"This happy and useful life came, at last, to a gentle close. He had suffered some inconvenience through the summer; but was not seriously indisposed till within a few weeks of his death. He then became perfectly aware of the event which was approaching; and with his usual tranquillity and benevolence of nature, seemed only anxious to point out to the friends around him, the many sources of consolation which were afforded by the circumstances under which it was about to take place. He expressed his sincere gratitude to Providence for the length of days with which he had been blessed, and his exemption from most of the infirmities of age; as well as for the calm and cheerful evening of life that he had been permitted to enjoy, after the honourable labours of the day had been concluded. And thus, full of years and honours, in all calmness and tranquillity, he yielded up his soul without pang or struggle; and passed from the bosom of his family to that of his God." The English nation has ever shown itself insensible to the claims of genius and high intellectual endowments, except where the results have been brought directly to bear in statesmanship or war. Of this inability to appreciate the highest order of intellectual excellence Watt affords a striking example. When it was suggested to the British government by those better capable than that government was of appreciating the genius of this great man, that the nation would do itself honour by erecting a splendid monument at his own [Pg319] cost to him to whom it was so deeply indebted for the extension of its resources and the augmentation of its power, the reply was that such a measure could not be adopted as it might be drawn into a precedent in like cases thereafter! A precedent in like cases!! When will the time arrive when the world will produce a like case? The monument which has been erected in Westminster Abbey was in fact raised by private subscription, the nation having thus stigmatised itself through the act of its government with the everlasting disgrace of refusing the honour proposed to it. The other statues and monuments which have been erected to this great man, have been for the most part raised by the filial piety and the never-dying affection and veneration of the present Mr. James Watt. A statue has been presented by him to the University of Glasgow, and placed in one of the halls of that college. The inhabitants of Greenock have also erected a marble statue of Watt, for which, and for a library, a building has been erected at the expense of about 3,500_l._ which has been defrayed by Mr. James Watt. A colossal bronze statue has been erected on a handsome granite pedestal, standing at one of the corners of George Square, Glasgow. The monument in Westminster Abbey, erected by the subscription raised at the public meeting already alluded to, is a colossal statue of Carrara marble, by Chantrey.