In the course of twenty years from the date of the patent, about three hundred and fifty thrashing-mills were erected in East Lothian alone, at an estimated outlay of nearly forty thousand pounds; and, shortly after, it became generally adopted in England, and indeed all over the civilized world. We regret, however, to add, that Meikle did not reap those pecuniary advantages from his invention which a less modest and more pushing man would have done. Pirates fell upon him on all sides and deprived him of the fruits of his ingenuity, even denying him any originality whatever. When growing old and infirm, Sir John Sinclair bestirred himself to raise a subscription in his behalf; and a sum of 15007, was collected, which was invested for his benefit. Mr. Dempster, M.P., wrote to Sir John, when on his charitable mission in 1809, "Should your tour in East Lothian procure a suitable reward to the inventor of the thrashing-machine, it will redound much to your and the country's honour : our heathen ancestors would have assigned a place in heaven to Meikle." Mr. Smeaton knew Meikle intimately, and frequently met him in consultation respecting the arrangements of the Dalry Mills, near Edinburgh, and other works; and he was accustomed to say of him, that if he had possessed but one-half the address of other people, he would have rivalled all his contemporaries, and stood forth as one of the first mechanical engineers in the kingdom. 1 Among the various improvements which this ingenious mechanic introduced in mill-work, were those in the sails of windmills. Before his time, these machines were liable to serious accidents on the occurrence of a sudden gale, or a shift in the direction of the wind. By Meikle's contrivance, the machinery was so arranged that the whole sails might be taken in or let out in half a minute, according as the wind required, by a person merely 1 Memoirs of Sir John Sinclair,' vol. ii., p. 99. pulling a rope within the mill. The machinery was at the same time kept in more uniform motion, and all danger from sudden squalls completely avoided. His improvements in water-wheels were also important, and on one occasion proved effectual in carrying out an improvement of a remarkable character in the county of Perth. This was neither more nor less than washing away into the river Forth some two thousand acres of peat moss, and thus laying bare an equivalent surface of arable land, now amongst the most valuable in the Carse of Stirling. The Kincardine Moss was situated between the rivers Teith and Forth. It was seven feet in depth, laid upon a bottom of rich clay. In 1766 Lord Kaimes, who had entered into possession of the Blair Drummond estate, to which it belonged, determined if possible to improve the tract; and it occurred to him that the easiest plan would be to wash the moss entirely away. But how was this to be done? The river Teith, which was the only available stream at hand, was employed to drive a corn-mill. But Lord Kaimes saw that it would answer his intended purpose if he could get possession of it. He accordingly made an arrangement by which he became owner of the mill, which he pulled down, and then turned the mill-stream in upon the moss. Labourers were set to work to cut away the stuff, which was thrown into the current, and much of it thus washed away. But the process was slow; and the clearing of the land had not advanced very far by the year 1783, when Lord Kaimes's son, Mr. Home Drummond, entered into possession of the estate. A thousand acres still remained, which he determined to get rid of, if possible, in a more summary manner than his predecessor had done. He consulted several engineers amongst others Mr. Whitworth, a pupil of Brindley's--who recommended one plan; but George Meikle, a millwright at Alloa, the son of Andrew, proposed another, the invention of his father; and Mr. Whitworth, with much candour and liberality, at once acknowledging its superiority to his own, urged Mr. Drummond to adopt it. The invention consisted of a newly-contrived wheel, 28 feet in diameter and 10 feet broad, for raising water in a simple, economical, and powerful manner, at the rate of from 40 to 60 hogsheads a minute; and it was necessary so to raise it about 17 feet, in order to reach the higher parts of the land. The machinery on being erected was set to work, and with such good results, that in the course of a very few years the four miles of barren moss was completely washed away, and the district was shortly after covered with thriving farmsteads, as it remains to this day. Meikle was a thorough mechanical inventor, and, wherever he could, he endeavoured to save labour by means of machinery. Stories are still told in the neighbourhood in which he lived of the contrivances he adopted with this object in his own household, some of which were of an amusing character. One day a woman came to the mill to get some barley ground, and was desired to sit down in the cottage hard by until it was ready. With the first sound of the mill-wheels the cradle and churn at her side began to rock and to churn, as if influenced by some supernatural agency. No one was in the house besides herself at the time, and she rushed from it frightened almost out of her wits. Such incidents as these brought an ill name on Andrew, and the neighbours declared of him that he was "no canny." He was often sent for to great distances for the purpose of repairing pumps or setting mills to rights. On one occasion, when he undertook to supply a gentleman's house with water, so many country mechanics had tried it before and failed, that the butler would not believe Meikle when he told him he would send in the water next day. Meikle, however, told him to get everything ready. "It will be time enough to get ready," said the incredulous butler, "when we see the water." Meikle quietly pocketed the affront, but set his machinery to work early next morning; and when the butler got out of bed, he found himself up to his knees in water, so successfully had the engineer performed his promise. Meikle lived to an extreme old age, and was cheerful to the last. He was a capital player on the Northumbrian bagpipes. The instrument he played on was made by himself, the chanter being formed out of a deer's shankbone. When ninety years old, at the family gatherings "Auld Hansel Monday," his six sons and their numerous families danced about him to his music. He died in 1811, in his ninety-second year, and was buried in Prestonkirk churchyard, close by Houston Mill, where a simple monument is erected to his memory.' Such was the master who first trained and disciplined the skill of John Rennie, and implanted in his mind an enthusiasm for mechanical excellence. Another of his apprentices was a man who exercised almost as great an influence on the progress of mechanics, through the number of first-rate workmen whom he trained, as did Rennie himself in the art of engineering. We allude to Peter Nicholson, an admirable mechanic and draughtsman, the author of numerous works on carpentry and architecture, which to this day are amongst the best of their kind. We now pursue the career of Andrew Meikle's most distinguished pupil. It is remarkable that Scotch biography should be altogether silent respecting this ingenious and useful workman. In the most elaborate of the Scotch biographical collectionsthat of Robert Chambers, in four large volumes-not a word occurs relating to Meikle. An article is devoted to Mickle, the translator of another man's invention in the shape of a poem, the 'Lusiad; but the name of the inventor of the thrashing-machine is not even mentioned; affording a singular illustration of the neglect which this department of biography has heretofore experienced, though it has been by men such as Meikle that this country has in a great measure been made what it is. CHAPTER III. YOUNG RENNIE AT SCHOOL, WORKSHOP, AND COLLEGE. FARMER RENNIE died in the old house at Phantassie in the year 1766, leaving a family of nine children, four of whom were sons and five daughters. George, the eldest, was then seventeen years old. He was discreet, intelligent, and shrewd beyond his years, and from that RENNIE'S BIRTHPLACE, PHANTASSIE. time forward he managed the farm and acted as the head of the family. The year before his father's death he had made a tour through Berwickshire, for the purpose of observing the improved methods of farming introduced by some of the leading gentry of that county, |