The drawings were of course submitted to Captain Brandreth.
He was delighted with my design.  The steam pile-driver would be,
in his opinion, the prime agent for effecting the commencement of the
great work originated by himself.  At first the feat of damming out
such a high tide as that of the Hamoaze seemed very doubtful, because
the stiff slate silt was a treacherous and difficult material to
penetrate.  But now, he thought, the driving would be rendered
comparatively easy.  With Captain Brandreth's consent the contractors
ordered of me two of my steam hammer pile-drivers.  They were to be
capable of driving 18-inch square piles of 70 feet in length into the
silt of the Hamoaze.

[Image]  Space to be enclosed at the Hamoaze

This first order for my pile-driver was a source of great pleasure to me.
I had long contemplated this application of the power of the steam
hammer.  The machine had long been in full action in my "mind's eye,"
and now I was to see it in actual reality.  I wrote down to my partner
by that night's post informing him of the happy circumstance. The order
was for two grand steam hammer pile-drivers, each with four-ton
hammer-blocks.The wrought-iron guide case and the steam cylinder were
to weigh in all seven tons.  All this weight was to rest on the
shoulders of the pile.  The blows were to be about eighty in the
minute.  This, I thought, would prove thoroughly effective in rapidly
driving the piles down into the earth.

I have said that the steam pile-driver was in my mind's eye long before
I saw it in action.  It is one of the most delightful results of the
possession of the constructive faculty, that one can build up in the
mind mechanical structures and set them to work in imagination, and
observe beforehand the various details performing their respective
functions, as if they were in absolute material form and action.
Unless this happy faculty exists ab initio in the brain of the
mechanical engineer, he will have a hard and disappointing life before
him.  It is the early cultivation of the imagination which gives the
right flexibility to the thinking faculties.  Thus business, commerce,
and mechanics are all the better for a little healthy imagination.

So soon as I had returned home, I set to work and prepared the working
drawings of the steam pile-drivers.  They were soon completed, conveyed
to Devonport, and erected on the spot where they were to be used.
They were ready on the 3d of July 1845.  Some preliminary pile-driving
had been done in the usual way, in order to make a stage or elevated
way for my pile-driver to travel along the space where the permanent
piles were to be driven.  I arranged my machines so that they might
travel by their own locomotive powers along the whole length of the
coffer dam, and also that they should hoist up the great logs of Baltic
timber which formed the Piles into their proper places before being
driven.

The entire apparatus of the machine was erected on a strong timber
platform, and was placed on wheels, so that it might move along the
rails laid down upon the timber way.  The same boiler that supplied the
steam hammer part of the apparatus served to work the small steam-engine
fixed to the platform for its locomotion, and also to perform the duty
of rearing the next pile which had to be driven.  The steam was
conveyed to the hammer cylinder by the jointed pipe seen in the annexed
engraving.  The pipe accommodated itself to any elevation or descent of
the hammer.  The whole weight of the cylinder, hammer-block, and guide
box, supported by the shoulders of the pile, amounting to seven tons in
all, rested upon the shoulders of the pile as a "persuader;" and the
eighty blows per minute of the four-ton hammer came down with
tremendous energy upon the top of the pile head.  No soil, that piles
could penetrate, could resist such effective agencies.

[Image]  Diagram of the Steam Pile-Driver

Explanation of the Diagram of the Steam Pile-Driver.--The chief
feature of novelty of this pile-driving machine consists in the
employment of the direct action of the Steam Hammer as the blow giving
agent, and also in the manner in which the dead weight of the entire
apparatus, consisting of the hammer-block C, the steam cylinder A,
and its guide-case B, is employed to importantly aid the effect of the
rapid and energetic blows of the steam hammer.  These ponderous parts
rest on the shoulders of the pile H all the while it is being driven,
the pile in this respect being the only support of the apparatus A B C.
So that, besides the eighty blows per minute that the four-ton steam
hammer energetically deals out to the head of the pile from a four foot
fall the dead weight of the apparatus constantly acts as a most
effective "predisposer" to the sinking of the pile into the ground; the
hoisting chain D being let slack the while, so as to allow A B C to
"follow down" the pile H, while the eighty blows per minute are
incessantly showered on its head.  The upward stroke of the piston,
with its attached hammer-block C, is arrested at the proper height not
only by allowing the steam that raised it to escape, but as soon as the
piston passes the escape holes X X, the confined air above the piston
at O rebounds, and so aids most effectively in increasing the energy of
the fall of the hammer-block C on the pile head.

There was a great deal of curiosity in the dockyard as to the action of
the new machine.  The pile-driving machine-men gave me a good-natured
challenge to vie with them in driving down a pile.  They adopted the
old method, while I adopted the new one.  The resident managers sought
out two great pile logs of equal size and length--70 feet long and
18 inches square.  At a given signal we started together.
I let in the steam, and the hammer at once began to work. The four-ton
block showered down blows at the rate of eighty a minute;
and in the course of four and a half minutes my pile was driven down to
the required depth.  The men working at the ordinary machine had only
begun to drive.  It took them upwards of twelve hours to complete the
driving of their pile!

