JAMES BRINDLE Y. 67 



'O'er-infoim'd its tenement of clay,' 

 although the actual bodily fatigue to which his many engage- 

 ments subjected him must doubtless have contributed to wear 

 him out 



No man ever lived more for his pursuit, or less for himself, 

 than Brindley. He had no sources of enjoyment, or even 

 of thought, except in his profession. It is related that, having 

 once, when in London, been prevailed upon to go to the 

 theatre, the unusual excitement so confused and agitated him 

 as actually to unfit him for business for several days, on which 

 account he never could be induced to repeat his visit. His 

 total want of education, and ignorance of literature, left his 

 genius without any other field in which to exercise itself and 

 spend its strength than that which the pursuit of his profes- 

 sion afforded it : its power, even here, would not probably 

 have been impaired, if it could have better sought relaxation 

 in variety ; on the contrary, its spring would most likely have 

 been all the stronger for being occasionally unbent. We 

 have already mentioned that he was all but entirely ignorant 

 of reading and writing. He knew something of figures, but 

 did not avail himself much of their assistance in performing 

 the calculations which were frequently necessary in the prose- 

 cution of his mechanical designs. On these occasions his 

 habit was to work the question, by a method of his own 

 chiefly in his head, only setting down the results at particular 

 stages of the operation ; yet his conclusions were generally 

 correct. His vigour of conception, in regard to machinery 

 was so great, that, however complicated might be the machine 

 he had to execute, he never, except sometimes to satisfy his 

 employers, made any drawing or model of it, but having 

 once fixed its difierent parts in his mind, would construct 



