HIS INFANCY AND YOUTH. 353 



poor farmer had fought ; that it punished the act in the 

 person of the son, by confiscating his property ; that the 

 unfortunate child, Thomas Watt, was received by some 

 distant relations ; that in the entire insulation to which 

 his difficult position condemned him, he assiduously 

 devoted himself to deep studies ; that in more tranquil 

 times, he settled at Greenock, where he taught mathe- 

 matics and the elements of navigation ; that he resided 

 at Crawford's Dyke, of which borough he was magis- 

 trate ; and that finally he died in 1734, at the age of 

 eighty-two. 



Thomas Watt had two sons. The eldest, John, fol- 

 lowed his father's profession at Glasgow. He died at 

 the age of fifty (1737), leaving a chart of the Clyde,* 

 which was published under the care of his brother James. 

 This James, who was the father of the celebrated engi- 

 neer, and for a long time treasurer of the municipal 

 council of Greenock, as well as magistrate of the town, 

 became remarkable in the performance of his duties by 

 his ardent zeal, and an enlightened spirit of amelioration. 

 He combined, (do not be alarmed ; these three syllables, 

 that have become a subject of general anathema in 

 France, will not injure the memory of James Watt,) he 

 combined three species of occupation ; he was at once a 

 seller of all sorts of nautical instruments f and stores, a 



* This map is reengi'aved in the Memorials of Watt, with an adver- 

 tisement which ascribes its publication to James Watt, at Glasgow 

 College; a MS. note on one copy, said to be in the handwriting of the 

 Great Engineer, states that it was published by John Watt in 1760. — 

 Translator. 



t It may have been first owing to an examination of these instru- 

 ments, that j'oung Watt, in his eighteenth year, in conformitj- with 

 his own desire, was apprenticed to a mathematical instrument-maker 

 in London. — Translatoi\ 



