140 EARL DE GREY'S ADDRESS. [May 28, 18G0. 



Straits ; and the Victoria Bridge over the St. Lawrence. Speaking 

 of Stephenson in his address to the Institute of Civil Engineers the 

 President remarks : " One of the distinguishing characteristics of 

 his professional career was, that however bold he was in the con- 

 ception of an idea, as for instance the Britannia^Tubular Bridge, 

 yet no one with whom I ever came in contact, watched with more 

 anxiety the completion of these enterprises than did Mr. Stephenson. 

 His mind was ever occupied in anticipating how, and in what 

 shape, failures might arise. Another distinguishing feature in our 

 late friend's career was his treatment of all those who were asso- 

 ciated with him in his undertakings ; his habit, with those who 

 enjoyed his confidence, was to leave with them the utmost amount 

 of responsibility which he could possibly lay upon them, and 

 never to interfere, except in cases of emergency, or where his 

 moral influence was required to prevent undue interference from 

 superior authorities. The consequence has been, that over the 

 whole face of the globe there are men of his school who have risen 

 to competency and to eminence, and who live to extol and respect 

 the memory of their revered chief." 



He took great interest in all scientific investigations, particularly 

 in the pursuits of this Society, being himself a great traveller and 

 a valued Member of the Council at the period of his death. As a 

 specimen of his liberality in the cause of science, it may be men- 

 tioned that he placed his yacht, the Titania, at the disposal of Professor 

 Piazzi Smyth (the son of our former excellent President, Admiral 

 W. H. Smyth), who was sent out with very limited means to 

 Teneriffe, to make sundry scientific observations, and thus materially 

 assisted the researches of that gentleman. In the same spirit he 

 came forward in 1855, and paid oif a debt amounting to 3,100/., 

 which the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society had in- 

 curred, his motive being, to use his own phrase, gratitude for the 

 benefits which he himself had received from it in early life, and 

 a hope that other young men might find it equally useful. 



At the Leeds Meeting of the British Association of Science, he 

 proposed a yacht trip to Iceland, to be accompanied by Dr. Shaw 

 and others ; but his health had been delicate for about two years, 

 and he complained of failing strength just before his last journey 

 to Norway. If his loss be severely felt in his profession, it is 

 still more poignantly so in his large circle of friends and acquaint- 

 ances. His benevolence was unbounded. His own pupils are 



