James Nasmyth: Engineer, An Autobiography.
Edited by Samuel Smiles, LL.D.
(this Etext is taken from the popular edition, pub. John Murray 1897)
PREFACE
I have had much pleasure in editing the following Memoir of my friend
Mr. Nasmyth. Some twenty years since (in April 1863), when I applied
to him for information respecting his mechanical inventions, he
replied: "My life presents no striking or remarkable incidents,
and would, I fear, prove but a tame narrative. The sphere to which my
endeavours have been confined has been of a comparatively quiet order;
but, vanity apart, I hope I have been able to leave a few marks of my
existence behind me in the shape of useful contrivances, which are in
many ways helping on great works of industry."
Mr. Nasmyth, nevertheless, kindly furnished me with information
respecting himself, as well as his former master and instructor,
Henry Maudslay, of London, for the purpose of being inserted in
Industrial Biography, or Ironworkers and Toolmakers, which was
published at the end of 1863. He was of opinion that the outline of
his life there presented was sufficiently descriptive of his career as
a mechanic and inventor.
During the years that have elapsed since then, Mr. Nasmyth has been
prevailed upon by some of his friends more especially by Sir John
Anderson, late of Woolwich Arsenal--to note down the reminiscences of
his life, with an account of his inventions, and to publish them for
the benefit of others. He has accordingly spent some of his well
earned leisure during the last two years in writing out his
recollections. Having consulted me on the subject, I recommended that
they should be published in the form of an Autobiography, and he has
willingly given his consent.
Mr. Nasmyth has furnished me with abundant notes of his busy life,
and he has requested me, in preparing them for publication, to
"make use of the pruning-knife." I hope, however, that in editing the
book I have not omitted anything that is likely to be interesting or
instructive. I must add that everything has been submitted to his
correction and received his final approval.
The narrative abundantly illustrates Mr. Nasmyth's own definition of
engineering; namely, common sense applied to the use of materials.
In his case, common sense has been more especially applied to
facilitating and perfecting work by means of Machine Tools.
Civilisation began with tools; and every step in advance has been
accomplished through their improvement. Handicraft labour, in bone,
stone, or wood, was the first stage in the development of man's power;
and tools or machines, in iron or steel, are the last and most
efficient method of economising it, and enabling him to intelligently
direct the active and inert forces of nature.
It will be observed that Mr. Nasmyth, on his first start in life,
owed much to the influence of his father, who was not only an admirable
artist--"the founder," as Sir David Wilkie termed him, "of the
landscape painting school of Scotland"--but an excellent mechanic.
His "bow-and-string" roofs and bridges show his original merits as a
designer; and are sufficient to establish his ability as a mechanical
engineer. Indeed, one of Mr. Nasmyth's principal objects in preparing
the notes of the following work, has been to introduce a Memorial to
the memory of his father, to whom he owed so much, and to whom he was
so greatly attached through life. Hence the numerous references to him,
and the illustrations from his works of art, of architecture,
as well as of mechanics, given in the early part of the book.
I might point out that Mr. Nasmyth's narrative has a strong bearing
upon popular education; not only as regards economical use of time,
careful observation, close attention to details, but as respects the
uses of Drawing. The observations which he makes as to the accurate
knowledge of this art are very important. In this matter he concurs
with Mr. Herbert Spencer in his work on Education. "It is very strange,"
Mr. Nasmyth said some years ago, "that amidst all our vaunted
improvements in education, the faculty of comparison by sight, or what
may be commonly called the correctness of eye, has been so little
attended to" He accordingly urges the teaching of rudimentary drawing in
all public schools. "Drawing is," he says, "the Education of the Eye.
It is more interesting than words. It is graphic language."
The illustrations given in the course of the following book will serve
to show his own mastery of drawing whether as respects Mechanical
details, the Moon's surface, or the fairyland of Landscape.
It is perhaps not saying too much to aver that had he not devoted his
business life to Mechanics, he would, like his father, his brother
Patrick, and his sisters, have taken a high position as an artist.
In the following Memoir we have only been able to introduce a few
specimens of his drawings; but "The Fairies," "The Antiquary,"
and others, will give the reader a good idea of Mr. Nasmyth's artistic
ability. Since his retirement from business life, at the age of
forty-eight, Mr. Nasmyth's principal pursuit has been Astronomy.
His Monograph on "The Moon," published in 1874, exhibits his ardent and
philosophic love for science in one of its sublimest aspects.
His splendid astronomical instruments, for the most part made entirely
by his own hands, have enabled him to detect the "willow leaf-shaped"
objects which form the structural element of the Sun's luminous
surface. The discovery was shortly after verified by Sir John Herschel
and other astronomers, and is now a received fact in astronomical
science.
A Chronological List of some of Mr. Nasmyth's contrivances and
inventions is given at the end of the volume, which shows, so far,
what he has been enabled to accomplish during his mechanical career.
These begin at a very early age, and were continued for about thirty
years of a busy and active life. Very few of them were patented;
many of them, though widely adopted, are unacknowledged as his
invention. They, nevertheless, did much to advance the mechanical arts,
and still continue to do excellent service in the engineering world.
The chapter relating to the origin of the Cuneiform Character,
and of the Pyramid or Sun-worship in its relation to Egyptian
Architecture, is placed at the end, so as not to interrupt the personal
narrative. That chapter, it is believed, will be found very
interesting, illustrated, as it is, by Mr. Nasmyth's drawings.
S.S.
LONDON, October 1885.
