148 • ROBISON. 
into the admiral’s ship, under the command of Lieutenant that determined the quantity of heat required for the conver- 
Knowles: in this capacity he had an opportunity of seeing sion of ice into, water ; Mr. Watt, who was settled as a ma- 
considerable service, and of making some surveys of the river thematical instrument-maker, at Glasgow, had been em- 
and of the neighbouring country, an employment for which ployed in repairing a working model of Newcomen’s engine 
he was perfectly qualified, both as a geometrician and as a for one of the professors of the university, and it was the 
draughtsman. He also remarked the effect of the Aurora difficulty of supplying this model with steam that suggested 
Borealis on the compass, which had been noticed by Mairan to Mr. Watt the eligibility of having a separate condenser, 
and Wargentin, some years before, but which was then not 
commonly known. After the battle, which was signalised 
by the victory and death of the gallant Wolfe, the Royal 
William sailed with his body to Europe, and arrived at 
Spithead in November. The next year she was • sent to 
cruise off Cape Finisterre, but in six months she was obliged 
to return home, from having the greater part of the men dis¬ 
abled by the scurvy. 
Robinson considered the two years that he spent on board 
of the Royal William as the happiest of his life; and no in¬ 
considerable part of his gratification was derived from the 
study of seamanship, as he saw it practised under the aus¬ 
pices of Captain HughPigot. He did not, however, acquire 
any firm attachment to the mode of life which he had tem¬ 
porarily adopted ; he was rather disposed to resume his aca¬ 
demical pursuits, and he had overcome his earlier objections 
to the ecclesiastical profession- He could not, however, re¬ 
fuse the friendly invitation of Admiral Knowles to come and 
live with him in the country, and to assist him in some im¬ 
portant experiments which he was making upon mechanical 
and nautical subjects. 
In the month of February 1762, Lieutenant Knowles was 
appointed to the Peregrine sloop, of 20 guns, and Mr Ro¬ 
bison accompanied him with the hopes of becoming a 
purser. He visited Lisbon and several other parts of Portugal; 
but he found a cruise in a small ship much less convenient 
andagreeable than in a large one, and, fortunately for him¬ 
self and for mankind, he finally quitted the Peregrine and 
the naval service in June, and returned to live with Admiral 
Knowles; who soon after recommended him as a proper 
person to take charge of Harrison’s timekeeper, which had 
been completed by the labour of 35 years, after many un¬ 
successful experiments, and which was now sent out by 
desire of the Board of Longitude, to the West Indies, under 
the care of young Harrison and of Mr. Robison. The rate 
of the chronometer was ascertained at Portsmouth the 6th 
of November, 1762, and it indicated, at Port Royal in Ja¬ 
maica, a difference of time amounting to 5 2m 47’, which 
is only four seconds less than the true longitude. After a 
few days, the observers had a prompt opportunity of return¬ 
ing home by the Merlin sloop, which was sent to Europe 
with dispatches. The voyage was most disastrous with 
respect to wind and weather, and at last the ship took fire ; 
but she arrived safe at Portsmouth in March, and on the 2d 
of April the watch gave ll 1 ' 58m 6|", instead of 12h , for the 
time of mean noon, so that the error, after six months, was 
only 1 53§", amounting to no more than about 20 miles of 
distance. 
Mr. Robinson received, upon his return, the afflicting in¬ 
telligence of the total loss of the Peregrine, which had 
foundered at sea with her commander, and the whole of the 
ship’s company. He was also greatly disappointed in the 
failure of some hopes which had been held out to him from 
the Admiralty and the Board of Longitude; though in fact 
there is little reason for the public to regret that he was not 
gratified with the pursership, whish he claimed as the re¬ 
ward of his services. He was indeed afterwards actually 
made a purser by Lord Sandwich, in 1763; but he then 
declined accepting the appointment. 
He had now no other resource than to return to Glasgow, 
and to resume his academical pursuits with renewed energy. 
