Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 37.djvu/228

 inventor’ (Low, Elements of Practical Agriculture, 4th edition, p. 188).

A humorous poem in the form of a dialogue between the flail and the thrashing-machine was written and circulated about 1787. The following is a specimen:— When round my axletree I reel, Wi' men, wind, nout, or water-wheel, In twenty minutes, or I'm a deil, I'll clean mair strae Than you, if ye will thrash it weel, In a hail day. ‘Nout’ is ‘neat,’ or cattle. The entire poem is printed in the ‘Farmers' Magazine,’ 1810, xi. 53.

He does not seem to have derived much pecuniary benefit from his invention. In 1809 a subscription for his relief was started by Sir John Sinclair and others, and upwards of 1,500l. was raised. A list of the subscriptions is given in the ‘Farmers' Magazine’ for December 1810, pp. 465, 520, and it appears that only 85l. was given in England, of which 21l. was subscribed by two of his friends, James Watt and John Rennie.

Meikle was also the inventor of a method of rapidly furling the sails of windmills to prevent damage by sudden squalls (see, General View of the Agriculture of York, 1799, p. 61). In Smeaton's ‘Reports’ (ii. 421) there is a reference to Meikle's proposals for improving the mills at Dalry, near Edinburgh.

He died at Houston Mill on 27 Nov. 1811, aged 92, and was buried in the churchyard at Prestonkirk, near Dunbar, where there is a tombstone to his memory. A copy of the inscription is given by Smiles (Scots Magazine, January 1812, p. 79; Farmers' Magazine, 1811, xii. 566).

(d. 1811), son of Andrew, was also a millwright. Besides assisting his father in working out the details of the thrashing-machine he invented a water-raising wheel, which was used in draining the moss of Kincardine in 1787, being adopted in preference to Whitworth's pumping-machine (Farmers' Magazine, 1817, xviii. 265). He died on 29 Nov. 1811 (Scots Magazine, January 1812, p. 79; Farmers' Magazine, 1811, xii. 566).

 MEIKLE, JAMES (1730–1799), surgeon and devotional writer, born at Carnwath, in the upper part of Clydesdale, 19 May 1730, was fifth child of George Meikle, a surgeon and druggist of humble means. James, a delicate boy, received little regular education; but he was religiously brought up by his parents, and when about sixteen years old joined the ‘Secession,’ a body which had separated from the established kirk of Scotland in 1732. A wish to study at Edinburgh for the ministry remained unfulfilled owing to his poverty and the death of his father in February 1748, which left his mother and two sisters dependent on his exertions. He managed to attend some medical lectures at Edinburgh, and returned to Carnwath in 1750, intending as a temporary expedient to practise as a surgeon. But his difficulties grew, and in December 1757 he resolved on entering the royal navy. After passing at Surgeons' Hall in London he was appointed second surgeon's mate to the Portland, a 50-gun ship, in April 1758. Although he was distressed by the abandoned conduct both of the officers and the crew, they grew to respect him. He employed himself much in reading and writing; many of the ‘Meditations,’ which afterwards appeared in ‘The Traveller’ and in ‘Solitude Sweetened,’ being composed at this time. After cruising about on the western coast of France and in the Mediterranean, the Portland was ordered to join the fleet under Admiral Boscawen, and took part in the victory off Cape Lagos, 18 Aug. 1759. His ship being ordered home with the prisoners and for repairs, Meikle reached Spithead on 16 Sept. An application to the admiralty for his supersession was refused, but he was promoted to the rank of first mate, and put to sea again on 22 Oct. He joined the fleet under Admiral Hawke, and took part in the great victory off Belleisle on 20 Nov. After repeated applications he obtained his discharge in February 1762, and immediately returned to Carnwath. He went to Edinburgh for some months in the summer of 1764 to prosecute his professional studies. In July 1789 he was ordained to the eldership in the congregation of Biggar, and continued his devotional writings to the last week of his life, dying rather suddenly on 7 Dec. 1799. In 1779 he married his first wife, who died in 1782; he married again in 1785, and left behind him a widow and five children in very poor circumstances. He was a man of earnest religious feeling, and at the same time of great cheerfulness, a characteristic which the titles of his works would scarcely lead one to expect. In 1797 he published a small volume entitled 