CONTENTS
Preface
List of Illustrations [omitted in this Etext]
CHAPTER 1 My Ancestry
Sentiment of Ancestry
Origin of the name of Naesmyth
Naesmyth of Posso
Naesmyth of Netherton
Battle of Bothwell Brig
Estate confiscated
Elspeth Naesmyth
Michael Naesmyth builder and architect
Fort at Inversnaid
Naesmyth family tomb
Former masters and men
Michael Naesmyth's son
New Edinburgh
Grandmother Naesmyth
Uncle Michael
CHAPTER 2 Alexander Nasmyth
Born 1758--Grassmarket
Edinburgh--Education
The Bibler's Seat
The brothers Erskine
Apprenticed to a coachbuilder
The Trustees' Academy
Huguenot artisans
Alexander Runciman
Copy of "The Laocoon"
Assistant to Allan Ramsay
Faculty of resourcefulness
Begins as portrait painter
Friendship with Miller of Dalswinton
Miller and the first steamboat
Visit to Italy
Marriage to Barbara Foulis
Burns the poet
Edinburgh clubs
Landscape beauty
Abandons portrait for landscape painting
David Roberts, R.A.
Dean Bridge
St. Bernard's Well
Nelson's Monument
Bow-and-string bridges
Sunday rivet
CHAPTER 3 An Artist's Family
Sir James Hall
Geology of Edinburgh
Friends of the family
Henry Raeburn
Evenings at home
Society of artists
"Caller Aon"
Management of the household
The family
Education of six sisters
The Nasmyth classes
Pencil drawing
Excursions round Edinburgh
Graphic memoranda
Patrick Nasmyth, sketch of his life
Removes to London
Visit to Hampshire
Original prices of his works
His friends
His death
CHAPTER 4 My Early Years
Born 1808
Mary Peterkin
The brilliant red poppies
Left-handed
Patrick's birthday
Vocal performance
A wonderful escape
Events of the war
The French prisoners
Entry of the 42d into Edinburgh
Bleaching "claes" on the Calton
The Greenside workshops
The chimes of St. Giles'
The Edinburgh Market
The caddies
The fishwives
The "floore"
Traditional fondness for cats
A Nasmyth prayer
CHAPTER 5 My School-days
My first schoolmaster
"Preter pluperfect tense"
The "penny pig"
Country picnics
Pupil at the High School
Dislike of Latin
Love of old buildings
Their masonry
Sir Walter Scott
"The Heart of Midlothian"
John Linnell
The collecting period
James Watt
My father's workshop
Make peeries, cannon, and "steels"
School friendships
Paterson's ironfoundry
His foremen
Johnie Syme
Tom Smith and chemical experiments
Kid gloves and technical knowledge
CHAPTER 6 Mechanical Beginnings
Study arithmetic and geometry
Practise art of drawing
Its important uses
Make tools and blowpipe
Walks round Edinburgh
Volcanic origin of the neighbourhood
George the Fourth's visit
The Radical Road
Destructive fires
Journey to Stirling
The Devon Ironworks
Robert Bald
Carron Ironworks
Coats of mail found at Bannockburn
Models of condensing steam-engine
Professor Leslie
Edinburgh School of Arts
Attend University classes
Brass-casting in the bedroom
George Douglass
Make a working steam-engine
Sympathy of activity
The Expansometer
Make a road steam-carriage
Desire to enter Maudslay's factory
CHAPTER 7 Henry Maudslay, London
Voyage to London with specimens of workmanship
First walk through London
Visit to Henry Maudslay
The interview
Exhibit my specimens
Taken on as assistant
The private workshop
Maudslay's constructive excellence
His maxims
Uniformity of screws
Meeting with Henry Brougham
David Wilkie
Visit to the Admiralty Museum
The Block machinery
The Royal Mint
Steam yacht trip to Richmond
Lodgings taken
"A clean crossing"
CHAPTER 8 Maudslay's Private Assistant
Enter Maudslay's service
Rudimentary screw generator
The guide screw
Interview with Faraday
Rate of wages
Economical living
My cooking stove
Make model of marine steam-engine
My collar-nut cutting machine
Maudslay's elements of high-class workmanship
Flat filing
Standard planes
Maudslay's "Lord Chancellor"
Maudslay's Visitors
General Bentham, Barton, Donkin and Chantrey
The Cundell brothers
Walks round London
Norman architecture
CHAPTER 9 Holiday in the Manufacturing Districts
Coaching trip to Liverpool
Coventry
English scenery
'The Rocket'
The two Stephensons
Opening of the railway
William Fawcett
Birkenhead
Walk back to London
Patricroft
Manchester
Edward Tootal
Sharp, Roberts and Co.
