Note 424 — Chapter XXIII · Closing Years of James Watt—His Death—Conclusion.
Reading edition
The following is the inscription:—
not to perpetuate a name which must endure while the peaceful arts flourish, but to show that mankind have learned to honour those who best deserve their gratitude, the King, his ministers, and many of the nobles and commoners of the realm, raised this monument to JAMES WATT, who directing the force of an original genius early exercised in philosophic research to the improvement of the Steam-engine, enlarged the resources of his country, increased the power of man, and rose to an eminent place among the most illustrious followers of science, and the real benefactors of the world. Born at Greenock, 1736. Died at Heathfield, in Staffordshire, 1819.