te, but the hero of the shop. Perhaps he owed something to his
fine personal appearance. Hence on gala-days, when the men turned out
in procession, "Harry" was usually selected to march at their head and
carry the flag. His conduct as a son, also, was as admirable as his
qualities as a workman. His father dying shortly after Maudslay
entered Bramah's concern, he was accustomed to walk down to Woolwich
every Saturday night, and hand over to his mother, for whom he had the
tenderest regard, a considerable share of his week's wages, and this he
continued to do as long as she lived.

Notwithstanding his youth, he was raised from one post to another,
until he was appointed, by unanimous consent, the head foreman of the
works; and was recognised by all who had occasion to do business there
as "Bramah's right-hand man." He not only won the heart of his master,
but--what proved of far greater importance to him--he also won the
heart of his master's pretty housemaid, Sarah Tindel by name, whom he
married, and she went hand-in-hand with him through life, an admirable
"help meet," in every way worthy of the noble character of the great
mechanic. Maudslay was found especially useful by his master in
devising the tools for making his patent locks; and many were the
beautiful contrivances which he invented for the purpose of ensuring
their more accurate and speedy manufacture, with a minimum degree of
labour, and without the need of any large amount of manual dexterity on
the part of the workman. The lock was so delicate a machine, that the
identity of the several parts of which it was composed was found to be
an absolute necessity. Mere handicraft, however skilled, could not
secure the requisite precision of workmanship; nor could the parts be
turned out in sufficient quantity to meet any large demand. It was
therefore requisite to devise machine-tools which should not blunder,
nor turn out imperfect work;--machines, in short, which should be in a
great measure independent of the want of dexterity of individual
workmen, but which should unerringly labour in their prescribed track,
and do the work set them, even in the minutest details, after the
methods designed by their inventor. In this department Maudslay was
eminently successful, and to his laborious ingenuity, as first
displayed in Bramah's workshops, and afterwards in his own
establishment, we unquestionably owe much of the power and accuracy of
our present self-acti