Such a saving of time in the performance of similar work--by steam
versus  manual labour--had never before been witnessed.
The energetic action of the steam hammer, sitting on the shoulders of
the pile high up aloft, and following it suddenly down, the rapidly
hammered blows keeping time with the flashing out of "the waste steam
at the end of each stroke, was indeed a remarkable sight.  When my pile
was driven, the hammer-block and guide case were speedily re-hoisted by
the small engine that did all the labouring and locomotive work of the
machine; the steam hammer portion of which was then lowered on to the
shoulders of the next pile in succession. Again it set to work.
At this the spectators crowding about in boats, pronounced their
approval in the usual British style of "three cheers!"
My new pile-driver was thus acknowledged as another triumphant proof of
the power of steam.

The whole of the piles for this great work were speedily driven in.
The wall was constructed, and the docks were completed in an unusually
short time.  The success of my pile-driver was followed by numerous
orders.  It was used for driving the immense piles required for the
High Level Bridge at Newcastle, the great Border Bridge at
Berwick-upon-tweed, the Docks at Tynemouth, the Docks at Birkenhead,
the Docks at Grimsby, the new Westminster Bridge, the great bridge at
Kief in Russia, the bridge at Petersburg, the forts at Cronstadt,
the Embarrage of the Nile, at Yokohama in Japan, and at other places.
It enabled a solid foundation to be laid for the enormous
superstructures erected over them, and thus contributed to the
permanence of many important undertakings.

The mechanical principles on which the efficiency of the steam
pile-driver chiefly depends are as simple as I believe they are
entirely novel and original.  The shoulder of the pile acts as the sole
supporter of the ponderous mass of the hammer-block, cylinder,
and guide-box.  This heavy weight acts as a predisposing agency to
force the pile down, while the momentum given by the repeated fall of
the hammer, at eighty blows the minute, brings the constant dead weight
into full action.  I am not aware of any other machine in which such a
combination of mechanical forces is employed.

Another very effective detail consisted in employing the waste steam in
the upper part of the cylinder for the purpose of acting as a buffer to
resist any undue length of the upward stroke of the piston.
But for this the cylinder covers might have been knocked off.
The elastic buffer of waste steam also acted as a help to the downward
blow of the hammer-block.  The simplicity and effectiveness of these
arrangements form--if I may be allowed to say so--a happy
illustration of my "Definition of Engineering," the application of
common sense in the use of materials.

The folding-up steam pipe with which the steam was conveyed from the
boiler to the cylinder at all heights, and the way in which the folding
joints accommodated themselves to the varying height of the cylinder,
was another of my happy thoughts.  In fact, this invention, like most
others, was the result of a succession of happy thoughts.
The machine in its entirety was the result of a number of common-sense
contrivances, such as I generally delight in.  At all events, this most
effective and novel machine was a special favourite with me.

I may mention, before concluding this branch of my subject,
that pile-driving had before been conducted on what I might term the
artillery or cannon-ball principle.  A small mass of iron was drawn
slowly up, and suddenly let down on the head of the pile at a high
velocity.  This was destructive, not impulsive action.  Sometimes the
pile was shivered into splinters, without driving it into the soil;
in many cases the head of the pile was shattered into matches, and this
in spite of a hoop of iron about it to keep the layers of wood
together.  Yet the whole was soon beat into a sort of brush.
Indeed, a great portion of the men's time was consumed in "reheading"
the piles.  On the contrary, I employed great mass and moderate
velocity. The fall of the steam hammer-block was only three or four
feet, but it went on at eighty blows the minute, and the soil into
which the pile was driven never had time to grip or thrust it up--
an impediment well known to ordinary pile-drivers.  At the end of the
driving by my steam hammer, the top of the pile was always found neat
and smooth, indeed more so than when the driving began.

I may again revert to my interview with the Lords of the Admiralty on
the occasion of my first meeting them at Devonport.  I was residing at
the hotel where they usually took up their quarters while making their
annual visitation of the dockyard.  I was honoured with an invitation
to confer with Sir George Cockburn, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and Captain
Brandreth on a subject of considerable importance; namely, the proving
of chain cables and anchors required for the Royal Navy.  The question
was mooted as to whether or not some permanent injury was done to both
by the test strains to which they were submitted before being put on
board ship.  This was a subject of vital importance.  The members of
the Board requested me to act as one of a committee to inquire into the
subject.  I felt much gratified by the invitation and gladly accepted
it.

On discussing the subject with these gentlemen that evening, I found
that Sir George Cockburn entertained an ingenious theory in support of
his apprehensions as the effect of "over-proof" straining of cables and
anchors.  It was that they were originally in the condition of a strong
man who had to lift some heavy weight, requiring him to exert his
muscular strength to the utmost; and, although he might perform the
feat, it was at the cost of a permanent injury, and that he might never
be able to lift the same weight again.  This, however true it might be
with regard to flesh and bone structures, was scarcely true with
respect to mechanical agencies.  I proposed a simple experiment with
chain cables, which, it occurred to me, would show quite a different
result--namely, that the capability of resisting the severest
proof-strain would rise rather than fall at each successive proof of
the same chain cable.

