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with him at Bervie till 1782, when he became tutor to Mr. Ferguson's two sons, which gave Mr. Playfair the opportunity of residing at Edinburgh. About that time professor Ferguson resigned the chair of moral philosophy to Dugald Stewart, who then held the mathematical class, and Mr. Playfair became successor to professor Stewart.

When the Royal Society of Edinburgh was established, he was appointed secretary. His literary labours were incessant; and he was a constant contributor to the Transactions of the Edinburgh Royal Society, in which many of his papers are to be found. He also contributed occasionally to the Edinburgh Review. He was also the author of a Life of Professor Robison, and a Preface to the second part of the Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica.

All the works of Mr. Playfair show him as no less a pure and eloquent writer, than he was a profound and comprehensive thinker; and he was at the same time the most agreeable of companions, and the most sincere of friends. His great reputation as a lecturer arose principally from his manner, which attracted the students in an uncommon degree, and made him at once affable and impressive. As, while yet a young man, he had to support his father's family, he never entered into the state of matrimony, but lived with his mother and two sisters till 1805, when his mother died, at about the age of eighty. One of his brothers died in 1794, leaving a young family, which the professor took immediately

under his protection; and the liberal and kind manner in which he behaved to them, and to all who depended upon him, is above all praise.

Three years ago he went to visit the Alps and Italy, when his principal object was, geological observation. Soon after his return, his health began to give way.

He had for many years been occasionally afflicted with a strangury, which returned in an alarming manner in the end of last June, from which time he continued in great pain. In July he caused his sisters and nephews to be called, and repeated to them every thing which appeared necessary relative to his affairs. On the following day, he almost insensibly breathed his last.

His funeral took place in Edinburgh on July 26, when the ceremony presented a mournful spectacle; at which the Royal Medical Society and a numerous train of friends and acquaintances marched in procession.

A character of professor Playfair, ascribed to the pen of Mr. Jeffrey, has been published. It chiefly dwells upon his anxiety to do something to gratify a natural impatience, of which the ingenious writer acknowledged himself but slenderly qualified to judge, but in which he says, that he hazards nothing in declaring him among the most learned mathematicians of his age. The principal matter, however, of Mr. Jeffrey's writing, may be admitted to be the following:

"His habits of composition, as we have understood, were not, perhaps, exactly what might have been expected from their results.

He

He wrote rather slowly, and his first sketches were often rather slight and imperfect, like the rude chalking of a masterly picture. His chief effort and greatest pleasure was, in their revisal and correction, and there were no limits to the improvement which resulted from this application. It was not the style merely, or indeed chiefly, that gained by it. The whole reasoning, and sentiment, and illustration, were enlarged and new modelled in the course of it, and a naked outline became gradually informed with life, colour, and expression. It was not at all like the common finishing and polishing to which careful authors generally subject the first drafts of their compositions, nor even like the fastidious and tentative alterations with which some more anxious writers essay their choicest passages. It was, in fact, the great filling in of the picture, the working-up of the figured weft on the naked and meagre woof, that had been stretched to receive it; and the singular thing in this case was, not only that he left this most material part of his work to be performed after the whole outline had been finished, but that he could proceed with it to an indefinite extent."

Much more was added to this clause; but we forbear from making any farther addition to a sentiment thus filled by the author's

hand.

BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
JAMES WATT, ESQ.

James Watt, esq. was born at Greenock in the year 1736. After

finishing his grammatical studies, in which he laid in a stock of useful elementary knowledge, he was apprenticed to what is called in the North an instrument-maker, whose business consists in making and repairing the various machines and articles used in dif ferent professions. After serving three years he removed to London, and worked some time with a mathematical instrument-maker; but having contracted a complaint by sitting in winter at the door of the work-shop, he removed to his native country, where he set up for himself. Whilst he was thus employed, the professor of natural philosophy in the University of Glasgow engaged him in repairing the old model of a steam-engine, which through

length of time had grown out of use. Watt was much struck with the contrivance, but he soon perceived defects in it which prevented it from becoming of more general advantage. From that time he devoted himself to the improvement of this machine, particularly with regard to the saving of heat in the production and condensation of steam. By repeated observations he found, that near four times the quantity of steam was wasted in comparison of that which actually worked the machine. He therefore endeavoured to diminish this waste, and at length completely suc

ceeded.

This was about the year 1765; at which period he married a lady of Glasgow, by whom he had two children. About this time he was joined by Dr. Roebuck, a gentleman of science and property; but their means were not adequate

adequate to their objects. In this situation, Mr. Boulton fortunately becoming acquainted with Mr. Watt, instantly made him an offer of partnership, which was accepted, Dr. Roebuck being reimbursed for what he had expended. Mr. Watt now removed with his family to Birmingham, where he was employed in the most extensive concerns; and for the sale of his engines a patent was obtained, with an act of parliament to prolong its duration. He was also the author of many other inventions, particularly of the copying machine, by the help of which, what has taken a person several hours to write, may be transcribed in a few seconds. Soon after his settlement in Birmingham, having lost his wife, he married Miss M'Gregor, of Glasgow.

Mr. Watt was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1784; of the Royal Society of London in 1785; and a member of the Batavian Society in 1787. In 1806 the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the spontaneous vote of the University of Glasgow; and in 1808 he was elected a member of the National Institute of France.

