Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/93

 all capable of minute explanation. But Mr. Watt goes a little further back to begin his claim, which he makes without any explanation. He ſays to the King, I want a patent for my new invented method of ſaving the conſumption of bricks, and conſequently of clay and of water in building houſes; and theſe methods I call principles. Or I want a patent for my new invented method of leſſening the conſumption of ſtone, and conſequently of digging and hewing it in building houſes: theſe methods I call principles alſo. Or I want a patent for my new invented method of leſſening the conſumption of nails, other iron-work and metals, and conſequently of ores in building houſes; and theſe methods I call principles. And thus, my Lord, he may alſo give us his methods and principles of ſaving wood, and conſequently trees in the ſame way; and leave the world in reality, as he has done in the inſtance before us, to invent methods and principles for themſelves. And ſhould the want of a better, and more ſufficient Specification, in the art of building, than he has given in the art of conſtructing Engines, lead any perſon to put his principal beams, where he ſhould apply his laths, and his laths where theſe beams ſhould be, he may apologiſe fer the defects which occaſioned