HIS BIRTHPLACE AND EARLY TRAINING. 5 



body, rearing her children well, and supporting her eldest 

 son single-handed and alone. On his death-bed, when his 

 nurse was kindly tucking the blankets round the old man, 

 his heart went back once more to his mother's house in 

 Stonehaven, across the varied experiences of more than 

 eighty long years ; and, in tones which showed that the 

 fountain of tears had been opened, he said, " So my mother 

 used to do to me ! " His mother was always his ideal of a 

 tender, kindly woman. 



But Stonehaven was no unworthy place in which to be 

 born, and possessed unusual elements to mould her children 

 for good. These certainly had the deepest influence on the 

 life of her lowly son, physically, religiously, and scientific- 

 ally. Her streets furnished a varied and interesting play- 

 ground and numerous well-conditioned playmates for the 

 lad, when he was old enough to run about. The harbour 

 was there with its exciting and ever-attractive life to boys. 

 A curious stone dial near the edge of the pier, bearing circles 

 and figures and points of the compass, drew his youthful 

 fancy, and, no doubt, silently impressed him for who can 

 limit the educative force of such early associations ? with a 

 desire to pursue the study of dialling and produce copies of 

 this chronometer, as he did in after years. The old granary 

 of the Marischalls, which stood near it on the quay, and 

 which, as being used for court-house and prison, was known 

 as the Old Tolbooth, would be regarded by even the wildest 

 boy with solemn awe. Its window facing the sea was 

 gazed at with wondering eyes, for from it, after the '45, the 

 imprisoned Jacobite Episcopal clergy used by stealth to 

 baptize the infants of their flock. The newly-finished 

 tower of the steeple, with its great clock, erected three 



