II.

It would be difficult to estimate the value of the benefits which these inventions have conferred upon this country. There is no branch of industry that has not been indebted[1] to them; and[2], in all the most material, they have not only widened most magnificently the field of its exertions, but[3] multiplied a thousand-fold the amount of its productions. It was our improved steam-engine, in short[4], that fought the battles of Europe and sustained and exalted, through[5] the late tremendous contest, the political greatness of our land. _It is_ the same great power _which_ now enables us to pay the interest of our debt, and to maintain[6] the arduous struggle _in which we are still engaged_ (1819) with the skill[7] and capital of countries (S. 16, N. 10) less oppressed with (+von+) taxation.

But these are poor[8] and narrow views of its importance. It has increased indefinitely the mass of[9] human comforts and enjoyments, and[10] rendered cheap and accessible, all over the world, the materials of wealth and prosperity.

[1] I am greatly indebted to you, +ich habe Ihnen vieles zu verdanken+.

[2] Say ‘and in the principal branches’; most magnificently, +auf das großartigste+.

[3] Insert ‘also’ here.

[4] +Kurz+, which place at the head of the period.

[5] through = in.

[6] +fortsetzen+, which rendering will make the relative clause ‘_in — engaged_’ superfluous.

[7] ‘skill’, here = industry.

[8] poor = superficial; narrow, +beschränkt+; of = about.

[9] of human = of our.

[10] +und die Stoffe, welche sonst nur dem Reichtum und dem Wohlstand zugänglich waren, für die ganze Welt billig und erreichbar gemacht.+

_Section 144._

JAMES WATT AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.