Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/92

 of every piece; then methods of converting each into the proper form and due proportion it ought to bear. And who is it, my Lord, that does not even after the experience of ſix thouſand years (much more minutely recorded than Mr. Watt’s Specification) err in this part, more or leſs in every building? And yet, as I have ſaid before, your Lordſhip did others are inſulted by being told both in this Specification, and by thoſe who can ſay any thing, that the kind of material, the proportion, and the method of organizing them is not of the ſmalleſt conſequence whatever, in the building of this houſe. And Mr. Cummings in particular, aſſerts, that parts may by a good workman, be made ſhorter or longer, thicker or ſmaller, &c. and all without deviating from a well-concerted plan. You are likewiſe told, my Lord, that your nails, bolts, &c. may be made of oils, reſinous bodies, animal fats, and what is more likely, of melted iron, braſs, or very kindly, any other metal of thing you pleaſe; and that your houſe may turn on an axle-tree, or any how you pleaſe.

All the methods I have here mentioned to belong to man, I think, are ſubjects of monopoly; and perhaps ſome of the principles: but all