Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/75

 with the mere profits ariſing from much more moderate charges from the article only, Meſſrs. BoltonBoulton [sic] and Watt have the extreme liberality to exact annually, in addition to this, what is, in many inſtances, more than fifty times the regular profit of building an Engine!! Thus they have realiſed, perhaps, the greateſt fortune ever made by patents, over and above what would have accrued to any other individual, not artful enough to ſtrike out ſo cunning and well deviſed a plan.—For your Lordſhip muſt obſerve this third of ſaving includes every thing, and excludes nothing. Should an ingenious Engine-keeper, or owner of an Engine, as is often the caſe, have judgment enough to improve his fire-place, or his boiler, or, in ſhort, make any other improvement, by even wetting his coals, or any other means by which a ſaving is made; he, and all ſuch, are always inventing and working for Mr. Watt, in a ratio of one third: for he is liberal enough to aſcribe this alſo to his Engine, and ſack the profit.

If theſe meaſures are juſtifiable, I have much to lament that I did not at my outſetting with patents adopt the plan; as I think, had I done ſo, I ſhould have, by this time, been able to purchaſe all England; and have paid for it, in part, with a