But the darkest hour is nearest the dawn. Watt had passed through a long night, and a gleam of sunshine at last beamed upon him. Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, was at length persuaded to take up the invention on which Watt had expended so many of the best years of his life, and the turning-point in Watt’s fortunes had arrived. [Illustration: PORT GLASGOW. [By R. P. Leitch.]] [Illustration: _Mathew Boulton, F.R.S._ _Engraved by W. Hall, after the portrait by Sir W. Beechy, R.A._ _Published by John Murray Albemarle Street. 1865._] BOULTON AND WATT, ENGINEERS, BIRMINGHAM. [Illustration: BIRMINGHAM. [By Percival Skelton.]] CHAPTER IX. BIRMINGHAM--MATTHEW BOULTON. From an early period, Birmingham has been one of the principal centres of mechanical industry in England. The neighbourhood abounds in coal and iron, and has long been famous for the skill of its artisans. Swords were forged there in the time of the Ancient Britons. The first guns made in England bore the Birmingham mark. In 1538 Leland found “many smiths in the town that use to make knives and all manner of cutting tools, and many loriners that make bittes, and a great many nailers.” About a century later Camden described the place as “full of inhabitants, and resounding with hammers and anvils, for the most part of them smiths.” As the skill of the Birmingham artisans increased, they gradually gave up the commoner kinds of smithery, and devoted themselves to ornamental metal-work, in brass, steel, and iron. They became celebrated for their manufacture of buckles, buttons, and various fancy articles; and they turned out such abundance of toys that towards the close of last century Burke characterised Birmingham as “the great toy-shop of Europe.” The ancient industry of Birmingham was of a staid and steady character, in keeping with the age. Each manufacturer kept within the warmth of his own forge. He did not go in search of orders, but waited for the orders to come to him. Ironmongers brought their money in their saddle-bags, took away the goods in exchange, or saw them packed ready for the next waggon before they left. Notwithstanding this quiet way of doing business, many comfortable fortunes were made in the place; the manufacturers, like their buttons, moving off so soon as they had received the stamp and the gilt. Hutton, the Birmingham bookseller, says he knew men who left the town in chariots who had first approached it on foot. Hutton himself entered the town a poor boy, and lived to write its history, and make a fortune by his industry.