ANECDOTE OF HIS YOUTH. 355 



demning us, examine attentively what our son is doing." 

 The apology soon followed ; the boy, only six years old, 

 was seeking the solution of a geometrical problem. 



Prompted by an enlightened fondness, the father had 

 early furnished the young scholar with a certain number 

 of tools, and he made use of them with great ability ; he 

 took to pieces and put together again all the infantine 

 toys that came into his hands ; he continually made new 

 ones. When older, he applied them to the construction 

 of a small electrical machine; the bright sparks from 

 which became a lively subject of amusement and sur- 

 prise to all the playfellows of the poor invalid. 



Watt, with an excellent memory, still would not per- 

 haps have figured among the young prodigies of com- 

 mon schools ; he would have refused to learn lessons 

 like a parrot, because he felt an internal longing care- 

 fully to elaborate the intellectual elements which they 

 presented to his mind. Nature had especially created 

 him for meditation. The father, moreover, augured very 

 favourably of the rising faculties of his son. Other less 

 observant relations did not participate in these hopes ; 

 his grandmother, Mrs. Muirhead, said to him one day, 

 " James, I never saw such an idle young man as you 

 are. Do take a book, and employ yourself usefully. 

 Upwards of half an hour has elapsed without your say- 

 ing a single word. Do you know what you have been 

 doing all this time ? You have taken off and replaced, 

 and taken off again, the teapot lid ; and you have alter- 

 nately held in the steam that came out, first a saucer and 

 then a spoon ; you have busied yourself in examining 

 and collecting together the little drops formed by the. 

 condensation of the steam, on the surface of the china 

 and of the silver; is it not disgraceful to waste your 

 time in this manner ? " 



