24 
August 1882, at the comparatively early age of sixty -four. He had 
been in failing health *for about two years, but it was only a week 
before he died that he became seriously ill. His funeral took place 
in Warriston Cemetery on the 29th of August, and was attended by 
a large concourse of attached relatives and friends. 
Hr. Robertson is survived by two sisters, with one of whom he 
resided, while the other is the wife of Mr. John Gillespie, Writer 
to the Signet, and Secretary to the Royal Company of Archers. 
His youngest brother, Alexander, a promising artillery officer, was 
one of the many victims of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. 
Since the above was prepared, the writer has received a letter 
from one of Hr. Robertson’s medical compeers (Hr. George Bell) in 
reply to an application on the subject of his chess-playing, in which 
he says : — “ Hr. Robertson was no ordinary chess-player ; he 
understood the game, and practised it with judgment and skill. I 
know this, for the ‘ chequered field’ was our favourite meeting-place 
during many years. Always pleasant there as elsewhere, Edinburgh 
does not know what a rare son she has lost. Though undemon- 
strative, the Royal Society had few such members as William 
Robertson.” 
Sir Haniel Macnee. By the Rev. Walter C. Smith, H.H. 
Haniel Macnee’s life, like that of most hard workers, was not a 
very eventful one. Its chief incidents were its productions, and 
these were nowise startling, but rather such as might have been 
looked for — fruits of patient labour, and proofs of quiet growth. 
Born at Eintry in 1806, he lost his father while yet a mere child; 
but he was happy in having a mother who could understand and 
guide his youth. Very likely that youth puzzled her a little at first, 
for she would fain have trained him for merchandise and money- 
making, and his gifts did not lie at all in that line. The sleepy 
valley of the Endrick, among the green Campsie hills, had to pro- 
duce its genius like other Scottish glens ; and probably his mother 
had her anxiety, as well as her pride, when it began to dawn upon 
her that she had given birth to one of that wayward race. I suppose 