This truly-great man, by his death has deprived our country of one of its most illustrious ornaments. He may justly be placed at the very head of those philosophers who have improved the condition of mankind by the application of science to the practical purposes of life. His steam

engine is probably the most perfect production of physical and mechanical skill which the world has yet seen, and certainly far transcends every similar invention. So great was the active power of his mind, that he not only embraced the whole compass of science, but was deeply learned in many departments of literature; and such was the felicity of his memory, that it retained, without effort, all that was confided to it. His manners were marked with the simplicity which generally characterizes exalted merit, and were perfectly free from parade and affectation; and though he could not be unconscious of the eminent rank he held among men of science, yet his character was not debased by the slightest taint of vanity or pride. He had for many years retired from business; but his mind continued actively employed on scientific improvements, among which was, an apparatus for the medical employment of factitious airs.

Having at length attained the age of 84 years, his life was terminated by an easy and tranquil death, on the 25th of August, at his house at Heathfield.

His remains were interred at Handsworth, in Warwickshire. The funeral, according to his own wishes, was a private one; but a numerous assemblage of his friends attended his remains to the grave; among whom were several gentlemen, eminent in science and literature, from distant parts of the kingdom.

VOL. LXI.

2 H

STATISTICS

STATISTICS AND HISTORY.

(From Hallam's Europe.)

THE geographical position of Europe naturally divides its maritime commerce into two principal regions; one comprehending those countries which border on the Baltic, the German and the Atlantic oceans; another, those situated around the Mediterranean sea. During the four centuries which preceded the discovery of America, and especially the two former of them, this separation was more remarkable than at present, inasmuch as their intercourse, either by land or sea, was extremely limited. To the first region belonged the Netherlands, the coasts of France, Germany, and Scandinavia, and the maritime districts of England. In the second we may class the provinces of Valencia and Cata fonia, those of Provence and Languedoc, and the whole of Italy.

1. The former, or northern division, was first animated by the woollen manufacture of Flanders. It is not easy either to discover the early beginnings of this, or to account for its rapid advancement. The fertility of that province and its facilities of interior navigation were doubtless necessary causes; but there must have been some temporary encouragement from the personal character of its sovereigns, or

other accidental circumstances. Several testimonies to the flourishing condition of Flemish manufactures occur in the twelfth century, and some might perhaps be found even earlier. A writer of the thirteenth asserts that all the world was clothed from English wool wrought in Flanders. This indeed is an exaggerated vaunt; but the Flemish stuffs were probably sold wherever the sea or a navigable river permitted them to be carried. Cologne was the chief trading city upon the Rhine; and its merchants, who had been considerable even under the emperor Henry 4th; established a factory at London in 1220. The woollen manufacture, notwithstanding frequent wars and the impolitic regulations of magistrates, continued to flourish in the Netherlands (for Brabant and Hainault shared it in some degree with Flanders), until England became not only capable of supplying her own demand, but a rival in all the marts of Europe. All Christian kingdoms, and even the Turks themselves, says an historian of the sixteenth century, lamented the desperate war between the Flemish cities and their count Louis, that broke out in 1380. For at that time Flanders was a market for the traders of all the world. Merchants from seventeen kingdoms had their set.

tled

tled domiciles at Bruges, besides strangers from almost unknown countries who repaired thither. During this war, and on all other occasions, the weavers both of Ghent and Bruges distinguished themselves by a democratical spirit, the consequence no doubt of their numbers and prosperity. Ghent was one of the largest cities in Europe, and in the opinion of many the best situated. But Bruges, though in circuit but half the former, was more splendid in its buildings, and the seat of far more trade; being the great staple both for Mediterranean and northern merchandize. Antwerp, which early in the sixteenth century drew away a large part of this commerce from Bruges, was not considerable in the preceding ages; nor were the towns of Zealand and Holland much noted except for their fisheries, though those provinces acquired in the fifteenth century some share of the woollen manufacture.

For the two first centuries after the conquest, our English towns, as has been observed in a different place, made some forward steps towards improvement, though still very

inferior to those of the continent. Their commerce was almost confined to the exportation of wool, the great staple commodity of England, upon which, more than any other, in its raw or manufactured state, our wealth has been founded. A woollen manufacture, however, indisputably existed under Henry 2nd; it is noticed in regulations of Richard 1st; and by the importation of woad under John, it may be inferred to have still flourished. The disturbances of the

next reign, perhaps, or the rapid elevation of the Flemish towns, retarded its growth; though a remarkable law was passed by the Oxford parliament in 1261, prohibiting the export of wool, and the importation of cloth. This, while it shows the deference paid by the discontented barons who predominated in that parliament, to their confederates the burghers, was evidently too premature to be enforced. We may infer from it, however, that cloths were made at home, though not sufficiently for the people's consumption.

Prohibitions of the same nature, though with a different object, were frequently imposed on the trade between England and Flanders by Edward 1, and his son. As their political connexions fluctuated, these princes gave full liberty and settlement to the Flemish merchants, or banished them at once from the country. Nothing could be more injurious to England than this arbitrary vacillation, which, I think, proves Edward 1st to have been a less wise and enlightened sovereign than he has been esteemed. The Flemings were in every respect our natural allies; but besides those connexions with France, the constant enemy of Flanders, into which both the Edwards occasionally fell, a mutual alienanation had been produced by the trade of the former people with Scotland, a trade too lucrative to be resigned at the king of England's request. An early instance of that conflicting selfishness of belligerents and neutrals, which was destined to aggravate the animosities and misfortunes of our own time!

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