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steam-engine—James Watt: his industry and habit of attention—Matthew Boulton—Applications of the steam-engine—The cotton manufacture—The early inventors—Paul and Highs—Arkwright: his early life—Barber, inventor and manufacturer—His influence and character—The Peels of South Lancashire—The founder of the family—The first Sir Robert Peel, cotton-printer—Lady Peel—Rev. William Lee, inventor of the stocking-frame—Dies abroad in misery—James Lee—The Nottingham lace manufacture—John Heathcoat, inventor of the bobbin-net machine—His early life, his ingenuity, and plodding perseverance—Invention of his machine—Anecdote of Lord Lyndhurst—Progress of the lace-trade—Heathcoat's machines destroyed by the Luddites—His character—Jacquard: his inventions and adventures—Vaucanson: his mechanical genius, improvements in silk manufacture—Jacquard improves Vaucanson's machine—The Jacquard loom adopted—Joshua Heilmann, inventor of the combing-machine—History of the invention—Its value

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Ancient pottery—Etruscan ware—Luca della Robbia, the Florentine sculptor: re-discovers the art of enamelling—Bernard Palissy: sketch of his life and labours—Inflamed by the sight of an Italian cup-His search after the secret of the enamel—His experiments during years of unproductive toil—His personal and family privations—Indomitable perseverance, burns his furniture to heat the furnace, and success at last—Reduced to destitution—Condemned to death, and release—His writings—Dies in the Bastille—John Frederick Böttgher, the Berlin 'gold cook'—His trick in alchemy and consequent troubles—Flight into Saxony—His detention at Dresden—Discovers how to make red and white porcelain—The manufacture taken up by the Saxon Government—Böttgher treated as a prisoner and a slave—His unhappy