To test the correctness of my supposition, we had a first-class chain
cable put into the proof machine,and subjected it to such a strain as
to break it again and again, until at last it was divided almost into
single links.  As I expected, the proof or breaking strain kept rising
and rising as each successive remaining portion of the cable was torn
asunder, thus showing that no injury to the natural tenacity of the
chain had resulted from the increased proofs to which it had been
subjected, and that the last broken links had been much more resisting
than the first.  The same class of demonstrative experiments was made
with anchors, and other wrought-iron work used in the service.
The Admiralty officers were much gratified with the result, as removing
a groundless but very natural apprehension, heightened, no doubt,
by the suggestions that had been made to the Admiralty, that their
standard proof strain was not only too high in itself, but produced
permanent damage to what at the outset was of the toughest iron.
My system of continued proof-straining was, in fact, another
exemplification of the "Survival of the Fittest"!

A very interesting truth came out in the course of our experiments.
It was that the chief cause of failure in the links of chain cables
arose, not so much from their want of tenacity, or from the quality of
the iron, but from some defective welding in the making of the links.
To get at this truth, many excellent cables as received from the
contractors, as well as veteran ones that had held great ships riding
at anchor in terrible gales, were pulled asunder link by link by an
intentional destructive strain by the proving machine.
An exact account was taken of the nature of the fracture of each.
The result was that in eight cases out of ten, the fracture was found
to result from a defectively welded part of the chain-link.
The practically trained eye could see the scoria which indicates the
defective welding.  Though long unseen, it was betrayed at once when
the link was torn open by the proof strain.

My services on this committee proved a source of great enjoyment to me.
I had frequent occasion to visit the dockyards and workshops,
accompanied by Captain Brandreth, surveyor-general of the Admiralty
landworks,Mr. Thomas Lloyd, engineer-in-chief of the Admiralty, and
Mr. Jeremiah Owen, chief of the metal material required in the
equipment of the navy I was requested to suggest any improvement in the
workshops that I thought would add to the efficiency of the department;
and I trust that my recommendations proved of practical good to the
service.  At the same time, I have reason to know that many of the
recommendations of the committee, though cordially acknowledged by the
higher powers, were by a sort of passive resistance practically
shelved.

I was much amused, when I first went to Devonport dockyard, to notice
the punctilious observance of forms and ceremonies with respect to the
various positions of officials--from the admiral-superintendent down
the official grades of dignity, to the foremen of departments,
and so on.  I did not care for all this panjandrum of punctiliousness,
but was, I hope, civil and chatty with everybody.  I had a good word
for the man as well as for the foreman.  I received some kind and
good-natured hints as to the relative official superiority that
prevailed in the departments, and made out a scale or list of the
various strata accordingly.  This gamut of eminence was of use to me in
my dealings with dockyard officials.  I was enabled to mind my p's and
q's in communicating with them.

The first Sunday that I spent at Devonport I went to the dockyard
church--the church appointed for officials and men employed by the
Government.  The seats were appointed in the order of rank,
employments, and rate of pay.  The rows of seats were all marked with
the class of employers that were expected to sit in them.  Labourers
were near the door.  The others were in successive rows forward,
until the pew of the "Admiral Superintendent," next the Altar rails,
was reached.  I took my seat among the "artificers," being of that
order. On coming out of church the master-attendant, next in dignity to
the admiral-superintendent, came up to me to say how distressed he was
to see me "among the artificers," and begged me in future to use his
seat.  No doubt this was kindly intended, and I thanked him for his
courtesy.  Nevertheless I kept to my class of artificers.
I did not like the "breest o' the laft'"*
 [footnote...
The breest o' the laft is the seat of dignity. The best places in 
churches are occupied by "superior" people. In Scotland the chief men
--the Provosts, Bailies, and Councillors--have a seat appropriated to
them in the front part of the gallery, generally opposite the minister.
That is "the breest o' the laft."
The same principle pervades society generally.
 ...]
principle.  No doubt the love of distinction, within reasonable limits,
is a great social prime mover; but at Devonport, with the splitting up
into ranks, even amongst workmen, I found it simply amusing, especially
when introduced into a church.

I afterwards met with several veterans in the service of the Admiralty,
who are well served by such experienced and well-selected men.
It is the schemers and the satellites who haunt the contractors that
are the vermin of dockyards.  I gave them all a very wide berth.
But worst of all are the men who get their employment through
parliamentary influence.  They are a detestable set.  They always have
some "grievance" to pester people about.  I hope things are better now.

I may add, with respect to the steam hammer pile-driving machines,
that I received an order for two of them from Mohammed Ali, the Pasha
of Egypt.  These were required for driving the piles in that great work
--the barrage of the Nile near Cairo.  The good services of these
machines so pleased the Pasha that he requested us to receive three
selected Arab men into our works.  He asked that they should have the
opportunity of observing the machinery processes and the system of
management of an English engineering factory.  The object of the Pasha
was that the men should return to Egypt and there establish an engine
manufactory, so as to render him in a measure independent of foreign
help.  For British workmen, when imported into Egypt, had a great
tendency to degenerate when removed from the wholesome stimulus to
exertion in competition with their fellows.

