Later, he wrote Watt that he had an application from a distiller at Bristol for an engine to raise 15,000 gallons of ale per hour 15 feet high; another for a coal mine in Wales, and two others for London distilleries. To add to his anxieties, one Humphry Gainsborough, a dissenting minister at Henley-on-Thames, had instituted proceedings against Watt for an alleged piracy of his invention! On this Boulton wrote to his partner,--“I have just received a summons to attend the Solicitor-General next week in opposition to Gainsborough, otherwise the solicitor will make his report. This is a disagreeable circumstance, particularly at this season, when you are absent. Joseph [Harrison] is in London, and idleness is in our engine-shop.” There was therefore every reason why Watt should make haste to get married, and return to Soho as speedily as possible. On the 28th July, 1776, Watt wrote to apologise for his long absence, and to say that the event was to come off on the following Monday, after which he would set out immediately for Liverpool, where he proposed to meet Boulton, unless countermanded. He also intimated that he had got another order for an engine at Leadhills.[150] Arrived at Liverpool, a letter from Boulton met him, saying he had been under the necessity of proceeding to London. “Gainsborough,” said he, “hath appointed to meet me at Holt’s, his attorney, on Monday, when I shall say little besides learning his principles and invention. If we had a hundred wheels [wheel-engines] ready made, and a hundred small engines, like Bow engine, and twenty large ones executed, we could readily dispose of them. Therefore let us make hay while the sun shines, and gather our barns full before the dark cloud of age lowers upon us, and before any more Tubal Cains, Watts, Dr. Faustuses, or Gainsboroughs, arise with serpents like Moses’s to devour all others.... As to your absence, say nothing about it. I will forgive it this time, provided you promise me never to marry again.”[151] [150] During his Scotch visit, Watt spent much of his time in arranging his father’s affairs, which had got into confusion. He was now seventy-five years old, and grown very infirm. “He is perfectly incapable,” wrote his son, “of giving himself the least help, and the seeing him in such a situation has much hurt my spirits.”--Watt to Boulton, 28th July, 1766. Boulton MSS. [151] Boulton to Watt (without date), 1776. Boulton MSS. In this letter, Boulton throws out a suggestion for Watt’s consideration--“When,” he says, “we have got our two-foot pumps up, I think it would be right to try our Soho engine with a steam strong enough to work the pumps with the axis in the centre of the beam, which will be almost 19 lb. upon the inch.”