478 ROBERT STEPHENSON'S CHARACTER. CHAP. XXI. 



the chief merit of his own achievements as an engineer. 

 " It was his thorough training," we once heard him say, 

 " his example, and his character, which made me the 

 man I am." On a more public occasion he said, " It is 

 my great pride to remember, that whatever may have 

 been done, and however extensive may have been my 

 own connection with railway development, all I know 

 and all I have done is primarily due to the parent 

 whose memory I cherish and revere." 1 To Mr. Lough, 

 the sculptor, he said he had never had but two loves- 

 one for his father, the other for his wife. 



Like his father, he was eminently practical, and yet 

 always open to the influence and guidance of correct 

 theory. 2 His main consideration in laying out his lines 

 of railway was what would best answer the intended 

 purpose, or, to use his own words, to secure the maximum 

 of result with the minimum of means. He was pre- 

 eminently a safe man, because cautious, tentative, and 

 experimental ; following closely the lines of conduct 

 trodden by his father, and often quoting his maxims. 



In society Robert Stephenson was simple, unobtrusive, 

 and modest ; but charming and even fascinating in an 

 eminent degree. Sir John Lawrence has said of him 

 that he was, of all others, the man he most delighted to 

 meet in England he was so manly, yet gentle, and 

 withal so great. While admired and beloved by men 

 of such calibre, he was equally a favourite with women 

 and children. He put himself upon the level of all, and 

 charmed them no less by his inexpressible kindliness of 

 manner than by his simple yet impressive conversation. 



1 Address as President of the Insti- I deed, in the working of gold and 

 tution of Civil Engineers, January, silver mines in veins in this country, 



it is absolutely essential that theory 

 and practice should be united and go 

 hand in hand ; not that the former 

 should be appreciated beyond its value, 

 and the other depreciated below it, 

 but that both should be entitled to 



1856. 



2 Writing from Mariquita, South 

 America, in 1826, when only twenty- 

 three years of age, he said : " Practi- 

 cal men are certainly to be esteemed 

 as such, but I am far from attaching 

 the importance to them which our 

 masters appear inclined to do. In- 



equal consideration and weight. 



