PREFACE. 



ix 



he would have belied the truth that is in him, and shown 

 himself unworthy of the confidence of his friends, and un- 

 grateful to his former supporters. 



Neither time nor circumstances will allow him to abate a 

 jot of those cheerful and hopeful opinions and wishes, in the 

 diffusion of which he has now been occupied for the last 

 fourteen years of a life passed in combined struggle and 

 studiousness ; and it is now his greatest consolation to find 

 that the hours spent at his writing desk, and the days and 

 nights of study while engaged in the invention of his 

 machines, have not been spent in hopeless expectation of a 

 reward, his successful inventions having enabled him to outlive 

 misconception and the enmity of the selfish and narrow- 

 minded sceptics of the day. He only waits for time, and he 

 will yet behold his labours crowned with success, and his 

 inventions acknowledged to be national advantages. 



In addition to the aid the author has had the pleasure of 

 acknowledging from the gentlemen of the press, he feels 

 happy to say he has benefitted by reading and quoting from 

 the writings of Leigh Hunt, who, it appears, like the author, 

 lead a life of continuous struggle for years before he was able 

 to enjoy tranquility and repose. 



The author quite agrees with that gentleman when he says, 

 11 May all who experience cheerfulness equal to the writer in 

 adversity, never know the troubles that have rendered it (until 

 now) almost his only possession." 



