ANNALS 



or 



PHILOSOPHY. 



DECEMBER, 1821. 



Article I. 



Biographical Sketch of the late John Rennie, Esq. FRS. and 

 FAS. Land, and Edin. fyc. fyc. 



A few facts hastily collected form all the materials we have 

 yet been able to procure relative to the early history and subse- 

 quent rapid progress of this distinguished individual ; and these 

 we offer to our readers trusting that other and more able pens 

 will record the praise his works so justly merit. 



John Rennie was born June 7, 1761, at Preston Kirk, in the 

 county of East Lothian. His father, Mr. James Rennie, was a 

 most extensive and respectable agriculturist, and died in the year 

 1766, leaving a widow and nine children, of whom John was the 

 youngest. The future provision for, and care of, the family now 

 devolved on his elder brother George, who, in conjunction with 

 his mother, undertook the education of the younger children, and 

 in due time young Rennie was sent to school at Preston. Here 

 he acquired the first rudiments of his education, though it does 

 not appear that he made any very remarkable progress at this 

 seminary. Immediately adjoining Mr. Rennie's estate, and 

 between the farm and school, was a small river, and it was neces- 

 sary for young Rennie to cross this several times in the day. 

 The passage of the river was usually accomplished by means of 

 a rustic bridge of stepping stones, and when it was swollen, the 

 only alternative was a boat kept by Mr. Meikle for that purpose. 

 This gentleman was at that time considered one of the most 

 ingenious millwrights in Scotland, and he afterwards distin- 



Neto Series, vol. n. 2d 



