146 ROBERT STEPHENSON AT EDINBURGH. CHAP. VIII. 



Robert was not without the pleasures of social inter- 

 course either, during his stay at Edinburgh. Among 

 the letters of introduction which he took with him was 

 one to Robert Bald, the mining engineer, which proved 

 of much service to him. " I remember Mr. Bald very 

 well," he said on one occasion, when recounting his 

 reminiscences of his Edinburgh college life. " He 

 introduced me to Dr. Hope, Dr. Murray, and several 

 of the distinguished men of the north. Bald was the 

 Buddie of Scotland. He knew my father from having 

 visited the pits at Killingworth, with the object of 

 describing the system of working them, in his article 

 intended for the ' Edinburgh Encyclopaedia.' A strange 

 adventure befel that article before it appeared in print. 

 Bald was living at Alloa when he wrote it ; and when 

 finished he sent it to Edinburgh by the hands of young 

 Maxton, one of his nephews, whom he enjoined to take 

 special care of it and deliver it safely into the hands of 

 the editor. He took passage for Newhaven by one of 

 the little steamers which then plied upon the Forth ; but 

 on the voyage down the Frith, she struck upon a rock 

 nearly opposite Queensferry, and soon sunk. When the 

 accident happened, Maxton' s whole concern was about 

 his uncle's article. He durst not return to Alloa if he 

 lost it, and he must not go on to Edinburgh without it. 

 So he desperately clung to the chimney chains, with the 

 paper parcel under his arm, while most of the other pas- 

 sengers were washed away and drowned. And there he 

 continued to cling, until rescued by some boatmen, parcel 

 and all ; after which he made his way to Edinburgh, 

 and the article duly appeared." 



Returning to the subject of his life in Edinburgh, 

 Robert continued : " Besides taking me with him to the 

 meetings of the Royal and other Societies, Mr. Bald intro- 

 duced me to a very agreeable family, relatives of his own, 

 at whose house I spent many pleasant evenings. It was 

 there I met Jeannie M . She was a bonnie lass, 