It was from this time that he dated his serious application to 
his studies; he became extremely intimate with Dr. Reid and 
Dr. Alexander Wilson, and he had the advantage of being 
a witness of two of the greatest steps in the improvement of 
physical science, that have been made in modern times. 
Dr. Black’s experimental theory of heat, and Mr. Watt’s 
invention of a new steam-engine. Dr. Black was the first 
and that led him, in conjunction with Dr. Black, to a know¬ 
ledge of the quantity of heat consumed in evaporation. 
Amid the enthusiasm which is always inspired by the 
progress of scientific discovery, and of practical improve¬ 
ment, Mr. Robison found every encouragement and every 
facility for the pursuit of his favourite objects. He was re¬ 
commended by Dr. Black, upon his removal to Edinburgh 
in 1766, as his successor in the lectureship of chemistry, 
though without the appointment of a professor. He took 
charge, also, of the education .of Macdowal of Garthland, 
and of Mr. Charles Knowles, afterwards Sir Charles. Admi¬ 
ral Knowles was soon after recommended by the British go¬ 
vernment to the Empress of Russia, in order to effect a re¬ 
formation in her navy, having been employed on a similar 
service in Portugal, almost fifty years before ; he had always 
been a firm friend to Mr. Robison, and now engaged him on 
this mission, with a salary of 250/. a year; and they pro¬ 
ceeded together to St. Petersburgh, in December, 1770. 
Being hospitably entertained on their way by the Prince 
Bishop of Liege, whom they found to constitute, with his 
.chapter and all his servants, a lodge Of freemasons, Mr. Ro¬ 
bison was easily persuaded to become one of that fraternity; 
in a few days he was made an apprentice, and by degrees 
attained the rank of Scotch master, as he has himself related 
in his publication upon the subject. He continued nearly two 
years at St. Petersburg, still acting in the capacity of private 
secretary to Sir Charles, much to the advantage of the Rus¬ 
sian navy, though his improvements were frequently retarded 
by the prejudices of the native officers. Mr. Robison was 
then appointed inspector general of the corps of marine 
cadets at Cronstadt, with a double salary, and with the rank 
of Lieutenant Colonel. His duty was to receive the report 
of about forty teachers and professors, respecting the studies 
of 400 young noblemen, who were their pupils, and to class 
them according to his judgment of their merits; but he had 
himself nothing to teach, nor could he have had much oc¬ 
casion for “ lecturing fluently in the Russian language,’’ 
though he was introduced by his friend Kutusoff, to the 
Grand Duke Paul, as a proficient in that language ; but to 
the Empress he was not personally known. At Petersburg 
he could have lived without regretting his country, in the 
society of such men as Euler and Alpinus, admired by the 
Russians, and beloved by the British; but Cronstadt in win¬ 
ter was deplorably melancholy; and he was induced, with¬ 
out much difficulty, in 1773, to make some little pecuniary 
sacrifice in accepting the professorship of Natural Philosophy 
at Edinburgh, which had become vacant by the death of 
Dr. Russell, and to which he had been recommended by 
Dr. Robertson, then Principal of the University. His de¬ 
termination was not disapproved by thaRussian government, 
who granted him a pension of about 80/. a year for life; but 
it was only paid as long as three or four young men, who 
had accompanied him as pupils, continued to reside at Edin¬ 
burgh; some discontent having been expressed because he 
did not keep up a correspondence with the Academy on the 
improvement of maritime education. 
He arrived at Edinburgh in September, 1774; he married 
soon after, and continued to reside in that city for the re¬ 
maining thirty years of his life, paying only an annual visit 
to his native place, where he possessed a part of his paternal 
estate; not being solicitous to extend it, although. “ he did 
not diminish it otherwise than as it had been diminished be¬ 
fore,” that is, in making provision for younger children. 
His predecesor had been very judicious and successful as a 
lecturer, though not a mathematician of the highest order; 
he had himself more practical knowledge and experience 
in mechanics, and was better acquainted with the foreign 
mathematicians, who had naturally fallen under his notice 
during 
