lathe, the elaborate machines over which his latest thoughts were spent
are still and silent, as if waiting only for their master's hand again
to waken them into life and work. Upon the shelves are crowds of books,
whose pages open no more to those clear, thoughtful eyes, and scattered
in the drawers and boxes are the notes and memoranda, and pocket-books,
and diaries never to be continued now. All these relics of the great
engineer, the skilful mechanic, the student of science, relate to his
intellectual and public life; but there is a sadder relic still. An old
hair-trunk, carefully kept close by the old man's stool, contains the
childish sketches, the early copy-books and grammars, the dictionaries,
the school-books, and some of the toys of his dearly-beloved and
brilliant son Gregory Watt."

~Heraldry.~--In the days of the mail-clad knights, who bore on their
shields some quaint device, by which friend or foe could tell at sight
whom they slew or met in fight, doubtless the "Kings-At-Arms," the
"Heralds," and the "Pursuivants" of the College of Arms founded by
Richard III. were functionaries of great utility, but their duties
nowadays are but few, and consist almost solely of tracing pedigrees for
that portion of the community whom our American cousins designate as
"shoddy," but who, having "made their pile," would fain be thought of
aristocratic descent. In such a Radical town as Birmingham, the study of
_or_ and _gules, azure_ and _vert_, or any of the other significant
terms used in the antique science of heraldry, was not, of course, to be
expected, unless at the hands of the antiquary or the practical heraldic
engraver, both scarce birds in our smoky town, but the least to be
looked for would be that the borough authorities should carefully see
that the borough coat of arms was rightly blazoned. It has been proved
that the town's-name has, at times, been spelt in over a gross of
different ways, and if any reader will take the trouble to look at the