LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS,
ETC. ETC.
SECOND SERIES.
“Mr. Smiles’s third volume of The Engineers contains the biographies of George Stephenson and his son Robert. The life of George Stephenson is a revised edition of the author’s previous excellent work on the same subject, but it is much more complete, from the circumstance that the history of George’s son and lifelong colleague is interwoven with his own. It is impossible fully to comprehend either without the other. Father and son understood one another better than any other person could have understood either of them. Their ambition was alike, and they perfectly coincided as to the means by which its objects were to be accomplished. They were equally kindly and generous, and there never was a shadow of reserve or estrangement between them. It is delightful to contemplate these two great men in their intercourse with each other, their mutual and perfect confidence, the laborious paths of discovery which they trod together, and the brilliant combinations of their genius hallowed by their strong affection.... This volume brings down the subject of British engineering to the establishment of the railway system, in which, as the author justly observes, ‘British engineers have displayed their highest skill and achieved their greatest triumphs.’ Mr. Smiles’s Life of George Stephenson is so well and so favourably known that we confine ourselves to the simple announcement of its appearance in the ‘Engineers’ series in a greatly improved form, and perfected by being blended with that of Robert Stephenson.... This volume is a monument to truth, honour, and integrity, as the deepest and most solid foundations of human renown.”—Daily News.
“The Biographical History of British Engineering would be very imperfect without the lives of the Stephensons, and we must thank Mr. Smiles for a third volume containing the story of the famous father and son, George and Robert. The career of George Stephenson, indeed, is already familiar to us through the earlier publication of Mr. Smiles, and the greater part of the present volume may be looked upon as a new and enlarged edition of that work; but, in the life of Robert, Mr. Smiles enters upon new ground, and he has produced a biography little inferior in interest to his former narrative. As interesting it can scarcely be called; for the difficulties which George Stephenson had to encounter were, by his carefulness, removed to a great extent from the path of his son, and we are not absorbed in the story of a single-handed battle with innumerable obstacles. The career of Robert Stephenson is, moreover, so much nearer to us than that of his father, that it was probably impossible to write its history with that fulness of biographic detail which presented the very man, George, before us, and gave such a charm to the story of his life.”—London Review.
“It was almost necessary, that the life of George Stephenson as an engineer should combine itself with that of his son, so closely were the two mixed up in the most remarkable project of their lives. Robert Stephenson has been removed by death since his father’s biography was first given to the world by Mr. Smiles and the author has acted very judiciously in adding to his work those special details which are required to furnish forth a complete biography of the pair. The keen, bluff, intelligent features of the younger Stephenson are finely engraved among the illustrations of this volume from a photograph by Claudet. Much is recorded respecting the man that is of great interest over and above the information given us as to the achievements of the engineer.... This book will be a sterling addition to our libraries—adding to its literary and human interest the merits of excellent typography and fine ornament in the engravings with which it is enriched.”—John Bull.
“A book which has at once the conciseness necessary to render it valuable to the professional man, and the interesting character which makes it acceptable to the general reader.... The information is so interspersed with anecdotes and interesting notes, that the work will be read with pleasure by everybody.... Mr. Smiles has enjoyed the active co-operation of those who were able to throw a light upon the subject, including Robert Stephenson himself.”—Mining Journal.
Lately published. By the same Author. Post 8vo. 6s.
INDUSTRIAL BIOGRAPHY:
IRON WORKERS AND TOOL MAKERS.
“Mr. Smiles is not only a skilful workman, but he has chosen a new field of work. Hitherto the great biographies have been written of soldiers and sailors, statesmen, poets, artists, and philosophers. It would seem as if these only were the great men of the world, as if these only were the benefactors of mankind, whose deeds are worthy of memory. The suspicion has arisen that, after all, there may be other heroes than those of the pen, the sceptre, and the sword. There are, indeed, men in various walks of life whose footsteps are worthy of being traced; but surely, considering what England is, and to what we owe most of our material greatness, the lives of our engineers are peculiarly worthy of being written. ‘The true Epic of our time,’ says Mr. Carlyle, ‘is not Arms and the man, but Tools and the man—an infinitely wider kind of Epic.’ Our machinery has been the making of us; our ironworks have, in spite of the progress of other nations, still kept the balance in our hands. Smith-work in all its branches of engine-making, machine-making, tool-making, cutlery, iron ship-building, and iron-working generally, is our chief glory. England is the mistress of manufactures and the queen of the world, because it is the land of Smith; and Mr. Smiles’s biographies are a history of the great family of Smith.... Many of the facts which he places before us are wholly new, and are derived from the most likely sources. Thus, Maudslay’s partner, Mr. Joshua Field, and his pupil, Mr. Nasmyth, supplied the materials for his biography. Mr. John Penn supplied the chief material for the memoir of Clement. And so of the other memoirs; though they necessarily go over much well-trodden ground, they contain also much original information, expressed with great clearness, and with a practised skill which renders the reader secure of entertainment in every page.”—Times.