Robison was nearer Watt’s age than the rest, and stood in the intimate relation to him of bosom friend, as well as fellow inquirer in science. He was handsome and prepossessing in appearance, frank and lively, full of fancy and humour, and a general favourite in the College. He was a capital talker, an accomplished linguist, and a good musician; yet, with all his versatility, he was a profound thinker and a diligent student, especially in mathematical and mechanical science, as he afterwards proved in his elaborate ‘System of Mechanical Philosophy,’ edited by Sir David Brewster, and his many able contributions to the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ of which he was the designer and editor.
Robison’s introduction to Watt has been described by himself. After feasting his eyes on the beautifully-finished instruments in his shop, Robison entered into conversation with him. Expecting to find only a workman, he was surprised to discover a philosopher. “I had the vanity,” says Robison, “to think myself a pretty good proficient in my favourite study (mathematical and mechanical philosophy), and was rather mortified at finding Mr. Watt so much my superior. But his own high relish for these things made him pleased with the chat of any person who had the same tastes with himself; and his innate complaisance made him indulge my curiosity, and even encourage my endeavours to form a more intimate acquaintance with him. I lounged much about him, and, I doubt not, was frequently teasing him. Thus our acquaintance began.”
In Watt’s workshop also, Robison first met Dr. Black, and there initiated a friendship which ended only with death. “My first acquaintance with him,” Robison afterwards wrote Watt, “began in your rooms when you were rubbing up Macfarlane’s instruments. He used to come in, and, standing with his back to us, amuse himself with Bird’s quadrant, whistling softly to himself, in a manner that thrilled me to the heart.”
In 1757 Robison applied for the office of assistant to Dr. Dick, Professor of Natural Philosophy, in the place of the son of that gentleman, who had just died; but though he had already taken the degree of Master of Arts, he was thought too young to hold so important an office, being only about nineteen years old. His friends wished him to study for the church; but, preferring some occupation in which his mechanical tastes might be indulged, he turned his eyes to London. Furnished with letters from Professor Dick and Dr. Simson, he obtained an introduction to Admiral Knowles, who engaged him to take charge of his son’s instruction while at sea. In that capacity he sailed from Spithead in 1759, with the fleet which assisted the land forces in the taking of Quebec; he and his pupil being rated as midshipmen in the Admiral’s ship. Robison was on duty in the boat which carried Wolfe to the point where the army scaled the heights of Montcalm the night before the battle; and as the sun was setting in the west, the General, doubtless from an association of ideas suggested by the dangers of the coming struggle, recited, in an under tone, Gray’s ‘Elegy on a Country Churchyard;’ and when he had finished, said, “Now, gentlemen, I would rather have been the author of that poem than take Quebec.”