Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/192

328 volumes, 8vo. The earlier part of this work, which enters minutely into the character of the Highlanders, and embodies a great quantity of original anecdote and observation, is perhaps the most generally interesting, though it does not aspire to the important quality of historical accuracy: the most truly valuable part of the book is that which details the services of the regiments which have been at various times raised in the Highlands; a body of soldiers generally allowed to have surpassed every other part of the British army, of the same extent in numbers, at once in steady moral conduct and in military glory. The work attained a popularity proportioned to its high merits, and will ever remain as a memorial of its author, endearing his name to the bosoms of his countrymen.

A few months after the publication of his book, colonel Stewart succeeded to his paternal estate, in consequence of the deaths of his father and elder brother, which occurred in rapid succession. He is understood to have employed part of the year 1823, in collecting materials for a history of the Rebellion of 1745, a desideratum in our literature which no hand was so well qualified to supply; but, finding insuperable difficulties in the execution of the task, he uas reluctantly obliged to abandon it. In 1825, he was promoted to the rank of major general, and he was soon after appointed governor of the island of St Lucia. He proceeded to undertake this duty, with high hopes on his own part, but the regrets and fears of his friends. Unfortunately, their anticipations proved true. General Stewart died of fever, on the 18th of December, 1829, in the midst of many improvements which his active mind and originated in the island, and which, had he lived to complete them, would have probably redounded to his honour as much as any transaction in his useful and well-spent life.

General Stewart was of the middle stature, but originally of a robust frame, which was latterly shattered considerably by wounds. His features, which spoke his character, have been commemorated in a spirited engraving, representing him in the Highland dress. Few individuals in recent times have secured so large a share of the affections of all classes of the people of Scotland, as David Stewart of Garth.

STONE,, an ingenious self-taught mathematician, of whom nothing is known, except from a letter written by the chevalier Ramsay to father Castel, published in the Memoirs de Irevoux. It there appears that Stone was the ton of a gardener in the employment of John, duke of Argyle, at Inverary, in the early part of the eighteenth century. "He attained the age of eight years before he learnt to read; but, a servant having taught him the letters of the alphabet, he soon made a rapid progress with very little assistance. He applied to the mathematics; and, notwithstanding the peculiar difficulties of his situation, attained a knowledge of the most sublime geometry and analysis, without a master, and without any other guide, it is said, than his own genius. At the age of eighteen, he had advanced thus far, when his abilities and the extent of his acquirements were discovered by the following accident. The duke of Argyle, who to his military talents united a general knowledge of every science that can adorn the mind of a great man, walking one day in his garden, saw lying upon the grass a Latin copy of Newton's Principia. Having called some one to carry it back to his library, the young gardener told him that it belonged to himself. The duke was surprised, and asked him whether he were sufficiently acquainted with Latin and geometry to understand Newton. Stone replied, with an air of simplicity, that he knew a little of both.