Mr. Nasmyth, the very beau ideal of an honest, upright,
straight-forward, hard-working, intelligent Englishman.

A severe cold which he caught on his way home from one of his visits to
France, was the cause of his death, which occurred on the 14th of
February, 1831. The void which his decease caused was long and deeply
felt, not only by his family and his large circle of friends, but by
his workmen, who admired him for his industrial skill, and loved him
because of his invariably manly, generous, and upright conduct towards
them. He directed that he should be buried in Woolwich
parish-churchyard, where a cast-iron tomb, made to his own design, was
erected over his remains. He had ever a warm heart for Woolwich, where
he had been born and brought up. He often returned to it, sometimes to
carry his mother a share of his week's wages while she lived, and
afterwards to refresh himself with a sight of the neighbourhood with
which he had been so familiar when a boy. He liked its green common,
with the soldiers about it; Shooter's Hill, with its out-look over Kent
and down the valley of the Thames; the river busy with shipping, and
the royal craft loading and unloading their armaments at the dockyard
wharves. He liked the clangour of the Arsenal smithy where he had
first learned his art, and all the busy industry of the place. It was
natural, therefore, that, being proud of his early connection with
Woolwich, he should wish to lie there; and Woolwich, on its part, let
us add, has equal reason to be proud of Henry Maudslay.

[1] The words Bramah uses in describing this part of his patent of 1795
are these--"The piston must be made perfectly watertight by leather or
other materials, as used in pump-making." He elsewhere speaks of the
piston-rod "working through the stuffing-box." But in practice, as we
have above shown, these methods were found to be altogether inefficient.

[2] In this lathe the slide rest and frame were moveable along the
traversing-bar, according to the length of the work, and could be
placed in any position and secured by a handle and screw underneath.
The Rest, however, afterwards underwent many important modifications;
but the principle of the whole machine was there.

[3] PLUMIER, L'Art de Tourner, Paris, 1754, p. 155.

[4] Machines approuvees par l' Academie, 1719.

[5] Machines approuvees par l' Academie, 1733.

[6] L'Art de Tourner en perfection, 49.

[7] It consisted of two parall