LIFE OF JOHN EENNIE. 



CHAPTEE I. 



SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. 



JOHN RENNIE, the architect of the three great London 

 bridges, the engineer of the Plymouth Breakwater, of the 

 London and East India Docks, and various other works 

 of national importance, was born at the farm-steading of 

 Phantassie, in East Lothian, on the 7th of June, 1761. 

 His father was the owner of the small estate of the above 



RENNIE'S NATIVE DISTRICT. [Ordnance Survey.] 



name, situated about midway between Haddington and 

 Dunbar, at the foot of the gently-sloping hills which 

 rise from it towards the south, the village of East Linton 

 lying close at hand on the further bank of the little river 

 Tyne. The property had been in the family for gene- 

 rations, and Mr. Kennie had the reputation of being one 

 of the best farmers in the neighbourhood. But the art 

 of agriculture, like every thing else in Scotland, was in 



