Hanston, with a
+number of the leading hands, joined me.  From that time forward the
+works went on apace; and we finished the ships in hand to the perfect
+satisfaction of the owners.
+
+Orders were obtained for several large sailing ships as well as screw
+vessels.  We lifted and repaired wrecked ships, to the material
+advantage of Mr. Hickson, then the sole representative of the firm.
+After three years thus engaged, I resolved to start somewhere as a
+shipbuilder on my own account.  I made inquiries at Garston,
+Birkenhead, and other places.  When Mr. Hickson heard of my intentions,
+he said he had no wish to carry on the concern after I left, and made a
+satisfactory proposal for the sale to me of his holding of the Queen's
+Island Yard.  So I agreed to the proposed arrangement.  The transfer
+and the purchase were soon completed, through the kind assistance of my
+old and esteemed friend Mr. G. G. Schwabe, of Liverpool; whose nephew,
+Mr. G. W. Wolff, had been with me for a few months as my private
+assistant.
+
+It was necessary, however, before commencing for myself, that I should
+assist Mr. Hickson in finishing off the remaining vessels in hand, as
+well as to look out for orders on my own account. Fortunately, I had
+not long to wait; for it had so happened that my introduction to the
+Messrs. Thomson of Glasgow had been made through the instrumentality of
+my good friend Mr. Schwabe, who induced Mr. James Bibby (of J. Bibby,
+Sons & Co., Liverpool) to furnish me with the necessary letter.  While
+in Glasgow, I had endeavoured to assist the Messrs. Bibby in the
+purchase of a steamer;  so I was now intrusted by them with the
+building of three screw steamers the Venetian, Sicilian, and Syrian,
+each 270 feet long, by 34 feet beam, and 22 feet 9 inches hold; and
+contracted with Macnab and Co., Greenock, to supply the requisite
+steam-engines.
+
+This was considered a large order in those days.  It required many
+additions to the machinery, plant, and tools of the yard.  I invited
+Mr. Wolff, then away in the Mediterranean as engineer of a steamer, to
+return and take charge of the drawing office.  Mr. Wolff had served his
+apprenticeship with Messrs. Joseph Whitworth and Co., of Manchester,
+and was a most able man, thoroughly competent for the work.  Everything
+went on prosperously; and, in the midst of all my engagements, I found
+time to woo and win the hand of Miss Rosa Wann, of Vermont, Belfast, to
+whom I was married on the 26th of January, 1860, and by her great
+energy, soundness of judgment, and cleverness in organization, I was
+soon relieved from all sources of care and anxiety, excepting those
+connected with business.
+
+The steamers were completed in the course of the following year,
+doubtless to the satisfaction of the owners, for their delivery was
+immediately followed by an order for two larger vessels.  As I required
+frequently to go from home, and as the works must be carefully attended
+to during my absence, on the 1st of January, 1862, I took Mr. Wolff in
+as a partner; and the firm has since continued under the name of
+Harland and Wolff.  I may here add that I have throughout received the
+most able advice and assistance from my excellent friend and partner,
+and that we have together been enabled to found an entirely new branch
+of industry in Belfast.
+
+It is necessary for me here to refer back a little to a screw steamer
+which was built on the Clyde for Bibby and Co. by Mr. John Read, and
+engined by J. and G. Thomson while I was with them.  That steamer was
+called the Tiber.  She was looked upon as of an extreme length, being
+235 feet, in proportion to her beam, which was 29 feet.  Serious
+misgivings were thrown out as to whether she would ever stand a heavy
+sea.  Vessels of such proportions were thought to be crank, and even
+dangerous. Nevertheless, she seemed to my mind a great success.  From
+that time, I began to think and work out the advantages and
+disadvantages of such a vessel, from an owner's as well as from a
+builder's point of view.  The result was greatly in favour of the
+owner, though entailing difficulties in construction as regards the
+builder.  These difficulties, however.  I thought might easily be
+overcome.
+
+In the first steamers ordered of me by the Messrs. Bibby, I thought it
+more prudent to simply build to the dimensions furnished, although they
+were even longer than usual.  But, prior to the precise dimensions
+being fixed for the second order, I with confidence proposed my theory
+of the greater carrying power and accommodation, both for cargo and
+passengers, that would be gained by constructing the new vessels of
+increased length, without any increase of beam.  I conceived that they
+would show improved qualities in a sea-way, and that, notwithstanding
+the increased accommodation, the same speed with the same power would
+be obtained, by only a slight increase in the first cost.  The result
+was, that I was allowed to settle the dimensions; and the following
+were then decided on: Length, 310 feet; beam, 34 feet; depth of hold,
+24 feet 9 inches; all of which were fully compensated for by making the
+upper deck entirely of iron.  In this way, the hull of the ship was
+converted into a box girder of immensely increased strength, and was, I
+believe, the first ocean steamer ever so constructed.  The rig too was
+unique.  The four masts were made in one continuous length, with
+fore-and-aft sails, but no yards,--thereby reducing the number of hands
+necessary to work them.  And the steam winches were so arranged as to
+be serviceable for all the heavy hauls, as well as for the rapid
+handling of the cargo.
+
+In the introduction of so many novelties, I was well supported by Mr.
+F. Leyland, the junior partner of Messrs. Bibby's firm, and by the
+intelligent and practical experience of Captain Birch, the overlooker,
+and Captain George Wakeham, the Commodore of the company.  Unsuccessful
+attempts had been made many years before to condense the steam from the
+engines by passing it into variously formed chambers, tubes, &c., to be
+there condensed by surfaces kept cold by the circulation of sea-water
+round them, so as to preserve the pure water and return it to the
+boilers free of salt.  In this way, "salting up" was avoided, and a
+considerable saving of fuel and expenses in repairs was effected.
+
+Mr. Spencer had patented an improvement on Hall's method of surface
+condensation, by introducing indiarubber rings at each end of the
+tubes.  This had been tried as an experiment on shore, and we advised
+that it should be adopted in one of Messrs. Bibby's smallest steamers,
+the Frankfort.  The results were found perfectly satisfactory.  Some 20
+per cent. of fuel was saved; and, after the patent right had been
+bought, the method was adopted in all the vessels of the company.
+
+When these new ships were first seen at Liverpool, the "old salts" held
+up their hands.  They were too long! they were too sharp! they would
+break their backs!  They might, indeed, get out of the Mersey, but they
+would never get back!  The ships, however, sailed; and they made rapid
+and prosperous voyages to and from the Mediterranean.  They fulfilled
+all the promises which had been made.  They proved the advantages of
+our new build of ships; and the owners were perfectly satisfied with
+their superior strength, speed, and accommodation.  The Bibbys were
+wise men in their day and generation.  They did not stop, but went on
+ordering more ships.  After the Grecian and the Italian had made two or
+three voyages to Alexandria, they sent us an order for three more
+vessels.  By our advice, they were made twenty feet longer than the
+previous ones, though of no greater beam; in other respects, they were
+almost identical.  This was too much for "Jack."  "What!" he exclaimed,
+"more Bibby's coffins?"  Yes, more and more; and in the course of time,
+most shipowners followed our example.
+
+To a young firm, a repetition of orders like these was a great
+advantage,--not only because of the novel design of the ships, but also
+because of their constructive details.  We did our best to fit up the
+Egyptian, Dalmatian, and Arabian, as first-rate vessels.  Those engaged
+in the Mediterranean trade finding them to be serious rivals, partly
+because of the great cargos which they carried, but principally from
+the regularity with which they made their voyages with such
+surprisingly small consumption of coal.  They were not, however, what
+"Jack" had been accustomed to consider "dry ships."  The ship built
+Dutchman fashion, with her bluff ends, is the driest of all ships, but
+the least steady, because she rises to every sea.  But the new ships,
+because of their length and sharpness, precluded this; for, though they
+rose sufficiently to an approaching wave for all purposes of safety,
+they often went through the crest of it, and, though shipping a little
+water, it was not only easier for the vessel, but the shortest road.
+
+Nature seems to have furnished us with the finest design for a vessel
+in the form of the fish: it presents such fine lines--is so clean, so
+true, and so rapid in its movements.  The ship, however, must float;
+and to hit upon the happy medium of velocity and stability seems to me
+the art and mystery of shipbuilding. In order to give large carrying
+capacity, we gave flatness of bottom and squareness of bilge.  This
+became known in Liverpool as the "Belfast bottom;" and it has been
+generally adopted.  This form not only serves to give stability, but
+also increases the carrying power without lessening the speed.
+
+While Sailor Jack and our many commercial rivals stood aghast and
+wondered, our friends gave us yet another order for a still longer
+ship, with still the same beam and power.  The vessel was named the
+Persian; she was 360 feet long, 34 feet beam, 24 feet 9 inches hold.
+More cargo was thus carried, at higher speed.  It was only a further
+development of the fish form of structure. Venice was an important port
+to call at.  The channel was difficult to navigate, and the Venetian
+class (270 feet long) was supposed to be the extreme length that could
+be handled here. But what with the straight stem,--by cutting the
+forefoot away, and by the introduction of powerful steering-gear,
+worked amidships,--the captain was able to navigate the Persian, 90
+feet longer than the Venetian, with much less anxiety and inconvenience.
+
+Until the building of the Persian, we had taken great pride in the
+modelling and finish of the old style of cutwater and figurehead, with
+bowsprit and jib-boom; but in urging the advantages of greater length
+of hull, we were met by the fact of its being simply impossible in
+certain docks to swing vessels of any greater length than those already
+constructed.  Not to be beaten, we proposed to do away with all these
+overhanging encumbrances, and to adopt a perpendicular stem.  In this
+way the hull might be made so much longer; and this was, I believe, the
+first occasion of its being adopted in this country in the case of an
+ocean steamer; though the once celebrated Collins Line of paddle
+steamers had, I believe, such stems.  The iron decks, iron bulwarks,
+and iron rails, were all found very serviceable in our later vessels,
+there being no leaking, no caulking of deck-planks or waterways, nor
+any consequent damaging of cargo.  Having found it impossible to
+combine satisfactorily wood with iron, each being so differently
+affected by temperature and moisture, I secured some of these novelties
+of construction in a patent, by which filling in the spaces between
+frames, &c., with Portland cement, instead of chocks of wood, and
+covering the iron plates with cement and tiles, came into practice, and
+this has since come into very general use.
+
+The Tiber, already referred to, was 235 feet in length when first
+constructed by Read, of Glasgow, and was then thought too long; but she
+was now placed in our hands to be lengthened 39 feet, as well as to
+have an iron deck added, both of which greatly improved her.  We also
+lengthened the Messrs. Bibby's Calpe--also built by Messrs. Thomson
+while I was there--by no less than 93 feet.  The advantage of
+lengthening ships, retaining the same beam and power, having become
+generally recognised, we were in trusted by the Cunard Company to
+lengthen the Hecla, Olympus, Atlas, and Marathon, each by 63 feet.  The
+Royal Consort P.S., which had been lengthened first at Liverpool, was
+again lengthened by us at Belfast.
+
+The success of all this heavy work, executed for successful owners, put
+a sort of backbone into the Belfast shipbuilding yard.  While other
+concerns were slack, we were either lengthening or building steamers as
+well as sailing-ships for firms in Liverpool, London, and Belfast.
+Many acres of ground were added to the works.  The Harbour
+Commissioners had now made a fine new graving-dock, and connected the
+Queen's Island with the mainland.  The yard, thus improved and
+extended, was surveyed by the Admiralty, and placed on the first-class
+list.  We afterwards built for the Government the gun vessels Lynx and
+Algerine, as well as the store and torpedo ship Hecla, of 3360 tons.
+
+The Suez Canal being now open, our friends the Messrs. Bibby gave us an
+order for three steamers of very large tonnage, capable of being
+adapted for trade with the antipodes if necessary.  In these new
+vessels there was no retrograde step as regards length, for they were
+390 feet keel by 37 feet beam, square-rigged on three of the masts,
+with the yards for the first time fitted on travellers, as to enable
+them to be readily sent down; thus forming a unique combination of big
+fore-and-aft sails, with handy square sails.  These ships were named
+the Istrian, Iberian, and Illyrian, and in 1868 they went to sea; soon
+after to be followed by three more ships--the Bavarian, Bohemian, and
+Bulgarian--in most respects the same, though ten feet longer, with the
+same beam.  They were first placed in the Mediterranean trade, but were
+afterwards transferred to the Liverpool and Boston trade, for cattle
+and emigrants.  These, with three smaller steamers for the Spanish
+cattle trade, and two larger steamers for other trades, made together
+twenty steam-vessels constructed for the Messrs. John Bibby, Sons, &
+Co.; and it was a matter of congratulation that, after a great deal of
+heavy and constant work, not one of them had exhibited the slightest
+indication of weakness,--all continuing in first-rate working order.
+
+The speedy and economic working of the Belfast steamers, compared with
+those of the ordinary type, having now become well known, a scheme was
+set on foot in 1869 for employing similar vessels, though of larger
+size, for passenger and goods accommodation between England and
+America.  Mr. T. H. Ismay, of Liverpool, the spirited shipowner, then
+formed, in conjunction with the late Mr. G. H. Fletcher, the Oceanic
+Steam Navigation Company, Limited; and we were commissioned by them to
+build six large Transatlantic steamers, capable of carrying a heavy
+cargo of goods, as well as a full complement of cabin and steerage
+passengers, between Liverpool and New York, at a speed equal, if not
+superior, to that of the Cunard and Inman lines.  The vessels were to
+be longer than any we had yet constructed, being 420 feet keel and 41
+feet beam, with 32 feet hold.
+
+This was a great opportunity, and we eagerly embraced it.  The works
+were now up to the mark in point of extent and appliances. The men in
+our employment were mostly of our own training: the foremen had been
+promoted from the ranks; the manager, Mr. W. H. Wilson, and the head
+draughtsman, Mr. W. J. Pirrie (since become partners), having, as
+pupils, worked up through all the departments, and ultimately won their
+honourable and responsible positions by dint of merit only--by
+character, perseverance, and ability.  We were therefore in a position
+to take up an important contract of this kind, and to work it out with
+heart and soul.
+
+As everything in the way of saving of fuel was of first-rate
+importance, we devoted ourselves to that branch of economic working.
+It was necessary that buoyancy or space should be left for cargo, at
+the same time that increased speed should be secured, with as little
+consumption of coal as possible.  The Messrs. Elder and Co., of
+Glasgow, had made great strides in this direction with the paddle
+steam-engines which they had constructed for the Pacific Company on the
+compound principle. They had also introduced them on some of their
+screw steamers, with more or less success.  Others were trying the same
+principle in various forms, by the use of high-pressure cylinders, and
+so on; the form of the boilers being varied according to circumstances,
+for the proper economy of fuel.  The first thing absolutely wanted was,
+perfectly reliable information as to the actual state of the compound
+engine and boiler up to the date of our inquiry.  To ascertain the
+facts by experience, we dispatched Mr. Alexander Wilson, younger
+brother of the manager who had been formerly a pupil of Messrs. Macnab
+and Co., of Greenock, and was thoroughly able for the work--to make a
+number of voyages in steam vessels fitted with the best examples of
+compound engines.
