we can think of nothing but your son's extraordinary
stories. Do, pray, take him home, that we may have
some chance of rest."
' Mrs. Watt complied with her friend's request, and
James returned to his own home, rather provoked,
perhaps, that his visit should have -been thus cur-
tailed. To be able to tell a story well, is, no doubt,
a very great talent, and it was one which Mr. Watt
retained even to old age. His imagination was as
vivid then as when he was quite a boy, and nothing
delighted him more than to be able to tell a story
with such spirit as to deceive his auditors into the
belief that they were listening to some true narrative,
when all the time he was only spinning out of his
own brain the startling incidents which they were
hearing with such breathless interest.'
Watfs Skilfulness when a Boy. 1 7
' I think James Watt was very like you, Arthur/
exclaimed Charles. ' You are just as queer a com-
pound, what with your tiresome problems and your
funny stories/
* I wish I thought I should ever be half as clever/
replied Arthur with a slight sigh.
' You must imitate Watt's example, then/ replied
Mrs. Grenville. ' He obtained his knowledge, as
every one else must obtain it, by patient, hard work ;
and, in his case, he laboured under very great dis-
advantages, for his delicate health prevented his re-
ceiving any regular instruction, and he was therefore
obliged in great measure to educate himself. He
used, when quite a boy, to take his toys to pieces,
examine how they were made, and then put them
together again ; and as soon as he had learned the
principle on which they were constructed, he would
invent new ones. This aptitude for invention made
him extremely popular amongst all his young play-
fellows ; and his popularity attained its climax when
he constructed a small electrical machine, which be-
came an endless source of amusement to himself
and his friends.
' Mr. Watt not being a wealthy man, it was neces-
sary that his son should decide at a very early age
what profession he would like to follow. His father's
occupations were numerous: amongst other things
he kept a sort of shop, where he sold nautical instru-
ments, and stores necessary for sailors. It occurred
B
1 8 The Triumphs of Steam.
to James, that if he were to become a mathematical
instrument maker, he could both help his father and
follow out his own favourite scientific pursuits. In
1754, therefore, when he was about eighteen years
of age, he went to Glasgow, intending to reside there
for a time, that he might learn the business. He
had not, however, been many months at work before
he was seized with an ardent longing to go to Lon-
don, feeling sure that there alone he could properly
learn all the niceties of his profession. To obtain
sufficient means to carry out his project, was, how-
ever, the great difficulty. His father's income was
at this time unusually small, and James did not like
to encroach upon his generosity merely to gratify a
whim of his own. It so happened, however, that he
had attracted the attention of some of the most
scientific men in Glasgow ; and they not only con-
firmed his own impression that London was the only
place where he could profitably study, but by the
very high terms in which they spoke to Mr. Watt of
his son, and the advantages which they pointed out
as sure to arise for him from a visit to the metro-
polis, they induced Mr. Watt to listen favourably to
James's wishes, and it was settled that he should be
allowed to follow his own inclinations, and appren-
tice himself for a time to some celebrated London
optician. Having made all his arrangements as
economically as possible, James Watt left Glasgow
on the /th of June 1755 ; and as the cheapest way
Waffs Journey to London. 19
of performing the journey, he travelled on horseback,
taking twelve days on the road.'
' And now/ exclaimed Ernest, ' you can do it in
exactly the same number of hours. Oh mamma,
only fancy!'
1 1 wonder whether our children will do it in as
many minutes ?' added Charles, laughing.
' I pity them if they do,' replied Mrs. Grenville.
' But such a supposition hardly seems more ridiculous
to us, than the fact Ernest has just mentioned would
have seemed to men who lived a hundred years ago.
Half a century later, and Stephenson did not dare
to say, lest he should be mistaken for a madman,
that the engine he had invented could move at the
rate of fifteen miles an hour. However, we must
leave Watt travelling leisurely up to London, or we
shall have papa arriving at the station before we are
there to meet him, and that would be a terrible dis-
aster. Run away and get ready.'
What strange fascination is there at a railway
station, that the excitement never seems to die away.
