208 Biographical Sketch of the late 



nica, to Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and to various 

 scientific Journals of the day ; and gave (in a series of Letters 

 which appeared in the Scots Magazine in 1817), a lively and 

 instructive account of a tour through the Netherlands, in which 

 he described some of the most interesting engineering works 

 connected with the drainage and embankment of Holland. 



I have already said, that Mr Stevenson possessed great 

 sagacity, fortitude, and perseverance ; and these were ihe 

 chief points of his character. In private life he was a man 

 of sterling worth ; and, whether we regard him as a husband, 

 a father, or a friend, he was equally distinguished by the 

 absence of selfishness and by his great generosity. His ex- 

 ertions in forwarding the progress of young men through 

 life were extensive and unwearied ; and few men had more 

 solid grounds than he for indulging in the pleasing reflection 

 that, both in his public and private capacity, he had conse- 

 crated to beneficial ends every talent committed to his trust. 



He was a man of sincere and unobtrusive piety ; and 

 although warmly attached to the Established Church of 

 Scotland, of which for nearly forty years he had been an 

 elder, he had no taint of bigotry or of party feeling. All 

 his life he had been a friend of order ; and in those troubled 

 times which followed the first burst of revolutionary madness 

 in France, he cheerfully and zealously gave up a portion of 

 that time, which constituted his only inheritance, to the 

 service of his country in the suppression of disorder, and 

 enrolled himself as a volunteer. A high sense of duty per- 

 vaded his whole life ; and he died calmly in that blessed hope 

 and peace which only an indwelling and personal belief in 

 the merits of a Redeemer can impart to any son of our guilty 

 race* 



At a Statutory General Meeting of the Board of Northern 

 Lighthouses, which occurred on the 13th July last, the day 

 after his death, the Commissioners recorded their respect for 

 his talents and virtues in the following Minute :— 



** The Secretary having intimated that Mr Robert Stevenson, the 

 late Engineer to the Board, died yesterday morning, 



" The Board, before proceeding to business, desire to record their 

 regret at the death of this zealous, faithful, and able officer, to 



