Memoir of James Wait, Esq. F.B.S. 451 



a work of the same sort at Rome, covered profusely with admi- 

 rable sculpture in miniature ; it produces no striking effect but 

 looks like a model badly planned, and badly placed, but carefully 



None of the new fountains are equal to the ancient one of the 

 Innocents ; and if we were to follow the comparison throughout, 

 we should find a similar falling off. 



Euirland is not a country for architecture ; we want the fine 

 material ; yet how much inferior is the church of bt. Genevieve 



to St. Paul's I , J f ► 



As to canals, the French seem to retrograde, and torget 

 what thev formerly knew. The canal of Languedoc is a great 

 work, but all the canals of a late period are badly contrived, and 

 as badlv executed. . , , ^ 



In 1779 w'nile Mr. Watt's grand invention of the steam en- 

 gine was ai-aduallv improving, he invented the machine for copy- 

 in- letters, by means of a thin moist paper and two rollers. It is 

 a minor invention, though very useful, and one by w nch, to use 

 his own words, time, labour, and money are saved ; dispatch and 

 accuracy are attained ; and secrecy is preserved. It has got into 

 eeneraluse all over the world, and gives Mr. Watt another claim 

 to the gratitude of mankind, if indeed the invention of the im- 

 proved steam-engine could enlarge his claim. cy - 

 Mr Watt lost his first wife before he quitted Glasgow, fehe is 

 said to have been an excellent woman, and by her hehad a son 

 and a daughter. The son has for a number of years earned on 

 the steam-engine manufactory in partnership with Mr. Boulton s 

 only son. Thev have only to tread in the steps of their lathers, 

 to ensure them the esteem and good-will of mankind. 



Soon after Mr. Watt settled at Birmingham he inarricd Nliss 

 Macffregor of Glasgow, with whom he lived very happily. His 

 domestic habits and those of that amiable woman perfectly 

 agreed, and never was there more harmony in any amily. 



Mr Watt was afflicted with a violent head-ache for rnany 

 Years : but for a long period, we believe, he had been free from 

 that complaint, and to the last he was a most cheerful and en- 

 tertainincr companion. i- i- i , 



Mr. Watt used to relax from his study and intense thinking by 

 reading novels ; but he did that, as he did every thing else, with 

 measure and moderation. 



The steam-engine is now employed more or less in every covn - 

 try in Europe, and lately three engines have been erected to dram 

 some of the mines in South America. . 



The navigation of rivers has become much more expeditious by 

 means of the application of thc^power of steam, and there^are 



