THE LATE PETER EWABT, ESQ. 115 
recorded, that when nine years old, he was in the 
habit of passing his leisure hours in the shops of 
a watchmaker and millwright; and that before he 
had reached the age of twelve, he had constructed 
a clock with wooden wheels, which he placed in 
his bed-room to awaken him in the morning. But 
it was some time before he succeeded in making 
its motions regular, and he often lay awake, 
during the night, thinking of his clock and rising 
occasionally in the dark to feel if it were still 
going. 
It was probably this strong original impulse 
that determined his father in the choice of his 
son’s future profession. In 1782, at the age of 
fifteen, Mr. Ewart was removed from school and 
placed with Mr. Rennie, of Musselburgh, after- 
wards so celebrated as a civil engineer, whom he 
accompanied to London, two years afterwards. 
At the expiraticn of his apprenticeship, he con- 
structed, in conjunction with another associate, 
wooden models for a set of wheels, which Mr. 
Rennie had to furnish for a distillery in White- 
chapel. They agreed to make the models for 
twelve guineas, and, by working from 4 a.m. to 
8 or 9 p.m., they accomplished their task in a 
fortnight. Mr. Ewart has remarked, that he 