+
+The result of this careful inquiry was the design of the machinery and
+boilers of the Oceanic and five sister-ships.  They were constructed on
+the vertical overhead "tandem" type, with five-feet stroke (at that
+time thought excessive), oval single-ended transverse boilers, with a
+working pressure of sixty pounds.  We contracted with Messrs. Maudslay,
+Sons, and Field, of London, for three of these sets, and with Messrs.
+George Forrester and Co., of Liverpool, for the other three; and as we
+found we could build the six vessels in the same time as the machinery
+was being constructed; and, as all this machinery had to be conveyed to
+Belfast to be there fitted on board, whilst the vessels were being
+otherwise finished, we built a little screw-steamer, the Camel, of
+extra strength, with very big hatchways, to receive these large masses
+of iron; and this, in course of time, was found to work with great
+advantage; until eventually we constructed our own machinery.
+
+We were most fortunate in the type of engine we had fixed upon, for it
+proved both economical and serviceable in all ways; and, with but
+slight modifications, we repeated it in the many subsequent vessels
+which we built for the White Star Company. Another feature of novelty
+in these vessels consisted in placing the first-class accommodation
+amidships, with the third-class aft and forward.  In all previous ocean
+steamers, the cabin passengers had been berthed near the stern, where
+the heaving motion of the vessel was far greater than in the centre,
+and where that most disagreeable vibration inseparable from proximity
+to the propeller was ever present.  The unappetising smells from the
+galley were also avoided.  And last, but not least, a commodious
+smoking-saloon was fitted up amidships, contrasting most favourably
+with the scanty accommodation provided in other vessels.  The saloon,
+too, presented the novelty of extending the full width of the vessel,
+and was lighted from each side. Electric bells were for the first time
+fitted on board ship.  The saloon and entire range of cabins were
+lighted by gas, made on board, though this has since given place to the
+incandescent electric light.  A fine promenade deck was provided over
+the saloon, which was accessible from below in all weathers by the
+grand staircase.
+
+These, and other arrangements, greatly promoted the comfort and
+convenience of the cabin passengers; while those in the steerage found
+great improvements in convenience, sanitation, and accommodation.
+"Jack" had his forecastle well ventilated and lighted, and a
+turtle-back over his head when on deck, with winches to haul for him,
+and a steam-engine to work the wheel; while the engineers and firemen
+berthed as near their work as possible, never needing to wet a jacket
+or miss a meal.  In short, for the first time perhaps, ocean-voyaging,
+even in the North Atlantic, was made not only less tedious and dreadful
+to all, but was rendered enjoyable and even delightful to many. Before
+the Oceanic, the  pioneer of the new line, was even launched, rival
+companies had already  consigned her to the deepest place in the ocean.
+Her first appearance in Liverpool was therefore regarded with much
+interest.  Mr. Ismay, during the construction of the vessel, took every
+pains to suggest improvements and arrangements with a view to the
+comfort and convenience of the travelling public.  He accompanied the
+vessel on her first voyage to New York in March, 1871, under command of
+Captain, now Sir Digby Murray, Brt.  Although severe weather was
+experienced, the ship made a splendid voyage, with a heavy cargo of
+goods and passengers.  The Oceanic thus started the Transatlantic
+traffic of the Company, with the house-flag of the White Star proudly
+flying on the main.
+
+It may be mentioned that the speed of the Oceanic was at least a knot
+faster per hour than had been heretofore accomplished across the
+Atlantic.  The motion of the vessel was easy, without any indication of
+weakness or straining, even in the heaviest weather.  The only
+inducement to slow was when going head to it (which often meant head
+through it), to avoid the inconvenience of shipping a heavy body of
+"green sea" on deck forward.  A turtle-back was therefore provided to
+throw it off, which proved so satisfactory, as it had done on the
+Holyhead and Kingstown boats, that all the subsequent vessels were
+similarly constructed.  Thus, then, as with the machinery, so was the
+hull of the Oceanic, a type of the succeeding vessels, which after
+intervals of a few months took up their stations on the Transatlantic
+line.
+
+Having often observed, when at sea in heavy weather, how the pitching
+of the vessel caused the weights on the safety-valves to act
+irregularly, thus letting puffs of steam escape at every heave, and as
+high pressure steam was too valuable a commodity to be so wasted, we
+determined to try direct-acting spiral springs, similar to those used
+in locomotives, in connection with the compound engine.  But as no such
+experiment was possible in any vessels requiring the Board of Trade
+certificate, the alternative of using the Camel as an experimental
+vessel was adopted.  The spiral springs were accordingly fitted upon
+the boiler of that vessel, and with such a satisfactory result that the
+Board of Trade allowed the use of the same contrivance on all the
+boilers of the Oceanic and every subsequent steamer, and the
+contrivance has now come into general use.
+
+It would be too tedious to mention in detail the other ships built for
+the White Star line.  The Adriatic and Celtic were made 17 feet 6
+inches longer than the Oceanic, and a little sharper, being 437 feet 6
+inches keel, 41 feet beam, and 32 feet hold. The success of the Company
+had been so great under the able management of Ismay, Imrie and Co.,
+and they had secured so large a share of the passengers and cargo, as
+well as of the mails passing between Liverpool and New York, that it
+was found necessary to build two still larger and faster vessels--the
+Britannic and Germanic: these were 455 feet in length; 45 feet in beam;
+and of 5000 indicated horse-power.  The Britannic was in the first
+instance constructed with the propeller fitted to work below the line
+of keel when in deep water, by which means the "racing" of the engines
+was avoided.  When approaching shallow water, the propeller was raised
+by steam-power to the ordinary position without any necessity for
+stopping the engines during the operation.  Although there was an
+increase of speed by this means through the uniform revolutions of the
+machinery in the heaviest sea, yet there was an objectionable amount of
+vibration at certain parts of the vessel, so that we found it necessary
+to return to the ordinary fixed propeller, working in the line of
+direction of the vessel.  Comfort at sea is of even more importance
+than speed; and although we had succeeded in four small steamers
+working on the new principle, it was found better to continue in the
+larger ships to resort to the established modes of propulsion.  It may
+happen that at some future period the new method may yet be adopted
+with complete success.
+
+Meanwhile competition went on with other companies.  Monopoly cannot
+exist between England and America.  Our plans were followed; and
+sharper boats and heavier power became the rule of the day.  But
+increase of horse-power of engines means increase of heating surface
+and largely increased boilers, when we reach the vanishing point of
+profit, after which there is nothing left but speed and expense.  It
+may be possible to fill a ship with boilers, and to save a few hours in
+the passage from Liverpool to New York by a tremendous expenditure of
+coal; but whether that will answer the purpose of any body of
+shareholders must be left for the future to determine.
+
+"Brute force" may be still further employed.  It is quite possible that
+recent "large strides" towards a more speedy transit across the
+Atlantic may have been made "in the dark."
+
+The last ships we have constructed for Ismay, Imrie and Co. have been
+of comparatively moderate dimensions and power--the Arabic and Coptic,
+430 feet long; and the Ionic and Boric, 440 feet long, all of 2700
+indicated horse-power.  These are large cargo steamers, with a moderate
+amount of saloon accommodation, and a large space for emigrants.  Some
+of these are now engaged in crossing the Pacific, whilst others are
+engaged in the line from London to New Zealand; the latter being
+specially fitted up for carrying frozen meat.
+
+To return to the operations of the Belfast shipbuilding yard.  A
+serious accident occurred in the autumn of 1867 to the mail
+paddle-steamer the Wolf, belonging to the Messrs. Burns, of Glasgow.
+When passing out of the Lough, about eight miles from Belfast, she was
+run into by another steamer.  She was cut down and sank, and there she
+lay in about seven fathoms of water; the top of her funnel and masts
+being only visible at low tide.  She was in a dangerous position for
+all vessels navigating the entrance to the port, and it was necessary
+that she should be removed, either by dynamite, gunpowder, or some
+other process. Divers were sent down to examine the ship, and the
+injury done to her being found to be slight, the owners conferred with
+us as to the possibility of lifting her and bringing her into port.
+Though such a process had never before been accomplished, yet knowing
+her structure well, and finding that we might rely upon smooth water
+for about a week or two in summer, we determined to do what we could to
+lift the sunken vessel to the surface.
+
+We calculated the probable weight of the vessel, and had a number of
+air-tanks expressly built for her floatation.  These were secured to
+the ship with chains and hooks, the latter being inserted through the
+side lights in her sheer strake.  Early in the following summer
+everything was ready.  The air-tanks were prepared and rafted together.
+Powerful screws were attached to each chain, with hand-pumps for
+emptying the tanks, together with a steam tender fitted with cooking
+appliances, berths and stores, for all hands engaged in the enterprise.
+We succeeded in attaching the hooks and chains by means of divers; the
+chains being ready coiled on deck.  But the weather, which before
+seemed to be settled, now gave way.  No sooner had we got the pair of
+big tanks secured to the after body, than a fierce north-north-easterly
+gale set in, and we had to run for it, leaving the tanks partly filled,
+in order to lessen the strain on everything.
+
+When the gale had settled, we returned again, and found that no harm
+had been done.  The remainder of the hooks were properly attached to
+the rest of the tanks, the chains were screwed tightly up, and the
+tanks were pumped clear.  Then the tide rose; and before high water we
+had the great satisfaction of getting the body of the vessel under
+weigh, and towing her about a cable's length from her old bed.  At each
+tide's work she was lifted higher and higher, and towed into shallower
+water towards Belfast; until at length we had her, after eight days,
+safely in the harbour, ready to enter the graving dock,--not more
+ready, however, than we all were for our beds, for we had neither
+undressed nor shaved during that anxious time.  Indeed, our friends
+scarcely recognised us on our return home.
+
+The result of the enterprise was this.  The clean cut made into the bow
+of the ship by the collision was soon repaired.  The crop of oysters
+with which she was incrusted gave place to the scraper and the
+paintbrush.  The Wolf came out of the dock to the satisfaction both of
+the owners and underwriters; and she was soon "ready for the road,"
+nothing the worse for her ten months' immersion.[2]
+
+Meanwhile the building of new iron ships went on in the Queen's Island.
+We were employed by another Liverpool Company--the British Shipowners'
+Company, Limited--to supply some large steamers.  The British Empire,
+of 3361 gross tonnage, was the same class of vessel as those of the
+White Star line, but fuller, being intended for cargo.  Though
+originally intended for the Eastern trade, this vessel was eventually
+placed on the Liverpool and Philadelphia line; and her working proved
+so satisfactory that five more vessels were ordered like her, which
+were chartered to the American Company.
+
+The Liverpool agents, Messrs. Richardson, Spence, and Co., having
+purchased the Cunard steamer Russia, sent her over to us to be
+lengthened 70 feet, and entirely refitted--another proof of the rapid
+change which owners of merchant ships now found it necessary to adopt
+in view of the requirements of modern traffic.
+
+Another Liverpool firm, the Messrs. T. and J. Brocklebank, of
+world-wide repute for their fine East Indiamen, having given up
+building for themselves at their yard at Whitehaven, commissioned us to
+build for them the Alexandria, and Baroda, which were shortly followed
+by the Candahar and Tenasserim.  And continuing to have a faith in the
+future of big iron sailing ships, they further employed us to build for
+them two of yet greater tonnage, the Belfast and the Majestic.
+
+Indeed, there is a future for sailing ships, notwithstanding the recent
+development of steam power.  Sailing ships can still hold their own,
+especially in the transport of heavy merchandise for great distances.
+They can be built more cheaply than steamers; they can be worked more
+economically, because they require no expenditure on coal, nor on wages
+of engineers; besides, the space occupied in steamers by machinery is
+entirely occupied by merchandise, all of which pays its quota of
+freight.  Another thing may be mentioned: the telegraph enables the
+fact of the sailing of a vessel, with its cargo on board, to be
+communicated from Calcutta or San Francisco to Liverpool, and from that
+moment the cargo becomes as marketable as if it were on the spot.
+There are cases, indeed, where the freight by sailing ship is even
+greater than by steamer, as the charge for warehousing at home is
+saved, and in the meantime the cargo while at sea is negotiable.
+
+We have accordingly, during the last few years, built some of the
+largest iron and steel sailing ships that have ever gone to sea. The
+aim has been to give them great carrying capacity and fair speed, with
+economy of working; and the use of steel, both in the hull and the
+rigging, facilitates the attainment of these objects.  In 1882 and
+1883, we built and launched four of these steel and iron sailing
+ships--the Waiter H. Wilson, the W. J. Pirrie, the Fingal, and the Lord
+Wolseley--each of nearly 3000 tons register, with four masts,--the
+owners being Mr. Lawther, of Belfast; Mr. Martin, of Dublin; and the
+Irish Shipowners Company.
+
+Besides these and other sailing ships, we have built for Messrs. Ismay,
+Imrie and Co. the Garfield, of 2347 registered tonnage; for Messrs.
+Thomas Dixon and Son, the Lord Downshire (2322); and for Messrs.
+Bullock's Bay Line, the Bay of Panama (2365).
+
+In 1880 we took in another piece of the land reclaimed by the Belfast
+Harbour Trust; and there, in close proximity to the ship-yard, we
+manufacture all the machinery required for the service of the steamers
+constructed by our firm.  In this way we are able to do everything
+"within ourselves"; and the whole land now occupied by the works
+comprises about forty acres, with ten building slips suitable for the
+largest vessels.
+
+It remains for me to mention a Belfast firm, which has done so much for
+the town.  I mean the Messrs. J.P. Corry and Co., who have always been
+amongst our best friends.  We built for them their first iron sailing
+vessel, the Jane Porter, in 1860, and since then they have never failed
+us.  They successfully established their "Star" line of sailing
+clippers from London to Calcutta, all of which were built here.  They
+subsequently gave us orders for yet larger vessels, in the Star of
+France and the Star of Italy.  In all, we have built for that firm
+eleven of their well-known "Star" ships.
+
+We have built five ships for the Asiatic Steam Navigation Company,
+Limited, each of from 1650 to 2059 tons gross; and we are now building
+for them two ships, each of about 3000 tons gross.  In 1883 we launched
+thirteen iron and steel vessels, of a registered tonnage of over 30,000
+tons.  Out of eleven ships now building, seven are of steel.
+
+Such is a brief and summary account of the means by which we have been
+enabled to establish a new branch of industry in Belfast. It has been
+accomplished simply by energy and hard work.  We have been
+well-supported by the skilled labour of our artisans; we have been
+backed by the capital and the enterprise of England; and we believe
+that if all true patriots would go and do likewise, there would be
+nothing to fear for the prosperity and success of Ireland.