Manchester industry
Coalbrookdale
The Black Country
Dudley Castle
Wren's Nest Hill
Birmingham
Boulton and Watt
William Murdoch
John Drain
Kenilworth--Warwick--Oxford--Windsor--London
CHAPTER 10 Begin Business at Manchester
Stamping machine improved
Astronomical instruments
A reflecting telescope proposed
Death of Maudslay
Joshua Field
'Talking books'
Leave Maudslay and Field
Take temporary workshop in Edinburgh
Archie Torry
Construct a rotary steam-engine
Prepare a stock of machine tools
Visit to Liverpool
John Cragg
Visit to Manchester
John Kennedy
Grant Brothers
Take a workshop
Tools removed to Manchester
A prosperous business begun
Story of the brothers Grant
Trip to Elgin and Castle Grant
The brothers Cowper
The printing machine
Edward Cowper
CHAPTER 11 Bridgewater Foundry--Partnership
Demand for skilled labour
Machine tools in request
My flat overloaded
A crash among the decanters
The land at Patricroft
Lease from Squire Trafford
Bridgewater Foundary begun
Trip to Londonderry
The Giant's Causeway
Cottage at Barton
The Bridgewater canal
Lord Francis Egerton
Safety foundry ladle
Holbrook Gaskell taken as partner
His eventual retirement
CHAPTER 12 Free Trade in Ability--The Strike--Death of my Father
Hugo de Lupus
The Peter Stubb's files
Worsley labourers
Promotion from the ranks
Free trade in ability
Foreman lieutenants, Archie Torry
James Hutton
John Clarke
Thomas Crewdson
Trades' Union interference
A strike ordered
Workman advertised for
A reinforcement of Scotch mechanics
The strike scotched
Millwrights and engineers
Indenture-bound apprentices
Visits of my father
Enthusiastic reception
His last work
His death
Testimony of Sir David Wilkie
CHAPTER 13 My Marriage--The Steam Hammer
Preparations for a home
Influence of chance occurrences
Visit to Mr. Hartop's near Barnsley
Important interview
Eventual marriage
Great Western Railway locomotives
Mr. Humphries and 'Great Western' steamship
Forging of paddle-shaft
Want of range of existing hammers
The first steam hammer sketched
Its arrangement
The paddle shaft abandoned
My sketch copied and adopted
My visit to Creuzot
Find steam hammer in operation
A patent taken out
First steam hammer made in England
Its general adoption
Patent secured for United States
CHAPTER 14 Travels in France and Italy
The French Minister of Marine at Paris
Rouen--Bayeux--Cherbourg--Brest--Rochefort--Indret
M. Rosine
Architecture of Nismes
Marseilles--Toulon--Voyage to Naples--Genoa--Pisa
Bay of Naples
The National Museum
Visit to Vesuvius
The edge of the crater
Volcanic commotion
Overflows of burning lava
Wine-shop at Rosina
Return ride to Naples
CHAPTER 15 Steam Hammer Pile-driver
The Royal Dockyards
Steam hammer for Devonport
Scene at the first stroke
My Lords of the Admiralty
Steam hammer pile-driver required
The new docks at Devonport
The pile-driver delivered
Its description
Trail against the old method
Its general adoption
Happy thoughts
Testing of chain cables and anchors
Causes of failure
Punctilliousness of officials at royal dockyards
Egyptian workman employed
Affiffi Lalli
Letter from Faraday
CHAPTER 16 Nuremberg--St. Petersburg--Dannemora.
Visit to Nuremberg
Albert Durer
Adam Krafft
Visit to St. Petersburg
General Wilson
General Greg
Struve the astronomer
Palaces and shops
Ivy ornamentation
The Emperor Nicholas a royal salute
Francis Baird
Work of Russian serfs
The Izak Church
Voyage to Stokholm
Visit to Upsala
The iron mines of Dannemora
To Gottenburg by steamer
Motala
Trollhatten Falls
Sweedish people
Copenhagen
Tycho Brahe;
Zeland and Holstein
Holland, and return
CHAPTER 17 More about Bridgewater Foundry--Woolwich Arsenal
Increased demand for self-acting tools
Promotions of lads
The Trades' Union again
Strike against Platt Brothers
Edward Tootal's advice
Friendliness between engineering firms
Small high-pressure engines
Uses of waste steam
Improvements in calico-printing
Improvements at Woolwich Arsenal
Enlargement of workshops
Improved machine tools
The gun foundry and laboratories
Orders for Spain and Russia
Rope factory machinery
Russian Officers
Grand Duke Constantine
Lord Ellesmere's visitors
Admiral Kornileff
CHAPTER 18 Astronomical pursuits
Hobbies at home
Drawing
Washington Irving
Pursuit of astronomy
Wonders of the heavens
Construction of a new speculum
William Lassell
Warren de la Rue
Home-made reflecting telescope
A ghost at Patricroft
Twenty-inch diameter speculum
Drawings of the moon's surface
Structure of the moon
Lunar craters
Pico
Wrinkles of age
Extinct craters
Landscape scenery of the moon
Meeting of British Association at Edinburgh
The Bass Rock
Professor Owen
Robert Chambers
The grooved rocks
Hugh Miller and boulder clay
Lecture on the moon
Visit the Duke of Argyll
Basaltic formation at Mull
The Giant's Causeway
The great exhibition
Steam hammer engine
Prize medals
Interview with the Queen and Prince Consort
Lord Cockburn
Visit to Bonally
D. O. Hill
CHAPTER 19 More about Astronomy
Sir David Brewster
Edward Cowper's lecture
Cause of the sun's light
Lord Murray
Sir T. Mitchell
The Milky Way
Countless suns
Infusoria in Bridgewater Canal
Rotary movements of heavenly bodies
Geological Society meeting
Dr Vaugham
Improvement of Small Arms Factory, Enfield
Generosity of United States Government
The Enfield Rifle
CHAPTER 20 Retirement from Business
Letter from David Roberts, R. A.
Puddling iron by steam
The process tried
Sir Henry Bessemer's invention
Discussion at Cheltenham
Bessemer's account
Prepare to retire from business
The Countess of Ellesmere
The "Cottage in Kent"
The "antibilious stock"
Hammerfield, Penshurst
Planting and gardening
The Crystal Palace
Music
Tools and telescopes
The greenhouse
CHAPTER 21 Active leisure
Astronomy
Lecture on the Moon
Edinburgh
Old friends
Visit to the Continent--Paris, Chartres, Nismes, Chamounix
Art of photography
Sir John Herschel
Spots on the sun's surface
E.J. Stone
De la Rue
Visit from Sir John Herschel
Cracking glass globe
A million spots and letters
Geological diagram
Father Secchi at Rome
Lord Lyndhurst
Visit to Herschel
His last letter
Publication of The Moon
Philip H. Calderon
Cardinal Manning
Miss Herschel
William Lassell
Windmill grinding of speculum
The dial of life
End of recollections
List of Inventions and Contrivances
Articles on the Sun-Ray origin of the Pyramids and Cuneiform Character
[Image] Edinburgh Castle, From the Vennel
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
CHAPTER 1. My Ancestry
Our history begins before we are born. We represent the hereditary
influences of our race, and our ancestors virtually live in us.
