[7] Sir Thomas Lombe died in 1738. He had two daughters. The
first, Hannah, was married to Sir Robert Clifton, of Clifton, co.
Notts; the second, Mary Turner, was married to James, 7th Earl of
Lauderdale. In his will, he "recommends his wife, at the
conclusion of the Darby concern," to distribute among his
"principal servants or managers five or six hundred pounds."
CHAPTER V.
WILLIAM MURDOCK: HIS LIFE AND INVENTIONS.
"Justice exacts, that those by whom we are most benefited
Should be most admired."--Dr. Johnson.
"The beginning of civilization is the discovery of some useful
arts, by which men acquire property, comforts, or luxuries. The
necessity or desire of preserving them leads to laws and social
institutions... In reality, the origin as well as the progress
and improvement of civil society is founded on mechanical and
chemical inventions."--Sir Humphry Davy.
At the middle of last century, Scotland was a very poor country.
It consisted mostly of mountain and moorland; and the little
arable land it contained was badly cultivated. Agriculture was
almost a lost art. "Except in a few instances," says a writer in
the 'Farmers' Magazine' of 1803, "Scotland was little better than
a barren waste." Cattle could with difficulty be kept alive; and
the people in some parts of the country were often on the brink
of starvation. The people were hopeless, miserable, and without
spirit, like the Irish in their very worst times.
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