Go when you will, there is the same sort of restless
longing for the coming train, and amused stir in
watching the departing one. You may have seen it
all a hundred times before ; but jiist as eagerly as
ever you watch for the first faint breath of steam
that you see rising up beyond that distant cutting ;
you strain your ear to hear the far-off whistle, or
listen to the snorting engine, as, gliding into the
2O The Triumphs of Steam.
station, it puffs out its disgust at being arrested in
mid career. But it was a more than usually eager
group that were watching that day on the platform
of Ivybridge Station.
' It is lucky, mamma, that the train is a little
late/ exclaimed Ernest, as he looked down the line,
in vain endeavouring to make out a symptom of its
approach. ' Kempton was quite in a taking. Did
we not come fast, mamma ? I wonder what papa
would have said if he had seen the horses all in a
foam ! '
' He would have scolded me, and very justly too.
We were so busy talking, I quite forgot to look at
the clock/
' I am very glad you did, Aunt Helen/ said
Charles ; * it is such fun being late. I like scamper-
ing along, wondering whether we shall be in time
or not.'
' Oh I do not/ said Arthur. ' I kept thinking all
the way we should be too late, and that papa would
be vexed/
' Nonsense/ replied Charles ; ' I was sure we should
be in excellent time. Kempton Knew better than to
let " Master" arrive first/
1 Here it comes, here it comes V exclaimed Ernest
joyfully ; and in a moment after, the loud ringing of
the bell announced that the train was in sight ; and
now, who should first see papa ? What a rush along
the platform, and eager looking in at all the win-
Arrival of the Train. 21
dows ! There, now the doors are open. Oh, Arthur
has found papa, and the children crowd so eagerly
round him, that Mrs. Grenville is obliged to stand
back, and wait for her greeting till their first ebulli-
tions of joy have subsided.
' Come, come, children/ said Mr Grenville, shaking
them off good-naturedly ; ' stand back, I want to see
to mamma and my luggage/
' Mamma and your luggage ! Oh, papa, the idea
of putting them together! There, see John has
collected a great pile ; so now you can attend to
mamma altogether/
' Anything more, sir ?' said John, touching his hat.
' No, that is all. Now, mamma/ And in a few
minutes the little party were seated in the carriage
listening to papa's adventures, and telling him all
that had taken place at the Grange during his ab-
sence ; amongst the rest, that mamma was going to
tell them all about the steam-engine, and that he
was to make the models ; a particularly gratifying
announcement, as papa said, to a tired man, at the
end of a long day's journey.
CHAPTER II.
Watt turns his attention to the perfecting of the steam-engine ; his
difficulties ; his success Watt at Birmingham Old age Death.
mamma/ said Arthur, when the chil-
dren were* in the study, a few days after
Mr. Grenville's return from Paris ; ' now
that papa has come home, you will be
able to get on famously with Watt's life. He will
be able to explain to us all that you do not under-
stand.'
' I am sure I hope he will/ replied Mrs. Grenville ;
' for, as I told you at first, I know very little of
scientific subjects/
' But you can tell us the story, Aunt Helen, and
that is worth a hundred scientific dialogues/ ex-
claimed Charles. ' Give me the results, and I do not
care so very much to know how they were obtained/
' Oh Charles !' said Arthur in a tone of such re-
proachful surprise that neither Mr. nor Mrs. Grenville
could help laughing ; and Mrs. Grenville added,
* You remind me of a story that Arago tells of a
24 The Triumphs of Steam.
professor of geometry, who was taking the 'greatest
pains to explain various problems to his pupils.
" Why do you give yourself all this unnecessary
trouble?" exclaimed one of the party. "We trust
you entirely ; only give us your word of honour that
what you say is true, and we want no further ex-
planations." '
Charles laughed, whilst Arthur added very gravely,
' That would have been a most unsatisfactory way of
learning to me, mamma/
' It would, indeed, my love. I only told you the
story, because I thought it was so appropriate to
Charles's remark ; but I should be very sorry that
you should imitate the lazy pupils of the unfortunate
professor. I would far rather you should follow the
example of our hard-working friend James Watt/
' What did he do, mamma, when he reached Lon-
don ?' said Ernest. ' He must have been rather tired
with his long ride, I think/
* His first anxiety/ continued Mrs. Grenville, ' was
to find some really scientific man, at whose work-
shop he could not only learn the mechanical por-
tions of his business, but be taught the principles on
which instruments were constructed. Fortunately
his friend Dr. Dick had given him an introduction
to a Mr. Short, through whose influence Mr. Morgan,
a mathematical instrument maker of some fame, was
induced to give Watt an opportunity of trying his
powers. He was not long in discovering that his
Watt in London. 25
new pupil was possessed of very unusual abilities,
and readily agreed that, for a sum of 20, Watt
should spend a year with him in London, and study
under his own immediate tuition. James was de-
lighted with the plan, and set to work with a hearty
good-will to improve his present advantages, making
such rapid progress as quite astonished Mr. Morgan.
