has been introduced can his name be unknown.  After many years’ labour to bring the new motive power into practical use, Watt, helped by his friend Dr. Roebuck, took out his first patent in 1769.  Roebuck’s share was transferred to Matthew Boulton in 1773, and in the following year James Watt came to Birmingham.  An Act of Parliament prolonging the patent for a term of twenty-four years was obtained in May, 1775, and on the first of June was commenced the world-famous partnership of Boulton and Watt.  Up to this date the only engine made to work was the one brought by Watt from Scotland, though more than nine years had been spent on it, and thousands of pounds expended in experiments, improvements, and alterations.  Watt’s first residence here was in Regent’s Place, Harper’s Hill, to which (Aug. 17, 1775) he brought his second wife.  He afterwards removed to Heathfield, where the workshop in which he occupied his latest years still remains, as on the day of his death.  In 1785, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; in 1806, the University of Glasgow conferred the degree of LL.D. upon him, and in 1808 he was elected a member of the National Institute of France.  One of the latest inventions of James Watt was a machine for the mechanical copying of sculpture and statuary, its production being the amusement of his octogenarian years, for, like his partner Boulton, Watt was permitted to stay on the earth for longer than the so-called allotted term, his death taking place on the 19th of August, 1819, when he was in his 83rd year.  He was buried in Handsworth Church, where there is a monument, the features of which are said to be very like him.  A statue was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey in 1824, and others have been set up in Birmingham, Manchester, Greenock, and Glasgow.  The following is the inscription (written by Lord Brougham) on the tomb of Watt in Westminster Abbey, towards the cost of which George IV. contributed L500:—­

“Not to perpetuate a name which must endure while the peaceful arts flourish, but to show that mankind have learned to honour those who best deserve their gratitude, the King, his ministers, and many of the nobles and commoners of the realm, raised this monument to JAMES WATT, who, directing the force of an original genius, early exercised in philosophical research, to the improvement of the steam-engine, enlarged the resources of his country, increased the power of man, and rose to an eminent place among the most illustrious followers of science and the real benefactors of the world.  Born at Greenock, 1736; died at Heathfield, in Staffordshire, 1819.”

One of James Watt’s sons, Gregory, who devoted himself to science and literature, died in 1804, at the early age of 27.  James, born Feb. 5, 1769, resided for a number of years at Aston Hall, where he died in 1848.  In 1817 he voyaged to Holland in the first steam vessel that left an English port, the engines having been manufactured at Soho.  He was of a very retiring disposition, and not particularly popular with the public, though valued and appreciated by those admitted to closer intimacy.