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter XI.
+
+[1] Although Mr. Harland took no further steps with his lifeboat, the
+project seems well worthy of a fair trial.  We had lately the pleasure
+of seeing the model launched and tried on the lake behind Mr. Harland's
+residence at Ormiston, near Belfast.  The cylindrical lifeboat kept
+perfectly water-tight, and though thrown into the water in many
+different positions--sometimes tumbled in on its prow, at other times
+on its back (the deck being undermost), it invariably righted itself.
+The screws fore and aft worked well, and were capable of being turned
+by human labour or by steam power.  Now that such large freights of
+passengers are carried by ocean-going ships, it would seem necessary
+that some such method should be adopted of preserving life at sea; for
+ordinary lifeboats, which are so subject to destructive damage, are
+often of little use in fires or shipwrecks, or other accidents on the
+ocean.
+
+[2] A full account is given in the Illustrated London News of the 21st
+of October, 1868, with illustrations, of the raising of the Wolf; and
+another, more scientific, is given in the Engineer of the 16th of
+October, of the same year.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ASTRONOMERS AND STUDENTS IN HUMBLE LIFE:
+
+A NEW CHAPTER IN THE 'PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES.'
+
+"I first learnt to read when the masons were at work in your house.  I
+approached them one day, and observed that the architect used a rule
+and compass, and that he made calculations. I inquired what might be
+the meaning and use of these things, and I was informed that there was
+a science called Arithmetic.  I purchased a book of arithmetic, and I
+learned it.  I was told there was another science called Geometry; I
+bought the necessary books, and I learned Geometry.  By reading, I
+found there were good books in these two sciences in Latin; I bought a
+dictionary, and I learned Latin.  I understood, also, that there were
+good books of the same kind in French; I bought a dictionary, and I
+learned French.  It seems to me that one does not need to know anything
+more than the twenty-four letters to learn everything else that one
+wishes."--Edmund Stone to the Duke of Argyll. ('Pursuit of Knowledge
+under Difficulties.')
+
+"The British Census proper reckons twenty-seven and a half million in
+the home countries.  What makes this census important is the quality of
+the units that compose it.  They are free forcible men, in a country
+where life is safe, and has reached the greatest value.  They give the
+bias to the current age; and that not by chance or by mass, but by
+their character, and by the number of individuals among them of
+personal ability."--Emerson: English Traits.
+
+From Belfast to the Highlands of Scotland is an easy route by steamers
+and railways.  While at Birnam, near Dunkeld, I was reminded of some
+remarkable characters in the neighbourhood. After the publication of
+the 'Scotch Naturalist' and 'Robert Dick,' I received numerous letters
+informing me of many self-taught botanists and students of nature,
+quite as interesting as the subjects of my memoirs.  Among others,
+there was John Duncan, the botanist weaver of Aberdeen, whose
+interesting life has since been done justice to by Mr. Jolly; and John
+Sim of Perth, first a shepherd boy, then a soldier, and towards the
+close of his life a poet and a botanist, whose life, I was told, was
+"as interesting as a romance."
+
+There was also Alexander Croall, Custodian of the Smith Institute at
+Stirling, an admirable naturalist and botanist.  He was originally a
+hard-working parish schoolmaster, near Montrose. During his holiday
+wanderings he collected plants for his extensive herbarium.  His
+accomplishments having come under the notice of the late Sir William
+Hooker, he was selected by that gentleman to prepare sets of the Plants
+of Braemar for the Queen and Prince Albert, which he did to their
+entire satisfaction.  He gave up his school-mastership for an ill-paid
+but more congenial occupation, that of Librarian to the Derby Museum
+and Herbarium. Some years ago, he was appointed to his present position
+of Custodian to the Smith Institute--perhaps the best provincial museum
+and art gallery in Scotland.
+
+I could not, however, enter into the history of these remarkable
+persons; though I understand there is a probability of Mr. Croall
+giving his scientific recollections to the world.  He has already
+brought out a beautiful work, in four volumes, 'British Seaweeds,
+Nature-printed;' and anything connected with his biography will be
+looked forward to with interest.
+
+Among the other persons brought to my notice, years ago, were
+Astronomers in humble life.  For instance, I received a letter from
+John Grierson, keeper of the Girdleness Lighthouse, near Aberdeen,
+mentioning one of these persons as "an extraordinary character."
+"William Ballingall," he said, "is a weaver in the town of Lower Largo,
+Fifeshire; and from his early days he has made astronomy the subject of
+passionate study.  I used to spend my school vacation at Largo, and
+have frequently heard him expound upon his favourite subject.  I
+believe that very high opinions have been expressed by scientific
+gentlemen regarding Ballingall's attainments.  They were no doubt
+surprised that an individual with but a very limited amount of
+education, and whose hours of labour were from five in the morning
+until ten or eleven at night, should be able to acquire so much
+knowledge on so profound a subject.  Had he possessed a fair amount of
+education, and an assortment of scientific instruments and books, the
+world would have heard more about him.  Should you ever find yourself,"
+my correspondent concludes, "in his neighbourhood, and have a few hours
+to spare, you would have no reason to regret the time spent in his
+company." I could not, however, arrange to pay the proposed visit to
+Largo; but I found that I could, without inconvenience, visit another
+astronomer in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld.
+
+In January 1879 I received a letter from Sheriff Barclay, of Perth, to
+the following effect:  "Knowing the deep interest you take in genius
+and merit in humble ranks, I beg to state to you an extraordinary case.
+John Robertson is a railway porter at Coupar Angus station.  From early
+youth he has made the heavens his study.  Night after night he looks
+above, and from his small earnings he has provided himself with a
+telescope which cost him about 30L.  He sends notices of his
+observations to the scientific journals, under the modest initials of
+'J.R.' He is a great favourite with the public; and it is said that he
+has made some observations in celestial phenomena not before noticed.
+It does occur to me that he should have a wider field for his favourite
+study.  In connection with an observatory, his services would be
+invaluable."
+
+Nearly five years had elapsed since the receipt of this letter, and I
+had done nothing to put myself in communication with the Coupar Angus
+astronomer.  Strange to say, his existence was again recalled to my
+notice by Professor Grainger Stewart, of Edinburgh.  He said that if I
+was in the neighbourhood I ought to call upon him, and that he would
+receive me kindly.  His duty, he said, was to act as porter at the
+station, and to shout the name of the place as the trains passed.  I
+wrote to John Robertson accordingly, and received a reply stating that
+he would be glad to see me, and inclosing a photograph, in which I
+recognised a good, honest, sensible face, with his person inclosed in
+the usual station porter's garb, "C.R. 1446."
+
+I started from Dunkeld, and reached Coupar Angus in due time.  As I
+approached the station, I heard the porter calling out, "Coupar Angus!
+change here for Blairgowrie!"[1]  It was the voice of John Robertson.
+
+I descended from the train, and addressed him at once:  after the
+photograph there could be no mistaking him.  An arrangement for a
+meeting was made, and he called upon me in the evening.  I invited him
+to such hospitality as the inn afforded; but he would have nothing.  "I
+am much obliged to you," he said; "but it always does me harm."  I knew
+at once what the "it" meant.  Then he invited me to his house in
+Causewayend Street.  I found his cottage clean and comfortable,
+presided over by an evidently clever wife.  He took me into his
+sitting-room, where I inspected his drawings of the sun-spots, made in
+colour on a large scale. In all his statements he was perfectly modest
+and unpretending. The following is his story, so far as I can
+recollect, in his own words:--
+
+"Yes; I certainly take a great interest in astronomy, but I have done
+nothing in it worthy of notice.  I am scarcely worthy to be called a
+day labourer in the science.  I am very well known hereabouts,
+especially to the travelling public; but I must say that they think a
+great deal more of me than I deserve.
+
+"What made me first devote my attention to the subject of astronomy?
+Well, if I can trace it to one thing more than another, it was to some
+evening lectures delivered by the late Dr. Dick, of Broughty Ferry, to
+the men employed at the Craigs' Bleachfield Works, near Montrose, where
+I then worked, about the year 1848.  Dr. Dick was an excellent
+lecturer, and I listened to him with attention.  His instructions were
+fully impressed upon our minds by Mr. Cooper, the teacher of the
+evening school, which I attended.  After giving the young lads employed
+at the works their lessons in arithmetic, he would come out with us
+into the night--and it was generally late when we separated--and show
+us the principal constellations, and the planets above the horizon. It
+was a wonderful sight; yet we were told that these hundreds upon
+hundreds of stars, as far as the eye could see, were but a mere vestige
+of the creation amidst which we lived.  I got to know the names of some
+of the constellations the Greater Bear, with 'the pointers' which
+pointed to the Pole Star, Orion with his belt, the Twins, the Pleiades,
+and other prominent objects in the heavens.  It was a source of
+constant wonder and surprise.
+
+"When I left the Bleachfield Works, I went to Inverury, to the North of
+Scotland Railway, which was then in course of formation; and for many
+years, being immersed in work, I thought comparatively little of
+astronomy.  It remained, however, a pleasant memory.  It was only after
+coming to this neighbourhood in 1854, when the railway to Blairgowrie
+was under construction, that I began to read up a little, during my
+leisure hours, on the subject of astronomy.  I got married the year
+after, since which time I have lived in this house.
+
+"I became a member of a reading-room club, and read all the works of
+Dr. Dick that the library contained:  his 'Treatise on the Solar
+System,' his 'Practical Astronomer,' and other works. There were also
+some very good  popular works to which I was indebted for amusement as
+well as instruction:  Chambers's 'Information for the People,'
+Cassell's 'Popular Educator,' and a very interesting series of articles
+in the 'Leisure Hour,' by Edwin Dunkin of the Royal Observatory,
+Greenwich.  These last papers were accompanied by maps of the chief
+constellations, so that I had a renewed opportunity of becoming a
+little better acquainted with the geography of the heavens.
+
+"I began to have a wish for a telescope, by means of which I might be
+able to see a little more than with my naked eyes.  But I found that I
+could not get anything of much use, short of 20L. I could not for a
+long time feel justified in spending so much money for my own personal
+enjoyment.  My children were then young and dependent upon me.  They
+required to attend school--for education is a thing that parents must
+not neglect, with a view to the future.  However, about the year 1875,
+my attention was called to a cheap instrument advertised by
+Solomon--what he called his '5L. telescope.' I purchased one, and it
+tantalised me; for the power of the instrument was such as to teach me
+nothing of the surface of the planets.  After using it for about two
+years, I sold it to a student, and then found that I had accumulated
+enough savings to enable me to buy my present instrument.  Will you
+come into the next room and look at it?"
+
+I went accordingly into the adjoining room, and looked at the new
+telescope.  It was taken from its case, put upon its tripod, and looked
+in beautiful condition.  It is a refractor, made by Cooke and Sons of
+York.  The object glass is three inches; the focal length forty-three
+inches; and the telescope, when drawn out, with the pancratic eyepiece
+attached, is about four feet.  It was made after Mr. Robertson's
+directions, and is a sort of combination of instruments.
+
+"Even that instrument," he proceeded, "good as it is for the money,
+tantalises me yet.  A look through a fixed equatorial, such as every
+large observatory is furnished with is a glorious view.  I shall never
+forget the sight that I got when at Dunecht Observatory, to which I was
+invited through the kindness of Dr. Copeland, the Earl of Crawford and
+Balcarres' principal astronomer.
+
+"You ask me what I have done in astronomical research?  I am sorry to
+say I have been able to do little except to gratify my own curiosity;
+and even then, as I say, I have been much tantalised.  I have watched
+the spots on the sun from day to day through obscured glasses, since
+the year 1878, and made many drawings of them.  Mr. Rand Capron, the
+astronomer, of Guildown, Guildford, desired to see these drawings, and
+after expressing his satisfaction with them, he sent them to Mr.
+Christie, Astronomer Royal, Greenwich.  Although photographs of the
+solar surface were preferred, Mr. Capron thought that my sketches might
+supply gaps in the partially cloudy days, as well as details which
+might not appear on the photographic plates.  I received a very kind
+letter from Mr. Christie, in which he said that it would be very
+difficult to make the results obtained from drawings, however accurate,
+at all comparable with those derived from photographs; especially as
+regards the accurate size of the spots as compared with the diameter of
+the sun.  And no doubt he is right.
+
+"What, do I suppose, is the cause of these spots in the sun? Well, that
+is a very difficult question to answer.  Changes are constantly going
+on at the sun's surface, or, I may rather say, in the sun's interior,
+and making themselves apparent at the surface.  Sometimes they go on
+with enormous activity; at other times they are more quiet.  They recur
+alternately in periods of seven or eight weeks, while these again are
+also subject to a period of about eleven years--that is, the short
+recurring outbursts go on for some years, when they attain a maximum,
+from which they go on decreasing.  I may say that we are now (August
+1883) at, or very near, a maximum epoch.  There is no doubt that this
+period has an intimate connection with our auroral displays; but I
+don't think that the influence sun-spots have on light or heat is
+perceptible.  Whatever influence they possess would be felt alike on
+the whole terrestrial globe.  We have wet, dry, cold, and warm years,
+but they are never general.  The kind of season which prevails in one
+country is often quite reversed in another perhaps in the adjacent one.
+Not so with our auroral displays.  They are universal on both sides of
+the globe; and from pole to pole the magnetic needle trembles during
+their continuance.  Some authorities are of opinion that these
+eleven-year cycles are subject to a larger cycle, but sun-spot
+observations have not existed long enough to determine this point.  For
+myself, I have a great difficulty in forming an opinion.  I have very
+little doubt that the spots are depressions on the surface of the sun.
+This is more apparent when the spot is on the limb.  I have often seen
+the edge very rugged and uneven when groups of large spots were about
+to come round on the east side.  I have communicated some of my
+observations to 'The Observatory,' the monthly review of astronomy,
+edited by Mr. Christie, now Astronomer Royal,[2] as well as to The
+Scotsmam, and some of our local papers.[3]
+
+"I have also taken up the observation of variable stars in a limited
+portion of the heavens.  That, and 'hunting for comets' is about all
+the real astronomical work that an amateur can do nowadays in our
+climate, with a three-inch telescope.  I am greatly indebted to the
+Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, who regularly sends me circulars of all
+astronomical discoveries, both in this and foreign countries.  I will
+give an instance of the usefulness of these circulars.  On the morning
+of the 4th of October, 1880, a comet was discovered by Hartwig, of
+Strasburg, in the constellation of Corona.  He telegraphed it to
+Dunecht Observatory, fifteen miles from Aberdeen.  The circulars
+announcing the discovery were printed and despatched by post to various
+astronomers.  My circular reached me by 7 P.M., and, the night being
+favourable, I directed my telescope upon the part of the heavens
+indicated, and found the comet almost at once--that is, within fifteen
+hours of the date of its discovery at Strasburg.
