naval operations may be subject to a new system of tactics, when the manoeuvres of hostile fleets shall be regulated by machinery, and mighty armies transported from shore to shore with a certainty and a rapidity inconceivable to our ancestors. The prospect opens a field of speculation, well deserving the attention of every naval officer who is desirous of professional distinction.

The value of the Steam-engine has already proved of incalculable importance to this country. The impulse it gave to the commercial and manufacturing interests, became the main spring of those encouraging exertions which raised Britain to a political eminence unexampled in our history, and brought to a glorious termination that tremendous contest in which we were so long engaged. It set free an immense body of enterprising young men, employed in the more laborious departments of the manufactory, to wield those arms which they had previously contributed to forge, and share the honour of protecting their father-land from foreign invasion. The enormous expenses of the late war were supplied by the increased prosperity thus given to trade, not only producing the ready means of supporting a heavy taxation, and paying the interest of our national debt, but deriving from the enlarged export of our own manufactures immense revenues from other nations.

When we thus cast a hasty glance over the immeasurable extent of those advantages which have resulted from the invention of the Steam-engine, we cannot but contemplate with grateful admiration the source of these mighty benefits. To controul a fleeting vapour, and apply it as an elastic force, was a contrivance highly creditable to the genius of the inventor. But the philosophic mind which appropriated this curious discovery to the common welfare of mankind, by directing it to the purpose of driving machinery in every department of mechanics, and thus providing a substitute for human labour, and multiplying the produce of ingenuity to an indefinite extent, deserves, and has justly obtained for Mr.

Watt, the respect of every man of science, and the gratitude of every nation in the world.

In this happy country it is hardly possible that splendid abilities can fail of their reward. Mr. Watt was not slow in emerging from the obscurity of early life, and devoted himself to philosophical pursuits, with an ardour which soon raised him to reputation and acquired him the friendship of men of eminence, who advanced his views, and gradually conducted him to independence. Having obtained a patent for his improvements of the Steam-engine in 1769, he entered into partnership with the late Mr. Boulton, of Birmingham, a man who, though greatly his inferior in science, possessed a highly cultivated taste, and talents eminently fitted for the extensive concerns in which they were engaged. The celebrated manufactory of Soho still continues to be the delight and admiration of strangers, and the glory of British mechanical science. Here they carried on a very extensive manufacture of Steam-engines, supplying all parts of England, as well as foreign nations, with this invaluable machinery; and among a great variety of other scientific and delicate works, it was from Soho that the present beautiful copper coinage issued, under a contract with the British government; and there also coinage, to a still larger extent, was executed for Russia and other countries.

Mr. Boulton died in 1809. Mr. Watt survived him many years, dying at the advanced age of 84, at his seat at Heathfield near Birmingham, on the 25th of August, 1819. Both these eminent men were fellows of the Royal Society of London, and Mr. Watt was also a member of the National Institute of Paris. Amidst all the distinctions he received, he seems never to have lost the native simplicity of his character. He found leisure, while deeply engaged in abstract science, for very extensive acquirements in literature, and was intimately acquainted with the best authors in most of the modern languages.

He left one son, who had long been associated in his business, and who inherits much of his father's abilities in mechanical science.

L,

214

ON CANALS.

NEXT to the important consequences resulting from the invention of the Steam engine, there has been scarce any expedient for the promotion of our national prosperity, productive of more rapid advantages than the modern improvements in the communication by Canals. It is very remarkable, that although they had been already carried to great perfection in other countries of Europe, Great Britain, now so eminently distinguished by her enterprises in every department of science, should have been among the last in adopting them to any considerable extent. The great Canal of Languedoc in France, connecting the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean, was a vast undertaking, which did great honour to the able engineer by whom it was constructed. The numberless Canals of Holland and the Netherlands exhibit striking examples of the important benefits arising from this mode of transferring the produce of one part of the country to another. Thus, by a ready and convenient interchange, all the provinces participate of the particular growth of each; and the commodities, which are most conveniently produced in one quarter, are distributed over the whole country with ease and cheapness.

