Engines of Power

Engines and Anxieties Polidori wakes to the pulse of machinery at Soho and wrestles with his awe and dread of power made visible.

The Button Room Mary visits a small workshop at Soho where delicate machines turn sheets of metal into rows of shining buttons, beauty made practical by steam.

The Minting Room Polidori visits the minting room at Soho and observes how steam power brings order, accuracy, and promise to the making of coins.

The Forging Hall Mary witnesses the heat and labor of Soho’s foundry, where the parts for Watt’s great engine are being cast and shaped — the birth of power itself.

The Erecting Room Polidori describes the first awakening of the great engine, sensing that something more than machinery has come alive.

The Covenant Fulfilled Mary reflects on the awakening of the great engine and sees within it the pattern of all the centuries to come—abundance and ruin born in the same breath.

Molly’s Reflection Molly reflects on the awakening of industry and the inheritance of Enlightenment thought, inviting the companions to carry that legacy forward into a new kind of revolution.