+
+"In April, 1878, a large meteor was observed in broad daylight, passing
+from south to north, and falling it was supposed, about twenty miles
+south of Ballater.  Mr. A. S. Herschel, Professor of Physics in the
+College of Science, 'Newcastle-on-Tyne, published a letter in The
+Scotsmam, intimating his desire to be informed of the particulars of
+the meteor's flight by those who had seen it. As I was one of those who
+had observed the splendid meteor flash northwards almost under the face
+of the bright sun (at 10.25 A.M.), I sent the Professor a full account
+of what I had seen, for which he professed his strong obligations.
+This led to a very pleasant correspondence with Professor Herschel.
+After this, I devoted considerable attention to meteors, and sent many
+contributions to 'The Observatory' on the subject.[4]
+
+"You ask me what are the hours at which I make my observations? I am
+due at the railway station at six in the morning, and I leave at six in
+the evening; but I have two hours during the day for meals and rest.
+Sometimes I get a glance at the heavens in the winter mornings when the
+sky is clear, hunting for comets. My observations on the sun are
+usually made twice a day during my meal hours, or in the early morning
+or late at evening in summer, while the sun is visible.  Yes, you are
+right; I try and make the best use of my time.  It is much too short
+for all that I propose to do.  My evenings are my own.  When the
+heavens are clear, I watch them; when obscured, there are my books and
+letters.
+
+"Dr. Alexander Brown, of Arbroath, is one of my correspondents. I have
+sent him my drawings of the rings of Saturn, of Jupiter's belt and
+satellites.  Dr. Ralph Copeland, of Dunecht, is also a very good friend
+and adviser.  Occasionally, too, I send accounts of solar disturbances,
+comet a within sight, eclipses, and occultations, to the Scotsman, the
+Dundee Evening Telegraph and Evening News, or to the Blairgowrie
+Advertiser.  Besides, I am the local observer of meteorology, and
+communicate regularly with Mr. Symons.  These things entirely fill up
+my time.
+
+"Do I intend always to remain a railway porter?  Oh, yes; I am very
+comfortable! The company are very kind to me, and I hope I serve them
+faithfully.  It is true Sheriff Barclay has, without my knowledge,
+recommended me to several well-known astronomers as an observer.  But
+at my time of life changes are not to be desired.  I am quite satisfied
+to go on as I am doing.  My young people are growing up, and are
+willing to work for themselves. But come, sir," he concluded, "come
+into the garden, and look at the moon through my telescope."
+
+We went into the garden accordingly, but a cloud was over the moon, and
+we could not see it.  At the top of the garden was the self-registering
+barometer, the pitcher to measure the rainfall, and the other apparatus
+necessary to enable the "Diagram of barometer, thermometer, rain, and
+wind" to be conducted, so far as Coupar Angus is concerned.  This Mr.
+Robertson has done for four years past.  As the hour was late, and as I
+knew that my entertainer must be up by six next morning, I took my
+leave.
+
+A man's character often exhibits itself in his amusements.  One must
+have a high respect for the character of John Robertson, who looks at
+the manner in which he spends his spare time.  His astronomical work is
+altogether a labour of love.  It is his hobby; and the working man may
+have his hobby as well as the rich.  In his case he is never less idle
+than when idle.  Some may think that he is casting his bread upon the
+waters, and that he may find it after many days.  But it is not with
+this object that he carries on his leisure-hour pursuits.  Some have
+tried--sheriff Barclay among others[5]--to obtain appointments for him
+in connection with astronomical observation; others to secure
+advancement for him in his own line.  But he is a man who is satisfied
+with his lot--one of the rarest things on earth. Perhaps it is by
+looking so much up to the heavens that he has been enabled to obtain
+his portion of contentment.
+
+Next morning I found him busy at the station, making arrangements for
+the departure of the passenger train for Perth, and evidently upon the
+best of terms with everybody.  And here I leave John Robertson, the
+contented Coupar Angus astronomer.
+
+Some years ago I received from my friend Mr. Nasmyth a letter of
+introduction to the late Mr. Cooke of York, while the latter was still
+living.  I did not present it at the time; but I now proposed to visit,
+on my return homewards, the establishment which he had founded at York
+for the manufacture of telescopes and other optical instruments.
+Indeed, what a man may do for himself as well as for science, cannot be
+better illustrated than by the life of this remarkable man.
+
+Mr. Nasmyth says that he had an account from Cooke himself of his small
+beginnings.  He was originally a shoemaker in a small country village.
+Many a man has risen to distinction from a shoemaker's seat.  Bulwer,
+in his 'What will He do with It?' has discussed the difference between
+shoemakers and tailors.  "The one is thrown upon his own resources, the
+other works in the company of his fellows:  the one thinks, the other
+communicates. Cooke was a man of natural ability, and he made the best
+use of his powers.  Opportunity, sooner or later, comes to nearly all
+who work and wait, and are duly persevering.  Shoemaking was not found
+very productive; and Cooke, being fairly educated as well as
+self-educated, opened a village school.  He succeeded tolerably well.
+He taught himself geometry and mathematics, and daily application made
+him more perfect in his studies.  In course of time an extraordinary
+ambition took possession of him: no less than the construction of a
+reflecting telescope of six inches diameter.  The idea would not let
+him rest until he had accomplished his purpose.  He cast and polished
+the speculum with great labour; but just as he was about to finish it,
+the casting broke! What was to be done?  About one-fifth had broken
+away, but still there remained a large piece, which he proceeded to
+grind down to a proper diameter.  His perseverance was rewarded by the
+possession of a 3 1/2 inch speculum, which by his rare skill he worked
+into a reflecting telescope of very good quality.
+
+He was, however, so much annoyed by the treacherously brittle nature of
+the speculum metal that he abandoned its use, and betook himself to
+glass.  He found that before he could make a good achromatic telescope
+it was necessary that he should calculate his curves from data
+depending upon the nature of the glass.  He accordingly proceeded to
+study the optical laws of refraction, in which his knowledge of
+geometry and mathematics greatly helped him.  And in course of time, by
+his rare and exquisite manipulative skill, he succeeded in constructing
+a four-inch refractor, or achromatic telescope, of admirable defining
+power.
+
+The excellence of his first works became noised abroad. Astronomical
+observers took an interest in him; and friends began to gather round
+him, amongst others the late Professor Phillips and the Rev. Vernon
+Harcourt, Dean of York.  Cooke received an order for a telescope like
+his own; then he received other orders.  At last he gave up teaching,
+and took to telescope making.  He advanced step by step; and like a
+practical, thoughtful man, he invented special tools and machinery for
+the purpose of grinding and polishing his glasses.  He opened a shop in
+York, and established himself as a professed maker of telescopes.  He
+added to this the business of a general optician, his wife attending to
+the sale in the shop, while he himself attended to the workshop.
+
+Such was the excellence of his work that the demand for his telescopes
+largely increased.  They were not only better manufactured, but greatly
+cheaper than those which had before been in common use.  Three of the
+London makers had before possessed a monopoly of the business; but now
+the trade was thrown open by the enterprise of Cooke of York.  He
+proceeded to erect a complete factory--the Buckingham Street works.
+His brother took charge of the grinding and polishing of the lenses,
+while his sons attended to the mechanism of the workshop; but Cooke
+himself was the master spirit of the whole concern. Everything that he
+did was good and accurate.  His clocks were about the best that could
+be made.  He carried out his clock-making business with the same zeal
+that he devoted to the perfection of his achromatic telescopes.  His
+work was always first-rate.  There was no scamping about it.
+Everything that he did was thoroughly good and honest.  His 4 1/4-inch
+equatorials are perfect gems; and his admirable achromatics, many of
+them of the largest class, are known all over the world.  Altogether,
+Thomas Cooke was a remarkable instance of the power of Self-Help.
+
+Such was the story of his Life, as communicated by Mr. Nasmyth. I was
+afterwards enabled, through the kind assistance of his widow, Mrs.
+Cooke, whom I saw at Saltburn, in Yorkshire, to add a few particulars
+to his biography.
+
+"My husband," she said, "was the son of a working shoemaker at
+Pocklington, in the East Riding.  He was born in 1807.  His father's
+circumstances were so straitened that he was not able to do much for
+him; but he sent him to the National school, where he received some
+education.  He remained there for about two years, and then he was put
+to his father's trade.  But he greatly disliked shoemaking, and longed
+to get away from it.  He liked the sun, the sky, and the open air.  He
+was eager to be a sailor, and, having heard of the voyages of Captain
+Cook, he wished to go to sea.  He spent his spare hours in learning
+navigation, that he might be a good seaman.  But when he was ready to
+set out for Hull, the entreaties and tears of his mother prevailed on
+him to give up the project; and then he had to consider what he should
+do to maintain himself at home.
+
+"He proceeded with his self-education, and with such small aids as he
+could procure, he gathered together a good deal of knowledge.  He
+thought that he might be able to teach others. Everybody liked him, for
+his diligence, his application, and his good sense.  At the age of
+seventeen he was employed to teach the sons of the neighbouring
+farmers.  He succeeded so well that in the following year he opened a
+village school at Beilby.  He went on educating himself, and learnt a
+little of everything.  He next removed his school to Kirpenbeck, near
+Stamford Bridge; and it was there," proceeded Mrs. Cooke, "that I got
+to know him, for I was one of his pupils."
+
+"He first learned mathematics by buying an old volume at a bookstall,
+with a spare shilling.  That was before he began to teach.  He also got
+odd sheets, and read other books about geometry and mathematics, before
+he could buy them; for he had very little to spare.  He studied and
+learnt as much as he could.
+
+He was very anxious to get an insight into knowledge.  He studied
+optics before he had any teaching.  Then he tried to turn his knowledge
+to account.  While at Kirpenbeck he made his first object-glass out of
+a thick tumbler bottom.  He ground the glass cleverly by hand; then he
+got a piece of tin and soldered it together, and mounted the
+object-glass in it so as to form a telescope.
+
+"He next got a situation at the Rev. Mr. Shapkley's school in
+Micklegate, York, where he taught mathematics.  He also taught in
+ladies' schools in the city, and did what he could to make a little
+income.  Our intimacy had increased, and we had arranged to get
+married.  He was twenty-four, and I was nineteen, when we were happily
+united.  I was then his pupil for life.
+
+"Professor Phillips saw his first telescope, with the object-glass made
+out of the thick tumbler bottom, and he was so much pleased with it
+that my husband made it over to him.  But he also got an order for
+another, from Mr. Gray, solicitor, more by way of encouragement than
+because Mr. Gray wanted it, for he was a most kind man.  The
+object-glass was of four-inch aperture, and when mounted the defining
+power was found excellent.  My husband was so successful with his
+telescopes that he went on from smaller to greater, and at length he
+began to think of devoting himself to optics altogether.  His knowledge
+of mathematics had led him on, and friends were always ready to
+encourage him in his pursuits.
+
+"During this time he had continued his teaching at the school in the
+day-time; and he also taught on his own account the sons of gentlemen
+in the evening: amongst others the sons of Dr. Wake and Dr. Belcomb,
+both medical men.  He was only making about 100L. a year, and his
+family was increasing.  It was necessary to be very economical, and I
+was careful of everything.  At length my uncle Milner agreed to advance
+about 100L. as a loan.  A shop was taken in Stonegate in 1836, and
+provided with optical instruments.  I attended to the shop, while my
+husband worked in the back premises.  To bring in a little ready money,
+I also took in lodgers.
+
+"My husband now devoted himself entirely to telescope making and
+optics.  But he took in other work.  His pumps were considered
+excellent; and he furnished all those used at the pump-room, Harrogate.
+His clocks, telescope-driving[6] and others, were of the best.  He
+commenced turret-clock making in 1852, and made many improvements in
+them.  We had by that time removed to Coney Street; and in 1855 the
+Buckingham Works were established, where a large number of first-rate
+workmen were employed.  A place was also taken in Southampton Street,
+London, in 1868, for the sale of the instruments manufactured at York."
+
+Thus far Mrs. Cooke.  It may be added that Thomas Cooke revived the art
+of making refracting telescopes in England.  Since the discovery by
+Dollond, in 1758, of the relation between the refractive and dispersive
+powers of different kinds of glass, and the invention by that
+distinguished optician of the achromatic telescope, the manufacture of
+that instrument had been confined to England, where the best flint
+glass was made.  But through the short-sighted policy of the
+Government, an exorbitant duty was placed upon the manufacture of flint
+glass, and the English trade was almost entirely stamped out.  We had
+accordingly to look to foreign countries for the further improvement of
+the achromatic telescope, which Dollond had so much advanced.
+
+A humble mechanic of Brenetz, in the Canton of Neufchatel, Switzerland,
+named Guinaud, having directed his attention to the manufacture of
+flint glass towards the close of last century, at length succeeded,
+after persevering efforts, in producing masses of that substance
+perfectly free from stain, and therefore adapted for the construction
+of the object-glasses of telescopes.
+
+Frauenhofer, the Bavarian optician, having just begun business, heard
+of the wonderful success of Guinaud, and induced the Swiss mechanic to
+leave Brenetz and enter into partnership with him at Munich in 1805.
+
+The result was perfectly successful; and the new firm turned out some
+of the largest object-glasses which had until then been made.  With one
+of these instruments, having an aperture of 9.9 inches, Struve, the
+Russian astronomer, made some of his greatest discoveries.  Frauenhofer
+was succeeded by Merz and Mahler, who carried out his views, and turned
+out the famous refractors of Pulkowa Observatory in Russia, and of
+Harvard University in the United States.  These last two telescopes
+contained object-glasses of fifteen inches aperture.
+
+The pernicious impost upon flint glass having at length been removed by
+the English Government, an opportunity was afforded to our native
+opticians to recover the supremacy which they had so long lost.  It is
+to Thomas Cooke, more than to any other person, that we owe the
+recovery of this manufacture.  Mr. Lockyer, writing in 1878, says: "The
+two largest and most perfectly mounted refractors on the German form at
+present in existence are those at Gateshead and Washington, U.S.  The
+former belongs to Mr. Newall, a gentleman who, connected with those who
+were among the first to recognise the genius of our great English
+optician, Cooke, did not hesitate to risk thousands of pounds in one
+great experiment, the success of which will have a most important
+bearing upon the astronomy of the future."[7]
+
+The progress which Mr. Cooke made in his enterprise was slow but
+steady.  Shortly after he began business as an optician, he became
+dissatisfied with the method of hand-polishing, and made arrangements
+to polish the object-glasses by machinery worked by steam power.  By
+this means he secured perfect accuracy of figure.  He was also able to
+turn out a large quantity of glasses, so as to furnish astronomers in
+all parts of the world with telescopes of admirable defining power, at
+a comparatively moderate price.  In all his works he endeavoured to
+introduce simplicity.  He left his mark on nearly every astronomical
+instrument.  He found the equatorial comparatively clumsy; he left it
+nearly perfect.  His beautiful "dividing machine," for marking
+divisions on the circles, four feet in diameter and altogether
+self-acting--which divides to five minutes and reads off to five
+seconds is not the least of his triumphs.
