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he retained the connection of a constant friendly intercourse, which 

 probably in many instances dated with his residence in that town at 

 his outset in life. He was also intimately acquainted with the 

 workshops of numberless ingenious tradesmen, not only in the 

 strictly manufacturing towns of England, but in London, Edinburgh, 

 Glasgow, and" Paris, by whom he was known and valued. But, 

 thirdly, all this would have been unavailing, had he not practically 

 executed his own designs, and learnt, by experience, more or less of 

 the difficulties of almost every trade which came under his notice. 

 The varieties of the constructions which he executed shew great di- 

 versity of acquirement. From boring a cannon to drilling a needle's 

 eye, nothing was strange to him ; the first, we have seen, was amongst 

 his earlier serious occupations, the last was a problem which occu- 

 pied him not long before his death. Masonry, Carpentry, and 

 manufactures in metals, were almost equally familiar to him ; his 

 house in Randolph Crescent was built entirely from his own plans, 

 and nothing, from the cellar to the roof, in construction or in furni- 

 ture, but what bore testimony to his minute and elaborate invention 

 and superintendence. A door handle, a chair castor, a pair of tongs, 

 and a candlestick, he deemed equally worthy of attention with the 

 more important particulars of warming and ventilation, security 

 from fire within, and from wind without. Some panes of glass 

 having blown in by a storm, he was led to some curious observa- 

 tions (communicated to the Society of Arts) on the proper mode of 

 placing window-glass in the sashes. Many particulars of his 

 minute and ubiquitous experience may, I think, be found in different 

 parts of the useful writings of the ingenious Mr Loudon, with whom 

 he was in frequent correspondence. The poet Cowper says, " How 

 various his employments whom the world deems idle." And those 

 who knew Sir John Robison well, and who know at the same time 

 the immense expenditure of time I'equired for attaining mechanical 

 dexterity in any department, or, when attained, the labour necessary 

 to produce even the smallest or simplest object when of exquisite 

 execution, wondered how he was enabled to perform so much. His 

 correspondence alone would have been more than an ample occupa- 

 tion to most persons. The secret lay, as in all such cases, in habits 

 of perfect order, of never doing two things at once, and of devoting 

 his whole thoughts and skill to what immediately occupied his atten- 

 tion ; but to this we must add habits of great personal activity, which 

 throughout his life rendered him incapable of sleeping for more than 



