[8] has said of him, that Bramah was a man
of excellent moral character, temperate in his habits, of a pious turn
of mind,[9] and so cheerful in temperament, that he was the life of
every company into which he entered. To much facility of expression he
added the most perfect independence of opinion; he was a benevolent and
affectionate man; neat and methodical in his habits, and knew well how
to temper liberality with economy. Greatly to his honour, he often
kept his workmen employed, solely for their sake, when stagnation of
trade prevented him disposing of the products of their labour. As a
manufacturer he was distinguished for his promptitude and probity, and
he was celebrated for the exquisite finish which he gave to all his
productions. In this excellence of workmanship, which he was the first
to introduce, he continued while he lived to be unrivalled.

Bramah was deservedly honoured and admired as the first mechanical
genius of his time, and as the founder of the art of tool-making in its
highest branches. From his shops at Pimlico came Henry Maudslay,
Joseph Clement, and many more first-class mechanics, who carried the
mechanical arts to still higher perfection, and gave an impulse to
mechanical engineering, the effects of which are still felt in every
branch of industry.

The parish to which Bramah belonged was naturally proud of the
distinction he had achieved in the world, and commemorated his life and
career by a marble tablet erected by subscription to his memory, in the
parish church of Silkstone. In the churchyard are found the tombstones
of Joseph's father, brother, and other members of the family; and we
are informed that their descendants still occupy the farm at
Stainborough on which the great mechanician was born.

[1] The lock invented by Bramah was patented in 1784. Mr. Bramah
himself fully set forth the specific merits of the invention in his
Dissertation on the Construction of Locks. In a second patent, taken
out by him in 1798, he amended his first with the object of preventing
the counterfeiting of keys, and suspending the office of the lock until
the key was again in the possession of the owner. This he effected by
enabling the owner so to alter the sliders as to render the lock
inaccessible to such key if applied by any other person but himself, or
until the sliders had been rearranged so as to admit of its proper
action. We may mention in passing that the security of Bramah's