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November 22,1856.] THE LEADEE, _ 1121
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JAMES WATT AND STEAM ENGINES. Memorials ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Catherine De Medicis. The Girlhood Of Ca...
¦ * ' For six yards of brocade , three psalters in lionour of the Holy Trinity ; fifty p psalms per yard , with Gloria tibi Domine , and meditations on . the great favours Mary p received from the Father , Son , and Holy Gliost . VFor seventy ermine skins , seven thousand times the AveMaria ^ in honour of the ^ seven Joys . q " For sixty-three embroidered crowns , Bixty-three times the rosary , in reverence for the sixty-three years Mary lived in the world . " For eight hundred and eighty-two precious stones , fourteen for each crown , must ir be repeated seven times the joys she had on earth , and seven times the joys she had *' in heaven . * *« For a garniture of pearls , seven hundred times the Ave Maria Stella . r < " For a clasp , seven hundred times the O Gloriosa , Domina . a " For a Solomon ' s knot , seven hundred times the Salve Regina . v " For a golden button , seven hundred times the Alma Redemptoris Mater . g *• For embroidered , roses , seven hundred times the Ave Sanctissima Maria , J : For ditto carnations , seven hundred times the Regina cali . n "For ditto lilies , seven hundred times the Ave Regina ccelorum . a " For ditto jessamines , seven hundred times the Quern terra . i " For ditto hyacinths , seven hundred times the Memento Kalutatis . " These prayers , as per invoice , were , we are told , all duly rehearsed by the in- * ; defatigable female tongues of the nimble workwomen , dividing the labour amongst y them as best they might . The required repetitions amount to nearly fourteen thou- ^ sand , besides the " -meditations ; " but these might , no doubt , be run off very quickly . J The appointed day came , and the awful figure was placed in the / piazza in lront of j the municipal palace of Florence , there publicly to receive the gifts of the various a guilds and religious communities . AVhen it came to the turn of the Murate , lo ! two < young men , proved by the circumstances of the case to have been angels , advanced ] and presented on behalf of the nuns the miraculous mantle , finished in all respects ] exactly according to the above description . , Richa rehearses the names of various learned historians who have testified to the truth of these facts , and who triumphautly refute the objection of all impious * doubters by referring them to the irrefragable evidence of the mantle itself , still to ' be seen in the sacristy of the Impruneta . We can only spare room for one more passage , and it shall be that , recording the extraordinary proclamation of Jesus as the King of Flo- ^ . rence !•— :- . ¦ - ., ' ¦ : ' : ¦ . ¦ , ¦ ; ' ' . ; : . ''¦ . : . . ' : \ . ¦ " . ' .,. ¦ i There was a meeting of the great council of citizens on the 9 th of February , 1529 . s It was much more numerously attended than had recently been the case , for there i were no less than eleven hundred citizens present . The Gonfaloniere rose , and in a ] long speech which might have passed , says Varchl , with something very like a sneer , , for one of Savonarola ' s sermons , rehearsed a long list of providential mercies , for , which Florence owed the greatest gratitude to God . Specially he recounted how , ' when recently they were menaced with destruction by the lawless followers of Freundsberg and Bourbon , " the Divine mercy , moved by the prayers of certain pious persons of either sex in the city , had sent that destroying host to sack and plunder Rome , and all its clergy " instead . Passing thence to an alarming picture of the dangers then imminently threatening the state , and of the present lamentable condition of the people , he in conclusion suddenly threw himself on his knees before the assembly , crying aloud " Mercy ! mercy ! " to such good purpose , says Yarchi , sarcastically , that the whole assembly were moved to join in the same contagious cry . It is the nature of such emotions to propagate and intensify themselves in crowded assemblies of men . The atmosphere of the council-chamber became , as it were , charged with the religious fervour evolved from the excited nervous systems of the eleven hundred councillors , and when they were thus prepared for the reception of any monstrosity of fanaticism , the Goiifaloniere concluded his harangue by proposing that Jesus Christ should he forthwith elected and proclaimed King of Florence ! The proposition was received with enthusiasm . But no amount of exaltation could hurry those worthy guardians of constitutional liberty out of the habitual routine by which all the functionaries of the state were elected . So the pious councillors arose from their knees , and proceeded to hand about the ballot-boxes . " And of the eleven hundred of us councillors who were there in council , " says honest Cambi , " there were eighteen white beans of those who would not accept Christ for their king . " " It is strange , " observes the historian Pignotti , with an amusing accuracy of logical inference , " that no one objected to the vote on the ground that it necessarily subjected the Florentines to the jurisdiction of the Pope , as the visible vicar of the monarch of their choice . " And a commentator on Yarchi suggests that in all probability this consideration did influence the dissenting minority . But it is more consistent with the ideas and habits of thought of that day , to suppose that the orthodox theory of the papal power never entered into their heads for an instant . That the great majority of the citizens should have altogether overlooked the possibility that their election of Christ might be held to involve any such consequences , is in any case another curious proof of the degree in which the bishop was altogether disregarded and forgotten in the temporal sovereign by the Italians of the sixteenth century . The Abate Raatrelli , who speaks of Capponi's measure as an " atto di fina politica , " declares that it was very successful in reconciling to him the minds of the people , and remarks with a sneer , nil abbe" as ho was , that " the Gonfaloniere was exceedingly intimate with the friars of St . Mark , and had thoroughly well learned from them , that the best way to quiet an ignorant populace was to exhibit to them-the image of seme saint . " The measure was no sooner decided on , than it was ordered to be put in . execution by placing an inscription to that etVect over the great gate of the palazzo pubblico ^ and by erecting "in the place , " nays Cambi , " which the cognizance of the King of France , formerly , and more recently that of Pope Leo , occupied , the arms of our King Christ . " p c a w m ei y . | [ I . $ , . 1 ! ,. e f = 1 f e g _ i f s h y 18 | d j _ xt vf , id of xr
November 22,1856.] The Leadee, _ 1121
November 22 , 1856 . ] THE LEADEE , _ 1121
James Watt And Steam Engines. Memorials ...
JAMES WATT AND STEAM ENGINES . Memorials of the Lineage , Early Life , Education , and Genius of James Watt . By George Williamson . Printed for tho "Watt Club . Constable . The citizens of Greenock—members of the " Watt Club—have induced Mr . George Williamson , who was in possession of very interesting documents conn ected with the life of James Watt , to publish these Memorials of their illustrious townsman . The work is irregular in form , and does not pretend to the completeness of a biography ; it supplies , however , a quarry from "Which any master of liternry art may derive materials for a Life . No such hook at present exists . Arugo composed an oratorical eulogy of James Watt , our English encyclopaedists havo compiled a superabundance of ' sketches ; but the biography remains to be written . Meanwhile , Mr . Williamson and tho Watt Clul > havo produced , in the unpopular quarto shape , an important set of memorials , with two portraits of the great Greenock worthy , one of the renowned Papin , and other interesting illustrations . A ( le r . ts : ir id m ch es of Ir . ) e , ck A
. reliminary chapter , of Doric dulness , « stablislies the claims to authority possessed by the literary inheritance of Mr . Williamson . Greenock has been careful to trace the lineage of its most illustrious itizen . His great-grandfather has been discovered , and that is all , for no Ossianic ancestry has been found or forged on this occasion . The greatgrandfather is said to have been a landholder of Aberdeen , -who was tilled one of Montrose ' s battles . His son , Thomas Watt , was one of the contumacious schoolmasters denounced by the Presbytery of Paisley , and professed mathematics , in the pursuit of which science he attained no little reputation . He wasj moreover , the Bailie of a Barony , and sat severely as judge in the Court of Cra-wfurdsdyke . Of his two sons , Join and James , ho survived him , John died prematurely , after completing an elaborate survey of the river Clyde ; and the otter was the father of the famous James . In the quaint old town of Greenock , long known to seamen and erchants as a ' harbourie and havening place , ' this child was nurtured , and there he spent a considerable portion of his life . A ' view' of the place , dated 1767 , suggests a resemblance to some Dutch colonial seaport of the ghteenth century , crowded with old-fashioned shipping . But it had teen , from immemorial time , a place of maritime importance , as the key of the Clyde . Here the elder James rose to position , and prosperity ; here the ounger was born , in January , 1736 , and . here , according to the invariable practice of biographers and memorial writers , much of his success in life is attributed to the character of his inotlier . Here , too , Mr . Williamson claims classicism , Scotland , and talks of the ' eloquent and expressive Doric' of the phrase "A , braw , braw -woman—none now to be seen like her" ! However , James Watt-went to Mr . M'Adam ' s commercial school , . was ill-treated by the boys , ridiculed by the girls , and acquired a playground character for softness and stupidity . Why not ? says Mr . Williamson . Pascal began his career at thirteen ; at the same age the modern Pascal ( Chalmers !