at Maudslay held the important office of manager of
Bramah's works, his highest wages were not more than thirty shillings
a-week. He himself thought that he was worth more to his master--as
indeed he was,--and he felt somewhat mortified that he should have to
make an application for an advance; but the increasing expenses of his
family compelled him in a measure to do so. His application was
refused in such a manner as greatly to hurt his sensitive feelings; and
the result was that he threw up his situation, and determined to begin
working on his own account.

His first start in business was in the year 1797, in a small workshop
and smithy situated in Wells Street, Oxford Street. It was in an awful
state of dirt and dilapidation when he became its tenant. He entered
the place on a Friday, but by the Saturday evening, with the help of
his excellent wife, he had the shop thoroughly cleaned, whitewashed,
and put in readiness for beginning work on the next Monday morning. He
had then the pleasure of hearing the roar of his own forge-fire, and
the cheering ring of the hammer on his own anvil; and great was the
pride he felt in standing for the first time within his own smithy and
executing orders for customers on his own account. His first customer
was an artist, who gave him an order to execute the iron work of a
large easel, embodying some new arrangements; and the work was
punctually done to his employer's satisfaction. Other orders followed,
and he soon became fully employed. His fame as a first-rate workman
was almost as great as that of his former master; and many who had been
accustomed to do business with him at Pimlico followed him to Wells
Street. Long years after, the thought of these early days of
self-dependence and hard work used to set him in a glow, and he would
dilate to his intimate friends up on his early struggles and his first
successes, which were much more highly prized by him than those of his
maturer years.

With a true love of his craft, Maudslay continued to apply himself, as
he had done whilst working as Bramah's foreman, to the best methods of
ensuring accuracy and finish of work, so as in a measure to be
independent of the carelessness or want of dexterity of the workman.
With this object he aimed at the contrivance of improved machine-tools,
which should be as much self-acting and self-regulating as possible;
and it was while pursuing this study that he wrought out the important
mech