My firm had no objection to the introduction of the Arab workmen.
Accordingly, one day we received a visit from an excellent Egyptian
officer, Edim Bey, accompanied by his secretary Rushdi Effendi,
who spoke English fluently.  He thus made our interview with the Bey
easy and agreeable.  He conveyed to us, in the most courteous manner,
the wishes of the Pasha; and the three workmen were at once received.
Every opportunity was given them to observe and understand the works
going forward.  They were intelligent-looking young men, about
twenty-five years of age.  One of them was especially bright looking,
quick in the expression of his eyes, and active in his manner,
His name was Affiffi Lalli; the names of the others I forget.

These young men were placed under charge of the foremen of the
departments that each fancied to be most to his taste.  Affiffi was
placed in the fitting department, in which skilful manipulation was
required.  He exhibited remarkable aptitude, and was soon able to hold
his own alongside of our best workmen.  Another was set to the turning
department, and did fairly well.  The third was placed in the foundry,
where he soon became efficient in moulding and casting brass and iron
work.  He lent a hand all round, and picked up a real practical
knowledge of the various work in his department.  During their sojourn
in our works they became friendly with their colleagues; and in fact
became quite favourites with the men, who were always willing to help
them.  But Affiffi Lalli was regarded as the genius of the trio.
He showed a marked and intelligent aptitude for acquiring technical
skill in all the branches of our business.

After remaining with us for about four years they were ready to return
to Cairo, and show what they had learned in practical and technical
mechanical knowledge during their stay in England.  The three Arab
workmen were placed in their suitable departments in the Pasha's work
shops.  But such was the natural energy of Affiffi, that when he was
set to work beside the slow, dilatory, and stupid native workmen,
he became greatly irritated.  The contrast between the active energetic
movements which he had seen at the Bridgewater Foundry and the
ineffective, blundering, and untechnical work of his fellows was such
that he could not stand it any longer.  So one fine day he disappeared
from the works, took refuge on board a British steamer, and at the risk
of his neck made his way back to the Bridgewater Foundry!

As we were reluctant to take back a man who had escaped from the
Pasha's employment--excellent workman though he was--we declined to
employ him.  But I gave Affiffi a note of introduction to Boulton and
Watt of Soho, Birmingham, and there he was employed.  He afterwards
passed into other firms, and having employed his skill in making some
needle machinery at Redditch, he settled down there.  He married a
Warwickshire lass, and had a family--half Arab, half English--
and has now a thriving foundry and engineer workshop of his own.
This little narrative shows that the Arab has still much of the
wonderful energy and skill that once made the Moors masters of a large
part of South-Western Europe.

We had many visitors at the foundry--from London,
from the manufacturing districts, and from foreign countries.
One day a young gentleman presented a letter from Michael Faraday,
dated "Royal Institution, 29th May 1847," requesting me to pay him some
attention and show him round the works.  I did so with all my heart,
and wrote to Mr. Faraday intimating how much pleasure it gave me to
serve him in any respect.  I cannot refrain from giving his answer.
He said:

"MY DEAR SIR--That you should both show kindness to the bearer of my
letter, and prove that you did so with pleasure by writing me a letter
in return, was indeed more than I ought or could have expected;
but it was very gratifying and pleasant to my mind.  I only wish that
the circumstances of my life were such as to enable me to take
advantage of such goodwill on your part, and to be more in your company
and conversation than is at present possible.

"I could imagine great pleasure from such a condition of things;
but though our desires, and even our hopes at times spread out
beforehand over a large extent, it is wonderful how, as the future
becomes the present, the circumstances that surround us limit the
sphere to which our real life is circumscribed If ever I come your way
I hope to see your face; and the hope is pleasant, though the reality
may never arrive.

"You tell me of the glorious work of your pile-driver, and it must be
indeed a great pleasure to witness the result.  Is it not Shakespeare
who says, 'The pleasure we delight in physics pain'?  In all your
fatigue and labour you must have this pleasure in abundance, and a most
delightful and healthy enjoyment it is.  I shall rejoice to see some
day a blow of the driver and a tap of the hammer.

"You speak of some experiments on hardening and tempering steel in
which we can help you.  I hope when you do come to town you will let us
have the pleasure of doing so.  Our apparatus, such as it is, shall be
entirely at your service.  I made, a long while ago, a few such
experiments on steel wire, but could eliminate no distinct or peculiar
results.  You will know how to look at things, and at your hand I
should expect much.

"Here we are just lecturing away, and I am too tired to attempt
anything, much less to do anything just now; but the goodwill of such
men as you is a great stimulus, and will, I trust even with me,
produce something else praiseworthy.

Ever, my dear Nasmyth, yours most truly,   M. FARADAY."


CHAPTER 16.  Nuremberg--St. Petersburg--Dannemora.

In the autumn of 1842 I had occasion to make a journey to Nuremberg in
company with my partner Mr. Gaskell.  We had been invited to a
conference with the directors of the Nuremberg and Munich Railroad as
to the supply of locomotives for working their line.  As this was
rather an important and extensive transaction, we thought it better not
to trust to correspondence, but to see the directors on the spot.
We found that there were several riskful conditions attached to the
proposed contract, which we considered it imprudent to agree to.
We had afterwards good reason to feel satisfied that we had not yielded
to the very tempting commercial blandishments that were offered to us,
but that we refrained from undertaking an order that required so many
important modifications.

