OF THE LATE PROFESSOR ROBISON. 501 



Pkjott, one of the most skilful officers of the British navy. Mr 

 Robison, indeed, never at any time mentioned his name with- 

 out praise, for nis knowledge of seamanship, and the ad- 

 dress with which he used to work the ship, in such bad 

 weather, as rendered her almost unmanageable to the other of- 

 ficers. The art of preserving the health of the seaman, is a 

 branch of nautical science which had at that time been little 

 cultivated. Our great Circumnavigator had not yet shewn, 

 that a ship's crew may sail round the globe, with less mortali- 

 ty than was to be expected in the same number of men, living 

 for an equal period in the most healthful village of their native 

 country. 



Mr Robison's letters to his father, about this time, are 

 strongly expressive of his dislike to the sea ; and of his resolu- 

 tion to return to Glasgow, and to resume his studies, particular- 

 ly that of Theology, with a view of entering into the Church. 

 These resolutions, however, were for the present suspended, 

 by a very kind invitation from Admiral Knowles, to come 

 and live with him in the country, and to assist him in his ex- 

 periments : " Thus, (says the Admiral), we shall be useful to 

 " one another." What these experiments were, is not men- 

 tioned, but they probably related to ship-building, a subject 

 which the Admiral had studied with great attention. Mr Ro- 

 bison, accordingly, continued to enjoy a situation, and an em- 

 ployment, that must, both, have been extremely agreeable to 

 him, till the month of February in the year following, when 

 Lieutenant Knowles was appointed to the command of the 

 Peregrine sloop of war, of 20 guns. Whether the plan of nau- 

 tical instruction, which Mr Robison proposed for his pupil, 

 was not yet completed, or whether he had, after all, come to 

 a resolution of pursuing a seafaring life, (of which there is an 

 appearance in some of his letters), he embarked in the Pere- 

 Vol. VIL P. II. 3 S grine, 