+
+The following are some of his more important achromatic telescopes.  In
+1850, when he had been fourteen years in business, he furnished his
+earliest patron, Professor Phillips, with an equatorial telescope of 6
+1/4 inches aperture.  His second (of 6 1/8) was supplied two years
+later, to James Wigglesworth of Wakefield.  William Gray, Solicitor, of
+York, one of his earliest friends, bought a 6 1/2-inch telescope in
+1853. In the following year, Professor Pritchard of Oxford was supplied
+with a 6 1/2-inch.  The other important instruments were as follows: in
+1854, Dr. Fisher, Liverpool, 6 inches; in 1855, H. L. Patterson,
+Gateshead, 7 1/4 inches; in 1858, J. G. Barclay, Layton, Essex, 7 1/4
+inches; in 1857, Isaac Fletcher, Cockermouth, 9 1/4 inches; in 1858,
+Sir W. Keith Murray, Ochtertyre, Crieff, 9 inches; in 1859, Captain
+Jacob, 9 inches; in 1860, James Nasmyth, Penshurst, 8 inches; in 1861,
+another telescope to J. G. Barclay, 10 inches; in 1864, the Rev. W. R.
+Dawes, Haddenham, Berks, 8 inches; and in 1867, Edward Crossley,
+Bermerside, Halifax, 9 3/8 inches.
+
+In 1855 Mr. Cooke obtained a silver medal at the first Paris Exhibition
+for a six-inch equatorial telescope.[8]  This was the highest prize
+awarded.  A few years later he was invited to Osborne by the late
+Prince Albert, to discuss with his Royal Highness the particulars of an
+equatorial mounting with a clock movement, for which he subsequently
+received the order.  On its completion he superintended the erection of
+the telescope, and had the honour of directing it to several of the
+celestial objects for the Queen and the Princess Alice, and answered
+their many interesting questions as to the stars and planets within
+sight.
+
+Mr. Cooke was put to his mettle towards the close of his life.  A
+contest had long prevailed among telescope makers as to who should turn
+out the largest refracting instrument.  The two telescopes of fifteen
+inches aperture, prepared by Merz and Mahler, of Munich, were the
+largest then in existence.  Their size was thought quite extraordinary.
+But in 1846, Mr. Alvan Clark, of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, U.S.,
+spent his leisure hour's in constructing small telescopes.[9] He was
+not an optician, nor a mathematician, but a portrait painter.  He
+possessed, however, enough knowledge of optics and of mechanics, to
+enable him to make and judge a telescope.  He spent some ten years in
+grinding lenses, and was at length enabled to produce objectives equal
+in quality to any ever made.
+
+In 1853, the Rev. W. E. Dawes--one of Mr. Cooke's customers--purchased
+an object-glass from Mr. Clark.  It was so satisfactory that he ordered
+several others, and finally an entire telescope. The American artist
+then began to be appreciated in his own country.  In 1860 he received
+an order for a refractor of eighteen inches aperture, three inches
+greater than the largest which had up to that time been made.  This
+telescope was intended for the Observatory of Mississippi; but the
+Civil War prevented its being removed to the South; and the telescope
+was sold to the Astronomical Society of Chicago and mounted in the
+Observatory of that city.
+
+And now comes in the rivalry of Mr. Cooke of York, or rather of his
+patron, Mr. Newall of Gateshead.  At the Great Exhibition of London, in
+1862, two large circular blocks of glass, about two inches thick and
+twenty-six inches in diameter, were shown by the manufacturers, Messrs.
+Chance of Birmingham.  These discs were found to be of perfect quality,
+and suitable for object-glasses of the best kind.  At the close of the
+Exhibition, they were purchased by Mr. Newall, and transferred to the
+workshops of Messrs. Cooke and Sons at York.  To grind and polish and
+mount these discs was found a work of great labour and difficulty.  Mr.
+Lockyer says, "such an achievement marks an epoch in telescopic
+astronomy, and the skill of Mr. Cooke and the munificence of Mr. Newall
+will long be remembered."
+
+When finished, the object-glass had an aperture of nearly twenty-five
+inches, and was of much greater power than the eighteen-inch Chicago
+instrument.  The length of the tube was about thirty-two feet.  The
+cast-iron pillar supporting the whole was nineteen feet in height from
+the ground, and the weight of the whole instrument was about six tons.
+In preparing this telescope, nearly everything, from its extraordinary
+size, had to be specially arranged.[10]  The great anxiety involved in
+these arrangements, and the constant study and application told heavily
+upon Mr. Cooke, and though the instrument wanted only a few touches to
+make it complete, his health broke down, and he died on the 19th of
+October, 1868, at the comparatively early age of sixty-two.
+
+Mr. Cooke's death was felt, in a measure, to be a national loss. His
+science and skill had restored to England the prominent position she
+had held in the time of Dollond; and, had he lived, even more might
+have been expected from him.  We believe that the Gold Medal and
+Fellowship of the Royal Society were waiting for him; but, as one of
+his friends said to his widow, "neither worth nor talent avails when
+the great ordeal is presented to us."  In a letter from Professor
+Pritchard, he said: "Your husband has left his mark upon his age.  No
+optician of modern times has gained a higher reputation; and I for one
+do not hesitate to call his loss national; for he cannot be replaced at
+present by any one else in his own peculiar line.  I shall carry the
+recollection of the affectionate esteem in which I held Thomas Cooke
+with me to my grave.  Alas! that he should be cut off just at the
+moment when he was about to reap the rewards due to his unrivalled
+excellence.  I have said that F.R.S. and medals were to be his.  But he
+is, we fondly trust, in a better and higher state than that of earthly
+distinction.  Best assured, your husband's name must ever be associated
+with the really great men of his day.  Those who knew him will ever
+cherish his memory."
+
+Mr. Cooke left behind him the great works which he founded in
+Buckingham Street, York.  They still give employment to a large number
+of skilled and intelligent artizans.  There I found many important
+works in progress,--the manufacture of theodolites, of prismatic
+compasses (for surveying), of Bolton's range finder, and of telescopes
+above all.  In the factory yard was the commencement of the Observatory
+for Greenwich, to contain the late Mr. Lassell's splendid two feet
+Newtonian reflecting telescope, which has been presented to the nation.
+Mr. Cooke's spirit still haunts the works, which are carried on with
+the skill, the vigour, and the perseverance, transmitted by him to his
+sons.
+
+While at York, I was informed by Mr. Wigglesworth, the partner of
+Messrs. Cooke, of an energetic young astronomer at Bainbridge, in the
+mountain-district of Yorkshire, who had not only been able to make a
+telescope of his own, but was an excellent photographer. He was not yet
+thirty years of age, but had encountered and conquered many
+difficulties.  This is a sort of character which is more often to be
+met with in remote country places than in thickly-peopled cities.  In
+the country a man is more of an individual; in a city he is only one of
+a multitude.  The country boy has to rely upon himself, and has to work
+in comparative solitude, while the city boy is distracted by
+excitements.  Life in the country is full of practical teachings;
+whereas life in the city may be degraded by frivolities and pleasures,
+which are too often the foes of work.  Hence we have usually to go to
+out-of-the-way corners of the country for our hardest brain-workers.
+Contact with the earth is a great restorer of power; and it is to the
+country folks that we must ever look for the recuperative power of the
+nation as regards health, vigour, and manliness.
+
+Bainbridge is a remote country village, situated among the high lands
+or Fells on the north-western border of Yorkshire.  The mountains there
+send out great projecting buttresses into the dales; and the waters
+rush down from the hills, and form waterfalls or Forces, which Turner
+has done so much to illustrate.  The river Bain runs into the Yore at
+Bainbridge, which is supposed to be the site of an old Roman station.
+Over the door of the Grammar School is a mermaid, said to have been
+found in a camp on the top of Addleborough, a remarkable limestone hill
+which rises to the south-east of Bainbridge.  It is in this
+grammar-school that we find the subject of this little autobiography.
+He must be allowed to tell the story of his life--which he describes as
+'Work: Good, Bad, and Indifferent--in his own words:
+
+"I was born on November 20th, 1853.  In my childhood I suffered from
+ill-health.  My parents let me play about in the open air, and did not
+put me to school until I had turned my sixth year. One day, playing in
+the shoemaker's shop, William Farrel asked me if I knew my letters.  I
+answered 'No.'  He then took down a primer from a shelf, and began to
+teach me the alphabet, at the same time amusing me by likening the
+letters to familiar objects in his shop.  I soon learned to read, and
+in about six weeks I surprised my father by reading from an easy book
+which the shoemaker had given me.
+
+"My father then took me into the school, of which he was master, and my
+education may be said fairly to have begun.  My progress, however, was
+very slow partly owing to ill-health, but more, I must acknowledge, to
+carelessness and inattention.  In fact, during the first four years I
+was at school, I learnt very little of anything, with the exception of
+reciting verses, which I seemed to learn without any mental effort.  My
+memory became very retentive.  I found that by attentively reading half
+a page of print, or more, from any of the school-books, I could repeat
+the whole of it without missing a word.  I can scarcely explain how I
+did it; but I think it was by paying strict attention to the words as
+words, and forming a mental picture of the paragraphs as they were
+grouped in the book.  Certain, I am, that their sense never made much
+impression on me, for, when questioned by the teacher, I was always
+sent to the bottom of the class, though apparently I had learned my
+exercise to perfection.
+
+"When I was twelve years old, I made the acquaintance of a very
+ingenious boy, who came to our school.  Samuel Bridge was a born
+mechanic.  Though only a year older than myself, such was his ability
+in the use of tools, that he could construct a model of any machine
+that he saw.  He awakened in me a love of mechanical construction, and
+together we made models of colliery winding-frames, iron-rolling mills,
+trip-hammers, and water-wheels.  Some of them were not mere toys, but
+constructed to scale, and were really good working models.  This love
+of mechanical construction has never left me, and I shall always
+remember with affection Samuel Bridge, who first taught me to use the
+hammer and file.  The last I heard of him was in 1875, when he passed
+his examination as a schoolmaster, in honours, and was at the head of
+his list.
+
+"During the next two years, when between twelve and fourteen, I made
+comparatively slow progress at school.  I remember having to write out
+the fourth commandment from memory.  The teacher counted twenty-three
+mistakes in ten lines of my writing.  It will be seen from this, that,
+as regards learning, I continued heedless and backward.  About this
+time, my father, who was a good violinist, took me under his tuition.
+He made me practice on the violin about an hour and a half a day.  I
+continued this for a long time.  But the result was failure.  I hated
+the violin, and would never play unless compelled to do so.  I suppose
+the secret was that I had no 'ear.'
+
+"It was different with subjects more to my mind.  Looking over my
+father's books one day, I came upon Gregory's 'Handbook of Inorganic
+Chemistry,' and began reading it.  I was fascinated with the book, and
+studied it morning, noon, and night--in fact, every time when I could
+snatch a few minutes.  I really believe that at one time I could have
+repeated the whole of the book from memory.  Now I found the value of
+arithmetic, and set to work in earnest on proportion, vulgar and
+decimal fractions, and, in fact, everything in school work that I could
+turn to account in the science of chemistry.  The result of this sudden
+application was that I was seized with an illness.  For some months I
+had incessant headache; my hair became dried up, then turned grey, and
+finally came off.  Weighing myself shortly after my recovery, at the
+age of fifteen, I found that I just balanced fifty-six pounds.  I took
+up mensuration, then astronomy, working at them slowly, but giving the
+bulk of my spare time to chemistry.
+
+"In the year 1869, when I was sixteen years old, I came across Cuthbert
+Bede's book, entitled 'Photographic Pleasures.' It is an amusing book,
+giving an account of the rise and progress of photography, and at the
+same time having a good-natured laugh at it.  I read the book
+carefully, and took up photography as an amusement, using some
+apparatus which belonged to my father, who had at one time dabbled in
+the art.  I was soon able to take fair photographs.  I then decided to
+try photography as a business.  I was apprenticed to a photographer,
+and spent four years with him--one year at Northallerton, and three at
+Darlington.  When my employer removed to Darlington, I joined the
+School of Art there.
+
+"Having read an account of the experiments of M. E. Becquerel, a French
+savant, on photographing in the colours of nature, my curiosity was
+awakened.  I carefully repeated his experiments, and convinced myself
+that he was correct.  I continued my experiments in heliochromy for a
+period of about two years, during which time I made many photographs in
+colours, and discovered a method of developing the coloured image,
+which enabled me to shorten the exposure to one-fortieth of the
+previously-required time.  During these experiments, I came upon some
+curious results, which, I think, might puzzle our scientific men to
+account for.  For instance, I proved the existence of black light, or
+rays of such a nature as to turn the rose-coloured surface of the
+sensitive-plate black--that is, rays reflected from the black paint of
+drapery, produced black in the picture, and not the effect of darkness.
+I was, like Becquerel, unable to fix the coloured image without
+destroying the colours; though the plates would keep a long while in
+the dark, and could be examined in a subdued, though not in a strong
+light.  The coloured image was faint, but the colours came out with
+great truth and delicacy.
+
+"I began to attend the School of Art at Darlington on the 6th of March,
+1872.  I found, on attempting to draw, that I had naturally a correct
+eye and hand; and I made such progress, that when the students'
+drawings were examined, previously to sending them up to South
+Kensington, all my work was approved.  I was then set to draw from the
+cast in chalk, although I had only been at the school for a month.  I
+tried for all the four subjects at the May examination, and was
+fortunate enough to pass three of them, and obtained as a prize
+Packett's 'Sciography.' I worked hard during the next year, and sent up
+seventeen works; for one of these, the 'Venus de Milo,' I gained a
+studentship.
+
+"I then commenced the study of human anatomy, and began water-colour
+painting, reading all the works upon art on which I could lay my hand.
+At the May examination of 1873, I completed my second-grade
+certificate, and at the end of the year of my studentship, I accepted
+the office of teacher in the School of Art.  This art-training created
+in me a sort of disgust for photography, as I saw that the science of
+photography had really very little genuine art in it, and was more
+allied to a mechanical pursuit than to an artistic one.  Now, when I
+look back on my past ideas, I clearly see that a great deal of this
+disgust was due to my ignorance and self-conceit.