The first in the morning, the last at night, James
was always at his post, employing the extra hours,
when he was not bound to his master, in procuring
for himself the very frugal means of support which
were all that he allowed himself. Stint himself,
however, as he would, he found he could not live
on less than eight shillings a week ; and even for this
sum, small as it seems, he did not like to ask his
father. It was a hard trial at the time, but I have
no doubt it greatly contributed to his future success,
by giving him habits of self-denial and patient en-
durance. Only twice in the whole year did Watt
allow himself to deviate in any way from the strict
rule of life that he had marked out for himself. He
went to see the king, on his arrival from Germany;
and he could not resist the temptation of going to
hear the war proclaimed at Temple Bar, a cere-
mony very much more attractive then than it is in
our matter-of-fact days, when we are inclined to
think everything absurd that is not practically useful
in a monied point of view. At length, however, poor
James's health fairly gave way from incessant work,
26 The Triumphs of Steam.
and from rigorous self-denial. A change of air and
scene was clearly necessary : he decided upon return-
ing to Glasgow, hoping that the ride home would do
much to re-establish his health. And happily, either
that, or the return to his native country, proved bene-
ficial ; and Watt, with renewed strength and spirit,
began life for himself.
'A most unexpected difficulty, however, met him
*at the onset. The old established work-people of
Glasgow were so jealous of Watt, considering him
as an interloper, that they positively refused to
allow him to open a shop within the precincts of the
city walls ; but their ill-natured jealousy proved, in
the end, of the greatest possible service to him. Dr.
Dick, and other of the Glasgow University men, re-
senting the injustice done to their young friend,
offered him a room in the College itself, and gave
him all the employment that they could, with the
title of " Mathematical Instrument Maker to the
University." But it was not only in a pecuniary
point of view that this v/as an advantage to Watt, it
was still more so from the opportunity it gave him of
being constantly in the society of clever and scien-
tific men, and thus affording him the best possible
means of acquiring fresh knowledge, and pursuing
those studies which were to result in a discovery
destined to be one of universal benefit. Watt had
been for several years settled in Glasgow, when he
\vas asked to look at the model of a steam-engine
Watfs First Success. 27
which was quite out of repair, and which one of the
professors of the University was anxious to have put
into proper working order. Watt complied with the
request : he saw directly what was amiss, and gladly
undertook the commission of putting the machine
to rights. In a short time it was working better
than it had ever done before. Not content with this
first success, he now became anxious not only to re-
pair, but to improve. He saw clearly that, to gain
power and to save expense, it was necessary to in-
vent some plan by which the steam might be rapidly
condensed, and he determined to try whether his
boyish experiments might not at last be turned to
some practical account. To ensure the success of
his plan, it was necessary to find some method of
preventing the waste of steam in the cylinder ; and
it occurred to him that this might be successfully
done by condensing the steam in a separate vessel,
which should communicate, by means of a tube,
with the cylinder : thus the cylinder itself might be
kept always to one equal temperature, and there
would be no waste of the steam by the necessity for
cooling it.'
1 1 am not quite sure that I understand what you
mean/ said Arthur thoughtfully.
'Wait one moment, mamma, if you please/ said
Mr. Grenville. 'I think I can show Arthur a dia-
gram, which will make what you have said clearer
to him ;' and going to the bookcase, Mr. Grenville
28 The Triumphs of Steam.
References to Steam- Engine. 29
REFERENCES TO THE SECTION OF WATTS
STEAM-ENGINE.
A The boiler, with the furnace beneath.
B A pipe leading from the boiler, and connecting it with the
cylinder C.
