PLAYFAIR. 
644 
obliged to aflume as the elements of his reafonings; and 
as to the other, though he ended, we believe, with being 
a very able and fkilful mineralogift, we think it is now 
generally admitted that that fcience does not yet afford 
fufficient materials for any pofitive conclufion ; and that 
all attempts to eftablifh a theory of the earth muft, for 
many years to come, be regarded as premature. 
“ With reference to his works, we do not think we are 
influenced by any national or other partiality, when we 
fay that he was certainly one of the bed writers of his 
age; and even that we do not now recollect any one of 
his contemporaries who was fo great a mafter of compo- 
fition. There is a certain mellownefs and richnefs about 
his ftyle which adorns without difguifing the weight and 
nervoufnefs, which is its other great charaXeriftic, a fe- 
date gracefulnefs and manly fimplicity in the more level 
paffages, and a mild majefty and confiderate enthufiafm 
where he rifes above them, of which we fcarcely know 
where to find any other example. It is a ftyle, in fhort, 
of great freedom, force, and beauty ; but the deliberate 
ftyle of a man of thought and of learning, and neither 
that of a wit throwing out his extempores with an affec¬ 
tation of carelefs grace, nor of a rhetorician thinking more 
of his manner than his matter, and determined to be ad¬ 
mired for his expreffion, whatever may be the fate of his 
fentiments.” 
PLAY'FAIR (William), brother of the preceding, a 
political writer, and very ingenious mechanic, was born 
in 1759. We have already ftated that, upon the death of 
the father, the care of the family devolved upon the elder 
brother, the profeflor, who foon after became minifter of 
Liff. William was at this time about thirteen years of 
age; and, having difcovered an early tafte for the mecha¬ 
nical arts, he was apprenticed to a millwright of the name 
of Mickle, where he had for his fellow-apprentice John 
Rennie, the celebrated engineer. Mr. Playfair quitted 
Scotland for England, and, proceeding to Birmingham, 
was engaged, in 1780, as a draughtfman at Soho, in the 
employment of Mr. James Watt. Had he cultivated his 
mechanical genius, there is no doubt, that he would not 
only have obtained confiderable eminence, but have ren¬ 
dered confiderable fervice to this country. Unhappily, 
however, for his own interefts, he had the ambition to 
become an author. 
Few individuals of the prefent day have written fo 
much or fo confidently as Mr. Playfair. Politics and po¬ 
litical economy were his favourite topics ; and there has 
fcarcely been a fubjeX of public intereft conneXed with 
either, during the laft forty years, that has not elicited a 
pamphlet from his prolific pen. Firmly devoted to the 
interefts of his country, he never fuffered any opportunity 
of ferving it, by his pen to efcape him, though his exer¬ 
tions went unrewarded, and he often incurred expenfes 
which his circumftances would very ill bear. As one in- 
ftance of the negleX with which he was treated, we may 
mention, that, although he was the perfon who furnifhed 
the plan and alphabet of the telegraph to the Britifh go¬ 
vernment, which enabled it to adopt a fyftem of commu¬ 
nication then fo fuccefsfuliy employed by our great enemy, 
yet Playfair’s fervices were not only unrequited, but even 
very tardily acknowledged. Mr. Playfair happened to be 
at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, when a member of the par¬ 
liament of Bourdeaux arrived at the fame inn, and de- 
fcribed to him a telegraph which had been ereXed on the 
mountain of Belville. Playfair foon comprehended the 
plan, and, in the courfe of the next day, executed two 
working models of the inftrument, which he fent to the 
duke of York ; “ and hence,” fays the Encyclopedia Bri¬ 
tan nica, “ the plan and alphabet of the machine came to 
England.” 
Although from this time the cacoethes fcrilendi had be¬ 
come his ruling paftion, yet it was not the only one; and 
Mr. Playfair fucceftively obtained five patents for inven¬ 
tions, of the nature of which, however, we are not fully 
acquainted. One of them was for making faflies of me¬ 
tal, compofed of copper, zinc, and iron, which he called 
eldorado-fa/lies, and with which feveral windows in Carl- 
ton-houfe, and fome door-fafnes in the Britifh Mufeum, 
are fitted up. He alfo invented the machines by which 
the ornamental part or fret-work of filver tea-boards and 
fugar-tongs was done, which had hitherto been executed 
by the hand only. (See Plating.) The fame machine 
was applicable to the manufaXure of coach-ornaments, 
buckles, and even to the making of horfe-fhoes. Of the 
latter, it made fix dozen and a half, from the iron bars, 
in feven minutes. 