Nevertheless, I was exceedingly delighted with the appearance of the
city of Nuremberg.  It carries one back to the mediaeval times!
The architecture, even of the ordinary houses, is excellent.
St. Lawrence, St. Sebald's, and the Frauenkirche, are splendid specimens
of Gothic design.  The city is surrounded by old walls and turrets,
by ramparts and bastions, enclosed by a ditch faced with masonry.
Very few cities have so well escaped the storm of war and sieges in the
Middle Ages, and even in modern times.  Everything has been carefully
preserved, and many of the best houses are still inhabited by the
families whose forefathers originally constructed them.  But "progress"
is beginning to affect Nuremberg.  It is the centre of railways;
buildings are extending in all directions; tram-cars are running in the
streets; and before long, I fear, the ditch will be filled up,
the surrounding picturesque walls and towers demolished, and the city
thrown open to the surrounding country.

I visited the house of Albert Durer, one of the greatest artists who
ever lived.  He was a man of universal genius--a painter, sculptor,
engraver, mathematician, and engineer.  He was to Germany what Leonardo
da Vinci was to Italy.  His house is wonderfully preserved.
You see his entrance hall, his exhibition room, his bedroom,
his studio, and the opening into which his wife--that veritable Xantippe
--thrust the food that was to sustain him during his solitary hours of
labour.  I saw his grave, too, in the old churchyard beyond the
Thiergarten gate.  I saw the bronze plate commemorating the day of his
death.  "Emigravit 8 idus Aprilis 1528."  "Emigravit" only, for the true
artist never dies.  Hans Sachs's grave is there too--the great
Reformation poet of Luther's time.

Adam Krafft must have been a great sculptor, though his name is little
known out of Nuremberg.  Perhaps his finest work is in St. Lawrence
Cathedral--the Sacramentshauslein, or the repository for the sacred
wafer--a graceful tapering stone spire of florid Gothic open work,
more than sixty feet high, which stands at the opening of the right
transept.  Its construction and decoration occupied the sculptor and
his two apprentices no less than five years; and all that he received
for his hard labour and skilful work was 770 gulden, or about #80
sterling.  No wonder that he died in the deepest distress.
St. Sebald's and the Frauenkirche also contain numerous specimens of
his admirable work.

In the course of the following year (1843) it was necessary for me to
make a journey to St. Petersburg.  My object was to endeavour to
obtain an order for a portion of the locomotives required for working
the line between that city and Moscow.  The railway had been
constructed under the engineership of Major Whistler, father of the
well-known artist; and it was shortly about to be opened.  It appeared
that the Emperor Nicholas was desirous of securing a home supply of
locomotives, and that, like a wise monarch, he wished to employ his own
subjects rather than foreigners in producing them.  No one could object
to this.

The English locomotive manufacturers were not aware of the Emperor's
intention.  When I arrived in the city I expected an order for
locomotives.  The representatives of the principal English firms were
there like myself; they, too, expected a share of the order.
It so happened that at the table d'hote dinner I sat near a very
intelligent American, with whom I soon became intimate.  He told me
that he was very well acquainted with Major Whistler, and offered to
introduce me to him.  By all means!  There is no thing like friendly
feelings in matters of business.

The Major gave me a frank and cordial reception, and informed me of the
position of affairs.  The Emperor, he said, was desirous of training a
class of Russian mechanics to supply not only the locomotives but to
keep them constantly in repair.  He could not solely depend upon
foreign artisans for the latter purpose.  The locomotives must be made
in Russia.  The Emperor had given up the extensive premises of the
Imperial China Manufactory, which were to be devoted to the manufacture
of engines.

The Major appointed Messrs.  Eastwick, Harrison, and Wynants, to supply
the entire mechanical plant of the railway.  I saw that it would be of
no use to apply for any order for locomotives; but I offered to do all
that I could to supply the necessary details.  In the course of a few
days I was introduced to Joseph Harrison, the chief mechanic of the
firm; and I then entered into a friendship which proved long and
lasting.  He gave me a large order for boilers, and for detail parts of
the Moscow engines--all of which helped him forward in the completion
of the locomotives.  We also supplied many of our special machine tools,
without which engines could not then be very satisfactorily made or
kept in repair.  In this way I was in all respects highly remunerated
for my journey.

The enjoyment of my visit to St. Petersburg was much enhanced by
frequent visits to my much valued friend General Alexander Wilson.
He was a native of Edinburgh, and delighted to enjoy cracks with me
upon subjects of mutual interest.  His sister, who kept house for him,
joined in our conversation.  She had been married to the Emperor Paul's
physician, who was also a Scotsman, and was able to narrate many
terrible events in relation to Russian Court affairs.  The General had
worked his way upwards, like the rest of us.  During the principal part
of his life he had superintended the great mechanical establishments at
Alexandrosky and Colpenha, where about 3000 operatives were employed.
These establishments were originally founded by the Empress Catherine
for the purpose of creating a native manufacturing population capable
of carrying on textile and mechanical works of all kinds.
The sail-cloth for the Russian navy was manufactured at Alexandrosky by
excellent machinery.  Cotton fabrics were also manufactured, as well as
playing cards, which were a Crown monopoly.  The great establishment at
Colpenha consisted of a foundry, a machine manufactory, and a mint--
where the copper money of the empire was coined.  General Wilson was
the directing chief officer of all these establishments.