D The piston and rod. (The piston is the lower part, which
fits into the cylinder.) The pipe B is so contrived that it can
admit steam from the boiler into the cylinder, either above or
below the piston, alternately. Next, observe a vessel sur-
rounded by cold water, and connected by a pipe with the
cylinder.
S The tube of a pump on the common principle, having its
piston and rod connected with the great beam : this beam
moves on a centre.
V A pump supplying the vessel of cold water referred to
above.
T The connecting tube from the pump S, to convey the water
into the boiler.
G The fly-wheel of cast iron, and of great weight, which, as
it revolves, makes the motion of the whole engine uniform.
H The sun and planet wheels.
The communication being opened from the boiler to the
under part of the steam cylinder C, the steam forces the piston
up, and at the same time the air pump P causing a vacuum in
the condenser connected with it, the steam rushes into the
condenser, and now a vacuum is formed beneath the piston, at
which moment the steam enters above the piston, and is in like
manner drawn off and condensed ; and thus the pressure of
the steam acting alternately on the under and upper sides of
the piston, a reciprocating motion is given to the beam, which
will continue as long as the steam is produced.
30 The Triumphs of Steam.
took down a volume, and opening it at a plate
representing a steam-engine, he proceeded to ex-
plain to the children its different parts. (See dia-
gram and references, pages 28, 29.)
1 Oh, thank you, papa/ exclaimed Arthur, as Mr.
Grenville finished his description ; 'I understand all
that mamma has been saying much better now.'
'You must remember, however/ continued Mr.
Grenville, ' that the drawing I have just been show-
ing you, is of an engine in a much more perfected
state than it was at the time of which mamma is
speaking. We must not interrupt her longer now,
but after dinner I will show you some drawings of
the engine in its various stages of improvement ;
then you will be better able to judge of the won-
derful talent of our great engineer/
' Oh, thank you, papa, I shall like that/ exclaimed
Arthur. /Go on, mamma/
'Watt having satisfied himself/ continued Mrs.
Grenville, 'of the accuracy of his new idea, set
steadily to work to reduce it to practice, and after
months of patient labour constructed a model, which
far more than realized his most sanguine expecta-
tion. But the great difficulty was how to make it
publicly known. Watt was still a very poor man :
work as hard as he would, he thought it a good
year in which he cleared 200 ; and having a wife
and children to support, there was not much to
spend on scientific experiments. Fortunately he
Death of Mrs. Watt. 31
was introduced to a Dr. Roebuck a very able man
who had established some iron-works near Glas-
gow. Dr. Roebuck saw at a glance the value of
the discovery which Watt had made, and readily
agreed to enter into a partnership with him, by
which he was to bear the expenses, whilst Watt
superintended the construction and working of the
engines. This arrangement would have answered
admirably, had not Dr. Roebuck's affairs become
suddenly so involved that he was utterly unable to
carry out his share of the agreement ; and Watt
found himself in a worse situation than before, as
some idea of his great improvement having got
abroad, other mechanics were endeavouring to fore-
stall his invention, and rob him both of fame and
profit, before he could protect himself by taking
out the necessary patents. In the midst of all this
trouble a greater affliction still befell poor Watt,
in the sudden death of his wife, a clever, high-
spirited, loving woman, admirably fitted by her
peculiarly hopeful character to cheer on her hus-
band, who was apt, when left to himself, to lose
heart, and be easily depressed. Her death was a
terrible loss to him, and one which for years he
sincerely mourned. In reading a memoir which has
been lately published of Mrs. Schimmelpenninck, I
found a curious anecdote relating to this sad period
of Watt's life. She says that he was staying with
an intimate friend, a Mr. Macgregor, whose little
32 The Triumphs of Steam.
daughter Anne, being one day in the room with her
father, was much touched by seeing Watt's grief;
and hearing the sorrow he expressed for his wife's
death, she went softly up to him, and laying her
hand on his arm, she looked up in his face, her
eyes quite full of tears, and said very gently, " Do
not cry, I will be your little wife, and I will make
you so happy." Touched with the child's gentle
sympathy, Watt took her in his arms and kissed her,
little thinking that, when some years had passed
away, her words were indeed to be fulfilled, and
that loving child was to become his devoted wife
the charm and comfort of his declining days.