The sentiment of ancestry seems to be inherent in human nature,
especially in the more civilised races. At all events, we cannot help
having a due regard for the history of our forefathers. Our curiosity
is stimulated by their immediate or indirect influence upon ourselves.
It may be a generous enthusiasm, or, as some might say, a harmless
vanity, to take pride in the honour of their name. The gifts of nature,
however, are more valuable than those of fortune; and no line of
ancestry, however honourable, can absolve us from the duty of diligent
application and perseverance, or from the practice of the virtues of
self-control and self-help.
Sir Bernard Burke, in his Peerage and Baronetage Ed 1879 Pp 885-6,
gives a faithful account of the ancestors from whom I am lineally
descended. "The family of Naesymth, he says, "is one of remote
antiquity in Tweeddale, and has possessed lands there since the 13th
century." They fought in the wars of Bruce and Baliol, which ended in
the independence of Scotland.
The following is the family legend of the origin of the name of
Naesymth: --
In the troublous times which prevailed in Scotland before the union of
the Crowns, the feuds between the King and the Barons were almost
constant. In the reign of James III. the House of Douglas was the
most prominent and ambitious. The Earl not only resisted his liege
lord, but entered into a combination with the King of England, from
whom he received a pension. He was declared a rebel, and his estates
were confiscated. He determined to resist the royal power, and crossed
the Border with his followers. He was met by the Earl of Angus, the
Maxwells, the Johnstons, and the Scotts. In one of the engagements
which ensued the Douglases appeared to have gained the day, when an
ancestor of the Naesmyths, who fought under the royal standard, took
refuge in the smithy of a neighbouring village. The smith offered him
protection, disguised him as a hammerman, with a leather apron in
front, and asked him to lend a hand at his work.
While thus engaged a party of the Douglas partisans entered the smithy.
They looked with suspicion on the disguised hammerman, who, in his
agitation, struck a false blow with the sledge hammer, which broke the
shaft in two. Upon this, one of the pursuers rushed at him, calling
out, "Ye're nae smyth!" The stalwart hammerman turned upon his
assailant, and, wrenching a dagger from him, speedily overpowered him.
The smith himself, armed with a big hammer, effectually aided in
overpowering and driving out the Douglas men. A party of the royal
forces made their appearance, when Naesmyth rallied them, led them
against the rebels, and converted what had been a temporary defeat into
a victory. A grant of lands was bestowed upon him for his service.
His armorial bearings consisted of a hand dexter with a dagger, between
two broken hammer-shafts, and there they remain to this day. The motto
was, Non arte sect marte, "Not by art but by war" In my time I have
reversed the motto (Non marte sed arte); and instead of the broken
hammer-shafts, I have adopted, not as my "arms" but as a device,
the most potent form of mechanical art--the Steam Hammer.
[Image] Origin of the Name. By James Nasmyth.
Sir Michael Naesmyth, Chamberlain of the Archbishop of St. Andrews,
obtained the lands of Posso and Glenarth in 1544, by right of his wife,
Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John Baird of Posso. The Bairds
have ever been a loyal and gallant family. Sir Gilbert, father of John
Baird, fell at Flodden in 1513, in defence of his king.
The royal eyrie of Posso Crag is on the family estate;
and the Lure worn by Queen Mary, and presented by her son James VI. to
James Naesmyth, the Royal Falconer, is still preserved as a family
heirloom.
During the intestine troubles in Scotland, in the reign of Mary,
Sir Michael Naesmyth espoused the cause of the unfortunate Queen.
He fought under her banner at Langside in 1568. He was banished,
and his estates were seized by the Regent Moray. But after the
restoration of peace, the Naesmyths regained their property.
Sir Michael died at an advanced age.
He had many sons. The eldest, James, married Joana, daughter of
William Veitch or Le Veitch of Dawick. By this marriage the lands of
Dawick came into the family. He predeceased his father, and was
succeeded by his son James, the Royal Falconer above referred to.
Sir Michael's second son, John, was chief chirurgeon to James VI. of
Scotland, afterwards James I. of England, and to Henry, Prince of
Wales. He died in London in 1613, and in his testament he leaves
"his herb to his young master, the Prince's grace." Charles I.,
in his instructions to the President of the Court of Session, enjoins
"that you take special notice of the children of John Naesmyth, so
often recommended by our late dear father and us." Two of Sir Michael's
other sons were killed at Edinburgh in 1588, in a deadly feud between
the Scotts and the Naesmyths. In those days a sort of Corsican
vendetta was carried on between families from one generation to
another.
Sir Michael Naesmyth, son of the Royal Falconer, succeeded to the
property. His eldest son James was appointed to serve in Claverhouse's
troop of horse in 1684. Among the other notable members of the family
was James Naesmyth, a very clever lawyer. He was supposed to be so
deep that he was generally known as the "Deil o' Dawyk". His eldest
son was long a member of Parliament for the county of Peebles; he was,
besides, a famous botanist, having studied under Linnaeus, Among the
inter-marriages of the family were those with the Bruces of Lethen, the
Stewarts of Traquhair, the Murrays of Stanhope, the Pringles of Clifton,
the Murrays of Philiphaugh, the Keiths (of the Earl Marischal's family),
the Andersons of St. Germains, the Marjoribanks of Lees, and others.
