As soon as the engineer retired to his study, strict orders were issued that he was not to be disturbed on any account. No person was suffered to ascend the circular staircase which led to his retreat. If he heard a step below, he would immediately raise his voice to know the intruder's business. Even his smith, Waddington, was prohibited from trespassing on the sanctuary, and required, on such occasions, to wait in the lower apartment until Mr. Smeaton came down. When he was neither evolving plans nor drawing up reports, Smeaton delighted to occupy his leisure with astronomical studies and observations; and this scientific pastime he continued to indulge in even in the flush of his prosperous professional career, when he was the consulting engineer of all England. For many years he regularly contributed papers on astronomical subjects to the Royal Society, of which he was a Fellow. The instruments he used in making his observations were all of his own workmanship, and remarkable for their accuracy and finish. [Sidenote: Ingenious designs for tools.] His contrivances of tools, we are told, were endless, and he was constantly employed in inventing and making new ones. Of these interesting relics large quantities are still, says Smiles, in the possession of the son of his blacksmith, who lives in the neighbourhood of Austhorpe. When Mr. Smiles made inquiry after them, they were found lying in a heap in an open shed, begrimed and rusty. One mysterious article, after it had been thoroughly scrubbed and cleansed, proved to be a jack-plane, and the tool which Smeaton himself had handled. His drill was also found, the bow being formed of a thick piece of cane; his brace, his T square, his augers, his gouges, and his engraving tools. "There was no end of curiously arranged dividers; pulleys in large numbers, and of various sizes; cog-wheels, brass hemispheres, and all manner of measured, drilled, framed, and jointed brass-work. These remains of the great engineer are worthy of preservation. To mechanics, there is a meaning in every one of them. They do not resemble existing tools, but you can see at once that each was made for a reason; and one can almost detect what the contriver was thinking about when he made them so different from those we are accustomed to see. Even in the most trifling matters, such as the kind of wood or metal used, and the direction of the fibre of the wood, each detail has been carefully studied. Much even of the household furniture seems to have been employed in their fabrication, possibly to the occasional amazement of the ladies in Smeaton's house over the way. We are informed that so much 'rubbish,' as it was termed, was found in that square tower at his death, that a fire was kindled in the yard, and a vast quantity of papers, letters, books, plans, tools, and scraps of all kinds, were remorselessly burnt." [Sidenote: "A born mechanic."]