CHAP. III. 



WORKSHOP, AND COLLEGE. 



121 



his own, Rennie made a model of a windmill, another of 

 a fire-engine (or steam-engine), and a third of Yellore's 

 pile-engine, displaying upon them a considerable amount 

 of manual dexterity ; some of these early efforts of the 

 boy's genius being still preserved. 



Though young Rennie thus employed so much of his 

 time on this amateur work in the millwright's shop, he 

 was not permitted to neglect his ordinary education at 

 the parish school. That of Prestonkirk was kept by a 

 Mr. Richardson, who seems to have well taught his pupil 

 in the ordinary branches of education ; but by the time 

 he had reached twelve years of age he seems almost to 

 have exhausted his master's store of knowledge, and his 

 mother then thought the time had arrived to remove him 

 to a seminary of a higher order. 1 He was accordingly 



1 Though a poor country, as we 

 have seen, Scotland was already rich 

 in parish and burgh schools ; the 

 steady action of which upon the rising 

 generation was probably the chief 

 cause of that extraordinary improve- 

 ment in all its branches of industry 

 to which we have above alluded. 

 John Knox himself a native of East 

 Lothian explicitly set forth in his 

 first ' Book of Discipline' " That every 

 several kirke have ane schoolmaister 

 appointed," "able to teach grammar 

 and the Latin tongue, if the town be 

 of any reputation ;" and if an upland 

 town, then a reader was to be ap- 

 pointed, or the minister himself must 

 attend to the instruction of the chil- 

 dren and youth of the parish. It 

 was also enjoined that " provision be 

 made for the attendance of those that 

 be poore, and not able by themselves 

 nor their friends to be sustained at 

 letters;" "for this," it was added, 

 " must be carefully provided, that no 

 father, of what estate or condition 

 that ever he may be, use his children 

 at his own fantasie, especially in their 

 youthliead ; but all must be compelled 

 to bring up their children in learning 

 and virtue." During the troubles in 

 which Scotland was involved, almost 

 down to the Revolution of 1688, 



although attempts were made to esta- 

 blish a school in every parish, they 

 seem to have been attended with 

 comparatively small results ; but at 

 length, in 1696, the Scottish Parlia- 

 ment was enabled, with the concur- 

 rence of William of Orange, to put in 

 force the Act of that year, which is 

 regarded as the charter of the" parish- 

 school system in Scotland. It is there 

 ordained " that there be a school set- 

 tled and established, and a school- 

 master appointed in every parish not 

 already provided, by advice of the 

 heritors and minister of the parish." 

 The consequence was, that the parish 

 schools of Scotland, working steadily 

 upon the rising generation, all of 

 whom passed under the hands of the 

 parish teachers during the preceding 

 half-century, had been training a 

 population whose intelligence was 

 greatly in advance of their material 

 condition as a people ; and it is in 

 this circumstance, we apprehend, that 

 the true explanation is to be found of 

 the rapid start forward which the 

 whole country now took, dating more 

 particularly from the year 1745. 

 Agriculture was naturally the first 

 branch of industry to exhibit signs of 

 decided improvement ; to be speedily 

 followed by like advances in manufac- 



