Boulton must have been greatly harassed by the woes of his partners. Fothergill was still uttering lamentable prophecies of impending ruin; his only prospect of relief being in the success of the engine. He urged Boulton to endeavour to raise money by the sale of engine contracts or annuities, in order to avert a crash. Matthews, the London agent, also continued to represent the still urgent danger of the house, and pressed Boulton to go to Cornwall and try to raise money there upon his engine contracts. Indeed, it was clear that the firm of Boulton and Fothergill had been losing money by their business for several years past; and that, unless the engine succeeded, they must, ere long, go to the wall. But when Boulton turned to Cornwall, he found little comfort. Though the engines there were successful, Watt could not raise money upon them. The adventurers were poor,--were for the most part losing by their ventures, in consequence of the low price of the ore; and they almost invariably put off payment by excuses. Thus, while Boulton was in London trying to obtain accommodation from his bankers, the groans of his partner in Birmingham were more than re-echoed by the lamentations of his other partner in Cornwall, who rang the changes of misery through all the notes of the gamut. At length, about the beginning of October, 1778, Boulton contrived to make his long-promised journey into Cornwall.[170] He went round among the mines, and had many friendly conferences with the managers. He found the engine had grown in public favour, and that the impression prevailed throughout the mining districts that it would before long become generally adopted. Encouraged by his London financial agent, he took steps to turn this favourable impression to account.[171] Before he left Cornwall, where he remained until the end of the year, he succeeded in borrowing a sum of 2000_l._ from Elliot and Praed, the Truro bankers, on security of the engines erected in the county; and the money was at once forwarded to the London agents for the relief of the Birmingham firm. He also succeeded in getting the terms definitely arranged for the use of several of the more important engines erected and at work. It was agreed that 700_l._ a year should be paid as royalty in respect of the Chacewater engine,--an arrangement even more advantageous to the owners of the mine than to the patentees, as it was understood that the saving of coals amounted to upwards of 2400_l._ a year. Other agreements were entered into for the use of the engines erected at Wheal Union and Tingtang, which brought in about 400_l._ per annum more, so that the harvest of profits seemed at length fairly begun.