[76] The following advertisement in the ‘Glasgow Journal’ of the 1st Dec., 1763, fixes the date of this last removal:--
“James Watt has removed his shop from the Saltmercat to Mr. Buchanan’s land in the Trongate, where he sells all sorts of Mathematical and Musical Instruments, with variety of toys, and other goods.”
His improving business brought with it an improving income, and Watt--always a frugal and thrifty man--began to save a little money. He was encouraged to economise by another circumstance--his intended marriage with his cousin, Margaret Miller. In anticipation of this event, he had removed from his rooms in the College to a house in Delftfield Lane--a narrow passage then parallel with York Street, but now converted into the spacious thoroughfare of Watt Street. Having furnished his house in a plain yet comfortable style, he brought home his young wife, and installed her there in July, 1764. The step was one of much importance to his personal wellbeing. Mrs. Watt was of a lively, cheerful temperament; and as Watt himself was of a meditative disposition, prone to melancholy, and a frequent sufferer from nervous headache, her presence at his fireside could not fail to have a beneficial influence upon his health and comfort.
[Illustration: WATT’S HOUSE, DELFTFIELD LANE.]
Watt continued to pursue his studies as before. Though still occupied with his inquiries and experiments as to steam, he did not neglect his proper business, but was constantly on the look-out for improvements in instrument making. A machine which he invented for drawing in perspective proved a success; and he made a considerable number of them to order, for customers in London as well as abroad. He was also an indefatigable reader, and continued to extend his knowledge of chemistry and mechanics by perusal of the best books on these sciences.
Above all other subjects, however, the improvement of the steam-engine continued to keep the fastest hold upon his mind. He still brooded over his experiments with the Newcomen model, but did not seem to make much way in introducing any practical improvement in its mode of working. His friend Robison says he struggled long to condense with sufficient rapidity without injection, trying one expedient after another, finding out what would do by what would _not_ do, and exhibiting many beautiful specimens of ingenuity and fertility of resource. He continued, to use his own words, “to grope in the dark, misled by many an _ignis fatuus_.” It was a favourite saying of his, that “Nature has a weak side, if we can only find it out;” and he went on groping and feeling for it, but as yet in vain. At length light burst upon him, and all at once the problem over which he had been brooding was solved.