[168] Watt to Boulton, 29th August, 1778. Later, Watt wrote from Redruth, “Captain Paul desires me to attend at Wheal Virgin meeting on Thursday, where several Tingtang people will be; but I shall only write, as I know they will be just in the worst of humours about Wheal Virgin affairs, and they are very disagreeable at the best. Every article must be settled and sealed with Cornish adventures before we begin, otherwise never.... Do not let Chelsea begin until signed and sealed. I hope you will not take amiss my writing so positively on this subject of agreements; but really my faith in mankind will carry me no further, and if I can’t get money, I’m resolved to save my bacon and to live in hunger and ease. As it is, we don’t get such a share of reputation as our works deserve, for every man who cheats us defames us in order to justify himself.”--Watt to Boulton, 6th September, 1778. Boulton MSS. To meet the case, a form of agreement was drawn up and required to be executed before any future engine was commenced. It usually provided that an engine of certain given dimensions and power was to be erected at the expense of the owners of the mine; and that the patentees were to take as their recompense for the use of their invention, one-third of the value of the fuel saved by it compared with the consumption of the ordinary engine. It came to be understood that the saving of fuel was to be estimated according to the number of strokes made. To ascertain this, Watt contrived an ingenious piece of clockwork, termed the Counter, which, being attached to the main beam, accurately marked and registered, under lock and key, the number of its vibrations. Thus the work done was calculated, and the comparative saving of fuel was ascertained.