PROLONGATION OF THE PATENT. 397 



friends applied to Parliament for a prolongation of privi- 

 lege ; since Watt's Patent, dated 1769, had only a few 

 more years to run. The bill gave rise to the most 

 animated discussion. The celebrated mechanic wrote as 

 follows to his aged father : " This business could not be 

 carried on without great expense and anxiety. With- 

 out the aid of some warm-hearted friends, we should not 

 have succeeded, for several of the most powerful people 

 in the House of Commons were opposed to us." It 

 seemed to me interesting to search out to what class of 

 society these Parliamentary persons belonged, to whom 

 Watt alluded, and who refused to the man of genius a 

 small portion of the riches that he was about to create. 

 Judge of my surprise, when I found the celebrated 

 Burke at their head ! Is it possible then that men may 

 devote themselves to deep studies, possess knowledge 

 and probity, exercise to an eminent degree oratorical 

 powers that move the feelings, and influence political 

 assemblies, yet sometimes be deficient in plain common 

 sense ? Now, however, owing to the wise and important 

 modifications introduced by Lord Brougham in the laws 

 relative to patents, inventors will no longer have to 

 undergo the annoyances with which Watt was teased. 



As soon as Parliament had granted a prolongation of 

 twenty-five years to Watt's patent, he and Boulton 

 together began the establishments at Soho, which have 



The economy and correctness of this great work rendered counter- 

 feiting almost impossible. The numerous executions -with which the 

 towns of London and Birmingham had been annually afflicted till 

 then, entirely ceased. It was on this occasion that Dr. Darwin ex- 

 claimed in his Botanical Garden, " If at Rome a civic crown was 

 awarded to those who had saved the life of a single fellow-citizen, did 

 not Boulton deserve to be covered with crowns of oak by us ? " 

 Mr. Boulton died in 1809, at the age of eighty-one years. 



