had attempted to protect it; and this invasion of his monopoly was carried to such an extent, that at last he found himself obliged to bring actions against no less than nine different parties." 66 on Arkwright was unsuccessful in the first instance in establishing his patent; but in February, 1785, he obtained a verdict in the court of Common Pleas which reinstated him in his former monopoly. This decision, however, was reviewed by a scire-facias in the court of King's bench. "The principal evidence," says the writer above quoted, which it was attempted to be shown that the water-frame was not invented by Arkwright, was that of Highs, of Kay, and of Kay's wife, the substance of which was, that the double rollers had been originally contrived by Highs in the early part of the year 1767, while he was residing in the town of Leigh; that he had employed his neighbour and acquaintance Kay to make a model of a machine for him upon that principle; and that Kay, upon meeting with Arkwright a short time after, at Warrington, had been persuaded by him to communicate to him the secret of Highs' invention, on the understanding, as it would appear, that the two should make what they could of it, and share the advantages between them. The evidence of each of the witnesses corroborated, so far as the case admitted, that of the others; Highs stated that he had been first informed of the manner in which Arkwright had got possession of his invention by Kay's wife, who, on her part, swore that she recollected her husband making models, first for Highs, and afterwards for Arkwright, although she could not speak with any distinctness to the nature of the machine; while Kay himself acknowledged the treachery of which he had been guilty, and gave a particular account of the manner in which he said that Arkwright had contrived to obtain from him the secret of Highs' invention. Highs also stated that, upon meeting with Arkwright in Manchester, some years after he had taken out his patent, he charged him with the source from which he had derived the machine; to which Arkwright said nothing at first, but afterwards remarked that, if any person, having made a discovery, declined to prosecute it, he conceived any other had a right, after a certain time, to take it up and obtain a patent for it, if he chose. This famous trial lasted from nine o'clock in the morning till half-past twelve at night, and excited the greatest interest, both among those more immediately concerned, and among the public generally. Among the witnesses examined were Mr Cumming, the well-known watchmaker, Mr Harrison, the son of the inventor of the marine chronometer, Dr Darwin, and the since celebrated James Watt. The result was a verdict again invalidating the patent; which, on a motion being made for a new trial, the court refused to disturb. Arkwright after this never took any further steps to vindicate his patent rights." After an expenditure of above £12,000, Arkwright and his partners began to reap the fruits of their perseverance and industry. In a few years they realized immense fortunes. "We have access to know," says a writer in the 46th volume of the Edinburgh Review, "that none of Sir Richard Arkwright's most intimate friends, and who were best acquainted with his character, ever had the slightest doubt with respect to the originality of his invention. Some of them indeed could speak to the circumstances from their own personal knowledge, and their testimony was uniform and consistent.— Such also seems to be the opinion now generally entertained among the principal manufacturers of Manchester. In proof of this, we may again refer to Mr Kennedy's valuable paper in the Manchester Memoirs.' Mr K. is one of the most eminent and intelligent cotton-manufacturers in the empire; and it is of importance to remark, that, although he was resident in Manchester in 1785, when the last trial for setting aside Sir Richard's patent took place, and must, therefore, have been well-acquainted with all the circumstances connected with it, he does not insinuate the smallest doubt as to his being the real inventor of the spinning-frame, nor even so much as once alludes to Highs. On their first introduction, Sir Richard Arkwright's machines were reckoned by the lower classes as even more adverse to their interests than those of Hargraves; and reiterated attacks were made on the factories built for them. But how extraordinary soever it may appear, it was amongst the manufacturers that the greatest animosity existed against Sir Richard Arkwright; and it required all that prudence and sagacity for which he was so remarkable, to enable him to triumph over the powerful combination that was formed against him. After the Lancashire manufacturers had failed in their attempts to get his patent set aside in 1772, they unanimously refused to purchase his yarn; and when his partners, Messrs Strutt and Need, had commenced a manufacture of calicoes, the manufacturers strenuously opposed a bill to exempt calicoes from a discriminating duty of 3d. a-yard laid on them, over and above the ordinary duty of 3d., by an old act of parliament. Luckily, however, the manufacturers failed of their object; and in 1774, an act of parliament was obtained (14 Geo. III. cap. 72.) for the encouragement of the cotton manufacture, in which fabrics made of cotton are declared to have been lately introduced, and are allowed to be used as a lawful and laudable manufacture,' the duty of 6d. the square yard on such cottons as are printed