Transcribed from the 1912 Chatto & Windus edition by DavidPrice, . Additional proofing by PeterBarnes.
RECORDS OF A
FAMILY OF ENGINEERS
by
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS
1912
All rights reserved
INTRODUCTION: THE SURNAME OF STEVENSON
From the thirteenth century onwards, the name, under thevarious disguises of Stevinstoun, Stevensoun, Stevensonne,Stenesone, and Stewinsoune, spread across Scotland from the mouthof the Firth of Forth to the mouth of the Firth of Clyde. Four times at least it occurs as a place-name. There is aparish of Stevenston in Cunningham; a second place of the name inthe Barony of Bothwell in Lanark; a third on Lyne, above DrochilCastle; the fourth on the Tyne, near Traprain Law. Stevenson of Stevenson (co. Lanark) swore fealty to Edward I in1296, and the last of that family died after theRestoration. Stevensons of Hirdmanshiels, in Midlothian,rode in the Bishops’ Raid of Aberlady, served as jurors,stood bail for neighbours—Hunter of Polwood, forinstance—and became extinct about the same period, orpossibly earlier. A Stevenson of Luthrie and another ofPitroddie make their bows, give their names, and vanish. And by the year 1700 it does not appear that any acre of Scotsland was vested in any Stevenson. [2a]
Here is, so far, a melancholy picture of backward progress,and a family posting towards extinction. But the law(however administered, and I am bound to aver that, in Scotland,‘it couldna weel be waur’) acts as a kind of dredge,and with dispassionate impartiality brings up into the light ofday, and shows us for a moment, in the jury-box or on thegallows, the creeping things of the past. By these brokenglimpses we are able to trace the existence of many other andmore inglorious Stevensons, picking a private way through thebrawl that makes Scots history. They were members ofParliament for Peebles, Stirling, Pittenweem, Kilrenny, andInverurie. We find them burgesses of Edinburgh; indwellersin Biggar, Perth, and Dalkeith. Thomas was the forester ofNewbattle Park, Gavin was a baker, John a maltman, Francis achirurgeon, and ‘Schir William’ a priest. Inthe feuds of Humes and Heatleys, Cunninghams, Montgomeries,Mures, Ogilvies, and Turnbulls, we find them inconspicuouslyinvolved, and apparently getting rather better than theygave. Schir William (reverend gentleman) was cruellieslaughtered on the Links of Kincraig in 1582; James (‘inthe mill-town of Roberton’), murdered in 1590; Archibald(‘in Gallowfarren’), killed with shots of pistols andhagbuts in 1608. Three violent deaths in about seventyyears, against which we can only put the case of Thomas, servantto Hume of Cowden Knowes, who was arraigned with his two youngmasters for the death of the Bastard of Mellerstanes in1569. John (‘in Dalkeith’) stood sentry withoutHolyrood while the banded lords were despatching Rizziowithin. William, at the ringing of Perth bell, ran beforeGowrie House ‘with ane sword, and, entering to the yearde,saw George Craiggingilt with ane twa-handit sword and utherisnychtbouris; at quilk time James Boig cryit ower ane wynds,“Awa hame! ye will all be hangit”’—apiece of advice whi