2 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



Lord Nelson, who had fallen the previous year in the 

 battle of Trafalgar. 



With such grand doings, however, the family in 

 Great Hamilton Street was not in a position to be 

 much impressed. Three weeks after David's birth, his 

 father, James Robertson, died, leaving his wife and 

 three children unprovided for. The eldest boy, 

 James, was only about five, and the other child, 

 Jeannet, about three years old. 



After the death of the breadwinner, the household 

 was still maintained without external assistance, 

 solely by the mother's industry, frugality, and careful 

 management. Sad and toilsome as this part of her 

 life must have been, her efforts had their reward ; 

 and it is pleasant to know that she herself survived 

 to the ripe old age of ninety-six. 



The widowed mother found her baby very restless 

 at night, never sleeping long at a time a regular wake- 

 wife ; not cross and peevish any more then than since, 

 but simply restless, as became an infant destined to 

 scientific research. This wakeful habit has continued 

 from infancy to age, so that, content with little sleep, 

 and with the power to rouse himself at any time 

 desired, Mr. Robertson cannot remember ever over- 

 sleeping himself, or, as they call it in Scotland, 

 sleeping in. 



That he made it a point of honour and conscience 

 in his various employments not to be overtaken by 

 such a fault, may be judged from the precautions 

 which, it will be seen, he sometimes took to assist his 

 natural faculty. 



In addition to this more or less useful restlessness, 



