404 Biographical Sketch of John Ramie, Esq. [Dec. 



he frequently made appointments by day-break in the morning, 

 continuing closely employed till eight or nine o'clock at night. 



At the age of 25, Mr. Rennie married a Miss Mackintosh, by 

 whom he had nine children, six of whom are now living, and it 

 is probable that the eldest of these gentlemen will succeed to 

 his father's professional employment. 



M. Dupin, who is so well qualified to do justice to the merits 

 of the late Mr. Rennie, has, in a Notice Necrologique respecting 

 him, addressed to the Royal Institute of France, paid a tribute 

 to the virtues and amiable qualities of that distinguished indivi- 

 dual, and given a brief but masterly account of his principal 

 works. 



" Mr. Rennie," says M. Dupin, " raised himself by his merit 

 alone. In a country in which education is general, he received 

 from his infancy the benefit of instruction, which he afterwards 

 knew how to appreciate. 



" Scotland has the glory of having produced most of the 

 civil engineers who, for nearly a century, have executed the 

 finest monuments of the three kingdoms, and the most ingenious 

 machines ; James Watt, John Rennie, Thomas Telford, &c. 

 seconded with so much ability by the Niimnos, the Jardines, the 

 Stevensons, &c." 



After enumerating the works executed by Mr. Rennie for 

 Messrs. Watt and Bolton, and his application of steam to 

 machinery for clearing canals, he observes : 



" Mr. Rennie learned immediately from Smeaton the art of 

 directing hydraulical constructions ; he formed himself by the 

 counsels and example of that great engineer, and by the study of 

 the works of a master whom he was to equal in some respects, 

 and surpass in many others." 



M. Dupin then alludes to the East India and London Docks, 

 and the completion of the West India Docks, and observes : 



" At the very moment he was snatched from us by death, he 

 was busied in finishing a new construction equally ingenious for 

 its architecture and its mechanism. Vast roofs, supported by 

 lofty columns of cast iron, present in the middle of their struc- 

 ture aerial roads, on which are made to run carriages, whose 

 mechanism is so contrived, that by their means, enormous 

 mahogany trees kept in these fine magazines, may be raised and 

 let down at pleasure. By means of this ingenious system, a few 

 workmen now execute in a few minutes what required formerly 

 whole hours, and a number of workmen." 



This candid and liberal-minded foreigner concludes his eloge 

 with the following striking reflections on the new character 

 which has been given to the erections of this country by Mr. 

 Rennie : 



" If, from the incalculable effect of the revolutions which 

 empires undergo, the nations of a future age should inquire 



