TRANSACTIONS OF THE GLASGOW ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. NO. I. REMINISCENCES OF JAMES WATT: BY ROBERT HART, Esq. [Read at a Meeting of the Society held at Glasgow, on 2nd November, 1857.] As some of the members of the Society expressed a desire at our last meeting, that I would give some recollections of the interviews that my late brother (Mr. John Hart) and myself had with the celebrated Dr. James Watt, the inventor of our improved steam-engine, I have accordingly thrown together the following brief narrative:As these meetings took place forty-three years since, many observations that were made at the time may have escaped me at present; yet, when the same subjects are touched on, I have as distinct recollection of his treatment of them as if it were of yesterday. My brother and I had heard and read much of the inventions of Mr. Watt. They were so numerous, so various, and of so valuable a character, and were so likely to change for the better the character of the mechanical and mercantile world, we had formed a very high opinion of Mr. Watt, and looked upon him as the greatest and most useful man that ever lived. To have the pleasure of conversing with him was a thing we had little hope of. However, one forenoon while we were at work, one of our employers, a Miss M'Gregor, and a tall elderly gentleman came into the shop. She, without saying who he was, asked if we would show this gentleman our small engine. |