+
+"In 1874, I commenced painting in tempora, and then in oil, copying the
+pictures lent to the school from the South Kensington Art Library.  I
+worked also from still life, and began sketching from nature in oil and
+water-colours, sometimes selling my work to help me to buy materials
+for art-work and scientific experiments.  I was, however, able to do
+very little in the following year, as I was at home suffering from
+sciatica.  For nine months I could not stand erect, but had to hobble
+about with a stick.  This illness caused me to give up my teachership.
+
+"Early in 1876 I returned to Darlington.  I went on with my art studies
+and the science of chemistry; though I went no further in heliochromy.
+I pushed forward with anatomy.  I sent about fifteen works to South
+Kensington, and gained as my third-grade prize in list A the
+'Dictionary of Terms used in Art' by Thomas Fairholt, which I found a
+very useful work.  Towards the end of the year, my father, whose health
+was declining, sent for me home to assist him in the school.  I now
+commenced the study of Algebra and Euclid in good earnest, but found it
+tough work.  My father, though a fair mathematician, was unable to give
+me any instruction; for he had been seized with paralysis, from which
+he never recovered.  Before he died, he recommended me to try for a
+schoolmaster's certificate; and I promised him that I would.  I
+obtained a situation as master of a small village school, not under
+Government inspection; and I studied during the year, and obtained a
+second class certificate at the Durham Diocesan College at Christmas,
+1877.  Early in the following year, the school was placed under
+Government inspection, and became a little more remunerative.
+
+"I now went on with chemical analysis, making my own apparatus.
+Requiring an intense heat on a small scale, I invented a furnace that
+burnt petroleum oil.  It was blown by compressed air.  After many
+failures, I eventually succeeded in bringing it to such perfection that
+in 7 1/2 minutes it would bring four ounces of steel into a perfectly
+liquefied state.  I next commenced the study of electricity and
+magnetism; and then acoustics, light, and heat.  I constructed all my
+apparatus myself, and acquired the art of glass-blowing, in order to
+make my own chemical apparatus, and thus save expense.
+
+"I then went on with Algebra and Euclid, and took up plane
+trigonometry; but I devoted most of my time to electricity and
+magnetism.  I constructed various scientific apparatus--a syren,
+telephones, microphones, an Edison's megaphone, as well as an
+electrometer, and a machine for covering electric wire with cotton or
+silk.  A friend having lent me a work on artificial memory, I began to
+study it; but the work led me into nothing but confusion, and I soon
+found that if I did not give it up, I should be left with no memory at
+all.  I still went an sketching from Nature, not so much as a study,
+but as a means of recruiting my health, which was far from being good.
+At the beginning of 1881 I obtained my present situation as assistant
+master at the Yorebridge Grammar School, of which the Rev. W.
+Balderston, M.A., is principal.
+
+"Soon after I became settled here, I spent some of my leisure time in
+reading Emerson's 'Optics,' a work I bought at an old bookstall.  I was
+not very successful with it, owing to my deficient mathematical
+knowledge.  On the May Science Examinations of 1881 taking place at
+Newcastle-on-Tyne, applied for permission to sit, and obtained four
+tickets for the following subjects:--Mathematics, Electricity and
+Magnetism, Acoustics, Light and Heat, and Physiography.  During the
+preceding month I had read up the first three subjects, but, being
+pressed for time, I gave up the idea of taking physiography.  However,
+on the last night of the examinations, I had some conversation with one
+of the students as to the subjects required for physiography.  He said,
+'You want a little knowledge of everything in a scientific way, and
+nothing much of anything.' I determined to try, for 'nothing much of
+anything' suited me exactly.  I rose early next morning, and as soon as
+the shops were open I went and bought a book on the subject, 'Outlines
+of Physiography,' by W. Lawson, F.R.G.S.  I read it all day, and at
+night sat for the examination.  The results of my examinations were,
+failure in mathematics, but second class advanced grade certificates in
+all the others.  I do not attach any credit to passing in physiography,
+but merely relate the circumstance as curiously showing what can be
+done by a good 'cram.'
+
+"The failure in mathematics caused me to take the subject 'by the
+horns,' to see what I could do with it.  I began by going over
+quadratic equations, and I gradually solved the whole of those given in
+Todhunter's larger 'Algebra.' Then I re-read the progressions,
+permutations, combinations; the binomial theorem, with indices and
+surds; the logarithmic theorem and series, converging and diverging.  I
+got Todhunter's larger 'Plane Trigonometry,' and read it, with the
+theorems contained in it; then his 'Spherical Trigonometry;' his
+'Analytical Geometry, of Two Dimensions,' and 'Conics.' I next obtained
+De Morgan's 'Differential and Integral Calculus,' then Woolhouse's, and
+lastly, Todhunter's.  I found this department of mathematics difficult
+and perplexing to the last degree; but I mastered it sufficiently to
+turn it to some account.  This last mathematical course represents
+eighteen months of hard work, and I often sat up the whole night
+through.  One result of the application was a permanent injury to my
+sight.
+
+"Wanting some object on which to apply my newly-acquired mathematical
+knowledge, I determined to construct an astronomical telescope.  I got
+Airy's 'Geometrical Optics,' and read it through.  Then I searched
+through all my English Mechanic (a scientific paper that I take), and
+prepared for my work by reading all the literature on the subject that
+I could obtain.  I bought two discs of glass, of 6 1/2 inches diameter,
+and began to grind them to a spherical curve 12 feet radius.  I got
+them hollowed out, but failed in fining them through lack of skill.
+This occurred six times in succession; but at the seventh time the
+polish came up beautifully, with scarcely a scratch upon the surface.
+Stopping my work one night, and it being starlight, I thought I would
+try the mirror on a star.  I had a wooden frame ready for the purpose,
+which the carpenter had made for me. Judge of my surprise and delight
+when I found that the star disc enlarged nearly in the same manner from
+each side of the focal point, thus making it extremely probable that I
+had accidentally hit on a near approach to the parabola in the curve of
+my mirror. And such proved to be the case.  I have the mirror still,
+and its performance is very good indeed.
+
+"I went no further with this mirror, for fear or spoiling it.  It is
+very slightly grey in the centre, but not sufficiently so as to
+materially injure its performance.  I mounted it in a wooden tube,
+placed it on a wooden stand, and used it for a time thus mounted; but
+getting disgusted with the tremor and inconvenience I had to put up
+with, I resolved to construct for it an iron equatorial stand.  I made
+my patterns, got them cast, turned and fitted them myself, grinding all
+the working parts together with emery and oil, and fitted a
+tangent-screw motion to drive the instrument in right ascension.  Now I
+found the instrument a pleasure to use; and I determined to add to it
+divided circles, and to accurately adjust it to the meridian.  I made
+my circles of well-seasoned mahogany, with slips of paper on their
+edges, dividing them with my drawing instruments, and varnishing them
+to keep out the wet.  I shall never forget that sunny afternoon upon
+which I computed the hour-angle for Jupiter, and set the instrument so
+that by calculation Jupiter should pass through the field of the
+instrument at 1h. 25m. 15s.  With my watch in my hand, and my eye to
+the eye-piece, I waited for the orb.  When his glorious face appeared,
+almost in a direct line for the centre of the field, I could not
+contain my joy, but shouted out as loudly as I could,--greatly to the
+astonishment of old George Johnson, the miller, who happened to be in
+the field where I had planted my stand!
+
+"Now, though I had obtained what I wanted--a fairly good
+instrument,--still I was not quite satisfied; as I had produced it by a
+fortunate chance, and not by skill alone.  I therefore set to work
+again on the other disc of glass, to try if I could finish it in such a
+way as to excel the first one.  After nearly a year's work I found that
+I could only succeed in equalling it. But then, during this time, I had
+removed the working of mirrors from mere chance to a fair amount of
+certainty.  By bringing my mathematical knowledge to bear on the
+subject, I had devised a method of testing and measuring my work which,
+I am happy to say, has been fairly successful, and has enabled me to
+produce the spherical, elliptic, parabolic, or hyperbolic curve in my
+mirrors, with almost unvarying success.  The study of the practical
+working of specula and lenses has also absorbed a good deal of my spare
+time during the last two years, and the work involved has been scarcely
+less difficult.  Altogether, I consider this last year (1882-3) to mark
+the busiest period of my life.
+
+"It will be observed that I have only given an account of those
+branches of study in which I have put to practical test the deductions
+from theoretical reasoning.  I am at present engaged on the theory of
+the achromatic object-glass, with regard to spherical chromatism--a
+subject upon which, I believe, nearly all our text-books are silent,
+but one nevertheless of vital importance to the optician.  I can only
+proceed very slowly with it, on account of having to grind and figure
+lenses for every step of the theory, to keep myself in the right track;
+as mere theorizing is apt to lead one very much astray, unless it be
+checked by constant experiment.  For this particular subject, lenses
+must be ground firstly to spherical, and then to curves of conic
+sections, so as to eliminate spherical aberration from each lens; so
+that it will be observed that this subject is not without its
+difficulties.
+
+"About a month ago (September, 1883), I determined to put to the test
+the statement of some of our theorists, that the surface of a rotating
+fluid is either a parabola or a hyperbola.  I found by experiment that
+it is neither, but an approximation to the tractrix (a modification of
+the catenary), if anything definite; as indeed one, on thinking over
+the matter, might feel certain it would be--the tractrix being the
+curve of least friction.
+
+"In astronomy, I have really done very little beyond mere algebraical
+working of the fundamental theorems, and a little casual observation of
+the telescope.  So far, I must own, I have taken more pleasure in the
+theory and construction of the telescope, than in its use."
+
+Such is Samuel Lancaster's history of the growth and development of his
+mind.  I do not think there is anything more interesting in the
+'Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties.' His life has been a gallant
+endeavour to win further knowledge, though too much at the expense of a
+constitution originally delicate.  He pursues science with patience and
+determination, and wooes truth with the ardour of a lover.  Eulogy of
+his character would here be unnecessary; but, if he takes due care of
+his health, we shall hear more of him.[11]
+
+More astronomers in humble life!  There seems to to be no end of them.
+There must be a great fascination in looking up to the heavens, and
+seeing those wondrous worlds careering in the far-off infinite.  Let me
+look back to the names I have introduced in this chapter of
+autobiography.  First, there was my worthy porter friend at Coupar
+Angus station, enjoying himself with his three-inch object-glass.  Then
+there was the shoemaker and teacher, and eventually the first-rate
+maker of achromatic instruments.  Look also at the persons whom he
+supplied with his best telescopes.  Among them we find princes,
+baronets, clergymen, professors, doctors, solicitors, manufacturers,
+and inventors.  Then we come to the portrait painter, who acquired the
+highest supremacy in the art of telescope making; then to Mr. Lassell,
+the retired brewer, whose daughters presented his instrument to the
+nation; and, lastly, to the extraordinary young schoolmaster of
+Bainbridge, in Yorkshire.  And now before I conclude this last chapter,
+I have to relate perhaps the most extraordinary story of all--that of
+another astronomer in humble life, in the person of a slate counter at
+Port Penrhyn, Bangor, North Wales.
+
+While at Birnam, I received a letter from my old friend the Rev.
+Charles Wicksteed, formerly of Leeds, calling my attention to this
+case, and inclosing an extract from the letter of a young lady, one of
+his correspondents at Bangor.  In that letter she said: "What you write
+of Mr. Christmas Evans reminds me very much of a visit I paid a few
+evenings ago to an old man in Upper Bangor.  He works on the Quay, but
+has a very decided taste for astronomy, his leisure time being spent in
+its study, with a great part of his earnings.  I went there with some
+friends to see an immense telescope, which he has made almost entirely
+without aid, preparing the glasses as far as possible himself, and
+sending them away merely to have their concavity changed.  He showed us
+all his treasures with the greatest delight, explaining in English, but
+substituting Welsh when at a loss.  He has scarcely ever been at
+school, but has learnt English entirely from books.  Among other things
+he showed us were a Greek Testament and a Hebrew Bible, both of which
+he can read.  His largest telescope, which is several yards long, he
+has named 'Jumbo,' and through it he told us he saw the snowcap on the
+pole of Mars.  He had another smaller telescope, made by himself, and
+had a spectroscope in process of making.  He is now quite old, but his
+delight in his studies is still unbounded and unabated. It seems so sad
+that he has had no right opportunity for developing his talent."
+
+Mr. Wicksteed was very much interested in the case, and called my
+attention to it, that I might add the story to my repertory of
+self-helping men.  While at York I received a communication from Miss
+Grace Ellis, the young lady in question, informing me of the name of
+the astronomer--John Jones, Albert Street, Upper Bangor--and intimating
+that he would be glad to see me any evening after six.  As railways
+have had the effect of bringing places very close together in point of
+time--making of Britain, as it were, one great town--and as the autumn
+was brilliant, and the holiday season not at an end, I had no
+difficulty in diverging from my journey, and taking Bangor on my way
+homeward. Starting from York in the morning, and passing through Leeds,
+Manchester, and Chester, I reached Bangor in the afternoon, and had my
+first interview with Mr. Jones that very evening.
+
+I found him, as Miss Grace Ellis had described, active, vigorous, and
+intelligent; his stature short, his face well-formed, his eyes keen and
+bright.  I was first shown into his little parlour downstairs,
+furnished  with his books and some of his instruments; I was then taken
+to his tiny room upstairs, where he had his big reflecting telescope,
+by means of which he had seen, through the chamber window, the snowcap
+of Mars.  He is so fond of philology that I found he had no fewer than
+twenty-six dictionaries, all bought out of his own earnings.  "I am
+fond of all knowledge," he said--"of Reuben, Dan, and Issachar; but I
+have a favourite, a Benjamin, and that is Astronomy.  I would sell all
+of them into Egypt, but preserve my Benjamin."  His story is briefly as
+follows:--
+
+"I was born at Bryngwyn Bach, Anglesey, in 1818, and I am sixty-five
+years old.  I got the little education I have, when a boy.  Owen Owen,
+who was a cousin of my mother's, kept a school at a chapel in the
+village of Dwyrain, in Anglesey.  It was said of Owen that he never had
+more than a quarter of a year's schooling, so that he could not teach
+me much.  I went to his school at seven, and remained with him about a
+year.  Then he left; and some time afterwards I went for a short period
+to an old preacher's school, at Brynsieneyn chapel.  There I learnt but
+little, the teacher being negligent.  He allowed the children to play
+together too much, and he punished them for slight offences, making
+them obstinate and disheartened.  But I remember his once saying to the
+other children, that I ran through my little lesson 'like a coach.'
+However, when I was about twelve years old, my father died, and in
+losing him I lost almost all the little I had learnt during the short
+periods I had been at school.  Then I went to work for the farmers.
+
+"In this state of ignorance I remained for years, until the time came
+when on Sunday I used to saddle the old black mare for Cadwalladr
+Williams, the Calvinist Methodist preacher, at Pen Ceint, Anglesey; and
+after he had ridden away, I used to hide in his library during the
+sermon, and there I learnt a little that I shall not soon forget.  In
+that way I had many a draught of knowledge, as it were, by stealth.
