14 BOULTON. 



of holding many hundreds of workmen, and erected a mansion for 

 himself surrounded by beautiful grounds, where he lived as a prince 

 among his people, extending hospitality to all around. In 1767, 

 Boulton, finding that the motive -power which he possessed was 

 inadequate to the various purposes of his machinery, erected a 

 steam-engine upon the original construction of Savery. This, how- 

 ever, in turn was found to be insufficient for the objects required, 

 and Boulton then had the discernment to perceive that they might 

 be very completely attained by the adoption of the various improve- 

 ments lately made in the steam-engine by James Watt. In 1773 he 

 entered into partnership with this great scientific inventor, and in- 

 duced him to settle at Soho and superintend personally the erection 

 of his new steam-engines. This bold but clear-sighted act of Boulton 

 was destined to crown with honour a reputation, already rising, and 

 built upon the firm foundation of uprightness and integrity. " Had 

 Watt searched all Europe," says Playfair, " he could not have found 

 another man so calculated to introduce the machine to the public in 

 a manner worthy of its reputation." Its sale as an -article of com- 

 merce was entirely conducted by him, and the skilful and liberal 

 way in which he performed this difficult task brought in time its own 

 reward ; yet as great a sum as 47,000. had to be expended upon the 

 steam-engine before any profit resulted to its owners. In process of 

 time, however, wealth flowed into the hands of Boulton and Watt ; 

 and in the year 1800 Mr. Watt was enabled to retire from the firm 

 possessed of a large competency, and leaving the exclusive privilege 

 of the sale of the engine to Boulton. Boswell, who visited Soho in 

 177G, shortly after the manufacture of steam-engines had been com- 

 menced there, was greatly struck by the vastness and contrivance 

 of the machinery. " I shall never forget," he says, " Mr. Boulton's 

 expression to me when surveying the works : ' I sell here, sir, what 

 all the world desires to have Power.'' He had," continues Boswell, 

 " about 700 people at work ; I contemplated him as an iron chieftain, 

 and he seemed to be the father of his tribe."* 



In 1785 Mr. Boulton was elected a Fellow of the Eoyal Society, 

 and two or three years after this, turned his attention to the subject 

 of coining, to the improvement of which art he devoted the last 

 twenty years of his life. He erected extensive, machinery for this 

 purpose, and by uniting some processes originating in France with 

 new kinds of presses, he was enabled to obtain great rapidity of 

 action combined with the utmost perfection in the articles produced ; 

 so much so, that having been employed by the British Government 

 to recoin the whole of the British specie, he rendered counterfeits 

 nearly impossible by the economy and excellence of his work. In 

 addition to this, Mr. Boulton planned and directed the arrangement 

 of the machinery in the British Mint, and executed that for the 



* Quarterly Itcview, October, 1858. 