In the fourteenth century a branch of the Naesmyths of Posso settled at
Netherton, near Hamilton. They bought an estate and built a residence.
The lands adjoined part of the Duke of Hamilton's estate, and the house
was not far from the palace. There the Naesmyths remained until the
reign of Charles II. The King, or his advisers, determined to
introduce Episcopacy, or, as some thought, Roman Catholicism, into the
country, and to enforce it at the point of the sword.
The Naesmyths had always been loyal until now. But to be cleft by
sword and pricked by spear into a religion which they disbelieved, was
utterly hateful to the Netherton Naesmyths. Being Presbyterians, they
held to their own faith. They were prevented from using their
churches,*
[footnote...
In the reign of James II. of England and James VII. of Scotland a law
was enacted, "that whoever should preach in a conventicle under a roof,
or should attend, either as a preacher or as a hearer, a conventicle in
the open air, should be punished with death and confiscation of
property."
...]
and they accordingly met on the moors, or in unfrequented places for
worship. The dissenting Presbyterians assumed the name of Covenanters.
Hamilton was almost the centre of the movement. The Covenanters met,
and the King's forces were ordered to disperse them. Hence the
internecine war that followed. There were Naesmyths on both sides--
Naesmyths for the King, and Naesmyths for the Covenant.
In an early engagement at Drumclog, the Covenanters were victorious.
They beat back Claverhouse and his dragoons. A general rising took
place in the West Country. About 6000 men assembled at Hamilton,
mostly raw and undisciplined countrymen. The King's forces assembled
to meet them, -- 10,000 well-disciplined troops, with a complete train
of field artillery. What chance had the Covenanters against such a
force? Nevertheless, they met at Bothwell Bridge, a few miles west of
Hamilton. It is unnecessary to describe the action.*
[footnote...
See the account of a Covenanting Officer in the Appendix to the Scots
Worthies. See also Sir Waiter Scott's Old Mortality, where the battle
of Bothwell Brig is described.
...]
The Covenanters, notwithstanding their inferior force, resisted the
cannonade and musketry of the enemy with great courage. They defended
the bridge until their ammunition failed. When the English Guards and
the artillery crossed the bridge, the battle was lost. The Covenanters
gave way, and fled in all directions; Claverhouse, burning with revenge
for his defeat at Drumclog, made a terrible slaughter of the
unresisting fugitives. One of my ancestors brought from the
battlefield the remnant of the standard; a formidable musquet--
"Gun Bothwell" we afterwards called it; an Andrea Ferrara; and a
powder-horn. I still preserve these remnants of the civil war.
My ancestor was condemned to death in his absence, and his property at
Netherton was confiscated. What became of him during the remainder of
Charles II.'s reign, and the reign of that still greater tormentor,
James II., I do not know. He was probably, like many others, wandering
about from place to place, hiding "in wildernesses or caves, destitute,
afflicted, and tormented." The arrival of William III. restored
religious liberty to the country, and Scotland was again left in
comparative peace.
My ancestor took refuge in Edinburgh, but he never recovered his
property at Netherton. The Duke of Hamilton, one of the trimmers of
the time, had long coveted the possession of the lands, as Ahab had
coveted Naboth's vineyard. He took advantage of the conscription of
the men engaged in the Bothwell Brig conflict, and had the lands
forfeited in his favour. I remember my father telling me that, on one
occasion when he visited the Duke of Hamilton in reference to some
improvement of the grounds adjoining the palace, he pointed out to the
Duke the ruined remains of the old residence of the Naesmyths. As the
first French Revolution was then in full progress, when ideas of
society and property seemed to have lost their bearings, the Duke
good-humouredly observed, "Well, well, Naesmyth, there's no saying but
what, some of these days, your ancestors' lands may come into your
possession again!"
Before I quit the persecutions of "the good old times," I must refer to
the burning of witches. One of my ancient kinswomen, Elspeth Naesmyth,
who lived at Hamilton, was denounced as a witch. The chief evidence
brought against her was that she kept four black cats, and read her
Bible with two pairs of spectacles! a practice which shows that she
possessed the spirit of an experimental philosopher.
In doing this she adopted a mode of supplementing the power of
spectacles in restoring the receding power of the eyes. She was in all
respects scientifically correct. She increased the magnifying power of
the glasses; a practice which is preferable to using single glasses of
the same power, and which I myself often follow. Notwithstanding this
improved method of reading her Bible, and her four black cats, she was
condemned to be burned alive! She was about the last victim in
Scotland to the disgraceful superstition of witchcraft.
The Naesmyths of Netherton having lost their ancestral property, had to
begin the world again. They had to begin at the beginning.
But they had plenty of pluck and energy. I go back to my
great-great-grandfather, Michael Naesmyth, who was born in 1652.
He occupied a house in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh, which was afterwards
rebuilt, in 1696. His business was that of a builder and architect.
His chief employment was in designing and erecting new mansions,
principally for the landed gentry and nobility. Their old castellated
houses or towers were found too dark and dreary for modern uses.
The drawbridges were taken down, and the moats were filled up.
Sometimes they built the new mansions as an addition to the old.
But oftener they left the old castles to go to ruin; or, what was
worse, they made use of the stone and other materials of the old
romantic buildings for the construction of their new residences.
Michael Naesmyth acquired a high reputation for the substantiality of
his work. His masonry was excellent, as well as his woodwork.
The greater part of the latter was executed in his own workshops at the
back of his house in the Grassmarket. His large yard was situated
between the back of the house and the high wall that bounded the
Greyfriars Churchyard,to the east of the flight of steps which forms
the main approach to George Heriot's Hospital.