+Having a strong taste for music, I was much attracted by choral
+singing; and on Sundays and in the evenings I tried to copy out airs
+from different books, and accustomed my hand a little to writing.  This
+tendency was, however, choked within me by too much work with the
+cattle, and by other farm labour.  In a word, I had but little fair
+weather in my search for knowledge.  One thing enticed me from another,
+to the detriment of my plans; some fair Eve often standing with an
+apple in hand, tempting me to taste of that.
+
+"The old preacher's books at Pen Ceint were in Welsh.  I had not yet
+learned English, but tried to learn it by comparing one line in the
+English New Testament with the same line in the Welsh. This was the
+Hamiltonian method, and the way in which I learnt most languages.  I
+first got an idea of astronomy from reading 'The Solar System,' by Dr.
+Dick, translated into Welsh by Eleazar Roberts of Liverpool.  That book
+I found on Sundays in the preacher's library; and many a sublime
+thought it gave me.  It was comparatively easy to understand.
+
+"When I was about thirty I was taken very ill, and could no longer
+work.  I then went to Bangor to consult Dr. Humphrys. After I got
+better I found work at the Port at 12s. a week.  I was employed in
+counting the slates, or loading the ships in the harbour from the
+railway trucks.  I lodged in Fwn Deg, near where Hugh Williams,
+Gatehouse, then kept a navigation school for young sailors.  I learnt
+navigation, and soon made considerable progress.  I also learnt a
+little arithmetic.  At first nearly all the young men were more
+advanced than myself; but before I left matters were different, and the
+Scripture words became verified--"the last shall be first."  I remained
+with Hugh Williams six months and a half.  During that time I went
+twice through the 'Tutor's Assistant,' and a month before I left I was
+taught mensuration.  That is all the education I received, and the
+greater part of it was during my by-hours.
+
+"I got to know English pretty well, though Welsh was the language of
+those about me.  From easy books I went to those more difficult.  I was
+helped in my pronunciation of English by comparing the words with the
+phonetic alphabet, as published by Thomas Gee of Denbigh, in 1853.
+With my spare earnings I bought books, especially when my wages began
+to rise.  Mr. Wyatt, the steward, was very kind, and raised my pay from
+time to time at his pleasure.  I suppose I was willing, correct, and
+faithful.  I improved my knowledge by reading books on astronomy.  I
+got, amongst others, 'The Mechanism of the Heavens,' by Denison
+Olmstead, an American; a very understandable book.  Learning English,
+which was a foreign language to me, led me to learn other languages.  I
+took pleasure in finding out the roots or radixes of words, and from
+time to time I added foreign dictionaries to my little library.  But I
+took most pleasure in astronomy.
+
+"The perusal of Sir John Herschel's 'Outlines of Astronomy,' and of his
+'Treatise on the Telescope,' set my mind on fire.  I conceived the idea
+of making a telescope of my own, for I could not buy one.  While
+reading the Mechanics' Magazine I observed the accounts of men who made
+telescopes.  Why should not I do the same?  Of course it was a matter
+of great difficulty to one who knew comparatively little of the use of
+tools.  But I had a willing mind and willing hands.  So I set to work.
+I think I made my first telescope about twenty years ago.  It was
+thirty-six inches long, and the tube was made of pasteboard.  I got the
+glasses from Liverpool for 4s. 6d.  Captain Owens, of the ship Talacra,
+bought them.  He also bought for me, at a bookstall, the Greek Lexicon
+and the Greek New Testament, for which he paid 7s. 6d.  With my new
+telescope I could see Jupiter's four satellites, the craters on the
+moon, and some of the double stars.  It was a wonderful pleasure to me.
+
+"But I was not satisfied with the instrument.  I wanted a bigger and a
+more perfect one.  I sold it and got new glasses from Solomon of
+London, who was always ready to trust me.  I think it was about the
+year 1868 that I began to make a reflecting telescope.  I got a rough
+disc of glass, from St. Helens, of ten inches diameter.  It took me
+from nine to ten days to grind and polish it ready for parabolising and
+silvering.  I did this by hand labour with the aid of emery, but
+without a lathe.  I finally used rouge instead of emery in grinding
+down the glass, until I could see my face in the mirror quite plain.  I
+then sent the 8 3/16 inch disc to Mr. George Calver, of Chelmsford, to
+turn my spherical curve to a parabolic curve, and to silver the mirror,
+for which I paid him 5L.  I mounted this in my timber tube; the focus
+was ten feet.  When everything was complete I tried my instrument on
+the sky, and found it to have good defining power.  The diameter of the
+other glass I have made is a little under six inches.
+
+"You ask me if their performance satisfies me?  Well; I have compared
+my six-inch reflector with a 4 1/4 inch refractor, through my window,
+with a power of 100 and 140.  I can't say which was the best.  But if
+out on a clear night I think my reflector would take more power than
+the refractor.  However that may be, I saw the snowcap on the planet
+Mars quite plain; and it is satisfactory to me so far.  With respect to
+the 8 3/16 inch glass, I am not quite satisfied with it yet; but I am
+making improvements, and I believe it will reward my labour in the end."
+
+Besides these instruments John Jones has an equatorial which is mounted
+on a tripod stand, made by himself.  It contains the right ascension,
+declination, and azimuth index, all neatly carved upon slate.  In his
+spectroscope he makes his prisms out of the skylights used in vessels.
+These he grinds down to suit his purpose.  I have not been able to go
+into the complete detail of the manner in which he effects the grinding
+of his glasses. It is perhaps too technical to be illustrated in words,
+which are full of focuses, parabolas, and convexities.  But enough may
+be gathered from the above account to give an idea of the wonderful
+tenacity of this aged student, who counts his slates into the ships by
+day, and devotes his evenings to the perfecting of his astronomical
+instruments.  But not only is he an astronomer and a philologist; he is
+also a bard, and his poetry is much admired in the district.  He writes
+in Welsh, not in English, and signs himself "Ioan, of Bryngwyn Bach,"
+the place where he was born. Indeed, he is still at a loss for words
+when he speaks in English.  He usually interlards his conversation with
+passages in Welsh, which is his mother-tongue.  A friend has, however,
+done me the favour to translate two of John Jones's poems into English.
+The first is 'The Telescope':--
+
+  "To Heaven it points, where rules the Sun
+  In golden gall'ries bright;
+  And the pale Moon in silver rays
+  Makes dalliance in the night.
+
+  "It sweeps with eagle glances
+  The sky, its myriad throng,
+  That myriad throng to marshal
+  And bring to us their song.
+
+  "Orb upon orb it follows
+  As oft they intertwine,
+  And worlds in vast processions
+  As if in battle line.
+
+  "It loves all things created,
+  To follow and to trace;
+  And never fears to penetrate
+  The dark abyss of space."
+
+
+The next is to 'The Comet':--
+
+  "A maiden fair, with light of stars bedecked,
+  Starts out of space at Jove's command;
+  With visage wild, and long dishevelled hair,
+  Speeds she along her starry course;
+  The hosts of heaven regards she not,--
+  Fain would she scorn them all except her father Sol,
+  Whose mighty influence her headlong course doth all control."
+
+
+The following translation may also be given: it shows that the bard is
+not without a spice of wit.  A fellow-workman teased him to write some
+lines; when John Jones, in a seemingly innocent manner, put some
+questions, and ascertained that he had once been a tailor.  Accordingly
+this epigram was written, and appeared in the local paper the week
+after: "To a quondam Tailor, now a Slate-teller":--
+
+  "To thread and needle now good-bye,
+  With slates I aim at riches;
+  The scissors will I ne'er more ply,
+  Nor make, but order, breeches."[12]
+
+
+The bi-lingual speech is the great educational difficulty of Wales.  To
+get an entrance into literature and science requires a knowledge of
+English; or, if not of English, then of French or German.  But the
+Welsh language stands in the way.  Few literary or scientific works are
+translated into Welsh.  Hence the great educational difficulty
+continues, and is maintained from year to year by patriotism and
+Eisteddfods.
+
+Possibly the difficulties to be encountered may occasionally evoke
+unusual powers of study; but this can only occur in exceptional cases.
+While at Bangor Mr. Cadwalladr Davies read to me the letter of a
+student and professor, whose passion for knowledge is of an
+extraordinary character.  While examined before the Parliamentary
+Committee appointed to inquire into the condition of intermediate and
+higher education in Wales and Monmouthshire, Mr. Davies gave evidence
+relating to this and other remarkable cases, of which the following is
+an abstract, condensed by himself:--
+
+"The night schools in the quarry districts have been doing a very great
+work; and, if the Committee will allow me, I will read an extract from
+a letter which I received from Mr. Bradley Jones, master of the Board
+Schools at Llanarmon, near Mold, Flintshire, who some years ago kept a
+very flourishing night school in the neighbourhood.  He says: 'During
+the whole of the time (fourteen years) that I was at Carneddi, I
+carried on these schools, and I believe I have had more experience of
+such institutions than any teacher in North Wales.  For several years
+about 120 scholars used to attend the Carneddi night school in the
+winter months, four evenings a week.  Nearly all were quarrymen, from
+fourteen to twenty-one years of age, and engaged at work from 7 A.M. to
+5.30 P.M.  So intense was their desire for education that some of them
+had to walk a distance of two or even three miles to school. These,
+besides working hard all day, had to walk six miles in the one case and
+nine in the other before school-time, in addition to the walk home
+afterwards.  Several of them used to attend all the year round, even
+coming to me for lessons in summer before going to work, as well as in
+the evening.  Indeed, so anxious were some of them, that they would
+often come for lessons as early as five o'clock in the morning.  This
+may appear almost incredible, but any of the managers of the Carneddi
+School could corroborate the statement.'
+
+"I have now in my mind's eye," continues Mr. Bradley, "several of these
+young men, who, by dint of indefatigable labour and self-denial,
+ultimately qualified themselves for posts in which a good education is
+a sine qua non.  Some of them are to-day quarry managers, professional
+men, certificated teachers, and ministers of the Gospel.  Five of them
+are at the present time students at Bala College.  One got a situation
+in the Glasgow Post Office as letter-carrier.  During his leisure hours
+he attended the lectures at one of the medical schools of that city,
+and in course of time gained his diploma.  He is now practising as a
+surgeon, and I understand with signal success.  This gentleman worked
+in the Penrhyn Quarry until he was twenty years old.  I could give many
+more instances of the resolute and self-denying spirit with which the
+young quarrymen of Bethesda sought to educate themselves.  The teachers
+of the other schools in that neighbourhood could give similar examples,
+for during the winter months there used to be no less than 300 evening
+scholars under instruction in the different schools.  The Bethesda
+booksellers could tell a tale that would surprise our English friends.
+I have been informed by one of them that he has sold to young quarrymen
+an immense number of such works as Lord Macaulay's, Stuart Mill's, and
+Professor Fawcett's; and it is no uncommon sight to find these and
+similar works read and studied by the young quarrymen during the dinner
+hour."
+
+"I can give," proceeds Mr. Cadwalladr Davies, "one remarkable instance
+to show the struggles which young Welshmen have to undertake in order
+to get education.  The boy in question, the son of 'poor but honest
+parents,' left the small national school of his native village when he
+was 12 1/2 years of age, and then followed his father's occupation of
+shoemaking until he was 16 1/2 years of age.  After working hard at his
+trade for four years, he, his brother, and two fellow apprentices,
+formed themselves into a sort of club to learn shorthand, the whole
+matter being kept a profound secret.  They had no teachers, and they
+met at the gas-works, sitting opposite the retorts on a bench supported
+at each end with bricks.  They did not penetrate far into the mysteries
+of Welsh shorthand; they soon abandoned the attempt, and induced the
+village schoolmaster to open a night school.
+
+"This, however, did not last long.  The young Crispin was returning
+late one night from Llanrwst in company with a lad of the same age, and
+both having heard much of the blessings of education from a Scotch lady
+who took a kindly interest in them, their ambition was inflamed, and
+they entered into a solemn compact that they would thenceforward devote
+themselves body and soul to the attainment of an academical degree.
+Yet they were both poor.  One was but a shoemaker's apprentice, while
+the other was a pupil teacher earning but a miserable weekly pittance.
+One could do the parts of speech; the other could not.  One had
+struggled with the pans asinorum; the other had never seen it.  I may
+mention that the young pupil teacher is now a curate in the Church of
+England.  He is a graduate of Cambridge University and a prizeman of
+Clare College.  But to return to the little shoemaker.
+
+"After returning home from Llanrwst, he disburthened his heart to his
+mother, and told her that shoemaking, which until now he had pursued
+with extraordinary zest, could no longer interest him. His mother, who
+was equal to the emergency, sent the boy to a teacher of the old
+school, who had himself worked his way from the plough.  After the
+exercise of considerable diplomacy, an arrangement was arrived at
+whereby the youth was to go to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
+Fridays, and make shoes during the remaining days of the week.  This
+suited him admirably.  That very night he seized upon a geography, and
+began to learn the counties of England and Wales.  The fear of failure
+never left him for two hours together, except when he slept.  The plan
+of work was faithfully kept; though by this time shoemaking had lost
+its charms.  He shortened his sleeping hours, and rose at any moment
+that he awoke--at two, three, or four in the morning.  He got his
+brother, who had been plodding with him over shorthand, to study
+horticulture, and fruit and vegetable culture; and that brother shortly
+after took a high place in an examination held by the Royal
+Horticultural Society.  For a time, however, they worked together; and
+often did their mother get up at four o'clock in the depth of winter,
+light their fire, and return to bed after calling them up to the work
+of self-culture.  Even this did not satisfy their devouring ambition.
+There was a bed in the workshop, and they obtained permission to sleep
+there.  Then they followed their own plans.  The young gardener would
+sit up till one or two in the morning, and wake his brother, who had
+gone to bed as soon as he had given up work the night before.
+
+Now he got up and studied through the small hours of the morning until
+the time came when he had to transfer his industry to shoemaking, or go
+to school on the appointed days after the distant eight o'clock had
+come.  His brother had got worn out. Early sleep seemed to be the best.
+They then both went to bed about eight o'clock, and got the policeman
+to call them up before retiring himself.
+
+"So the struggle went on, until the faithful old schoolmaster thought
+that his young pupil might try the examination at the Bangor Normal
+College.  He was now eighteen years of age; and it was eighteen months
+since the time when he began to learn the counties of England and
+Wales.  He went to Bangor, rigged out in his brother's coat and
+waistcoat, which were better than his own; and with his brother's watch
+in his pocket to time himself in his examinations.  He went through his
+examination, but returned home thinking he had failed.  Nevertheless,
+he had in the meantime, on the strength of a certificate which he had
+obtained six months before, in an examination held by the Society of
+Arts and Sciences in Liverpool, applied for a situation as teacher in a
+grammar-school at Ormskirk in Lancashire.  He succeeded in his
+application, and had been there for only eight days when he received a
+letter from Mr. Rowlands, Principal of the Bangor Normal College,
+informing him that he had passed at the head of the list, and was the
+highest non-pupil teacher examined by the British and Foreign Society.
