behalf,
giving him a small room, which could be made accessible to the public,
and this he was at liberty to open as a shop for the sale of his
instruments, for Watt had to make a living by his handiwork. Strange
work this for a university, especially in those days; but our readers,
we are sure, will heartily approve the last, as they have no doubt
approved the first action of the faculty in favor of struggling genius.
Business was not prosperous at first with Watt, his instruments proving
slow of sale. Of quadrants he could make three per week with the help of
a lad, at a profit of forty shillings, but as sea-going ships could not
then reach Glasgow, few could be sold. A supply was sent to Greenock,
then the port of Glasgow, and sold by his father. He was reduced, as the
greatest artists have often been, to the necessity of making what are
known as "pot-boilers." Following the example of his first master in
Glasgow he made spectacles, fiddles, flutes, guitars, and, of course,
flies and fishing-tackle, and, as the record tells, "many dislocated
violins, fractured guitars, fiddles also, if intreated, did he mend with
good approbation." Such were his "pot-boilers" that met the situation.

His friend, Professor Black, who, like Professor Dick, had known of
Watt's talent, one day asked him if he couldn't make an organ for him.
By this time, Watt's reputation had begun to spread, and it finally
carried him to the height of passing among his associates as "one who
knew most things and could make anything." Watt knew nothing about
organs, but he immediately undertook the work (1762), and the result was
an indisputable success that led to his constructing, for a mason's
lodge in Glasgow, a larger "finger organ," "which elicited the surprise
and admiration of musicians." This extraordinary man improved everything
he touched. For his second organ he devised a number of novelties, a
sustained monochord, indicators and regulators of the blast, means for
tuning to any system, contrivances for improving the stops, etc.

Lest we are led into a sad mistake here, let us stop a moment to
consider how Watt so easily accomplished wonders, as if by inspiration.
In all history it may be doubted whether success can be traced more
clearly to long and careful preparation than in Watt's case. When we
investigate, for instance, this seeming sleight-of-hand triumph with the
organs, we find that upon agreeing to make the first, Watt immediately
d