. 
1809.] Ufccnunt of the late Matthew Boulton, es. FR.S. Ke. $29 
we shall be cblized to admit that few men 
possess greater claims to the attention and 
gratitude of their country. Matthew Boul- 
ton, son of Matthew Boutten, by Christian, 
daughter of Mr. Peers, of Chester, was born . 
at Birmingham, the 44th of September, 
4728. He received the chief part jof his 
education at a private grammar. school; kept 
by the Rev. Mr. Ansted, who officiated at 
St. John’s Chapel, Deritend: So-early.as the 
year 1745, Mr, Boulton having: ost his. fa- 
ther, who left. him in flourishing circum- 
stances, distinguished himself by the inven- 
tion of-a gew and most ingenious method of’ 
inlaying steel. Buckles, watch chains, and a 
great variety of other articles, wrought at his 
manufactory, were exported in large quanti- 
ties to France, where they were eagerly pur- 
chased by the English, who affected to, have 
no taste for the productions of their own: 
country: The confinement of a populous 
town was but ill suited to such an éestablish- 
ment as sogn.became necessary for Mr. Boul- 
ton’s farther -experiments. Accordingly, in 
the year 1762, he purchased those extensive 
tracts -of common, at that time @:.barren: 
heath, with only a small house and mill, on 
which the Soho manufactory now stands.. 
He laid the foundation of his present exten- 
sive works, at the expense of 90001. To- 
this spot his liberal. patronage soon attracted : 
gtcat numbers of ingenious men from all 
partsyand by- their aid he so eminently sucs 
cecded in imitating the or molu, that the 
most splendid apartments in this and inmany 
foreign countries received their ornaments: 
from Soho. Here, too the works of the 
greatest masters in oi! colours were mechani- 
cally taken off, with such ease and exactness, 
that the original could scarcely be distin- 
guished from the copy. This mode of copy~ 
ing was invented by the late Mr.-Eggington, 
whese performances in stained glass afterwards 
introduced his name ro public notice The 
utmost power of the water null, which Mr. 
Boulton-had hitherto employed, feH-infinite- 
ly short, @ven with the aid of horses, of that 
immense force which was svon found neces- 
sary to the completion of his designs. Re- 
course was therefore had, about the year 
1767, to that chef d’euvre of human inge- 
nuity, the steam engine. . The first that Mr, 
Boulton constructed was on M. Savary’s plan; 
but the machine was yet, as it were, in its in- 
fancy, and by no means answered Mr. Boul- 
ton’s expectations In the year 1769, Mr, 
James Watt, of Glasgow, obtained a patent 
for such a prodigious improvement of it, that 
Wir. Boulton:immediately sought his acquain- 
tance, and induced him to sértle at Sono, 
At this place the facilicy of its application to 
@ Variety of concerns, wherein great force was 
Fequisite, soon manifested its superior utility 
and vast advantages to the pubiic; parlia- 
went, therefore, in 1775, cheerfully granted 
# prolongation of Mr. Watt’s patent for twen- 
ty-five years.) A pargsexship new commenced 
between Messrs. Boulton and Watt; and a 
Manuiactory of steam engines, on their im- 
proved plan, was established at Soho, which 
still supplies the chief mines and manufacto- 
ries throughout the kingdom: Aided by such 
talents, and commanding such unlimited me- 
chanical powers, Mr. Boulton’s views soon 
expanded, and Soho began to exhibit sympe 
toms of the extraordinary advantages it had 
acquired. The art of coining had long stoad 
in need of simplification and arrangemene, 
and to this art Mr. Boulton no sooner turned 
his attention, than, about the year. 1788, he 
erected a coining mill, onan amproved plan, 
and struck a gold medal of the full weighe of 
a guinea, and of the.same form as that of his. 
new copper coinage lately put into circula- 
tion. ‘lhe, superior advantages of that form 
are obvious, ihe impression is far jess lige 
ble to friction; and by means -of a steel 
gauge of equal diameter, money cuvined on 
that primciple, may be examined Sy measure 
as well as hy weigit, the cm beiug exacthy 
Circular, Moreover, the intrinsic is so nearly 
equal to the current value of every piece, 
that, without a steam engine and adequate 
apparatus, every attempt to counterfery the 
Soho c¢otnage must be miade with-loss. The 
fabrication of.base money seems likely, by 
these means, to be speedily checked, and, ir 
1s, to be hoped, entirely defeated. The milz 
at Soho. works eight machines, each of. 
which redeives, stamps, and delivers out, by 
the aid of only a littie boy, from seventy to 
Ninety piecesof copper in une minute. Either 
of them is stopped’ without the’ smallest in-> 
terruption to the motion of the others, In 
adjoining apartments all the preparatory pre~ 
cesses are carried on with equal facility and 
gispatch 5 such as solling the copperintosheets, 
dividing them into blanks, and shaking them 
into bags clean aud ready for the die. Without 
any personal communication’ between the 
different classes’ of workmen, the blaaks aye . 
conveyed to the reom where they are shaken.’ 
and from thence to the coining rvem in wea 
moving with immense velocity onan inclined 
plane, and accompanied by 4 ticket of their 
weight. Lhe Sierra Leone Company have 
empioyed Mr, Boulton’s mintin the coinage 
of silver, and tue Kast [dia Company in that 
of copper. He has also sent two complete 
mints to Petersburgh. Mr. Boulton having 
presented -the late Emperor Paul f. with 
some of the most curious articles of his mas 
Mutactury, in return received a polite letter 
of thanks and approbation, together with ‘a 
splendid collection of medals, minerals From 
Siberia, and specimens of all the modern 
money of Russia. With the view of stil] 
further improving and facilitating the manu- 
factory of steam engincs, Messrs. Boulton 
and Watt, in conjunction with their sons 
established afoundery at Smethwick, a shert 
distance ftom Soho. Here that powerful 
agent is employed, as it were, to maltiply 
itself, and jis various parts are fabricated and 
adapted 