+Having obtained permission from his master to leave, he packed his
+clothes and his few books.  He had not enough money to carry him home;
+but, unasked, the master of the school gave him 10s.  He arrived home
+about three o'clock on a Sunday morning, after a walk of eleven miles
+over a lonely road from the place where the train had stopped.  He
+reeled on the way, and found the country reeling too.  He had been
+sleeping eight nights in a damp bed.  Six weeks of the Bangor Session
+passed, and during that time he had been delirious, and was too weak to
+sit up in bed.  But the second time he crossed the threshold of his
+home he made for Bangor and got back his "position," which was all
+important to him, and he kept it all through.
+
+"Having finished his course at Bangor he went to keep a school at
+Brynaman; he endeavoured to study but could not.  After two years he
+gave up the school, and with 60L. saved he faced the world once more.
+There was a scholarship of the value of 40L. a year, for three years,
+attached to one of the Scotch Universities, to be competed for.  He
+knew the Latin Grammar, and had, with help, translated one of the books
+of Caesar.  Of Greek he knew nothing, save the letters and the first
+declension of nouns; but in May he began to read in earnest at a
+farmhouse.  He worked every day from 6 A.M. to 12 P.M. with only an
+hour's intermission.  He studied the six Latin and two Greek books
+prescribed; he did some Latin composition unaided; brushed up his
+mathematics; and learnt something of the history of Greece and Rome.
+In October, after five months of hard work, he underwent an examination
+for the scholarship, and obtained it; beating his opponent by
+twenty-eight marks in a thousand.  He then went up to the Scotch
+University and passed all the examinations for his ordinary M.A. degree
+in two years and a half.  On his first arrival at the University he
+found that he could not sleep; but he wearily yet victoriously plodded
+on; took a prize in Greek, then the first prize in philosophy, the
+second prize in logic, the medal in English literature, and a few other
+prizes.
+
+"He had 40L. when he first arrived in Scotland; and he carried away
+with him a similar sum to Germany, whither he went to study for honours
+in philosophy.  He returned home with little in his pocket, borrowing
+money to go to Scotland, where he sat for honours and for the
+scholarship.  He got his first honours, and what was more important at
+the time, money to go on with.  He now lives on the scholarship which
+he took at that time; is an assistant professor; and, in a fortnight,
+will begin a course of lectures for ladies in connection with his
+university.  Writing to me a few days ago,[13] he says, 'My health,
+broken down with my last struggle, is quite restored, and I live with
+the hope of working on.  Many have worked more constantly, but few have
+worked more intensely.  I found kindness on every hand always, but had
+I failed in a single instance I should have met with entire bankruptcy.
+The failure would have been ruinous.... I thank God for the struggle,
+but would not like to see a dog try it again.  There are droves of lads
+in Wales that would creep up but they cannot.  Poverty has too heavy a
+hand for them.'"
+
+The gentleman whose brief history is thus summarily given by Mr.
+Davies, is now well known as a professor of philosophy; and, if his
+health be spared, he will become still better known.  He is the author
+of several important works on 'Moral Philosophy,' published by a
+leading London firm; and more works are announced from his pen.  The
+victorious struggle for knowledge which we have recounted might
+possibly be equalled, but it could not possibly be surpassed.  There
+are, however, as Mr. Davies related to the Parliamentary Committee,
+many instances of Welsh students--most of them originally
+quarrymen--who keep themselves at school by means of the savings
+effected from manual labour, "in frequent cases eked out and helped by
+the kindness of friends and neighbours," who struggle up through many
+difficulties, and eventually achieve success in the best sense of the
+term.  "One young man"--as the teacher of a grammar-school, within two
+miles of Bangor, related to Mr. Davies--"who came to me from the quarry
+some time ago, was a gold medallist at Edinburgh last winter;" and
+contributions are readily made by the quarrymen to help forward any
+young man who displays an earnest desire for knowledge in science and
+literature.
+
+It is a remarkable fact that the quarrymen of Carnarvonshire have
+voluntarily contributed large sums of money towards the establishment
+of the University College in North Wales--the quarry districts in that
+county having contributed to that fund, in the course of three years,
+mostly in half-crown subscriptions, not less than 508L. 4s. 4d.--"a
+fact," says Mr. Davies, "without its parallel in the history of the
+education of any country;" the most striking feature being, that these
+collections were made in support of an institution from which the
+quarrymen could only very remotely derive any benefit.
+
+While I was at Bangor, on the 24th of August, 1883, the news arrived
+that the Committee of Selection had determined that Bangor should be
+the site for the intended North Wales University College.  The news
+rapidly spread, and great rejoicings prevailed throughout the borough,
+which had just been incorporated.  The volunteer band played through
+the streets; the church bells rang merry peals; and gay flags were
+displayed from nearly every window.  There never was such a triumphant
+display before in the cause of University education.
+
+As Mr. Cadwalladr Davies observed at the banquet, which took place on
+the following day: "The establishment of the new institution will mark
+the dawn of a new era in the history of the Welsh people.  He looked to
+it, not only as a means of imparting academical knowledge to the
+students within its walls, but also as a means of raising the
+intellectual and moral tone of the whole people.  They were fond of
+quoting the saying of a great English writer, that there was something
+Grecian in the Celtic race, and that the Celtic was the refining
+element in the British character; but such remarks, often accompanied
+as they were with offensive comparisons from Eisteddfod platforms,
+would in future be put to the test, for they would, with their new
+educational machinery, be placed on a footing of perfect equality with
+the Scotch and the Irish people."
+
+And here must come to an end the character history of my autumn tour in
+Ireland, Scotland, Yorkshire, and Wales.  I had not the remotest
+intention when setting out of collecting information and writing down
+my recollections of the journey.  But the persons I met, and the
+information I received, were of no small interest--at least to myself;
+and I trust that the reader will derive as much pleasure from perusing
+my observations as I have had in collecting and writing them down.  I
+do think that the remarkable persons whose history and characters I
+have endeavoured, however briefly, to sketch, will be found to afford
+many valuable and important lessons of Self-Help; and to illustrate how
+the moral and industrial foundations of a country may be built up and
+established.
+
+
+Footnotes for Chapter XII.
+
+[1] A "poet," who dates from "New York, March 1883," has published
+seven stanzas, entitled "Change here for Blairgowrie," from which we
+take the following:--
+
+  "From early morn till late at e'en,
+  John's honest face is to be seen,
+  Bustling about the trains between,
+  Be 't sunshine or be 't showery;
+  And as each one stops at his door,
+  He greets it with the well-known roar
+  Of 'Change here for Blairgowrie.'
+  Even when the still and drowsy night
+  Has drawn the curtains of our sight,
+  John's watchful eyes become more bright,
+  And take another glow'r aye
+  Thro' yon blue dome of sparkling stars
+  Where Venus bright and ruddy Mars
+  Shine down upon Blairgowrie.
+  He kens each jinkin' comet's track,
+  And when it's likely to come back,
+  When they have tails, and when they lack--
+  In heaven the waggish power aye;
+  When Jupiter's belt buckle hings,
+  And the Pyx mark on Saturn's rings,
+  He sees from near Blairgowrie."
+
+[2] The Observatory, No. 61, p. 146; and No. 68, p. 371.
+
+[3] In an article on the subject in the Dundee Evening Telegraph, Mr.
+Robertson observes:  "If our finite minds were more capable of
+comprehension, what a glorious view of the grandeur of the Deity would
+be displayed to us in the contemplation of the centre and source of
+light and heat to the solar system.  The force requisite to pour such
+continuous floods to the remotest parts of the system must ever baffle
+the mind of man to grasp.  But we are not to sit down in indolence: our
+duty is to inquire into Nature's works, though we can never exhaust the
+field.  Our minds cannot imagine motion without some Power moving
+through the medium of some subordinate agency, ever acting on the sun,
+to send such floods of light and heat to our otherwise cold and dark
+terrestrial ball; but it is the overwhelming magnitude of such power
+that we are incapable of comprehending.  The agency necessary to throw
+out the floods of flame seen during the few moments of a total eclipse
+of the sun, and the power requisite to burst open a cavity in its
+surface, such as could entirely engulph our earth, will ever set all
+the thinking capacity of man at nought."
+
+[4] The Observatory, Nos. 34, 42, 45, 49, and 58.
+
+[5] We regret to say that Sheriff Barclay died a few months ago,
+greatly respected by all who knew him.
+
+[6] Sir E. Denison Beckett, in his Rudimentary Treatise on clocks and
+Watches and Bells, has given an instance or the telescope-driving
+clock, invented by Mr. Cooke (p. 213).
+
+[7] J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S.--Stargazing, Past and Present, p. 302.
+
+[8] This excellent instrument is now in the possession of my
+son-in-law, Dr. Hartree, of Leigh, near Tunbridge.
+
+[9] An interesting account of Mr. Alvan Clark is given in Professor
+Newcomb's 'Popular Astronomy,' p. 137.
+
+[10] A photographic representation of this remarkable telescope is
+given as the frontispiece to Mr. Lockyer's Stargazing, Past and
+Present; and a full description of the instrument is given in the text
+of the same work.  This refracting telescope did not long remain the
+largest.  Mr. Alvan Clark was commissioned to erect a larger equatorial
+for Washington Observatory; the object-glass (the rough disks of which
+were also furnished by Messrs. Chance of Birmingham) exceeding in
+aperture that of Mr. Cooke's by only one inch.  This was finished and
+mounted in November, 1873.  Another instrument of similar size and
+power was manufactured by Mr. Clark for the University of Virginia.
+But these instruments did not long maintain their supremacy.  In 1881,
+Mr. Howard Grubb, of Dublin, manufactured a still larger instrument for
+the Austrian Government--the object-glass being of twenty-seven inches
+aperture.  But Mr. Alvan Clark was not to be beaten.  In 1882, he
+supplied the Russian Government with the largest refracting telescope
+in existence the object-glass being of thirty inches diameter.  Even
+this, however, is to be surpassed by the lens which Mr. Clark has in
+hand for the Lick Observatory (California), which is to have a clear
+aperture of three feet in diameter.
+
+[11] Since the above passage was written and in type, I have seen (in
+September 1884) the reflecting telescope referred to at pp. 357-8.  It
+was mounted on its cast-iron equatorial stand, and at work in the field
+adjoining the village green at Bainbridge, Yorkshire.  The mirror of
+the telescope is 8 inches in diameter; its focal length, 5 feet; and
+the tube in which it is mounted, about 6 feet long.  The instrument
+seemed to me to have an excellent defining power.
+
+But Mr. Lancaster, like every eager astronomer, is anxious for further
+improvements.  He considers the achromatic telescope the king of
+instruments, and is now engaged in testing convex optical surfaces,
+with a view to achieving a telescope of that description.  The chief
+difficulty is the heavy charge for the circular blocks of flint glass
+requisite for the work which he meditates.  "That," he says, "is the
+great difficulty with amateurs of my class."  He has, however, already
+contrived and constructed a machine for grinding and polishing the
+lenses in an accurate convex form, and it works quite satisfactorily.
+Mr. Lancaster makes his own tools.  From the raw material, whether of
+glass or steel, he produces the work required.  As to tools, all that
+he requires is a bar of steel and fire; his fertile brain and busy
+hands do the rest.  I looked into the little workshop behind his
+sitting-room, and found it full of ingenious adaptations.  The turning
+lathe occupies a considerable part of it; but when he requires more
+space, the village smith with his stithy, and the miller with his
+water-power, are always ready to help him.  His tools, though not
+showy, are effective.  His best lenses are made by himself:  those
+which he buys are not to be depended upon.  The best flint glass is
+obtained from Paris in blocks, which he divides, grinds, and polishes
+to perfect form.
+
+I was attracted by a newly made machine, placed on a table in the
+sitting-room; and on inquiry found that its object was to grind and
+polish lenses.  Mr. Lancaster explained that the difficulty to be
+overcome in a good machine, is to make the emery cut the surface
+equally from centre to edge of the lens, so that the lens will neither
+lengthen nor shorten the curve during its production.  To quote his
+words:  "This  really involves the problem of the 'three bodies,' or
+disturbing forces so celebrated in dynamical mathematics, and it is
+further complicated by another quantity, the 'coefficient of
+attrition,' or work done by the grinding material, as well as the
+mischief done by capillary attraction and nodal points of superimposed
+curves in the path of the tool.  These complications tend to cause
+rings or waves of unequal wear in the surface of the glass, and ruin
+the defining power of the lens, which depends upon the uniformity of
+its curve.  As the outcome of much practical experiment, combined with
+mathematical research, I settled upon the ratio of speed between the
+sheave of the lens-tool guide and the turn-table; between whose limits
+the practical equalization of wear (or cut of the emery) might with the
+greater facility be adjusted, by means of varying the stroke and
+eccentricity of the tool.  As the result of these considerations in the
+construction of the machine, the surface of the glass 'comes up'
+regularly all over the lens; and the polishing only takes a few
+minutes' work--thus keeping the truth of surface gained by using a
+rigid tool."
+
+The machine in question consists of a revolving sheave or ring, with a
+sliding strip across its diameter; the said strip having a slot and
+clamping screw at one end, and a hole towards the other, through which
+passes the axis of the tool used in forming the lens,--the slot in the
+strip allowing the tool to give any stroke from 0 to 1.25 inch.  The
+lens is carried on a revolving turn-table, with an arrangement to allow
+the axis of the lens to coincide with the axis of the table.  The ratio
+of speed between the sheave and turn-table is arranged by belt and
+properly sized pulleys, and the whole can be driven either by hand or
+by power. The sheave merely serves as a guide to the tool in its path,
+and the lens may either be worked on the turn-table or upon a chuck
+attached to the tool rod.  The work upon the lens is thus to a great
+extent independent of the error of the machine through shaking, or bad
+fitting, or wear; and the only part of the machine which requires
+really first-class work is the axis of the turn-table, which (in this
+machine) is a conical bearing at top, with steel centre below,--the
+bearing turned, hardened, and then ground up true, and run in
+anti-friction metal.  Other details might be given, but these are
+probably enough for present purposes.  We hope, at some future time,
+for a special detail of Mr. Lancaster's interesting investigations,
+from his own mind and pen.
+
+[12] The translations are made by W. Cadwalladr Davies, Esq.
+
+[13] This evidence was given by Mr. W. Cadwalladr Davies on the 28th
+October, 1880.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Men of Invention and Industry, by Samuel Smiles
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