Through him I had the happiness of being introduced to General Greg,
son of the great admiral who shed such honour on the Russian flag
during the reign of the Empress Catherine.  He was then well advanced
in years, but full of keen intelligence and devoted to astronomical
pursuits.  He was in a great measure the founder of the Imperial
Observatory at Pulkowa, situated on an appropriate eminence about eight
miles from St. Petersburg.  The observatory was furnished under his
directions with the most magnificent astronomical instruments.
I had the honour to be introduced by him to the elder Struve, whose
astronomical labours procured him a well-earned reputation throughout
Europe.  I had the rare happiness of spending some nights with Struve,
when he showed me the wonderful capabilities of his fine instruments.
The observatory is quite imperial in its arrangement and management,
and was supported in the most liberal manner by the Emperor Nicholas.
Indeed, it is a perfect example of what so noble an establishment
should be.

Struve most kindly invited me to come whenever the state of the weather
permitted him to show forth the wonderful perfection of his
instruments,--a rare chance, which I seized every opportunity of
enjoying.  It was quite a picture to see the keen interest and intense
enjoyment with which the profound astronomer would seat himself at his
instrument and pick out some exquisite test objects, such as the double
stars in Virgo, Cygnus, or Ursa Major.  The beautiful order and
neatness with which the instruments were kept in their magnificent
appropriate apartments, each having its appropriate observer proceeding
quietly with his allotted special work, with nothing to break the
silence but the "tick, tack!" of the sidereal clock--this was indeed
a most impressive sight!  And the kindly companionable manner of the
great master of the establishment was in all respects in harmony with
the astronomical work which he conducted in this great Temple of the
Universe!

Through my friendship with General Wilson I was enabled to extend my
acquaintance with many of my countrymen who had been long settled at
St. Petersburg in connection with commercial affairs.  I enjoyed their
kind hospitality, and soon found myself quite at home amongst them.
I remained in the city for about two months.  During that time I was
constantly about.  The shops, the streets, the houses, the museums,
were objects of great interest.  The view of the magnificent buildings
along the sides of the quay is very imposing.  Looking from the front
of the statue of Peter the Great you observe the long facade of the
Admiralty, the column of Alexander, the Winter Palace, and other public
buildings.  The Neva flows in front of them in a massive volume of pure
water.  On an island opposite stands the citadel.  The whole presents a
coup d'oeil of unexampled architectural magnificence.

I was much interested by the shops and their signboards. The latter
were fixed all over the fronts of the shops, and contained a
delineation of the goods sold within. There was no necessity for
reading.  The pictorial portraits told their own tale.
They were admirable specimens of what is called still-life pictures;
not only as regards the drawing and colouring of each object, but with
respect to the grouping, which was in most cases artistic and natural.
Two reasons were given me for this style of artistic sign-painting:
one was that many of the people could not read the written words
defining the articles sold within; and the other was that the severe
and long-continued frosts of the St. Petersburg winter rendered large
shop windows impossible for the proper display of the goods.
Hence the small shop-windows to keep out the cold, and the large
painted signboards to display the articles sold inside.

I was also greatly pleased with the manner in which the Russians employ
ivy in screening their windows during summer.  Ivy is a beautiful
plant, and is capable of forming a most elegant window-screen.
Nothing can be more beautiful than to look through green leaves.
Nearly every window of the ground flat of the houses in St. Petersburg
is thus screened.  The neat manner in which the ivy plants are trained
over ornamental forms of cane is quite a study in its way.  And though
the ivy is very common, yet a common thing, being a thing of beauty,
may be a "joy for ever."  In the finer and most important mansions,
the sides of the flight of wide steps that lead up to the reception
rooms were beautifully decorated by oleander plants, growing in great
vigour, with their fine flowers as fresh as if in a carefully-kept
conservatory.  Other plants of an ornamental kind were mixed with the
oleander, but the latter appeared to be the favourite.*
 [footnote...
While passing through Lubeck on my way out to St. Petersburg I was much
struck with the taste for flower-plants displayed by the people of that
old-world city.  The inner side of the lower house windows were all
beautifully decorated with flowers, which were evidently well cared
for.  Some of the windows were almost made up with flowers.
Perhaps the long-continued winter of these parts has caused the people
to study and practise within-door culture with such marked success.
It is a most elegant pursuit, and should be cultivated everywhere.
It is thoroughly in character with the exquisite cleanliness and
tidiness of the houses at Lubeck.
 ...]

About the end of my visit I was about to call upon one of my customers
with reference to my machine tools; for though I pursued pleasure at
occasional times, I never lost sight of business.  It was a very dull
day, and the streets about the Winter Palace were almost deserted.
I was sitting in my drosky with my roll of drawings resting on my thigh
--somewhat in the style of a commander-in-chief as represented in the
old pictures--when I noticed a drosky coming out of the gates of the
Winter Palace.  I observed that it contained a noble-looking officer in
a blue military cloak sitting behind his drosky driver.  My driver
instantly took off his hat, and I, quickly following his example,
took off my hat and bowed gracefully, keeping my extended hand on the
level of my head--a real royal salute.  The person was no other than
the Emperor Nicholas!  He fixed his pecuniarily fine eyes upon me and
gave me one of the grandest military salutes, accompanied, as I thought,
with a kindly smile from his magnificent eyes as he passed close by me.

