400 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S RETIREMENT. CHAP. XX. 



addressed by Robert Nicoll to Robert Burns, with per- 

 haps still greater appropriateness : 



" Before the proudest of tlie earth 



We stand, with an uplifted brow ; 

 Like us, thou wast a toiling man, 

 And we are noble, now ! " 



The portrait prefixed to this volume gives a good 

 indication of George Stephenson's shrewd, kind, honest, 

 manly face. His fair, clear countenance was ruddy, 

 and seemingly glowed with health. The forehead was 

 large and high, projecting over the eyes ; and there 

 was that massive breadth across the lower part which is 

 usually observed in men of eminent constructive skill. 

 The mouth was firmly marked, and shrewdness and 

 humour lurked there as well as in the keen grey eye. 

 His frame was compact, well-knit, and rather spare. 

 His hair became grey at an early age, and towards the 

 close of his life it was of a pure silky whiteness. He 

 dressed neatly in black, wearing a white neckcloth ; and 

 his face, his person, and his deportment at once arrested 

 attention, and marked the Gentleman. 



George Stephenson bequeathed to his son his valuable 

 collieries, his share in the engine manufactory at New- 

 castle, and his large accumulation of savings, which, 

 together with the fortune he had himself amassed by 

 railway work, gave Robert the position of an engineer 

 millionaire the first of his race. He continued, how- 

 ever, to live in a quiet style ; and although he bought 

 occasional pictures and statues, and indulged in the 

 luxury of a yacht, he did not live up to his income, 

 which went on rapidly accumulating until his death. 



There was no longer the necessity for applying him- 

 self to the harassing business of a parliamentary en- 

 gineer, in which he had now been occupied for some 

 fifteen years. Shortly after his father's death, Edward 

 Pease strongly recommended him to give up the more 