[Image] Michael Naesmyth's House, Grassmarket.The lower building at the
right hand corner of the engraving, with the three projecting
gable ends
The last work that Michael Naesmyth was engaged in cost him his life.
He had contracted with the Government to build a fort at Inversnaid,
at the northern end of Loch Lomond. It was intended to guard the
Lowlands, and keep Rob Roy and his caterans within the Highland Border.
A promise was given by the Government that during the progress of the
work a suitable force of soldiers should be quartered close at hand to
protect the builder and his workmen.
[Image] Inversnaid Fort. After a drawing by Alexander Nasmyth
Notwithstanding many whispered warnings as to the danger of undertaking
such a hazardous work, Michael Naesmyth and his men encamped upon the
spot, though without the protection of the Government force. Having
erected a temporary residence for their accommodation, he proceeded
with the building of the fort. The work was well advanced by the end
of 1703, although the Government had treated all Naesmyth's appeals for
protection with evasion or contempt.
Winter set in with its usual force in those northern regions.
One dark and snowy night, when Michael and his men had retired to rest,
a loud knocking was heard at the door. "Who's there?" asked Michael.
A man outside replied, "A benighted traveller overt aken by the storm"
He proceeded to implore help, and begged for God's sake that he might
have shelter for the night. Naesmyth, in the full belief that the
traveller's tale was true, unbolted and unbarred the door, when in
rushed Rob Roy and his desperate gang. The men, with the dirks of the
Macgregors at their throats, begged hard for their lives. This was
granted on condition that they should instantly depart, and take an
oath that they should never venture within the Highland border again.
Michael Naesmyth and his men had no alternative but to submit, and they
at once left the bothy with such scanty clothing as the Macgregors
would allow them to carry away. They were marched under an armed
escort through the snowstorm to the Highland border, and were there
left with the murderous threat that, if they ever returned to the fort,
they would meet with certain death.
Another attempt was made to build the fort at Inversnaid. But Rob Roy
again surprised the small party of soldiers who were in charge.
They were disarmed and sent about their business. Finally, the fort
was rebuilt, and placed under the command of Captain (afterwards
General) Wolfe. When peace fell upon the Highlands and Rob Roy's
country became the scene of picnics, the fort was abandoned and allowed
to go to ruin.
Poor Michael never recovered from the cold which he caught during his
forced retreat from Inversnaid. The effects of this, together with the
loss and distress of mind which he experienced from the Government's
refusal to pay for his work--notwithstanding their promise to protect
him and his workmen from the Highland freebooters--so preyed upon his
mind that he was never again able to devote himself to business.
One evening, whilst sitting at his fireside with his grandchild on his
knee, a death-like faintness came over him; he set the child down
carefully by the side of his chair, and then fell forward dead on his
hearthstone.
Thus ended the life of Michael Naesmyth in 1705, at the age of
fifty-three. He was buried by the side of his ancestors in the old
family tomb in the Greyfriars Churchyard.
[Image] The Naesmyth Tomb in Greyfriars Churchyard
This old tomb, dated 1614, though much defaced, is one of the most
remarkable of the many which surround the walls of that ancient and
memorable burying-place.
Greyfriars Churchyard is one of the most interesting places in
Edinburgh. The National Covenant was signed there by the Protestant
nobles and gentry of Scotland in 1638. The prisoners taken at the
battle of Bothwell Brig were shut up there in 1679, and, after enduring
great privations, a portion of the survivors were sent off to
Barbadoes. When I first saw the tombstone, an ash tree was growing out
of the top of the main body of it, though that has since been removed.
In growing, the roots had pushed out the centre stone, which has not
been replaced. The tablet over it contains the arms of the family,
the broken hammer-shafts, and the motto "Non arte sed marte." There are
the remains of a very impressive figure, apparently rising from her
cerements. The body and extremities remain, but the head has been
broken away. There is also a remarkable motto on the tablet above the
tombstone--"Ars mihi vim contra Fortunce; which I take to be,
"Art is my strength in contending against Fortune,"--a motto which is
appropriate to my ancestors as well as to myself.
The business was afterwards carried on by Michael's son, my
great-grandfather. He was twenty-seven years old at the time of his
father's death, and lived to the age of seventy-three. He was a man of
much ability and of large experience.
One of his great advantages in carrying on his business was the support
of a staff of able and trustworthy foremen and workmen. The times were
very different then from what they are now. Masters and men lived
together in mutual harmony. There was a kind of loyal family
attachment among them, which extended through many generations.
Workmen had neither the desire nor the means to shift about from place
to place. On the contrary, they settled down with their wives and
families in houses of their own, close to the workshops of their
employers. Work was found for them in the dull seasons when trade was
slack, and in summer they sometimes removed to jobs at a distance from
headquarters. Much of this feeling of attachment and loyalty between
workmen and their employers has now expired. Men rapidly remove from
place to place. Character is of little consequence. The mutual
feeling of goodwill and zealous attention to work seems to have passed
away.
My grandfather, Michael Naesmyth, succeeded to the business in 1751.
He more than maintained the reputation of his predecessors.
The collection of first-class works on architecture which he possessed,
such as the folio editions of Vitruvius and Palladio, which were at
that time both rare and dear, showed the regard he had for impressing
into his designs the best standards of taste. The buildings he
designed and erected for the Scotch nobility and gentry were well
arranged, carefully executed, and thoroughly substantial. He was also
a large builder in Edinburgh. Amongst the houses he erected in the
Old Town were the principal number of those in George Square. In one
of these, No. 25, Sir Walter Scott spent his boyhood and youth.
They still exist, and exhibit the care which he took in the elegance
and substantiality of his works.