or stained being at the same time reduced to 3d. But this disgraceful spirit of animosity, which must, had it been successful, have proved as injurious to the interests of the manufacturers as to those of Sir Richard Arkwright, did not content itself with actions in the courts of law, or a factious opposition to useful measures in parliament, but displayed itself in a still more striking and unjustifiable manner. For it is a fact, that a large factory, erected by Sir Richard Arkwright at Birkacre, near Chorley in Lancashire, was destroyed by a mob, collected from the adjacent country, in the presence of a powerful body of police and military, without any one of the civil authorities requiring them to interfere to prevent so scandalous an outrage! Fortunately, Lowever, not for himself only, but for his country and the world, every corner of which has been benefited by his inventions, Sir Richard Arkwright triumphed over every opposition. The same ingenuity, skill, and good sense which had originally enabled him to invent his machine and get it introduced, enabled him to overcome the various combinations and difficulties with which he had subsequently to contend. "Sir Richard Arkwright never enjoyed good health. During the whole of his splendid and ever-memorable career of invention and discovery, he was labouring under a very severe asthmatic affection. A complication of disorders at length terminated his truly useful life, in 1792, at his works, at Cromford, in the sixtieth year of his age. He was high-sheriff of Derbyshire in 1786; and having presented a con gratulatory address to his majesty on his escape from the attempt on his life by Margaret Nicholson, received the honour of knighthood. No man ever better deserved his good fortune, or has a stronger claim on the respect and gratitude of posterity. His inventions have opened a new and boundless field of employment; and while they have conferred infinitely more real benefit on his native country than she could have derived from the absolute dominion of Mexico and Peru, they have been universally productive of wealth and enjoyments. originality and comprehensiveness of Sir Richard Arkwright's mind,' says Mr Bannatyne, was perhaps marked by nothing more strongly than the judgment with which, although new to business, he conducted the great concerns his discovery gave rise to, and the systematic order and arrangement which he introduced into every department of his extensive works. His plans of management, which must have been entirely his own, as no establishment of a similar nature then existed, were universally adopted by others; and after long experience, they have not yet, in any material point, been altered or improved. 6 Robert Adam. BORN A. D. 1728.-DIED A. D. 1792. THIS eminent architect was a native of Scotland. He was born at Kirkaldy in the year 1728, and received his education in Edinburgh. His father's profession was that of an architect, and the son early resolved to follow the same occupation. After studying the elements of his art in his own country, he went to Italy, where he remained several years. In 1757 he visited the remains of Dioclesian's palace at Spalatro, and executed a series of plans and drawings of these magnificent ruins, which were afterwards published in one volume, folio. On his return to Britain he was much employed, in conjunction with his brother, by the nobility and gentry throughout the kingdom, and designed many splendid mansions. In 1773, the two brothers commenced the publication of a series of their principal architectural designs. In their preface, they state, that with respect to the novelty and variety of the designs, they have not trod in the paths of others, nor derived aid from their labours. "In the works," they write, "which we have had the honour to execute, we have not only met with the approbation of our employers, but even with the imitation of other artists, to such a degree, as in some measure to have brought about, in this country, a kind of revolution in the whole system of this useful and elegant art." This is an ambitious statement, but is borne out by facts. Mr Adam, says his biographer, "introduced a total change in the architecture of his country; and his fertile genius in elegant ornament was not confined to the decoration of buildings, but has been diffused into almost every branch of architecture. His talents extended beyond the line of his own profession; he displayed, in his numerous drawings in landscape, a luxuriance of composition, and an effect of light and shadow, which have scarce ever been equalled. To the last moment of his life he displayed an increasing vigour of genius, and refinement of taste; for in the space of one year, preceding his death, he designed eight great public works, besides twenty-five private buildings; so various in their style, and so beautiful in their composition, that they have been allowed, by the best judges, sufficient of themselves to establish his fame unrivalled as an artist." Among the finest designs of Robert Adam, are the college and the register office in Edinburgh. Sir Robert Strange. BORN A. D. 1721.