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WATSON" 320 WATTEAU othei- writings include "Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson" (1903) ; "Life and Times of Andrew Jackson" (1907) ; "The Socialist and Socialism" (1909) ; "The Story of the West and South" (1911). WATSON, SIR WILLIAM, an Eng- lish poet; born in Burley-in- Wharf dale, Yorkshire, England, Aug. 2, 1858. His published works include "The Prince's Quest" (1880); "Epigrams of Art" (1884); in the "National Review," a series of political sonnets, "Ver Tenebro- sum" (1885) : "Wordsworth's Grave and Other Poems*' (1891) ; "Lachrymae Mu- sarum" (1892), an elegy on Tennyson; "Poems'* (1893); "Excursions in Criti- cism" (1893); "The Eloping Angels'* (1893); "Odes, and Other Poems'* (1894); "The Purple East" (1896), an attack on the British Government for its failure to act against Turkey for the Armenian massacres; "Collected Poems'* (1898): "Heralds of Dawn" (1912); "The Muse in Exile" (1913) ; "The Man Who Saw" (1917). WATT, the name of the electrical unit of activity or rate of doing work. It is measured by the product of the volt- age or electromotive force of the source into the current supplied. Thus a dy- namo which is yielding 30 amperes at a voltage of 100 is working with an activ- ity of 3,000 watts. The watt is equal to 0.735 foot-pound per second; so that one horse power per second is equal to 746 watts. It is customary to use the kilo- watt as the practical unit. It is equal to 1,000 watts or 1.2 horse power per second. WATT, JAMES, a British inventor; born in Greenock, Scotland, Jan, 19, 1736. His father was a merchant and magis- trate of Greenock, and James received a good education in its public schools. Having determined to adopt the trade of mathematical instrument maker, he went to London (1754) to learn the art, but ill-health compelled him to return after only a year's apprenticeship. Shortly after his return he endeavored to establish himself in Glasgow. The corporation objecting, he was appointed in 1757 mathematical instrument maker to the university, and resided within its walls till 1763, when he removed into the town. From this time till 1774 he acted as a civil engineer — made several sur- veys for canals and harbors, and some of his plans were afterward carried into execution. It was during this period that he conceived and gave shape to his im- provements on the steam engine, which have rendered James Watt's name fa- mous. To give his inventions practical form he associated himself in the year 1774 with Matthew Boulton, the firm of Boulton & Watt having their works at Soho, Birmingham. He retired from business in 1800. Watt was a fellow of the Royal So- cieties of London and Edinburgh, and member of the National Institute of France. He was twice married, and was survived by one son, who carried on the establishment at Soho in partnership with a son of Mr. Boulton. Besides im- JAMES WATT proving the steam engine, Watt in- vented or improved a variety of nue- chanical appliances, including a letter- copjdng press. He was a man of high mental powers generally, and possessed a wide and varied knowledge of litera- ture and science. He died in Heathfield, Staffordshire, Aug. 25, 1819. WATTEAU, JEAN ANTOINE (va- to), a French painter; bom in Valen- ciennes, France, Oct. 10, 1684. In 1702 he went to Paris, and earned his bread by working for decorative painters. For many years he struggled in obscurity, but his talent once recognized, he rap- idly became popular and prosperous. In 1717 he was received at the Academy, and enrolled as a painter of fetes g(U lantes, that is, pleasure parties, balls» masquerades, etc., subjects in which he excelled. Lightness, elegance, and bril- liancy form the chief attractions of his style. He died in Nogent-sur-Marne, July 18, 1721.