I remember my father pointing out to me the extreme care and attention
with which he finished his buildings. He inserted small fragments of
basalt into the mortar of the external joints of the stones, at close
and regular distances, in order to protect the mortar from the adverse
action of the weather. And to this day they give proof of their
efficiency. The basalt protects the joints, and at the same time gives
a neat and pleasing effect to what would otherwise have been merely the
monotonous line of mason-work.
A great change was about to take place in the residences of the
principal people of Edinburgh. The cry was for more light and more
air. The extension of the city to the south and west was not
sufficient. There was a great plateau of ground on the north side of
the city, beyond the North Loch. But it was very difficult to reach;
being alike steep on both sides of the Loch. At length, in 1767,
an Act was obtained to extend the royalty of the city over the northern
fields, and powers were obtained to erect a bridge to connect them with
the Old Town.
The magistrates had the greatest difficulty in inducing the inhabitants
to build dwellings on the northern side of the city. A premium was
offered to the person who should build the first house; and #20 was
awarded to Mr. John Young on account of a mansion erected by him close
to George Street. Exemption from burghal taxes was also granted to a
gentleman who built the first house in Princes Street. My grandfather
built the first house in the south-west corner of St. Andrew Square,
for the occupation of David Hume the historian, as well as the two most
important houses in the centre of the north side of the same square.
One of these last was occupied by the venerable Dr. Hamilton, a very
conspicuous character in Edinburgh. He continued to wear the cocked
hat, the powdered pigtail, tights, and large shoe buckles, for about
sixty years after this costume had become obsolete. All these houses
are still in perfect condition, after resisting the ordinary tear and
wear of upwards of a hundred and ten northern winters. The opposition
to building houses across the North Loch soon ceased; and the New Town
arose, growing from day to day, until Edinburgh became one of the most
handsome and picturesque cities in Europe.
There is one other thing that I must again refer to the highly-finished
character of my grandfather's work. Nothing merely moderate would do.
The work must be of the very best. He took special pride in the sound
quality of the woodwork and its careful workmanship. He chose the best
Dantzic timber because of its being of purer grain and freer from knots
than other wood. In those days the lower part of the walls of the
apartments were wainscoted--that is, covered by timber framed in
large panels. They were from three to four feet wide, and from six to
eight feet high. To fit these in properly required the most careful
joiner-work.
It was always a holiday treat to my father, when a boy, to be permitted
to go down to Leith to see the ships discharge their cargoes of timber.
My grandfather had a Wood-yard at Leith, where the timber selected by
him was piled up to he seasoned and shrunk, before being worked into
its appropriate uses. He was particularly careful in his selection of
boards or stripes for floors, which must be perfectly level, so as to
avoid the destruction of the carpets placed over them. The hanging of
his doors was a matter that he took great pride in--so as to prevent
any uneasy action in opening or closing. His own chamber doors were so
well hung that they were capable of being opened and closed by the
slight puff of a hand-bellows.
The excellence of my grandfather's workmanship was a thing that my own
father always impressed upon me when a boy. It stimulated in me the
desire to aim at excellence in everything that I undertook; and in all
practical matters to arrive at the highest degree of good workmanship.
I believe that these early lessons had a great influence upon my future
career.
I have little to record of my grandmother. From all accounts she was
everything that a wife and mother should be. My father often referred
to her as an example of the affection and love of a wife to her
husband, and of a mother to her children. The only relic I possess of
her handiwork is a sampler, dated 1743, the needlework of which is so
delicate and neat, that to me it seems to excel everything of the kind
that I have seen.
I am fain to think that her delicate manipulation in some respects
descended to her grandchildren, as all of them have been more or less
distinguished for the delicate use of their fingers--which has so
much to do with the effective transmission of the artistic faculty into
visible forms. The power of transmitting to paper or canvas the
artistic conceptions of the brain through the fingers, and out at the
end of the needle, the pencil, the pen, the brush, or even the
modelling tool or chisel, is that which, in practical fact, constitutes
the true artist.
This may appear a digression; though I cannot look at my grandmother's
sampler without thinking that she had much to do with originating the
Naesmyth love of the Fine Arts, and their hereditary adroitness in the
practice of landscape and portrait painting, and other branches of the
profession.
My grandfather died in 1803, at the age of eighty-four, and was buried
by his father's side in the Naesmyth ancestral tomb in Greyfriars
Churchyard. His wife, Mary Anderson, who died before him, was buried
in the same place.
Michael Naesmyth left two sons--Michael and Alexander. The eldest
was born in 1754. It was intended that he should have succeeded to the
business; and, indeed, as soon as he reached manhood he was his
father's right-hand man. He was a skilful workman, especially in the
finer parts of joiner-work. He was also an excellent accountant and
bookkeeper. But having acquired a taste for reading books about
voyages and travels, of which his father's library was well supplied,
his mind became disturbed, and he determined to see something of the
world. He was encouraged by one of his old companions, who had been to
sea, and realised some substantial results by his voyages to foreign
parts. Accordingly Michael, notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances
of his father, accompanied his friend on the next occasion when he went
to sea.
After several voyages to the West Indies and other parts of the world,
which both gratified and stimulated his natural taste for adventures,
and also proved financially successful, his trading ventures at last
met with a sad reverse, and he resolved to abandon commerce, and enter
the service of the Royal Navy. He was made purser, and in this
position he entered upon a new series of adventures. He was present at
many naval engagements. But he lost neither life nor limb. At last he
was pensioned, and became a resident at Greenwich Hospital.
