ways had leisure to give to his friends, to poetry, romance, and
the publications of the day; he read indiscriminately almost every
new book he could procure. He assisted his father in his business,
and soon learned to construct with his own hands several of the
articles required in the way of his parent's trade; and by means of
a small forge, set up for his own use, he repaired and made various
kinds of instruments, and converted, by the way, a large silver coin
into a punch-ladle, as a trophy of his early skill as a metal-smith.
From this aptitude for ingenious handiwork, and in accordance with
his own deliberate choice, it was decided that he should proceed to
qualify himself for following the trade of a mathematical instrument
maker. He accordingly went to Glasgow, in June, 1754, and from
there, after a year's stay, he proceeded for better instruction to
London.

On Watt's arrival in the metropolis, he sought a situation, but in
vain, and he was beginning to despond, when he obtained work with
one John Morgan, an instrument-maker, in Finch Lane, Cornhill. Here
he gradually became proficient in making quadrants, parallel rulers,
compasses, theodolites, etc., until, at the end of a year's
practice, he could make "a brass sector with a French joint, which
is reckoned as nice a piece of framing work as is in the trade."
During this interval he contrived to live upon eight shillings a
week, exclusive of his lodging. His fear of the press-gang and his
bodily ailments, however, led to his quitting London in August,
1756, and returning to Scotland, after investing twenty guineas in
additional tools.

At Glasgow, through the intervention of Dr. Dick, he was first
employed in cleaning and repairing some of the instruments belonging
to the college; and, after some difficulty, he received permission
to open a shop within the precincts as "mathematical instrument
maker to the University." Here Watt prospered, pursuing alike his
course of manual labor and of mental study, and especially extending
his acquaintance with physics; endeavoring, as he said, "to find out
the weak side of nature, and to vanquish her." About this time he
contrived an ingenious machine for drawing in perspective; and from
fifty to eighty of these instruments, manufactured by him, were sent
to different parts of the world. He had now procured the friendship
of Dr. Black and another University worthy, John Robison, who, in
stating the circumstances of his