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Proceedings of the Royal Society 
had done. He had scarcely constructed one machine before he shot 
right ahead of it, and thought of something better, which his 
honesty, and candour would not allow him to conceal. His last in- 
vention was a safety-valve most carefully superintended by himself, 
and being his last, it is to be hoped that those who have taken out 
a patent for it will be rewarded by a pecuniary profit he did not 
derive from anything for himself. 
Wherever he stayed, he was one of the first to found and promote 
mechanics’ institutions; and many were his lectures on science, 
freely given to working men, by whom he was, in consequence, 
much regarded, and from many of whom he afterwards received 
letters thanking him for the impetus he had given to their intelligent 
industry and prosperity. 
When in the Highlands, he interested himself much in the con- 
dition of the crofters, and his suggestions on that subject were 
published in the newspapers of the day. The people of Tort 
William must remember his gathering them of an evening for 
rational amusement and instruction. 
In 1854 his love of fine scenery induced him to purchase a 
picturesque property in Breconshire, where he built a house, and 
settled his family for eighteen years. The land, which he found full 
of stony hedgerows and swampy places, he made a verdant park, and 
planted it with many fine trees. 
But the work in which he took most interest there was the ad- 
ministration of justice, as deputy-lieutenant and magistrate for two 
counties. He was not satisfied with a mere “ dilettante ” observance 
of his duty, but studied and mastered the laws on the knowledge of 
which he was to make a decision. As a visitor of the United 
Lunatic Asylum at Abergavenny, he always threw light on the 
subjects discussed, and his ideas were gathered up in pamphlets and 
periodicals that might influence the community in which he lived. 
Some of his suggestions respecting “ the poor laws ” were afterwards 
adopted. His “ Plea for Pauper Children,” advocating industrial 
and classified schools, was published in 1861. He also made a move 
against the injustice done to poor people by deficient weights and 
measures, and was called upon to give evidence on them before a 
Committee of the House of Commons, which led to a more stringent 
regulation. On that occasion, the Astronomer Royal showed his 