After refiding fome time in London, where Mr. Play¬ 
fair opened a filverfmith’s fhop for the fale of plate of his 
own manufaXure, he proceeded to Paris, and entered 
into fome mechanical fpeculations, particularly a rolling- 
mill on a new plan, for which he had obtained an exciu- 
five privilege from the king. While fefiding in that ca¬ 
pital, he formed an acquaintance with Mr. Joel Barlow, 
who had been fent agent to Paris for the fale of lands on 
the banks of the Sioto, a river which falls into the Ohio. 
Thefe lands, to the extent of three millions of acres, had 
been purchafed by a company at New York, of which 
Mr. Duer, an eminent merchant, and Mr. Plamilton, fe- 
cretary to the United States treafury, were leading mem¬ 
bers. Mr. Barlow, being without connexions in Paris, 
and unacquainted with the language, found fome diffi¬ 
culty in carrying his objeX into effeX, until introduced 
to Mr. Playfair, who undertook the difpcfal of the lands. 
The French revolution rendering emigration a matter of 
choice to fome, and of neceffity to more, Mr. Playfair 
undertook the agency, to difpofe of the lands at five (hil¬ 
lings per acre, one half of which was to be paid on fign- 
ing the aX of fale, and the other half to remain on mort¬ 
gage to the United States, to be paid within two years 
after taking pofleffion. The office was opened in a large 
hotel in the Reu Neuve des Petits Champs, contiguous 
to the Palais Royal, in November 1789, under the title of 
the Sioto Company ; and, in lefs than two months, fifty 
thoufandacres of land were fold. Two vefiels failed from 
Havre de Grace, laden with emigrants; and the colony 
of Sioto, formed by Mr. Playfair, though not a very 
flouriffiing, is an improving fettlement. 
The political opinions of Mr. Playfair were not very 
favourable to the French revolution; and, happening to 
exprefs himfelf fomewhat freely on the fubjeX, he pro¬ 
voked the enmity of Barrere, who obtained an order for 
his arreft; apprifed, however of his danger, he fucceeded 
in making his efcape to Holland, and thence to England. 
On his return to London, Mr. Playfair projeXed a bank, 
to be called the Security Bank, in which Mr. Hartfinck, 
formerly in the celebrated houfe of the Hopes at Amfter- 
dam, and the Rev. Mr. Hutchinfon, became partners. 
This bank was opened in Cornhill; its objeft was to lend 
money on fuch fecurities as were valuable, but not eafy 
to borrow money upon. Unfortunately, however, fuffi¬ 
cient attention was not paid to the nature of the fecurity, 
and bankruptcy enfued. 
From this period we have only to confider Mr. Piayfair 
as a literary man, whofe life, like that of moll authors, 
was much chequered. Of his aXivity, the following lift 
of his works will bear ample evidence. 1. Jofeph and 
Benjamin. 2. Regulations for the Intereft of Money, 
1785. 3. The Statiftical Breviary, (howing, on a princi¬ 
ple entirely new, the Refources of every State and King¬ 
dom of Europe. 4. Commercial and Political Atlas, 
i7’86. 5. On the Afiatic Eftabliffiments of Great Britain, 
4to. 6. The inevitable Confequences of a Reform in 
Par iament. 7. General View of the aXual Force and 
Refources of France, 1793. 8. Better ProfpeXs to the 
Merchants and ManufaXurers of Great Britain, 1793. 
9. Thoughts upon the prefent State of French Politics, 
179;. 10. Peace with the Jacobins impoffible, 1794. 11. 
Letter to Eail Fitzwilliam, occafioned by his two Letters 
to the Earl of Carlifle, 1794. 12. The Hiftory of Jaco- 
bir.ifm, 1793. 13. Real Statement of the Finances and 
Refources 
