[ [131] “As I found the engine at Kinneil perishing, and as it is from circumstances highly improper that it should continue there longer, and as I have nowhere else to put it, I have this week taken it to pieces and packed up the ironwork, cylinder, and pump, ready to be shipped for London on its way to Birmingham, as the only place where the experiments can be completed with propriety. I suppose the whole will not weigh above four tons. I have left the whole of the woodwork until we see what we are to do.”—Watt to Small, 20th May, 1773. Boulton MSS.
[ [132] In a letter to Small, Watt wrote, “I begin now to see daylight through the affairs that have detained me so long, and think of setting out for you in a fortnight at furthest. I am monstrously plagued with my headaches, and not a little with unprofitable business. I don’t mean my own whims: these I never work at when I can do any other thing; but I have got too many acquaintances; and there are too many beggars in this country, which I am afraid is going to the devil altogether. Provisions continue excessively dear, and laws are made to keep them so. But luckily the spirit of emigrating rises high, and the people seem disposed to show their oppressive masters that they can live without them. By the time some twenty or thirty thousand more leave the country, matters will take a turn not much to the profit of the landholders.”—Watt to Small, 29th April, 1774. Boulton MSS.
[ [133] Watt to Small, 25th July, 1773. Boulton MSS.
[ [134] Mr. Edgeworth was first introduced to the notice of Mr. Boulton in the following letter from Dr. Darwin (1767):—“Dear Boulton, I have got with me a mechanical friend, Mr. Edgeworth, from Oxfordshire,—the greatest conjurer I ever saw. God send fine weather, and pray come to my assistance, and prevail on Dr. Small and Mrs. Boulton to attend you to-morrow morning, and we will reconvey you to Birmingham if the devil permit. E. has the principles of nature in his palm, and moulds them as he pleases,—can take away polarity, or give it to the needle by rubbing it thrice on the palm of his hand! And can see through two solid oak boards without glasses! Wonderful! astonishing!! diabolical!!! Pray tell Dr. Small he must come to see these miracles. Adieu, E. Darwin.”
[ [135] Richard Lovell Edgeworth says of this distinguished coterie,—“By means of Mr. Keir I became acquainted with Dr. Small of Birmingham, a man esteemed by all who knew him, and by all who were admitted to his friendship beloved with no common enthusiasm. Dr. Small formed a link which combined Mr. Boulton, Mr. Watt, Dr. Darwin, Mr. Wedgwood, Mr. Day, and myself together—men of very different characters, but all devoted to literature and science. This mutual intimacy has never been broken but by death, nor have any of the number failed to distinguish themselves in science or literature. Some may think that I ought with due modesty to except myself. Mr. Keir with his knowledge of the world and good sense; Dr. Small, with his benevolence and profound sagacity; Wedgwood, with his increasing industry, experimental variety, and calm investigation; Boulton, with his mobility, quick perception, and bold adventure; Watt, with his strong inventive faculty, undeviating steadiness, and bold resources; Darwin, with his imagination, science, and poetical excellence; and Day, with his unwearied research after truth, his integrity and eloquence;—proved altogether such a society as few men have had the good fortune to live with; such an assemblage of friends, as fewer still have had the happiness to possess, and keep through life.”—Memoirs, i. 186.
[ [136] Dr. Roebuck proposed to confine Boulton’s profits to the engine business done only in three counties. It will be observed that Boulton declined to negotiate on such a basis.
[ [137] Boulton to Watt, 7th February, 1769. Boulton MSS.
[ [138] In a statement prepared by Mr. Boulton for the consideration of the arbitrators between himself and Fothergill as to the affairs of that firm, the following passage occurs:—“The first engine that was erected at Soho I purchased of Mr. Watt and Dr. Roebuck. The cylinder was cast of solid grain tin, which engine, with the boiler, the valves, the condenser, and the pumps, were all sent from Scotland to Soho. This engine was erected for the use of the Soho manufactory, and for the purpose of making experiments upon by Mr. Watt, who occupied two years of his time at Soho with that object: and lived there at Mr. Boulton’s expense. Nevertheless Mr. Watt often assisted Boulton and Fothergill in anything in his power, and made one journey to London upon their business, when he worked at adjusting and marking weights manufactured by Boulton and Fothergill.” In another statement of a similar kind, Mr. Boulton says,—“The only fire-engine that was erected at Soho prior to Boulton and Watt obtaining the Act of Parliament, was entirely made and erected in Scotland, and was removed here by sea, being a part of my bargain with Roebuck. All that were afterwards erected were for persons that ordered them, and were at the expense of erecting them.”—Boulton MSS.
[ [139] Quoted in Muirhead’s ‘Mechanical Inventions of James Watt,’ ii. 79.
[ [140] Watt to Boulton, 31st January, 1775. Boulton MSS.