The singularly flat character of the Dutch and Flemish provinces afforded peculiar facilities for the construction of Canals; and it is probable that the inhabitants of Great Britain were long deterred from undertaking similar works, by contrasting with theirs the unequal surface of the greater part of our island. It was reserved for the genius of our civil engineers to overcome these difficulties by mechanical contrivances of great ingenuity.

Meanwhile the internal commerce of this kingdom languished for want of the means of transfer. Even the proprietors in the maritime counties were often withheld, by the dangers of the sea, from embarking their produce for a more distant market, though en

joying advantages wholly denied to the midland districts. In these the difficulties of bad roads, and the heavy expense of land carriage, compelled the farmer and the manufacturer to obtain a market near at hand. Little competition arose; and finding themselves circumscribed in the extent of their sale, they limited their crops to the consumption of their own neighbourhood.

Under these discouragements much valuable land remained uncultivated; the produce of the soil scarce repaying the expense of placing it under the plough. Coals, iron, and other valuable minerals, were left unexplored in the bowels of the earth; the operation of mining being deemed too hazardous a speculation, when it was considered that the ore must be conveyed by land carriage to a great distance before it could find a purchaser. Genius and industry were thus impeded, and men were content to dwell in the ignorance of their forefathers, and to put up with the habitual inconveniences they had long endured.

But the introduction of Canals produced a sudden and astonishing impulse. The enterprise excited the energy and activity of the people, and roused them to undertakings which seem to have waited only for an opportunity to spring forth. No sooner was it perceived that the most cumbrous articles of trade might be conveyed at a comparatively trifling expense, without risk and with little labour, to the most distant quarters of the island, than universal spirit and ingenuity spread through the kingdom with astonishing rapidity, and supplanted that sloth and timidity which had so long prevailed.

The great benefactor of his countrymen in these important improvements was Mr. James Brindley; a man whose ardent genius and unconquerable zeal found a liberal patron in the late Duke of Bridgewater. It should be observed here, that this happy association of talent and patronage is the distinguished honour of the British nation. After all which has been said about the proud man's contumely, and of genius neglected, there is no country in the world

where merit in every department is so sure to find encouragement as in England; and where, when distinguished, it is so amply rewarded. Neither rank nor riches are, in this kingdom, considered an exemption from that participation of the common interests of the people which constitutes real patriotism, nor will mere rank command respect unless accompanied by moral superiority. The nobleman meets the man of genius upon equal terms, and finds his account in seeking reputation amongst his countrymen by the same honourable means which are open to them all. Mr. Brindley, having been bred to the business of a millwright, had already shown very superior talents in the completion of several extensive works, when the Duke of Bridgewater invited him, in 1759, to direct his attention to the construction of a Canal which he then meditated, with a view to connect his estate at Worsley with Manchester. The difficulties of the ground had been declared by other engineers impracticable; but by building mounds along the vallies, and conducting the water in other parts through tunnels under ground, he preserved the level and completed the Canal, without the aid of locks, in a surprisingly short space of time. This Canal was carried on an aqueduct across the river Irwell, and afforded, when finished, a striking proof of the superior advantages of this mode of conveyance. The general approbation he obtained in executing this work, led next to the undertaking of the Canal which now unites the rivers Trent and Mersey; thus connecting the ports of Liverpool and Hull, and providing for the safe transport of every species of commodities from the two opposite coasts of the island, thereby saving the expense and risk of a long circuitous voyage by sea. This Canal

was begun in 1761; it is ninety-three miles in length, having numberless bridges crossing it, together with seventy-six locks and five tunnels. Our readers will form a just conception of the surprising labour and skill employed in this great work, when it is related that one of these tunnels is the subterraneous passage of Harecastle, no less than 2880 yards in length,