ad continued the
same. Thus, one day, after shaking hands with Mr. Brandling on alighting
from his carriage, he proceeded to shake hands with his coachman, Anthony
Wigham, a still older friend, though he only sat on the box.

Robert Stephenson inherited his father's kindly spirit and benevolent
disposition. He almost worshipped his father's memory, and was ever
ready to attribute to him the chief merit of his own achievements as an
engineer. "It was his thorough training," we once heard him say, "his
example, and his character, which made me the man I am." On a more
public occasion he said, "It is my great pride to remember, that whatever
may have been done, and however extensive may have been my own connection
with railway development, all I know and all I have done is primarily due
to the parent whose memory I cherish and revere." {377} To Mr. Lough,
the sculptor, he said he had never had but two loves--one for his father,
the other for his wife.

Like his father, he was eminently practical, and yet always open to the
influence and guidance of correct theory. His main consideration in
laying out his lines of railway was what would best answer the intended
purpose, or, to use his own words, to secure the maximum of result with
the minimum of means. He was pre-eminently a safe man, because cautious,
tentative, and experimental; following closely the lines of conduct
trodden by his father, and often quoting his maxims.

In society Robert Stephenson was simple, unobtrusive, and modest; but
charming and even fascinating in an eminent degree. Sir John Lawrence
has said of him that he was, of all others, the man he most delighted to
meet in England--he was so manly, yet gentle, and withal so great. While
admired and beloved by men of such calibre, he was equally a favourite
with women and children. He put himself upon the level of all, and
charmed them no less by his inexpressible kindliness of manner than by
his simple yet impressive conversation.

His great wealth enabled him to perform many generous acts in a right
noble and yet modest manner, not letting his right hand know what his
left hand did. Of the numerous kindly acts of his which have been made
public, we may mention the graceful manner in which he repaid the
obligations which both himself and his father owed to the Newcastle
Literary and Philosophical Institute, when working together as humble
experimenters in their cottage at Killingworth. The In