Peter Ewart. 



243 



at the Court of Berlin, another an eminent merchant in 

 Liverpool and the friend of Canning ; the youngest, Peter, 

 was obliged to work his way from the place of apprentice 

 in the workshop to which he had been sent after showing 

 an uncontrollable taste for watch-making, clocks, wheels, 

 and all the connection of machinery. He was first put to 

 work with Mr. Rennie, at Musselburgh, and then employed 

 at Soho with Watt and Boulton. The character of Mr. 

 Peter Ewart must have stood high, as the writer remembers 

 well that the memory of that engineer sounded pleasantly 

 in the ears of the elder men who knew him well. It is not 

 possible to tell much of him, but we can imagine what he 

 was from the following letter, which is so touching, and 

 shows such enthusiasm as most men at present would not 

 dare to evince ; they would be ashamed to be so natural. 

 It is well that there was such a man as Dr. Currie to 

 admire, such a firm as that of Mr. Oldknow of Stockport 

 to devise plans, and such a man as Mr. Ewart to carry them 

 out so heartily and lovingly. This is the letter. 1 



Dr. Currie to W. Wilberforce, Esq. 



Liverpool, April 23, 1793. 



' Dear Sir, If in the long letter which I wrote to you 

 two days ago, there appears a good deal of unguarded 

 warmth, the following circumstance will explain, though 

 perhaps not justify it. 



' I was sitting in my study on the evening of Saturday 

 reflecting on public affairs, when a young man called to 

 drink coffee with me, a manufacturer of Stockport, near 



1 From Dr. Henry's Biographical Notice of the late Peter Ewart, Esq. 

 Lit. and Phil. Soc. Mem., 2nd series, vol. vii. p. 121. 



R 2 