As I had been lunching with a Dutch engineer about half an hour before,
and had a glass or two of champagne, this may have had something to do
with my daring to give the Emperor, in his own capital, what I was
afterwards told was not a bow but a brotherly recognition between
potentates, and only by royal usage allowed to be so given,--namely,
swaying off the hat at arm's length level with the head, so as to infer
royal equality, or something of that sort. When I narrated to some
Russian friends what I had done, they told me that I need not be
surprised if I received a visit from the chief of police next morning
for my daring to salute the Emperor in such a style.  But the Emperor
was doubtless more amused than offended, and I never received the
expected visit.

To anticipate a little.  Soon afterwards the Emperor sent me a present
of a magnificent diamond ring through his ambassador in England--
Baron Brunnow.  It was also accompanied, as the Baron informed me,
with the Emperor's most gracious thanks for the manner in which my
steam hammer had driven the piles for his new forts at Cronstadt, which
he had seen in full action.  The steam-hammer pile-driver had also been
used for driving the piles of the great bridge at Kieff.
I next received an order for one of my largest steam hammers for the
Imperial Arsenal, and it was followed by many more.  It is a singular
fact, as showing the readiness of the Russian and other foreign
Governments to adopt at an early date any mechanical improvement of
ascertained utility, that I supplied steam hammers to the Russian
Government twelve months before our Admiralty availed themselves of its
energetic action.  The French were the first to adopt the invention;
thanks to the insight of M. Bourdon, who had the opportunity of
recognising its importance.

Before I leave this part of my subject, I must not omit to mention my
friend Mr. Francis Baird, the zealous son of Sir Charles Baird.
The latter was among the first to establish iron foundries and engine
works at St. Petersburg.  At the time of my visit he was far advanced
in years, and unable to attend personally to the very large business
which he had established.  But he was nevertheless full of geniality.
He greatly enjoyed the long conversations which he had with me about
his friends in Scotland, many of whom I knew.   He also told me about
the persons in his employment.  He said that the workmen were all
serfs, or the sons of serfs.  The Empress Catherine had given them to
him for the purpose of being trained in his engine foundry, and in his
sugar refinery, which was another part of the business.  I had rarely
seen a more faithful and zealous set of workmen than these Russian
serfs.  They were able and skilful, and attached to their employers by
some deeper and stronger tie than that of mere money wages.
Indeed, they were treated by Sir Charles Baird and his son with the
kindest and most paternal care, and they duly repaid their attachment
by their zeal in his service and the excellent quality of their work.

The most important business in hand at the time of my visit to the
foundry was the moulding and casting of the magnificent bronze capitals
of the grand portico of the Izak Church.  This building is one of the
finest in St. Petersburg.  It is of grand proportions,--simple,
noble, and massive.  It is built upon a forest of piles.  The walls of
the interior are covered with marble.  The malachite columns for the
screen are fifty feet high, and exceed everything that has yet been
done in that beautiful mineral.  The great dome is of iron covered
with gilt copper.  This, as well as the Corinthian capitals of bronze,
was manufactured at the foundry of the Bairds.  The tympanum of the
four great porticos consisted of colossal groups of alto-relievo
figures, many of which were all but entirely detached from the
background.  It was a kind of foundry work of the highest order,
all the details and processes requiring the greatest care.
To my surprise every one engaged in this gigantic and refined metal
work was a serf.  The full-sized plaster models which they used in
moulding were executed by a resident French sculptor.  He was a true
artist, and of the highest order.  But to see the skilful manner in
which these native workmen, drawn from the staff of the Bairds'
ordinary foundry workers, performed their duties, was truly surprising.
It would make our best bronze statuary founders wince to be asked to
execute such work.  Judging from what I saw of the Russian workmen in
this instance, I should say that Russia has a grand future before it.

Having satisfactorily completed all my business arrangements in
St. Petersburg, I prepared to set out homewards.  But as I had some
business to transact at Stockholm and Copenhagen I resolved to visit
those cities.  I left St. Petersburg for Stockholm by a small steamer,
which touched at Helsingfors and Abo, both in Finland.  The weather was
beautiful.  Clear blue shy and bright sunshine by day, and the light
prolonged far into the night.  Even in September the duration of the
sunshine is so great and the night so short that the air has scarcely
time to cool till it gets heated again by the bright morning rays.
Even at twelve at night the sun dips but a little beneath the bright
horizon on the north.  The night is so bright in the Abo latitude that
one can read the smallest print.

Nothing can be more beautiful than the charming scenery we passed
through in our tortuous voyage to Stockholm.  We threaded between the
granite islands which crowd the shores of the Baltic.  They are covered
with pines, which descend to the water's edge.  We swept them with our
paddle-boxes, and dipped their bright green fronds into the perfectly
clear sea.  For about two days our course lay through those beautiful
small islands.  It seemed like a voyage through fairyland.
And it continued in this exquisite tranquil way until we reached that
crowning feature of all--the magnificent city of Stockholm, sleeping,
as it were, on the waters of the Malar Lake, and surrounded by noble
mountains clad with pines.  With the exception of Edinburgh, Genoa,
and Naples, I had never beheld so noble a city with such magnificent
surroundings.