'Happily for Watt, just at the very time when,
overwhelmed with anxieties, he might have lost all
interest even in his favourite pursuits, he was roused
to fresh exertion by the offer of a very clever man,
a Mr. Boulton, owner of extensive iron-works near
Birmingham, to buy up all Dr. Roebuck's share in
the partnership, and then to enter into an agree-
ment with Watt himself, which would enable the
engineer to carry out his plans under the greatest
possible advantages. This was far too good an offer
to be refused, for not only was Mr. Boulton a man
of wealth and intelligence, but he was possessed of
a singularly noble nature, just fitted to appreciate a
character like that of Watt's. Some years before
this time, in 1768, Mr. Watt had paid Mr. Boulton
a visit at his iron-works at Soho : they had had long
Watt's Partnership with Boulton. 33
conversations on the steam-engine, and Mr. Boulton
had been particularly struck with many of Watt's
observations as to the improvements he meant to
carry out. Watt's plans were interfered with, as
I have told you, by the embarrassments of Dr.
Roebuck ; and very possibly Boulton may have
thought he had relinquished his designs, and there-
fore he had better try and improve his own engines
himself. It happened that a friend of Watt's, Pro-
fessor Robison, paid Mr. Boulton a visit at Soho.
In course of conversation, Robison mentioned that
Watt was intending to take out a patent for such
and such inventions. Boulton took no notice at the
time, but after dinner, as he was accompanying the
professor round the works, he pointed to some brick-
work just erecting. "You have stopped that," he
said with a quiet smile.
'"How so?" asked Mr. Robison.
'" Because I was just going to erect an engine
there, not quite like what we have been talking
about, but still with a variety of improvements,
founded on those Mr. Watt mentioned in conversa-
tion. If he means to take out a patent, it would
not be fair in me to construct my engine without his
consent."
' A partnership between two such men as Watt
and Boulton was sure to succeed, and through life
it was advantageous to their characters, and drew
out the best qualities of each. As soon as all
c
34 The Triumphs of Steam.
arrangements could be made, Watt left Glasgow,
and settled at Birmingham, which town became
from henceforth his permanent home. He had not,
however, been long established in his new abode,
when he received a most flattering offer from the
Russian Government, asking him to go out and
superintend some engineering works which were
then in progress. Had this offer arrived a little
sooner, it is only too probable that Watt, tempted
by the salary of ;iooo a year, might have been in-
duced to accept the appointment, and England
would have been deprived of one of her most valu-
able men ; but, fortunately, Watt was much too
happy at Birmingham, in the midst of pursuits and
surrounded by society exactly to his taste, to care
to relinquish them for an immediate increase either
of fame or of fortune. He declined the tempting
offer, and set to work even more diligently than
before, to attain the one great object of his ambition
the perfecting of the steam-engine.
' Having once assured himself that his principle
was right, and that, by the condensation of steam in
a separate vessel, the action of the piston within the
cylinder could be rapidly and regularly performed
with the smallest possible waste of fuel, all the rest
was comparatively easy. One improvement sug-
gested another, until at length an engine was built,
so perfect that it did more than perform its allotted
work, for it succeeded in upsetting the ignorant and
Improvements in Watt's Steam-Engine. 35
vexatious opposition that Watt had hitherto met with
in all his undertakings. Men at length recognised
the wonderful power thus placed at their command,
and began to have some notion of the change which
in a short time was to be effected in all the mercan-
tile transactions of Great Britain. Whilst, however,
people are extremely delighted with an invention
from which they expect to derive great use or profit,
they are very seldom grateful to the inventor himself,
or anxious that he should reap the benefit of his own
success. No sooner was the superiority of Watt's
engine fully admitted, than engineers started up on
all sides, bringing out what they were pleased to
call improvements of their own, but which were in
reality nothing but imitations, and often bad ones,
of their great master. The consequence was, Watt
and Boulton were obliged to protect themselves by
taking out patents for every improvement, however
trifling, which they introduced into their engine
and as Watt's fertile genius was for ever devising
something new, these patents became a most serious
expense ; and not only this, but they involved the
partners in endless lawsuits, the vexation and an-
noyance of which were even harder to bear than the
actual loss of profits, until at last Watt wrote in
despair, " That he almost wished that he had never
made any inventions at all, for that nine-tenths of
mankind were knaves, and a large proportion of the