| Description | (Muirhead No. 158.)
Soho 10th of July 1776
Dear Sr
Don't atribute my long silence to a want of respect & youl be more kind than I deserve & yet not more than is due to my good intentions I have had this summer at the bottom of my garding [Ed.Note: old form of garden] a vast crop of Coaches & posh(?) Chaises I have fancyed myself much hurryed but perhaps it was only for want of health & spirits however I have some real evils & some bad health. The lunar Doctors prescribed for me lately 6 purges one bleeding 2 pukes(?) &c: apart of ye purges I consented to & I think myself ye better for em
I have this eveng recvd your favr of ye 3d Juy & I also recvd one other letter wch is not before me, by your first letter I was fearfull of Your returning alone & therefore I sent you Dr Falks pamphlet for a companion (Directed to Dr Hutton) At first sight of it I thought an illnatured performance that might tend to do us mischief but after ye first fit of passion had subsided I (.......) it and its author as things of no consequence unless we made em so by takeing notice of them. Perhaps it might not be impolitical if you were to publish a paper in the Philosophical Transacts with chiefly Elementary intimating that We have a variety of Engines invented very difft in their construction some where the piston is pressd upwards & without a great Beam others where there is a constant vacuum under ye piston &c &c &c; & that you have annexed a drawing of one (..........) wch is erected at Bedworth & that it doth so & so wth such a quantity of Coals
You may compliment ye York building Engine & say tis the best you have ever examd & that its Cylinder is 49 ins & its load is 6 lb 1/10 upon ye Inch which is = 5 Tuns 2 cwt. Then in a marginal note you may observe that Dr Falk in his pamphlet says its load is 14 Tuns & its Counterballance 6 Tuns whch wd be 17 pounds per Inch ² an error of first magnitude The Curve of Boiling points under difft pressures will do you honour if you think it prudent to publish it. I wd explain ye Engine & things but little further than most Philosophers may do by inspecting an Engine Intimate that great Mechanical difficulties have occurd but that we We have now conquerd them & renderd the Engine less liable to be out of order than a Comn one. I think the best & most reputable advertisement wd be a Paper in the Phlol Transactions
I most sincerely congratulate you upon the accomplishing a point so important to your future happiness as ye consent of ²²±²²± and although I have added to the list of my bad habits by Jokeing upon Matrimony yet my dispositions & my judgment would lead me to marry again was I in your case. He that bangs or knocks out 's brains the devils in him if he feigns. I know you will be a happier Marryed Man than a single one & therefore it is Wisdom in you to Wed & if that could not be done without my coming to Scotland I certainly would come if it was as far again but I am so beset with difficulties that nothing less than the absolute loss of your life, or Wife, wch is virtually ye same thing, could bring me. I need not point out the extra engagements which fall to my lot at this season of the Year. Mr Matthews who is our Mony Privider is to be married about the end of this Month & the day following He & his bride with Mr Fothergill & his daughter set out to Brussells & thereby avoid the Ceremonies of Visiting the (loss?) of Fothergill, of Joseph Harrison (who is gone yesterday wth (laugh?) to London) of Matthew & yourself & Mr Scales head, at a time when the Mony changing requires additional attention when we are behind hand in our Button orders 16000 Gross when I have more real difficulties to grapple with than I hope ever to have in any other Year of my Life. I could mention other reasons but I will not let you partake of my plagues. Dam the Whole (......) of Faulks, Heatleys, Hocrofts,&c &c they do us ill the service the can in Town & Country besides I no sooner mentiond your wishes to have me come to Scotland but my Wife vows she will come with me so that there is no making a flying visit. In respect to your request about ye deed of partnership I will do all I can about it but you know our Lawyers are not punctual folks. As it is not yet drawn nor executed, suppose I get it drawn & send you a Coppy & write a letter with it urging the danger of sending ye original & that I suppose a Copy may do as well in wch case ye old Gentn need not know but tis already executed. & then we can rectify the wording when you come up I see nothing in Your Missives but what is agreable to me & what I accept of & agree to. It is certainly right to have it executed an soon as you return although I am persuaded that you & I shall not differ whilest we live nor after we are dead, but our Executors may I fear Sr Archd Hopes Engine will not be worth your attention as his Coals are so very Cheap. Mr Colevillesmay. I have spoke to Wilkinson abt his Cylinder for Wilkinson is now in my House & we expect Mr Moor ofthe Adelphi tomorrow whose principle business is to see with his own Eyes whether what hath been said at
their Society is true or false respecting ye Engine
Our Copper Bottom hath plagued us very much by steam leaks & therefore I have had one cast (with itsconducting pipe) all in one piece, since which the Engine doth not take more than 10 feet of steam & I hope tomorrow to reduce that quantity as we have just recd the new piston which shall be put in & at work tomorrow. Our Soho Engine never was in so good order as presently; Bloomsfield, & Willey are both well & I doubt not but Bow Engine will be better than any of 'em. I have had several letters upon Engine business & the particulars (..............) reserve to another opportunity. I will see after Mr Hamiltons goods in the morning. The Duke of Bucclough was here a few days ago & enquired after you
I desired our clerk Mr Pearson, some little while ago, to take up his wages Sixty pound pr annum out ofthe Cash he keeps, weekly or as often as he pleased; & that I did not doubt but by his exactness & assiduity he would give me an opportunity of indulging myself with the pleasure of makeing him a small Compliment at the end of his Year over & above ye agreed for wages; but to my surprise I recvd the inclosed from him a few daysago which certainly tends to lessen the pleasure I should have had in making him any present. I wish to know ifany thing passed between him & Mr Hamilton that could induce himto write such a letter. He never comes towork before breakfast His task is the Soho Books only; for he never writes a letter or doth any other business &therefore he is not a slave and as to the profound Mystery of Book keeping. Comn sense & six weeks practice wd accomplish it
I will conclude in my next for tis so late that I cant read what I have wrote |