He furnished his apartments with all manner of curiosities, such as his
roving naval life had enabled him to collect. His original skill as a
worker in wood came to life again. The taste of the workman and the
handiness of the seaman enabled him to furnish his rooms at the
Hospital in a most quaint and amusing manner.
My father had a most affectionate regard for Michael, and usually spent
some days with him when he had occasion to visit London. One bright
summer day they went to have a stroll together on Blackheath; and while
my uncle was enjoying a nap on a grassy knoll, my father made a sketch
of him, which I still preserve. Being of a most cheerful disposition,
and having a great knack of detailing the incidents of his adventurous
life, he became a great favourite with the resident officers of the
Hospital; and was always regarded by them as real good company.
He ended his days there in peace and comfort, in 1819, at the age of
sixty-four.
CHAPTER 2. Alexander Nasmyth
My father, Alexander Nasmyth, was the second son of Michael Nasmyth.
He was born in his father's house in the Grassmarket on the 9th of
September 1758. The Grassmarket was then a lively place. On certain
days of the week it was busy with sheep and cattle fairs. It was the
centre of Edinburgh traffic. Most of the inns were situated there,
or in the street leading up to the Greyfriars Church gate.
The view from my grandfather's house was very grand. Standing up,
right opposite, was the steep Castle rock, with its crown buildings and
circular battery towering high overhead. They seemed almost to hang
over the verge of the rock. The houses on the opposite side of the
Grassmarket were crowded under the esplanade of the Castle Hill.
There was an inn opposite the house where my father was born, from
which the first coach started from Edinburgh to Newcastle. The public
notice stated that "The Coach would set out from the Grass Market ilka
Tuesday at Twa o'clock in the day, GOD WULLIN', but whether or no on
Wednesday." The "whether or no" was meant, I presume, as a precaution to
passengers, in case all the places on the coach might be taken, or not,
on Wednesday,
[Image] Plan of the Grassmarket
The Grassmarket was also the place for public executions. The gibbet
stone was at the east end of the Market. It consisted of a mass of
solid sandstone, with a quadrangular hole in the middle, which served
as a socket for the gallows. Most of the Covenanters who were executed
for conscience' sake in the reigns of Charles II. and James II.
breathed their last at this spot. The Porteous mob, in 1736, had its
culmination here. When Captain Porteous was dragged out of the
Tolbooth in the High Street and hurried down the West Bow, the gallows
was not in its place; but the leaders of the mob hanged him from a
dyer's pole, nearly opposite the gallows stone, on the south side of
the street, not far from my grandfather's door*
[footnote...
See Heart of Midlothian
...]
I have not much to say about my father's education. For the most part,
he was his own schoolmaster. I have heard him say that his mother
taught him his A B C; and that he afterwards learned to read at Mammy
Smith's. This old lady kept a school for boys and girls at the top of
a house in the Grassmarket. There my father was taught to rear his
Bible, and to repeat his Carritch.*
[footnote...
The Shorter Catechism.
...]
As it was only the bigger boys who could read the Bible, the strongest
of them consummated the feat by climbing up the Castle rock, and
reaching what they called "The Bibler's Seat." It must have been a
break-neck adventure to get up to the place. The seat was almost
immediately under the window of the room in which James VI was born.
My father often pointed it out to me as one of the most dangerous bits
of climbing in which he had been engaged in his younger years.
[Image] The Bibler's seat
The annexed illustration is from his own slight sepia drawing;
the Bibler's Seat is marked + Not so daring, but much more mischievous,
was a trick which he played with some of his companions on the tops of
the houses on the north side of the Grassmarket. The boys took a
barrel to the Castlehill, filled it with small stones, and then shot it
down towards the roofs of the houses in the Grassmarket. The barrel
leapt from rock to rock, burst, and scattered a shower of stones far
and wide. The fun was to see the "boddies" look out of their garret
windows with their lighted lamps or candles, peer into the dark,
and try to see what was the cause of the mischief.
Sir David Baird, the hero of Seringapatam, played a trick of the same
kind before he went to India.
Among my father's favourite companions were the two sons of Dr. John
Erskine, minister of Old Greyfriars, in conjunction with the equally
celebrated Dr. Robertson. Dr. Erskine*
[footnote...
Dr. Erskine is well described by Scott in Guy Mannering, on the
occasion when Pleydell and Mannering went to hear him preach a famous
sermon.
...]
was a man of great influence in his day, well known for his literary
and theological works, as well as for his piety and practical
benevolence. On one occasion, when my father was at play with his
sons, one of them threw a stone, which smashed a neighbour's window.
A servant of the house ran out, and seeing the culprit, called out,
"Very wee!, Maister Erskine, I'll tell yeer faither wha broke the
windae!" On which the boy, to throw her off the scent, said to his
brother loudly, "Eh, keist! she thinks we're the boddy Erskine's sons."
The boddy Erskine! Who ever heard of such an irreverent nickname
applied to that good and great man? "The laddies couldna be his sons,"
thought the woman. She made no further inquiry, and the boys escaped
scot free. The culprit afterwards entered the service of the East
India Company. "The boy was father to the man." He acquired great
reputation at the siege of Seringapatam, where he led the forlorn hope.
Erskine was promoted, until in course of time he returned to his native
city a full-blown general. To return to my father's education.
After he left "Mammy Smith's, he went for a short time to the original
High School. It was an old establishment, founded by James VI. before
he succeeded to the English throne, It was afterwards demolished to
make room for the University buildings; and the new High School was
erected a little below the old Royal Infirmary. After leaving the High
School, Alexander Nasmyth was taught by his father, first arithmetic
and mensuration, next geometry and mathematics, so far as the first
three books of Euclid were concerned. After that, his own innate
skill, ability, and industry enabled him to complete the rest of his
education.
