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_ {a 
JAMES WATT. 
BIOGRAPHY READ AT THE PUBLIC MEETING OF THE 
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ON THE 8TH OF DECEMBER, 
1834. 
GENTLEMEN,—After having waded through a long 
list of battles, assassinations, plagues, famines, catastro- 
phes of all sorts presented by the annals of I know not 
what country, a philosopher exclaimed, “ Happy the 
nation whose history is tedious!” Why ought we to 
add, in a literary point of view at least, “ Unhappy the 
man on whom the duty falls to relate the history of a 
happy people !” 
If the philosopher’s exclamation loses none of its ap- 
positeness when applied to mere individuals, its counter- 
part characterizes with equal truth the position of some 
biographers. 
Such were the reflections that occurred to me, whilst 
I was studying the life of James Watt, and collecting 
obliging communications from the relations, friends, and 
companions of the illustrious mechanic. His life, quite © 
patriarchal, devoted to work, to study, and to meditation, 
will not afford us any of those striking events the recital of 
which, sprinkled with judgment among scientific details, 
relieves their weight. Still I will relate it, if but to 