I spent but a short time in Stockholm, but quite sufficient to enable
me to see much that was grandly beautiful in its neighbourhood.
Lakes, rocks, and noble trees abounded, and exquisite residences peeped
out through the woods, giving evidences of high civilisation. Elegance
of taste and perfect domestic arrangements supplied every form of
rational comfort and enjoyment.  My old friend Sir John Ross, of Arctic
celebrity, was settled at Stockholm as chief consul for Her Majesty.
He introduced me to several of the leading English merchants, from whom
I received much kind attention.  Mr. Erskine invited me to spend a day
or two at his beautiful villa in the neighbourhood.  It was situated on
the side of a mountain, and overlooked a lake that reminded me very
much of Loch Katrine.  Fine timber grew about, in almost inaccessible
places, on the tops of precipices, and in shelves and clefts among the
rocks.  The most important result of my visit was an introduction to
Baron Tam, the proprietor and chief director of the great Dannemora
Iron Mine.

I was at once diverted for a time from my voyage to Copenhagen.
I was most desirous of seeing in person this celebrated mine.
The baron most willingly furnished me with several letters of
introduction to his managers, and I proceeded to Dannemora by way of
Upsala.  I was much interested by this city, by its cathedral,
containing the tomb of Gustavas Vasa, and by its many historical
associations.  But I was still more impressed by Old Upsala, about
three miles distant.  This is a place of great antiquity.  It is only a
little hamlet now, though at one time it must have been the centre of a
large population.  The old granite church was probably at one time a
pagan temple.  Outside, and apart from it, is a wooden bell-tower,
erected in comparatively modem times.   In a wooden box inside the
church is a wooden painted god, a most unlikely figure to worship.
And yet the Swedes in remote parts of the country carefully preserve
their antique wooden gods.

The great sacrifices to Odin were made at Old Upsala.
Outside the church, in a row, are three great mounds of earth, erected
in commemoration of Odin, Thor, and Freia--hence our Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday.  These mounds, of about 60 feet high and 232 feet
in diameter, were in former times used as burying-places for the great
and valiant.  I went into a cottage near the tumuli, and drank a bumper
of mead to the memory of Thor from a very antique wooden vessel.
I made an especial reverential obeisance to Thor, because I had a great
respect for him as being the great Hammerman, and one of our craft,--
the Scandinavian Vulcan.

I drove back to Upsala, and remained there for the night.
It is a sleepy silent place.  The only sound I heard was the voice of
the watchman calling out the small hours of the morning from his
station on the summit of the cathedral tower.  As the place is for the
most part built of wood, this precaution in the shape of a watchman who
can see all points of the city is a necessary one in case of fire.

Next morning I hired a small sort of gig of a very primitive
construction, with a boy for driver.  His duty was to carry me to the
next post-house, and there leave me to be carried forward by another
similar conveyance.  But the pony No.  2 was about a mile off, occupied
in drawing a plough, so that I had to wait until the job was over.
In about an hour or so I was again under weigh.  And so on da capo,
until about six in the evening, when I found myself within sight of the
great mine.  The post-house where I was set down was an inn, though
without a signboard.  The landlady was a bright, cheery, jolly woman.
She could not speak a word of English, nor I a word of Dannemora
Swedish.  I was very thirsty and hungry, and wanted something to eat.
How was I to communicate my wishes to the landlady?  I resorted,
as I often did, to the universal language of the pencil.  I took out my
sketch-book, and in a few seconds made a sketch of a table, with a dish
of smoking meat upon it, a bottle and a glass, a knife and fork,
a loaf, a saltcellar, and a corkscrew.  She looked at the drawing and
gave a hearty laugh.  She nodded pleasantly, showing that she clearly
understood what I wanted.  She asked me for the sketch, and went into
the back garden to show it to her husband, who inspected it with great
delight.  I went out and looked about the place, which was very
picturesque.  After a short time, the landlady came to the door and
beckoned me in, and I found spread out on the table everything that I
desired--a broiled chicken, smoking hot from the gridiron, a bottle
of capital home-brewed ale, and all the et ceteras of an excellent
repast.  I made use of my pencil in many ways.  I always found that a
sketch was more useful than a blundering sentence.  Besides,
it generally created a sympathy between me and my entertainers.

[Image]  The order for dinner

My visit to the Dannemora Mine at Osterby was one of peculiar interest.
I may in the first place say that the immense collection of iron ore at
that point has been the result of the upheaval of a vast volume of
molten igneous ore, which has been injected into the rock, or deposited
in masses under the crust of the earth.  In some cases the quarried ore
yields from 50 to 70, and even as much as 90 per cent of iron.
The Dannemora Mine is a vast quarry open to the sky. When you come near
it the place looks like a vast deep pit, with an unfathomable bottom.
Ghostlike, weird-looking pinnacles of rocks stand out from its profound
depths; but beyond these you see nothing but wreaths of smoke curling
up from below.  The tortuous chasm in the earth, caused by the quarries
beneath, is about half a mile long, and about a thousand feet wide.