_) emitted the first spark of his mathematical and intellectual genius . Not till he was thirteen did Newton astonish his playfellows at Granthani , and not beyond his thirteenth year did James Watt delay to take into his hands ' the mystic key of all scientific knowledge . ' He began to construct models and diagrams , to watch the movements of the stars , to study optics and geometry , to make little pulleys , blocks , pumps , and capstans , and to inspect the workshops of his father , the worthy master-wright , merchant , Bailie , and treasurer of the town . It is not certain that he did not conceive , unassisted , the principle of a crane . It-iscertain that he had a small forge erected for his own . use , and fabricated a punch-ladle , out of a . lar ^ e silver coin , for one of his friends . Unhappily , the fortunes of the elder Watt began to decline ; he first visited London , and then settled in Glasgow as a mathematical instrument maker , and from this point in his career , that is , during the fruitful period of his life , the young mechanician learned nothing except by his own unaided efforts . It was afterwards that he began , in reality , to invent . Arriving in Glasgow , at twenty-one years of age , after a brief visit to London , he found himself an intruder— he had no local rights , and the Corporation of Arts and Trades refused him permission to open even the humblest workshop . Every means of conciliation having failed , says Arago , the University of Glasgow interfered , arranged , and put at the disposal of young Watt a small apartment within its own buildings , allowed him to establish a shop , and honoured him with the title of its ' instrument maker . ' Behold him , then , a shopkeeper in the Salt-market at Glasgow . It was to this place that Professor Anderson sent him , for repair , the . famous model of the Newcomen engine . Thus an accident of his trade elicited his vast discovery , that of the separate condenser , -which " revolutionized the commerce , and even the customs of our country . " In his Uni : versity room he speculated and experimented incessantly ; the little atelier became an academy of arts and sciences , to which , not only the students , but the professors repaired in crowds . Here Watt learned German in order to read Leopold on Machines ; Italian , to read a single learned treatise ; studied Smith's Harmonics to qualify himself to build an organ , and , all the while worked assiduously for his livelihood , making the delicate and beautiful tools of the mathematician . His patent is now enrolled in Chancery ; ^ his specification of an effective , workable steam-engine , a high-pressure engine , and n horizontal rotatory engine , is recorded , but he wants—encouragement and money . It was one of the most signal proofs of his genius that he quitted , for a time , his delicate manipulations , to compete w ith the greatest engineers of the day , in projects for improving the navigation of the Clyde , and devoting eighteen years of liis life to the getting up of plans , to levellings , to calculutiOns of excavations and embankments , and courses of masonry . After this long course of surveying sind engineering entcrprize , by which ho achieved such a reputation that he was invited to undertake the works of the Great Caledonian Canal , he formed his engagement with Mr . Boulton , of Soho , and left Scotland at tho age of thirty-nine . The next three years produced important developments in liis plans , for high-pressure and rottitory engines . In the Memorials referring to this period , we discover many pleasant glimpses of his private life , und illustrations of his noble , modest , generous character . When he had acquired wealth and influence , it was his first thought to benefit his native town , Gxeenock , now one of the great havens of the Western world , and his efforts in this respect are noticed by Mr . Williamson in a chapter prefatory to one of great historical interest on the navigation of the Clyde , and especially on the story of the first steambeat , the Cornet ^ built by Henry Bell , in 1811 . To set forth strongly the contrast between this initiatory vessel and the naval architecture of our own day , an engraving of the Comet is followed by a draught of tho lines of the magnificent Atrato , built by Messrs . Caird for the West India Mail service . James "Watt died in August , 1819 , aged eighty-four . Chantrey sculptured his image in marble for Westminster Abbey , a vast monument is to be raised upon the rock that overhangs the place of his birth , but the Steam Engine is his true memorial . Though Mr . Williamson ' s manner is occusionally pompous and eccentric , the volume published by the Watt Club is one of groat value , as bringing more clearly into the light several remark - able episodes in the career of this wonderful mechanician .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 22, 1856, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22111856/page/17/
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