-DIED A. D. 1792. THIS celebrated artist was born in Pomona, one of the Orkney islands, on the 14th of July, 1721. His family originally came from Fifeshire. He was at first destined for the profession of the law; but becoming disgusted with the monotony and confinement of a writer's office, he relinquished the study, and entered himself on board a man-of-war, in which he made a cruise to the Mediterranean. A nautical life, he soon discovered, did not suit his genius either, and he was on the point of resuming his law studies, when accidental circumstances brought to light his taste for drawing, and introduced him to the favourable notice of a drawing-master in Edinburgh, who prevailed upon his friends to apprentice the young and promising artist to him. The breaking out of the rebellion of 1745 for a time interrupted our artist's career; smit with a passion for military glory, and instigated, it is said, by the hopes of winning the hand of a fair lady, a keen Jacobite, he buckled on a sword, and followed Prince Charles's fortunes, in the troop styled the Life-guards. After the defeat of the Chevalier's hopes, Strange narrowly escaped capture and execution. He lay for some months concealed in the Highlands, where he suffered the extreme of peril and destitution. At last he ventured from his place of concealment, and for a time gained a precarious support by the sale of small drawings of the rival leaders in the late campaign. The lady of his love at last rewarded his sufferings and constancy with her hand; and in company with her he proceeded to Paris, where he studied for some time under the celebrated Le Bas, and learned from him the use of what is called the dry point, or needle. In 1751 he settled in London, and soon established a reputation for himself, though the field was already in possession of such artists as Ryland, Bartolozzi, and Woollett. So conscious was he of his powers, and of the dignity of his art, that he dared to incur the displeasure of royalty itself, by refusing to engrave an ill-executed portrait of his majesty; yet, in 1760, he solicited and obtained permission to engrave West's painting of the apotheosis of the king's children-the only engraving he ever executed after an English artist. In the latter year he visited the continent, and made designs from the most distinguished foreign masters. In 1787 he received the honour of knighthood. died in 1792, regretted by all who knew him, and leaving no equal in his line of art. He He executed about fifty plates from pictures of the most celebrated foreign masters. The following is nearly a complete list of them: Charles I.; two portraits, after Vandyke-The Children of Charles I., and Henrietta Maria, his Queen, with the Prince of Wales and Duke of York, after the same master-St Cecilia, after Raffaelle-The Virgin and Infant Christ, with Mary Magdalene, St Jerome, and two Angels, after Correggio-Venus reclining, Venus and Adonis, and Danäe, all after Titian-Mary Magdalene, penitent; The Death of Cleopatra, Fortune flying over a Globe, Venus attended by the Graces, and the Chastity of Joseph, all after Guido-The Virgin, with St Catherine and Angels, contemplating the Infant Jesus sleeping, after C. Maratti-Christ appearing to the Virgin after his Resurrection, Abraham sending away Hagar, Esther before Ahasuerus, and the Death of Dido, all after Guercino-Belisarius, after Salvator Rosa-Romulus and Remus, after Pietro da Cortona-Cæsar repudiating Pompeia, after the same-Sappho consecrating her Lyre to Apollo, after Carlo Dolci-The Martyrdom of St Agnes, after Domenichino-The Choice of Hercules, after Nicholas Poussin-and the Return from Market, after Ph. Wouver mann. Sir Joshua Reynolds. BORN A. D. 1723.-DIED A. D. 1792. MR FARRINGTON, in his brief notice of the life of Sir Joshua Reynolds, describes the state of art in this country at the period when that eminent painter began his career, in the following terms: "It was the lot of Sir Joshua Reynolds to be destined to pursue the art of painting at a period when the extraordinary effort he made came with all the force and effect of novelty. He appeared at a time when the art was at its lowest ebb. What might be called an English school had never been formed. All that Englishmen had done was to copy, and endeavour to imitate, the works of eminent men, who were drawn to England from other countries by encouragement, which there was no inducement to bestow upon the inferior efforts of the natives of this island. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Frederigo Zucchero, an Italian, was much employed in England, as had been Hans Holbein, a native of Basle, in a former reign. Charles I. gave great employment to Rubens and Vandyke. They were succeeded by Sir Peter Lely, a native of Soest in Westphalia; and Sir Godfrey Kneller came from Lubec to be, for a while, Lely's competitor: and after his death, he may be said to have had the whole command of the art in England. He was succeeded by Richardson, the first English painter that stood at the head of portraitpainting in this country. Richardson had merit in his profession, but not of a high order: and it was remarkable, that a man who thought so well on the subject of art, and more especially who practised so long, should not have been able to do more than is manifested in his works. He died in 1745, aged 80. Jervais, the friend of Pope, was his competitor, but very inferior to him. Sir James Thornhill, also, was contemporary with Richardson, and painted portraits; but his reputation was founded upon his historical and allegorical compositions. In St Paul's cathedral, in the hospital at Greenwich, and at Hampton Court, his principal works are to be seen. As Richardson in portraits, so Thornhill in history painting was the first native of this island, who stood pre-eminent in the line of art he pursued at the period of his |