Stevenson, in the midst of his many avocations, no less than
fourteen to prepare the _Account_. The title-page is a solid piece of
literature of upwards of a hundred words; the table of contents runs to
thirteen pages; and the dedication (to that revered monarch, George IV)
must have cost him no little study and correspondence. Walter Scott was
called in council, and offered one miscorrection which still blots the
page. In spite of all this pondering and filing, there remain pages not
easy to construe, and inconsistencies not easy to explain away. I have
sought to make these disappear, and to lighten a little the baggage with
which my grandfather marches; here and there I have rejointed and
rearranged a sentence, always with his own words, and all with a
reverent and faithful hand; and I offer here to the reader the true
Monument of Robert Stevenson with a little of the moss removed from the
inscription, and the Portrait of the artist with some superfluous canvas
cut away.

I

OPERATIONS OF 1807

1807 Sunday, 16th Aug.

Everything being arranged for sailing to the rock on Saturday the 15th,
the vessel might have proceeded on the Sunday; but understanding that
this would not be so agreeable to the artificers it was deferred until
Monday. Here we cannot help observing that the men allotted for the
operations at the rock seemed to enter upon the undertaking with a
degree of consideration which fully marked their opinion as to the
hazardous nature of the undertaking on which they were about to enter.
They went in a body to church on Sunday, and whether it was in the
ordinary course, or designed for the occasion, the writer is not
certain, but the service was, in many respects, suitable to their
circumstances.

Monday, 17th Aug.

The tide happening to fall late in the evening of Monday the 17th, the
party, counting twenty-four in number, embarked on board of the
_Smeaton_ about ten o'clock p.m., and sailed from Arbroath with a gentle
breeze at west. Our ship's colours having been flying all day in
compliment to the commencement of the work, the other vessels in the
harbour also saluted, which made a very gay appearance. A number of the
friends and acquaintances of those on board having been thus collected,
the piers, though at a late hour, were perfectly crowded, and just as
the _Smeaton_ cleared the harbour, all on board united in giving three
hearty cheers, which were returned by those on shore in such go